Havent used it, but I think https://www.mint.com/ provides a similar service, free.
It is not similar and here is why:
Mint takes everything that you are spending and shows you what you spent. This is a post game analysis and it cannot easily help you manage money. It just tells you where it went.
YNAB (I've been using it for almost 2 years now) is the easiest method I have found to manage money and plan with money.
I run YNAB account for home finances and enter each expense. At grocery store, it takes 20 seconds or less to enter it into my phone and look at what my remaining grocery budget is. The act of entering expenses and reconciling takes very little effort and time, but it keeps you in touch with where you money is going.
I run another YNAB account for my side consulting business. Works great for non-inventory businesses.
Many people live 1 month behind without even knowing it. They charge all the expenses on a charge card and pay it off in full every month. They are paying for last month's expenses with this month's pay. YNAB treats credit card expenditures like they are cash already spent. They teach to budget this month with last month's money. That immediately gives you a month buffer if something happened.
The way they do accounting makes it very easy to track working balance vs actual balance. This wasn't an issue when I had a great paying job and had a huge emergency fund. However, I have made choices that changed that.
YNAB is the only way I have been able to quit a job I hated, but made great money, and went to a job with MUCH lower pay at a non-profit that I believe in. Our budget is VERY tight to make this work. Without YNAB, it would not work for me. I'm a dedicated and loyal fan.
So I am someone who WASN'T in a pay to pay lifestyle and has gotten there for a short time to try to do something really incredible. I'm in the process of altering life style and getting rid of property to make that not so, but I've converted into a "typical American" of hand to mouth. For now.
YNAB purchases get a referral link that nets them $6 while it saves others $6. If you want $6 off you can use this.
http://ynab.refr.cc/SXPVPKGIf you're living from pay to pay
If you are living pay to pay, focus on increasing your pay, not spending your pay - however nicely budgeted or reconciled.
If you have no money to spend, you have no money to spend.
It is far too often that people make crazy money and have none. Much like time, if you don't assign each dollar a job (do budgeting) then they tend to just disappear.
However, you are absolutely correct in increasing pay being the easiest way to solve money issues.
If you are living "from pay to pay", probably the last thing you need is to spend more money. And that's doubly true for a product where the benefits can be replicated by cheaper and simpler tools such as paper and pencil.
Of course, if you haven't the discipline to use paper and pencil, you probably haven't the discipline to use a tool - and you would be better advised to develop that discipline!
I have told many people this and have yet to be told I was wrong:
"If you are not completely budgeting your income and giving every dollar a job, you will save the cost of YNAB during the trial period." This is just due to getting exposure to exactly what you are spending. We had decent Excel budgeting, but the ease of looking at where the money should and is going paid for YNAB in under a month. I've seen that for over a dozen people I've introduced to it.