Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-09-13

These Terms govern your use of Zero (the application served at zerobudget.ca and any successor domain). By creating an account or using Zero you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

1. The service

Zero is a personal-finance application that helps a household run a zero-based budget. Bank connections are powered by Plaid Inc. and are subject to Plaid's own end-user terms shown to you inside Plaid Link.

2. Accounts

• You are responsible for keeping your password secret.
• You may not impersonate another person or share an account with someone outside your household. Multiple members of one household sharing one account is fine.
• You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you enter (budget categories, planned amounts, manual transactions).

3. Use of the service

You agree not to:

• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to discover source code beyond what we have made public.
• Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any system or network of Zero or our service providers, except in coordinated disclosure with the operator.
• Use the service to violate any law or regulation, including financial-data regulations applicable in your jurisdiction.
• Attempt to access another user's data.
• Use the service to transmit malware or spam.

4. Financial advice disclaimer

Zero is a budgeting tool. It is not a financial advisor, broker, accountant, or tax professional. The numbers you see in Zero are summaries of data we received from your bank via Plaid, plus anything you have entered manually. You are responsible for decisions made on the basis of that information. We make no warranty as to its completeness, timeliness, or accuracy.

5. Plaid

By linking a bank account to Zero you authorize us, acting through Plaid, to retrieve transaction history, balances, and account metadata from your financial institution. You may revoke that authorization at any time by disconnecting the institution in the Accounts page or by contacting your bank. Plaid's terms apply in addition to ours; see plaid.com/legal.

6. Privacy

Our handling of your data is described in the Privacy Policy. By using Zero you accept that policy.

7. Subscription, trial, cancellation, and refunds

Zero has a free tier and one paid subscription, described in the list below. Pricing, currency, and trial length shown at checkout govern. The current plan is $10 USD per month. Charges are made in USD; where that is not your local currency, your card issuer sets the exchange rate and may add its own fee. Subscriptions renew automatically for the same period until you cancel, and you can cancel at any time from Settings → Billing → Manage subscription. Subscriptions started before a price change keep the price they were signed up at until that subscription ends.

• Free tier. Budgeting by hand costs nothing, with no payment method and no time limit: plan a month, give every dollar a job, set sinking funds, track debts, and enter and categorize transactions yourself. This is available to every account for as long as the account exists.
• What the subscription adds. Reports, net worth with its own history, importing and exporting transactions as CSV, sharing one budget across a household, and bank sync via Plaid in the US and Canada, together with the auto-categorization rules that depend on it.
• Free trial. First-time customers can start one 14-day free trial of the paid features through the App Store, Google Play, or our website. A payment method is captured when the trial starts. The subscription begins and your card is charged when the 14 days end unless you cancel before then. The trial covers every paid feature listed above, including bank sync where it is available (the US and Canada). We send a reminder seven days before renewal, however the trial was started.
• After the trial. Cancelling before the 14 days end costs nothing. If the trial ends without an active subscription, the paid features stop and budgeting by hand carries on free. Your data stays put while your account exists. Customers who have previously subscribed or trialed are not eligible for another free trial.
• Recurring billing. Once you subscribe, your card is charged monthly on the same calendar day until you cancel. Failed payments enter a short dunning window during which Stripe retries the charge; access is suspended if the subscription becomes past due.
• Promotion codes. Promo codes (for example FAM50) reduce the recurring price as configured in our payment processor. The applied discount is shown on your invoice and in Settings → Billing.
• Cancellation. You can cancel at any time from Settings → Billing → Manage subscription. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You keep access until then and are not charged again. You can also schedule account deletion from Settings → Delete account; this stops your subscription from renewing and removes all data once the deletion timer runs out (you can cancel the scheduled deletion any time before then).
• Refunds. Subscription fees are non-refundable except where required by applicable consumer protection law. If you believe you were charged in error (for example, a duplicate charge after cancellation), email hello@zerobudget.ca within 14 days of the charge and we will investigate and, where appropriate, refund. Refunds, when issued, are processed back to the original payment method via our payment processor (Stripe) and may take 5–10 business days to appear.
• Taxes. Prices are exclusive of any applicable sales tax (GST/HST/PST/QST in Canada or equivalent). Tax is added at checkout where required and shown on your invoice.
• Price changes. We may change subscription pricing on at least 30 calendar days' notice by email. Changes apply to renewals after the notice period; you can cancel before the new price takes effect.

8. Termination

• You may schedule account deletion at any time from Settings → Delete account. Deletion runs at the end of your current billing period (or 30 calendar days from the request if you don't have an active subscription). When the timer arrives, your subscription is canceled, your card on file is removed from our payment processor, and all of your data is permanently deleted. You can cancel the scheduled deletion any time before it runs.
• We may suspend or terminate access if you materially breach these Terms (for example, attempting to access another household's data) or if we are required to by law.
• Upon termination, we delete your data on the schedule described in the Privacy Policy.

9. Service availability

Zero is provided "as is" and "as available." Bank connections rely on Plaid and on your financial institution and may be unavailable from time to time without notice. We do not guarantee uptime, completeness of transaction sync, or continued support of any specific institution.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Zero and its operator are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenue, arising out of or related to your use of the service. Direct damages, if any, are limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the twelve months preceding the claim or (b) one hundred Canadian dollars (CAD 100). Some jurisdictions do not allow these exclusions; in those jurisdictions our liability is limited to the minimum allowed by law.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date above reflects the latest revision. Material changes will be announced in the app on next sign-in. Continued use after the announcement constitutes acceptance.

12. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Alberta, Canada, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Disputes will be resolved in the courts located in Alberta, Canada, subject to any non-waivable consumer-protection rights you may have under your local law.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms: email hello@zerobudget.ca with the subject Zero terms.