Last updated 20 August 2026
Pesto Budget holds your financial records. This explains exactly what we store, why, who can see it, and how to get it back or delete it.
The short version. We store what you put in the app so we can show it back to you. We don't sell it, share it with advertisers, or use it to build a profile of you. We never ask for your bank login. You can export everything or delete it all, at any time, without asking us.
Pesto Budget is operated by Robert Richards in Ontario, Canada. Contact: privacy@pestobudget.com. For privacy law purposes we are the organisation responsible for the personal information described here.
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your email address | To identify your account, sign you in, and send you security notices |
| Your display name and household name | Shown in the app; optional |
| A hash of your password | To check your password without ever storing it. We cannot read your password |
| Your two-factor secret, if you enable it | Encrypted before storage |
| Financial records you enter or import: accounts, balances, transactions, payees, categories, budgets, goals, notes, receipts | This is the product. It exists to be shown back to you |
| Sign-in sessions: device description, IP address, times | So you can see where you're signed in and revoke anything you don't recognise |
| An activity log of security-relevant actions | So that "who changed this" is answerable after the fact |
| Feedback and bug reports you send us, with the page and browser you were on | To reproduce and fix problems |
We use your information to run the service you asked for: to show you your money, to sign you in securely, to send transactional email (confirming your address, resetting your password, sign-in codes, security alerts), to take payment if you subscribe, and to fix problems you report.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. We do not use your financial data to train machine-learning models.
Your data is stored on a server in Canada. Our email and payment providers may process limited data (your email address; your billing details) outside Canada, including in the United States, where different laws apply.
Where encryption stops, and why. Transaction amounts, dates, categories and payee names are stored as ordinary values rather than ciphertext, because the app has to sort, total and search them. They are protected by access control and database-level separation instead. We would rather tell you exactly where the line is than claim everything is encrypted.
No system is perfectly secure. If we discover a breach affecting your personal information that creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required by law.
Your records stay until you delete them. When you delete your account, financial records are removed immediately. Your user record is retained in a stripped-down form, with the email address scrambled so it cannot identify you, so that the security log remains coherent. Security log entries and payment records are kept as long as needed for security and legal obligations. Backups roll off after 30 days.
One cookie, pesto_session, which keeps you signed in. It is essential to the service, is not used for tracking, and there are no advertising cookies. Signing out removes it.
Pesto Budget is not intended for anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their information.
If we make a material change we'll email account holders before it takes effect. The date at the top always reflects the current version.
Last updated 20 August 2026
The agreement between you and Pesto Budget. Written to be read.
The short version. Use it sensibly, keep your password safe, and pay if you're on a paid plan. It's a record-keeping tool, not financial advice, and you're responsible for checking your own numbers. You can leave any time and take your data with you.
Pesto Budget is a household budgeting tool. It records financial information you enter or import and presents it back to you as balances, budgets and reports. It is operated by Robert Richards in Ontario, Canada.
Nothing in Pesto Budget is financial, tax, accounting, or investment advice. Figures are calculated from what you put in. We do not verify them against your bank, and we do not guarantee they are accurate or complete. Check anything that matters against your actual statements, and consult a qualified professional before making decisions. Reports you export are your responsibility to verify before relying on them, including for tax purposes.
Inviting someone to your household gives them full access to everything in it: accounts, balances, transactions, notes and receipts. They can add, edit and delete. Only invite people you would show your bank statements to. An owner can remove a member at any time; removal does not un-see what they have already seen.
Don't attempt to break into other people's accounts, probe or attack the service, scrape it, resell it, or use it to store anything unlawful. We may suspend an account engaged in any of that.
If you're a security researcher and you find a vulnerability, please tell us at security@pestobudget.com before disclosing it. We won't pursue you for good-faith research that doesn't access other people's data or degrade the service.
You keep ownership of everything you put in. You grant us only the permission needed to store and display it back to you and to operate the service. You can export it whenever you like and delete it whenever you like — see the privacy policy.
We aim to keep the service running but do not promise uninterrupted availability. It may be unavailable for maintenance, or because of failures outside our control. Keep your own backups of anything you can't afford to lose — the export button exists for exactly this.
The service is provided "as is", without warranties of any kind, to the extent the law allows.
We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for financial decisions you make using the app. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim.
Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including for fraud, or for anything under consumer protection law in your province that cannot be waived.
You can delete your account at any time from account settings. We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, or discontinue the service entirely — in which case we'll give you reasonable notice and time to export your data.
We may update these terms. For material changes we'll email you at least 30 days beforehand. Continuing to use the service afterwards means you accept the new terms; if you don't, delete your account before they take effect.
These terms are governed by the laws of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applying there. Disputes go to the courts of Ontario, except that either of us may bring a claim in small claims court where eligible.
General: support@pestobudget.com
Privacy: privacy@pestobudget.com
Security: security@pestobudget.com