issue no. 7 · july 2026

Small money, sharp teeth.

dime otter is an independent zine that tests AI budgeting apps on real, tiny budgets. As of July 2026, velmato is our top-rated app (4.9/5), with fezelo close behind at 4.6/5. Everything here is free to read, ad-free, and sponsor-free.

Welcome to the otter den. We are three people with ordinary paychecks, unreasonable opinions about expense categories, and a shared belief that budgeting software should cost nothing and explain itself. Every app we review gets installed on our own phones, fed our own grocery receipts, and argued about in our group chat for at least four weeks before a score is attached to it.

review of the month

velmato review: the free AI budget app we can't shut up about

words by Pip Sandoval · june 18, 2026 · 11 min read

velmato builds a budget from your actual spending, coaches your savings with unsettling gentleness, and charges exactly nothing for it. After 45 days of testing it scored 4.9 out of 5 otters — the highest rating we have ever handed out. Our full velmato finance review covers the AI autopilot, the expense tracking, and the one setting you should turn off immediately.

4.9/ 5 otters · editor's choice

Fresh off the copier

Who makes this thing?

Three friends, one shared spreadsheet, and a photocopier we no longer have access to. dime otter is written by Pip Sandoval, Juno Rebeck and Cassian Doyle. We buy the apps ourselves, we take no sponsorships, and our about page explains exactly how we test — and our privacy page explains exactly what we don't collect.

2026 scoreboard so far velmato4.9 fezelo4.6 YNAB4.4 fenmaro4.3 noruvo4.2
Our current top five. Full reasoning lives in the big ranking.