Pulse Local is a Mac-first budgeting app that runs its AI models entirely on your device so your ledger, questions, and model weights never leave your machine. It downloads about 2.9 GB of models on first start (one 2.5 GB checker can be disabled) and otherwise only checks for app updates. Bank sync is optional and routed through Plaid for US banks: transactions pass through the server’s memory but are not stored, while the server retains only a connection token and metadata (institution, status, last sync). Outside Plaid-supported banks, CSV import keeps everything local. The models are small, open weights the team tunes and benchmarks publicly, and the system double-checks numeric answers by running two readings and flagging uncertainty rather than guessing.
Functionally it’s a full budgeting product - plans, rules, splits, forecasts, cash-flow, category breakdowns and a chat that answers from your own transactions in English. Money calculations were validated against six months of a real ledger to the cent; conversational answers take 12-14 seconds with checking enabled. Trade-offs include single-machine ledgers unless you pay for sync, English-only chat, Mac Apple Silicon required for now, and some accuracy limits compared with frontier cloud models. Pricing is pay-what-you-want with free use; a Sync Pass ($29/yr) covers live bank sync costs.
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