The Comparison page is where you step back from individual transactions and look at the bigger picture: how does this month compare to last month? Are things improving? Which categories are creeping up? This view is often where the most important financial insights come from.
How to Open the Comparison View
Click Comparison under Reports in the sidebar. By default, ZhanPlan shows the most recent 2 months side by side. Use the month selector at the top to choose which months to compare — you can select up to 4 months at once.
What You See in Comparison
The Comparison page shows a side-by-side table with:
- Total Income — for each selected month
- Total Spending — for each selected month
- Net Cash Flow — income minus spending for each month
- Category Breakdown — each spending category shown as a row, with amounts for each selected month
- Percentage change — how much each category increased or decreased month over month
- Trend indicators — arrows showing direction of change per category
How to Use Comparison to Find Patterns
Look for the categories that fluctuate most across your selected months. Categories that are consistently high are your biggest spending areas — the ones worth setting tighter budgets for. Categories that spike in one month often have an explanation: a birthday, a car repair, a seasonal bill.
The most useful comparisons:
- Last 3 months to current month — are you improving overall?
- Same month last year vs this year — are annual patterns repeating?
- Your best spending month vs your worst — what was different?
When you see a category increase by more than 20% month over month, click into the Spending page for that month and filter by that category. You will almost always find a specific transaction that explains the spike.
Income Trend
The Comparison page also shows your income trend across selected months. If income is stable and spending is fluctuating, the work is on the expense side. If income is declining, that is the more urgent issue.
How Comparison Connects to Budget and Health Score
The Comparison page is the visual version of the data that feeds your Health Score's spending control and cash flow dimensions. Months where you spent less than you earned in most categories push your Health Score up. Months where multiple categories went over budget pull it down.
How many months of comparison data can I access?
You can compare any months for which you have imported bank statements. The comparison view allows up to 4 months displayed at once, but you can scroll back through any historical period.
Can I export the comparison data?
Not currently — ZhanPlan's comparison is a dashboard view. If you need the data in spreadsheet form, the underlying transactions are all in the Spending page where you can review them by category and month.
Why do some months show lower income than others even though my salary is the same?
If your paycheck hits on the 1st and 15th, months with 3 paychecks (like when two paydays fall close together in a 5-week month) will show higher income than normal. This is a timing artifact, not a real income change. The monthly average from your Income page gives a more stable baseline.