Frequently asked questions
Everything people usually ask before signing up for Karchu - supported formats, categorization, security, pricing, and how it compares to the alternatives.
What is a bank statement analyzer?
A bank statement analyzer is a tool that reads statement files from your bank (CSV, Excel, or PDF), extracts the individual transactions, categorizes them, and turns them into charts and reports. Karchu is a bank statement analyzer built for individuals, freelancers, and small teams - it works without connecting directly to your bank.
What bank statement formats does Karchu support?
CSV, XLSX, XLS, PDF (including scanned PDFs via on-device OCR), and plain TXT exports. Files up to 25 MB each. You can queue multiple statements at once; Karchu deduplicates overlapping transactions across statements automatically.
Can Karchu convert a PDF bank statement to Excel?
Yes. Upload the PDF, let Karchu extract the transactions, then export the result as CSV or Excel. The exported file has clean columns for date, description, merchant, debit, credit, and balance - no post-processing needed to import into QuickBooks, Xero, or a personal spreadsheet.
How does automatic categorization work?
Karchu ships with a deterministic rule engine. Rules match on merchant name, description keywords, amount ranges, and account type. Sensible defaults cover common merchants out of the box; you extend the rules by editing one entry, and every matching transaction - past and future - updates immediately.
Do you use AI to categorize transactions?
The default engine is rule-based, not AI. That means categorization is deterministic and editable - the same input always gives the same output, and you can see exactly why a transaction landed in a given category. AI is available for optional tasks like receipt line-item extraction on higher-tier plans.
Does Karchu connect to my bank account directly?
No. Karchu never asks for your bank login and doesn’t use bank-aggregation services like Plaid. You bring the statement files; Karchu does the analysis. That trade-off is deliberate - it keeps the tool safe to use for sensitive business finances and easy to adopt inside regulated organizations.
Is my financial data private?
Yes. Files live in your private workspace. Every database read is scoped to your organization at the row level, so users in other workspaces cannot see your data. See the security page for details on encryption, roles, and deletion.
Can I use Karchu with my team?
Yes. Each organization supports multiple members with granular roles - owner, manager, accountant, analyst, employee, viewer. Invite teammates by email; they see only what their role allows.
How much does Karchu cost?
There’s a 30-day free trial on every paid plan. Pricing details, plan limits, and what’s included live on the pricing page. You can cancel at any time from Settings → Billing; access continues until the end of the current billing period.
Can I export my transactions?
Yes, at any time, on every plan. Export any view - a category, a date range, a single account, or the whole workspace - to CSV or Excel with one click.
How is Karchu different from a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet gives you rows; Karchu gives you rows plus categorization, dashboards, and multi-statement dedupe - all reusable across future statements. You stop rewriting formulas every month.
How is Karchu different from QuickBooks or Xero?
QuickBooks and Xero are full accounting suites with invoicing, payroll, and bookkeeping. Karchu focuses on one thing: turning statements into a clear, categorized picture of where money went. It complements - rather than replaces - a full ledger, and exports cleanly into both.