Smith 
Saving money has always been tough, and modern technology hasn’t necessarily made it easier. Remember when you had to go out of your way to buy clothes or household items? Now, you can just pick up your phone and have anything delivered. Plus, there are all these subscription boxes that might drain your wallet for stuff you might not even need. But, tech isn’t all bad, especially for your finances. Money-saving apps can help you save small amounts effortlessly and even invest on your behalf.
Money-saving apps and budgeting apps aren’t the same. Budgeting apps like "You Need a Budget" and Qube Money help you plan and track your spending. Money-saving apps, on the other hand, actually help you stash away more money each month in different ways. We checked out the top money-saving apps to find the best all-around options. Acorns came out on top because it’s easy to use and makes saving and investing seamless. But we also found other apps worth considering if you want to hit your savings targets this year.
Important Factors for Money-Saving Apps
Cost: Don’t pay too much for an app meant to help you save. We looked for apps with small, manageable fees.
Growth Potential: You want your savings to grow. Look for apps that let you invest your savings or promise a good return over time.
Flexibility: You should be able to tailor the app to your needs, setting specific savings goals or even different savings “buckets.”
Safety: Make sure the app has solid security features like encryption and multi-factor authentication.
Best Money-Saving Apps
We assessed more than 10 apps aimed at helping people save money to create our favorites list. Whether you want to boost your savings this year or think technology might help, here’s where to start:
Best For Investing: Acorns
What We Love: Acorns lets you invest spare change, making it effortless to save small sums you won’t miss. It offers three plans: Lite, Personal, and Family, all including an investing component to help your money grow. The Personal version offers investment assistance, retirement help, a checking component, and even a metal debit card. There are no account fees, ATM fee reimbursements, and up to 10% in bonus investments. Acorns’ portfolios consist of ETFs ranging from conservative to aggressive.
What’s the Catch: The stock market isn’t always positive, especially short-term. You could lose money if you only invest for a little while.
Cost: $1 per month for Lite, $3 for Personal, and $5 for Family.
Best For High-Yield Savings: Simple
What We Love: Simple offers great savings tools along with a free checking account and debit card. You can get notifications for transactions, set financial goals, manage expenses, and allocate “Safe to Spend” funds. It rounds up debit card transactions to the nearest dollar and transfers the difference to a high-yield savings subaccount with 1.00% APY. Usually, it’s free to use, apart from fees for paper checks or out-of-network ATMs.
What’s the Catch: It doesn’t offer the same robust investing options as Acorns.
Cost: Free to use for managing your money.
Best For Setting Goals: Qapital
What We Love: Qapital helps you save for specific goals and invest for the future. It lets you automate savings and round purchases up to the next dollar. With a fee-free debit card and ATM charges only when used, the app allows separate savings buckets and custom spending rules. It has pre-built portfolios to make investing easy based on how many years you plan to invest.
What’s the Catch: It’s pricier than other saving apps, and its savings account offers below-average interest.
Cost: $3 per month for Basic, $6 for Complete, and $12 for Master Plan.
Best Savings Bonus: Digit
What We Love: Digit automatically analyzes your spending and saves money daily without you thinking about it. The savings go into a Digit savings account. You can create separate savings buckets for specific goals and get a .5% annual savings bonus paid every three months. There’s also a 30-day free trial to try it out.
What’s the Catch: It’s not geared towards long-term investments; it focuses on saving.
Cost: Free for the first 30 days, then $5 per month.
Best For Automation: Stash
What We Love: Stash combines investing with setting money aside. You can invest in thousands of stocks and funds, even with a small account balance. The Auto-Stash feature allows automatic transfers from your bank and rounds up purchases to invest the difference.
What’s the Catch: The most generous plan is costly at $9 per month.
Cost: $1 per month for Beginner, $3 for Growth, and $9 for Stash+.
How We Found the Best Money-Saving Apps
We looked for apps that automate saving to make it as easy as possible to grow your wealth. Here’s what we took into account:
Monthly Cost: Apps should be affordable, usually $5 or less per month.
Automation Features: The best apps offer automatic transfers, round-ups, or both.
Safety Features: We checked for 256-bit encryption or better, multi-factor authentication, and notifications.
Reviews: All apps on our list have at least 4 out of 5 stars on Google Play.
Making the Most of Your Money-Saving App
Downloading an app is a great start, but you’ll need to do more to maximize your savings. Here are some tips:
Use all security features. Enable multi-factor authentication if possible.
Fully utilize automation to save effortlessly.
Get your spouse or partner involved to double your savings impact.
Invest for the long-term if the app offers it. Focus on investing for retirement or long-term goals.
Leave your savings to grow over time.
Summary: Best Money-Saving Apps
App Best For:
Acorns Investing
Simple High-Yield Savings
Qapital Setting Goals
Digit Savings Bonus Potential
Stash Automation
Bottom Line: Top Money-Saving Apps
Today’s tech-driven world might make saving tough, but innovative apps can help. Acorns tops the list by investing spare change effortlessly. Simple offers high-yield savings tools with a checking account. Qapital lets users set and automate savings goals, while Digit simplifies saving with automatic analysis and bonuses. Stash blends investment and savings features for long-term goals. Focus on cost-effectiveness, growth potential, flexibility, and security to pick the right app.
By embracing technology and leveraging these apps’ features, you can set yourself on a path to better financial health.
