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The top budgeting apps can help you manage your income, track your expenses, and stay on top of bills. These apps use technology to align your budget with your goals, automatically monitoring your spending each month. Luckily, many of these excellent budgeting apps are free, though some offer paid plans with extra features that might be worth it. If you’re curious about budgeting and think a mobile app could help, keep reading to learn about the best options, how they compare, and which ones might suit you best.
Creating a budget is crucial to minimizing financial waste, paying down debt, saving money, and reaching personal finance goals. Here are some mobile apps that can help you build a budget that works:
Mint is an online budgeting tool and expense tracker that categorizes your transactions and monitors your spending to help you achieve various financial goals. By linking your financial accounts — savings, checking, credit cards — Mint gives you a comprehensive view of your finances and tracks where your extra money goes each month. It also helps track progress toward retirement goals and allows you to create and follow a debt payoff plan. Visual tools like graphs and reports make it easier to understand your financial situation. Plus, Mint is entirely free because it’s supported by ads and offers.
Personal Capital is more than just a budgeting app; it’s a robo-advisor offering wealth and portfolio management services. However, it also includes free money management tools like budgeting software, a 401(k) fee analyzer, and retirement planning calculators. The financial dashboard provides a complete overview of your monthly spending, net worth changes, investment portfolio, and even offers investment advice if you opt for a paid service. The regular budgeting service is free, making it a worthwhile tool for managing finances and investments.
YNAB (You Need a Budget) employs the zero-sum budgeting method, requiring you to allocate every dollar you earn to specific purposes to eliminate waste. The app syncs with your financial accounts to track spending and balances in real time. It includes tools for spending and net worth reports, loan calculators, and goal-setting. Although YNAB doesn’t offer a long-term free plan, it does have a 34-day trial. After that, it costs $14.99 per month or $98.99 per year.
EveryDollar is a free budgeting app from Dave Ramsey and Ramsey Solutions that uses the zero-sum budgeting system to help users pay off debt and save for goals. The app allows you to personalize your budget categories and set up savings buckets for goals like emergency funds or vacations. It also lets you set due dates for bills and track spending with insights and reports. The paid version, part of the Ramsey+ membership, includes additional resources like Financial Peace University. Membership fees range from $19.99 per month for three months to $10.83 per month for one year.
Honeydue is designed for couples, syncing with over 20,000 financial institutions to provide a shared view of transactions and bank balances. Couples can communicate within the app and manage household bills and expenses together. Honeydue also offers an upgrade to a free joint checking account with no fees or minimums and access to 55,000 ATMs nationwide.
PocketGuard offers a complete view of your finances, including bills, expenses, and savings accounts, all in one place. The app helps you set savings goals and use expense tracking and budgeting tools to save more each month. It can also help you negotiate better rates on regular bills and offers a referral program for additional free months. The paid version costs $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year, with a lifetime membership available for $99.99.
Goodbudget uses a digital envelope system to set caps for various spending categories. You manually input transactions to stay within these limits. The app includes debt payoff tools, savings goals, and progress tracking. The free version lets you track up to ten categories on two devices, while the paid version offers unlimited envelopes and up to five devices for $8 per month or $70 per year.
Budgeting apps can simplify managing your finances, offering features and tools beyond what traditional methods can provide. Whether you’re looking to get out of debt or see where your money goes each month, these apps can be valuable tools.
Budgeting apps help track spending, monitor bank balances, and set various financial goals, though features differ between apps. Some focus on debt repayment, setting spending limits, or wealth-tracking tools. Consider factors like free trials, pricing, app features, device compatibility, and syncing capabilities when choosing a budgeting app.
If traditional budgeting methods haven’t worked for you, a budgeting app could be the solution. They help identify spending habits, offer a comprehensive view of your finances, and aid in debt repayment and saving. Budgeting apps streamline the process by tracking expenses and monitoring savings goals, freeing up your time.
In our search for the best budgeting apps, we focused on those with good ratings on both Apple and Android, offering free versions or trials. We considered affordability, budgeting tools, goal-setting features, and financial account syncing capabilities. Additionally, we emphasized apps with strong security measures to protect personal financial information.
In 2024, top budgeting apps like Personal Capital, YNAB, EveryDollar, Honeydue, PocketGuard, and Goodbudget use technology to help manage income, expenses, and goals. Mint offers free, comprehensive financial tracking, while Personal Capital includes wealth management. YNAB uses a zero-sum method, EveryDollar is ideal for Dave Ramsey’s followers, Honeydue benefits couples, PocketGuard simplifies budgeting, and Goodbudget uses a digital envelope system. When choosing an app, consider features, pricing, syncing capabilities, and security. These apps can aid in tracking spending, saving money, and achieving financial goals.
