Top 10 Apps To Budget Money
Budgeting is often challenging for most people who are trying to save money or looking to spend it more wisely.
However, with the appropriate budgeting app, you should be able to keep track of your spending patterns, identify strategies to increase your savings, or budget successfully without stressing yourself too much by mentally calculating every penny you spend.
Most simple budgeting apps and software will link your financial accounts, keep tabs on spending, and group expenses into categories so you can see where your money is going. And the more advanced budget money apps are capable of far more.
What Does A Budgeting App Do?
- The basic apps to budget money will assist you in keeping track of your finances, displaying your income, and categorizing your expenses so you can understand where and how much money you spend.
- Nevertheless, many budgeting apps provide way more than you can think of. The best apps to budget money usually include additional services like tracking your investments, bills, savings, and/or credit score. They will notify you when a bill is due soon or suggest strategies to save money.
- Spending is automatically tracked by budgeting most apps because they frequently sync with your bank accounts and credit cards. Some require that you input your transactions manually, which can take time and others are automatic.
How To Identify The Best Budgeting Apps?
There are major aspects to look at when considering apps to budget money.
You most certainly don’t want to spend a lot of money on creating a budget if you are concerned about keeping track of your spending in the first place.
Because of this, price will play a significant role in establishing your choice.
Your approach should focus on budgeting app functions, usability, and compatibility across platforms.
Here are a few questions you should ask yourself before choosing an app to budget money over the others.
Depending on your specific needs you will want to pick an app to budget money based on what you want to achieve and your financial goals.
Given the whole point of using a budget money app is to save money, it goes without saying you want to spend as little as possible on the app but you also want as many features as you can get.
Enough can never be said when it comes to security, especially since you might be linking your bank accounts and credit cards to your apps to budget money.
Make sure the app you pick has some sort of data encryption for your safety.
It is highly recommended to always look at reviews to get a feel of what actual users are saying about the app.
The user experience is one of the best ways to know what you are getting.
10 Best Apps To Budget Money
When it comes to budgeting, Mint keeps track of all your expenses and categorizes them. These categories, which are infinite, can be customized.
You can specify upper and lower bounds for these categories, and Mint will alert you when you’re getting close to them.
Along with its budgeting capabilities, Mint can aid users in tracking objectives, increasing savings, and paying off debt.
The app also displays the user’s net worth and credit score. Mint also offers comprehensive FAQs as well as a ton of help for using the app.
Mint can boast of extremely positive reviews on Google Play and the App Store. It has also received by far the most reviews of any other app of its kind.
It syncs numerous types of accounts for free, including credit cards, loans, investments, and bank and savings accounts.
The fact that Mint tracks practically everything for you is one of its many outstanding features. But if you want to budget more actively and directly, that might not be the best option.
Drawbacks:
Other applications on this list might suit your needs better if you’re looking for an app that helps you manage your finances in advance rather than just track them after the fact.
Cost:
Free
Instead of tracking past purchases, this app encourages users to make financial decisions for the future. With the zero-based budgeting method, which YNAB uses, you must create a plan for each dollar you earn.
You tell YNAB how much of your income should go toward categories, such as costs, goals, and savings, as soon as you receive payment.
The theory behind this is that when you’re forced to actively choose what to do with your money, you become more intentional with it.
YNAB is as hands-on as it gets with all of the decision-making.
The YNAB website provides a wealth of instructional tools that detail exactly how to budget and use the app in order to assist users in navigating its learning curve.
You can link your credit cards, loans, checking and savings accounts, and much more with YNAB. The app is compatible with Alexa, iPad, Apple Watch, desktop, and phone.
YNAB also has the top Google Play rating and a tie for the highest Apple Store rating with a few other apps.
Drawbacks:
In order to maintain YNAB, you need to be dedicated. It is intended to function best for those who prefer to be hands-on while making financial plans. Additionally, compared to the other apps on our list, its price is exorbitant.
Cost:
It costs either $14.99 per month or $98.99 per year, but you can test it out for 34 days without paying anything. For up to one year, YNAB is free to use for college students.
Although Personal Capital’s free app has features that are beneficial for budgeters trying to track their expenditure, it is primarily a tool for investors.
Checking, savings, and credit card accounts, as well as IRAs, 401(k)s, mortgages, and loans, can all be connected to and tracked.
The app shows a snapshot of recent purchases by categorizing them. You can edit those categories and see what proportion of your monthly spending each one accounts for.
In addition, Personal Capital offers a portfolio and net worth tracker. Both a phone and a computer can access the app.
Drawbacks:
If your objective is to budget your expenditures and save, you might want to choose a different path.
Although the budgeting functions of this app helped it make the list, its investment options are what set it apart. Other apps offer more detailed budgeting features.
Cost:
Free
Every Dollar helps set deadlines so that your bills can no longer surprise you.
The app establishes due dates for expenses to facilitate planning, you can divide up those lengthy receipts among several categories and expenditures with EveryDollar.
The app also keeps notes within reach if you want to recall how much something you spent on cost.
Within the app you have the option to make notes for yourself to refer to later.
Drawback:
The free version of EveryDollar aids in budgeting and goal-setting but does not track your net worth or credit score as Mint does.
Cost:
Free
This app is optimal for lowering bill payments,Trim looks at your invoices and spending patterns and shows you where you can save costs.
The most distinctive aspect of Trim is Bill Negotiation, which examines your internet, phone, cable, and wireless bills to see if you can obtain the same service from the provider for less money.
With the potential to save you hundreds of dollars a year, you may use that money to invest, save, or put it toward other costs.
Drawbacks:
You pay 15% of the amount Trim will save you for the year in one flat sum when it negotiates a bill.
You can potentially wind up losing money if you switch internet, cable, phone, or wireless providers in the upcoming year.
Additionally, neither the Apple nor Google Play stores offer an app download for Trim. Instead, you may sign up via email or using Facebook Messenger.
Cost:
Creating an account with Trim is free. If you accept Trim’s suggested bill negotiations, you’ll make a one-time payment equal to 15% of the annual savings Trim generates for you.
Although PocketGuard’s feature set isn’t the most extensive on our list, we still enjoy it because of this. Simplifying is a significant focus of the app.
You can track bills and connect your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investments.
The app uses that information to calculate how much money you have left over after allocating funds for objectives, bills, and essentials.
Additionally, PocketGuard keeps track of your net worth and gives you the option to check your finances manually without linking your accounts.
The paid version, which is PocketGuard Plus, comes with extra features like a strategy to pay off debt and the ability to export your transactions.
Drawbacks:
This program handles a lot of the work for you, which is why you might want to consider it. That works well if you want to have a mostly hands-off experience, but less so if you want to make financial plans.
Cost:
There’s a free version of PocketGuard, and the cost of PocketGuard Plus is $7.99 per month, $34.99 annually, or $79.99 when purchased all at once.
Honeydue is a couple’s budgeting app, it is made so that you and your partner can see each other’s financial profiles in the same application.
Bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investments can all be synced between the partners. However, how much you share with your significant other is entirely up to you.
You can create your own custom categories in addition to the automatic categorization of expenses in the free budget app.
Each of these areas can have monthly limitations set by the two of you, and Honeydue will let you know when you or your partner are approaching them.
Additionally, Honeydue allows you to talk and send emojis while sending reminders for incoming payments.
Drawback:
Honeydue, like a few other applications on this list, is more focused on reflecting on and understanding previous transactions than planning in advance.
Cost:
Free
This is a budgeting app that uses the envelope method. You create envelopes for each category of your budget, such as rent, groceries, eating out, entertainment, etc.
Following that, you put money aside in advance in each envelope to spend according to categories rather than your account balance.
By synchronizing your household budget across all of your iPhones and Android devices, Goodbudget helps you stay in sync.
The individual with whom you are splitting the money is informed of all expenditures, including where, when, and how much you spend.
Using a practical money budget app like Goodbudget help pay off your debts, while setting aside money for other expenses, you can check your debt repayment progress with Debt Accounts on the internet.
Cost:
$8/month or $70 annually, there’s also a free version
Zeta is a budgeting tool created especially for couples looking to budget, which is why it stands out.
Zeta gives you the ability to hide specific financial information from your partner while simultaneously displaying all of your personal and joint finances in one location.
For couples who have pooled their accounts or for those who wish to bank separately, it’s a fantastic option.
You can set individual and collective financial objectives using Zeta.
The app is a useful tool for learning to communicate about your finances because it gives you monthly reminders to create “money dates.”
Drawback:
Zeta’s mobile app offers a user-friendly UI, but their website is out of date and challenging to use.
Cost:
Free
Fudget is a good option if you don’t want to link your financial accounts and value simplicity over fancy features.
You can create lists of receiving and outgoing funds and keep track of your balances in Fudget’s incredibly straightforward interface.
You may export your budget in addition to other bonuses with the Pro account.
Drawbacks:
If you like categorization of spending, insights, or pretty much anything else outside the fundamentals, this software is probably not for you.
And it’s probably advisable to go elsewhere if you lack the patience to record every expense. Additionally, you can not come across many user manuals.
Cost:
Fudget is free; upgrading to Fudget Pro costs $3.99.
After all is said and done, there’s no hard and fast rule that you have to stick to one single budgeting app.
You could easily opt for different apps for different needs.
Mint is the most versatile and has the most extensive features of all the above mentioned budgeting apps, so if you have to pick one it should be the best choice.
