7 of the Best Budgeting Apps

With numerous budgeting apps available on the market, it’s essential you know which ones are the best and what they have to offer so you don’t waste your time, money, and privacy.

The best budgeting apps take into account your lifestyle and financial situation, can be tailored to your budgeting style, and offer great customer service.

Let’s take a look at the leading contenders.

Why Use a Budgeting App?

The primary reason you should use a budgeting app is because it helps you save money. These apps provide organization so you are informed, as you ought to be, of exactly where all of your money is coming from and going to.

Many people, once they start tracking their expenses, are shocked to see how much more money they spend than they think. Using a budgeting app will help you see where all of your money is going and thus, how you can cut back on your spending and save a significant amount of money.

There are a few different ways to keep track of your budget. Some people may prefer a budget template or spreadsheet, but many people prefer the convenience of a mobile app.

The 7 Best Budgeting Apps

All of these apps have something different to offer. The “right” app for you will be the one that meets your needs and fits with your own situation.

1. Mint – The Best Overall Budgeting App

This app, owned by Intuit, (which also makes QuickBooks and TurboTax), is widely considered to be one of the best budgeting apps. It offers numerous features that help you manage your money from a huge list of banks, brokerages, lenders, credit card companies, and other financial institutions.

Mint links up to any of these accounts and categorizes your spending habits in sections like gas and fuel, groceries, clothing, etc.

Another great aspect of Mint is it sends push notifications, alerting you when you have a bill payment coming up, an overly large purchase, or when you overdraw on an account.

• Price: Free
• Key feature(s): Mint sends push notifications for important transactions; no other app does this.
• Device availability: iOS and Android

2. You Need a Budget (YNAB) – The Best Budgeting App for Hands-On Users

Like Mint, YNAB connects with your credit cards and bank accounts, importing any and all transactions into the app’s database.

YNAB differs from other budgeting apps in that it assigns a “job” to every dollar that comes into your account. The dollar can be assigned to living expenses, debts, investments, savings, and any other job you want that dollar to work towards.

With every dollar being accounted for, you can rest assured that no money will be wasted and that every dollar will be used on important things.

YNAB also has a great feature called “budget inspector”, which allows users to view a quick summary of their cash flow and expected spending.

• Price: Free 30-day trial, then either $5 per month or $50 per year
• Key feature(s): YNAB forces you to think about every single dollar you spend by assigning it a job.
• Device availability: Desktop, iOS, Android, and Amazon Alexa devices

3. EveryDollar – The Best Budgeting App for Passive Users

EveryDollar is Dave Ramsey’s budgeting tool. That alone will attract a lot of users to this app.

This app creates a monthly budget. You start by adding your monthly income and then plan your expenses with a customizable template. All you do from here onwards is follow the plan you made and track your spending.

There is a free version and a plus version of the app. The free version allows you to create unlimited budgets, track transactions, and provides email support.

The plus version allows three additional features: the ability to connect your bank for faster expense tracking, viewing account balances with EveryDollar, and call-back support along with coaching calls.

• Price: Free with limited features or $99 per year for all features
• Key feature(s): Ease of use as it provides you with a customizable template.
• Device availability: iOS and Android

4. Empower – The Best Budgeting App for Investors

A combination of a robo-advisor and a finance app, Empower is the perfect app for an investor.

The Empower app is free to use, and there are some really nice features like net worth tracking, expense tracking, and reporting based on your investments. Net worth tracking is probably the strength of Empower, and the app links to your accounts to automatically calculate and track your net worth.

As far as budgeting is concerned, Empower can help you to track your expenses. The budgeting features and functionality aren’t quite on par with the other apps in this list, but the net worth tracking and reporting features (plus the fact that it’s free) make Empower worthy of your attention.

In addition to the app, Empower also wealth management services that are somewhat of a cross between a traditional advisor and a robo advisor. The account minimum for the investment services is $100,000. You can invest this money is numerous appreciable assets, from real estate to stocks. This app provides hands-off management and expert tax-harvesting.

• Price: The app is free, the fee for wealth management is 0.89% of the total managed assets
• Key feature(s): Is both a robo-advisor and a budgeting software so you are not only saving money but earning it.
• Device availability: Desktop, iOS, and Android

5. Wally – The Simplest Budgeting App

Wally allows you to enter all of your income sources and expenses manually, allowing you to view all of your personal finances at any time.

Though many may find this tedious, it’s beneficial to individuals with multiple accounts and/or those who worry about giving all of their personal financial data away.

A further benefit of this app is that it supports almost every currency in the world, making it a great choice for foreigners.

• Price: Free
• Key feature(s): Very simple software that gets the job done. It is also the best option for foreign countries not supported by the other apps.
• Device availability: iOS and Android

6. Goodbudget – The Best Budgeting App for Couples

This is the best budgeting app for couples. It is based around the familiar and simple “envelope system” of budget planning, where couples pool all of their personal finances into the app and divide them into compartments.

At the beginning of each month, you place defined amounts of money into each envelope and renew at the beginning of the following month.

It is great for couples since Goodbudget allows multiple users to log into a single account across several devices.

You can also manually import transactions/expenses into your account(s).

• Price: Free with basic functions and 10 envelopes or the Plus version with premium features and unlimited envelopes for $6 per month or $50 per year
• Key feature(s): Allows you to add multiple users’ financial data into one account.
• Device availability: Desktop, iOS, and Android

7. PocketGuard – The Best for Protecting Your Money

As you may have guessed, PocketGuard is the best for guarding your money and keeping you from overspending.

This app allows you to link all of your financial accounts and helps track your spending compared to your budget on a monthly basis.

It’s one of the easier apps to setup. Simply connect your accounts and PocketGuard will track your earnings, any bills, everyday expenses, and savings account(s).

This app has a unique feature that allows you to track each individual bill and find ways to save by providing suggestions on where to cut back and it even searches the internet for better deals on internet, cell service, and more.

• Price: Free
• Key feature(s): Provides great suggestions and better deals along with the normal budgeting software, saving you more money.
• Device availability: iOS and Android

What to Look for in a Good Budgeting App

Though budgeting apps will vary in many ways, there are a few attributes that make a budgeting app good and all of them will share these.

1. An App That Suits Your Style

There are tons of budgeting apps on the market, with each one targeting specific individuals with specific wants and needs. Some are designed for individuals who want complete control over their budgeting. Others are designed for persons who want a laid-out strategy and template with which all they do is plug in numbers.

Some apps, as you will see in this article, help reinvest a user’s money to earn more money rather than just save.

2. Platform Availability

What good is a budgeting app if you can’t use it? Some budgeting apps do not work on certain devices such as laptops or iPads. It is important to make sure that the budgeting app you use (and possibly pay money for) is compatible with the device(s) you plan to use it on.

3. Good Customer Service

Technology can and does malfunction from time-to-time. There may be things that you don’t understand about your budgeting app and you need help with it.

The best budgeting apps ensure that you have access to great customer service and tech support.

They will allow you to contact them through a number of avenues, namely phone and email, and help you easily and comfortably.

If you are really bad at using technology, you may search for budgeting apps that offer extended customer service options. This is, however, probably not necessary since tech support will walk you through everything simply, on the phone or email.

READ NEXT: How to Create a Budget That Works