A basic budgeting app will usually connect you to your financial accounts and let you track and categorize your spending so you can see where your money is going, but many apps do much more than that.
Best Budgeting App
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Read on for a quick read on how you can set yourself up to achieve your spending and money goals.
YNAB, practical zero-based budgeting
Reasons why we recommend it: The app is designed to help users plan their financial decisions ahead of time, rather than tracking past transactions. Zero-Based Budgeting With this system, you create a plan for every dollar you earn.
As soon as you get your paycheck, you tell YNAB how much of your income you want to allocate to different categories, such as expenses, savings, debt, etc. The idea is that when you're encouraged to actively decide how you want to spend your money, you'll be more intentional with it.
YNAB is arguably the most practical tool for making all of these decisions, and to help users get up the learning curve, the YNAB website offers a number of educational resources that explain exactly how to create a budget and use the app.
YNAB lets you link checking and savings accounts, credit cards and loans, and the app works on mobile, desktop, iPad, Apple Watch and Alexa.
Here's why you might want to think again: You'll need some dedication to stick with YNAB. By design, it's best for people who want to be hands-on with their financial planning. It's also pricey, so if you're looking to save money, consider one of the free budgeting apps later on in the list.
Fee: It costs $14.99 per month or $109 per year, but you can try it out with a 34-day free trial. College students can get YNAB for free for one year.
Goodbudget, a practical envelope budgeting tool
Reasons why we recommend it: Goodbudget focuses more on financial planning than tracking past transactions. The app Envelope Budgeting SystemSo, you take your monthly income and break it down into specific spending categories (called envelopes).
The app doesn't connect to your bank account. You manually add your account balance (which you can get from your bank's website), as well as cash amounts, debts, and income. You then allocate the money between envelopes.
You can access the app from your phone or the web, and you'll also find plenty of helpful articles and videos to help you use the app.
Goodbudget offers a free version that allows one account, two devices, and limited envelopes. The paid version, Goodbudget Premium, allows unlimited envelopes and accounts, up to five devices, and other perks.
Reasons to think again: It doesn't sync financial accounts, so you have to enter all of your spending – if you can't stand that task, this app probably won't work for you.
Fee: Goodbudget is free, Goodbudget Premium costs $10 per month or $80 per year.
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EveryDollar, Simple Zero-Based Budgeting
Reasons why we recommend it: The app offers a simpler (and arguably more manageable) zero-based budgeting framework than YNAB.
Start with EveryDollar's simple free version, where you manually enter your spending throughout the month rather than syncing your accounts, categorize your budget items, and set reminders to pay your bills.
The premium paid version of EveryDollar includes these features, but you can also connect your bank account. Your transactions will automatically appear in the app, and it also gives you custom reports and recommendations based on your habits. You can also connect your savings and investment accounts.
Reasons to think again: EveryDollar's free version is barebones, the premium version is fairly pricey, the app's website offers few resources to help you understand how to use the app before signing up for a trial, and its overall ratings in the App Store and Google Play have declined over the past few years.
Fee: The basic version of EveryDollar is free. You can try the premium version for free for 14 days. After the trial period, you pay $79.99 per year or $17.99 per month.
Empower personal dashboard to track your wealth and spending
Reasons why we recommend it: Empower Personal Dashboard (formerly known as Personal Capital) is primarily an investment tool, but the free app also includes useful features for budgeters who want to track their spending.
You can connect and monitor your checking, savings, credit card, and IRA accounts. 401(k)mortgage, loans. The app gives you a snapshot of your spending by listing your recent transactions by category. You can customize these categories to see how much of your total monthly spending each category represents.
Empower also offers net worth and portfolio tracking features, and the app can be accessed from both mobile and desktop.
Reasons to think again: If your goal is to plan your spending and savings, you may want to try something else. The budgeting features of this app helped it make the list, but the investment tools are what make it unique. Other apps have more in-depth budgeting features.
đŸ¤“Geek Tips
Interested in tools to help you manage your portfolio? Check out NerdWallet's picks Best Investment App.
PocketGuard Simplifies Budget Management Snapshot
Reasons why we recommend it: PocketGuard's feature catalog isn't the most extensive on this list, but that's one of the reasons we love it so much: the app focuses on simplicity.
You can connect your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investments to track your bills, and then the app will show you how much you have left to spend after you've set aside money for essentials, bills, and goals.
PocketGuard also tracks your net worth and gives you the option to track your finances manually without linking your accounts. The paid version, PocketGuard Plus, offers debt repayment plans, trade export options, and other features.
Reasons to think again: This app does a lot of the work for you, which is great because it requires very little effort, but it's not great if you're trying to plan your finances.
Fee: Basic PocketGuard is free, PocketGuard Plus costs $12.99 per month or $74.99 per year.
Honeydue, budgeting with your partner
Reasons why we recommend it: Honeydue is designed so that you and your partner can see each other's financial situation in one app. Both partners can sync their bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investments (but you can choose how much you share with your partner).
The free budget app automatically categorizes your spending, but you can also create custom categories. Set monthly limits for each of these categories, and Honeydue will alert you when you or your partner are approaching those limits.
Honeydue also sends notifications for upcoming bills and lets you chat and send emojis.
Reasons to think again: Like some of the other apps on our list, Honeydue focuses more on looking back and learning from past transactions than planning your expenses ahead of time.
NerdWallet Budgeting Resources
Free NerdWallet App You can track your cash flow, including how your expenses fit into the 50/30/20 budget guidelines. You can also check your net worth and liabilities, monitor your credit score, and more.
Here are some other options you can try for free:
How to identify the best budgeting app
To create the list above, we looked for apps that allow users to:
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Sync multiple types of financial accounts (you can also opt out of syncing).
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Plan your financial decisions in advance instead of simply tracking past transactions.
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Categorize and review your expenses to understand your spending patterns.
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Track invoices and receive alerts when payments are due soon.
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Share financial information with partners.
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Access the app from both mobile and desktop.
We also looked for useful features like credit score and net worth displays, investment tracking features, and detailed help guides. We also looked at apps that were free or relatively inexpensive.
Real user experiences matter too, so we read app reviews on the iOS App Store and Google Play, noting complaints and praise. We only included apps with a rating of 4.5 or higher out of 5 stars on the iOS App Store or 3 or higher out of 5 stars on Google Play and 1,000 or more reviews. These ratings were verified and updated on August 12, 2024.