Want to stay on top of your personal finances?
Using a good budgeting app can help you create, manage, and monitor your budget plan, no matter where you are.
The use of a budgeting app provides you with greater convenience and many other benefits. Modern budgeting apps have become an effective way to keep proper track of personal spending and savings.
I have created a list of the best budgeting apps and tips to choose an app for budgeting, so you can choose the right option!
Let’s start!
What Does Budgeting Apps Do?
Budgeting apps allow you to track personal finances on the go by eliminating the barriers of time, location, and resources. They give you a clear picture of what you earn throughout the month, what you spend, and which expenses should be eliminated to save more bucks.
All budgeting apps are designed for creating personal budget plans and come with unique features and options. They help you make necessary changes in your budget plan in real-time to build strong financial habits.
Best Budgeting Apps Of 2024
With plenty of budgeting apps available these days, it can be daunting to choose a suitable option. To help you make an informed decision, we have created a list of the best budgeting apps of 2024 available in the market. So you can choose the right one that fits your budgeting needs.
1- YNAB (You Need a Budget)
YNAB or ‘you need a budget’ is one of the best budgeting apps and helps users a lot in saving money and getting out of debt. The app doesn’t use insights from the past but focuses on the current situation of the user and future possibilities to manage finances efficiently. YNAB also helps users figure out financial priorities and personal financial goals. As a result, they can better plan their money to save more without getting out of money at the end of the month.
Personal financial goal tracking, reporting, spending habits tracking, and real time customer support are some excellent features of this budgeting app. Whether you want to stay on budget, save more, or pay off debt, YNAB would be a wise choice for you.
Rating
- Android : 4.7/5
- iOS: 4.8/5
2- Quicken Simplifi
It is the best budgeting app for managing personal finances as it helps in tracking bills, setting savings goals and monitoring cash flow. Moreover, you can add your partner or other responsible people to your budget for real time collaboration.
Simplifi comes with all the budgeting features everyone needs to manage finances effectively. The app enables you to import transactions, tag or flag transactions, get real-time alerts for unusual expenses or upcoming bills, set savings goals, and create different financial reports.
The app costs $35.88 per year and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can also connect your bank accounts, credit cards and loans to the app so you can effectively track your total cash flow and net worth.
Rating
- Android: 4.5/5
- iOS: 4.2/5
3- Empower Personal Dashboard
Formerly known as Personal Capital, Empower Personal Dashboard is one of the best budding apps for tracking net worth due to its smart reporting, investment management and spending tracking features. The App provides users with a detailed view of their financial health, from day-to-day spending to portfolio performance. It can also be used on desktops.
Empower Personal Dashboard offers different savings tools to help create different plans like retirement savings, emergency funds or debt repayment plan etc. Its excellent advisory tools, like investment checkup, investment fee analyzer, financial planning, cash flow tracking, education cost planning and real-time net worth tracking make it a perfect match for people looking to manage their finances smartly.
Rating
- Android: 4.1/5
- iOS: 4.7/5
4- PocketGuard
The PocketGuard is a budgeting app that enables you to guard against overspending throughout the month. You can link the app to your bank accounts and cards to track spending compared to a created budget plan.
PocketGuard is very easy to set up and use. It effectively tracks how much you are making every month, and where you are spending all your money throughout the year. The best thing about this budgeting apps is that it helps you find opportunities to save whenever possible.
Rating
- Android: 3.6/5
- iOS: 4.6/5
5- Honeydue
Household finances are an important concern for newlywed couples. The Honeydue app allows couples to manage their finances effectively while staying in touch with each other at the same time. Instead of making calls or sending text messages, couples can communicate with each other within the app to stay on top of personal finances.
The app also helps set bill reminders and payment notifications so couples can communicate easily about bill payments. Furthermore, both parties can also determine who will be responsible for a particular expense. Bank account integration is required to get started with this budgeting app.
Rating
- Android: 3.8/5
- iOS: 4.5/5
6- CountAbout
CountAbout is for individuals and sole proprietors because it comes with features like bookkeeping, accounting, and budgeting to help you manage your personal and business finances altogetger.
CountAbout budgeting app has built-in invoicing and receipt-capturing features to facilitate startups for managing finances. Moreover, the app also enables you to create custom budgets and reports for record keeping.
CountAbout offers two paid plans: Standard for $9.99 per year and Premium for $39.99 per year. The best thing about this app is that you can get a 45-day free trial to try its feature before spending money on paid plans.
Rating
- Android: 4.5/5
- iOS: 4.2/5
7- Fudget
Fudget is a budgeting app for beginners. You just need to input income, add your expenses and mark charges as paid or unpaid to have a clear view of your spending. You can also change the currency symbols and languages in the app to give it a custom look.
Fudget is the best option for high school or college students to learn how to budget without using the complex budgeting features that premium apps offer. It is a good option for those with simple financial situations and for tracking expenses for a specific goal or specific spending purpose.
Rating
- Android: 4.6/5
- iOS: 4.7/5
8- EveryDollar
EveryDollar is one of the best budgeting apps not only for getting out of debt but to save money for other financial objectives., It comes with a zero-based budgeting approach that encourages you to allocate every dollar of income to prevent overspending and pay off debt easily.
Its free plan offers basic budgeting features, like creating custom spending categories, manually entering transactions and setting due dates for utility payments. You can also access your budget details on multiple devices and share household budgets with your spouse.
You need to avail EveryDollar’s Plus subscription for $17.99 per month or $79.99 to unlock additional features like automatic transactions, connecting bank accounts and personalized recommendations for expense tracking.
Rating
- Android: 3.5/5
- iOS: 4.7/5
9 Goodbudget
The envelope budgeting system is one of the traditional budgeting methods to manage personal finances and save money. The GoodBudget app uses the same formula to help you budget and save digitally on your smartphone. The app can also be used to manage shared budget plans, as more than one user can sync their plans with one another.
Furthermore, Goodbudget also provides its users with budgeting education and resources like podcasts, Bootcamp webinars, and blog posts. This keeps users informed about the latest budget methods and trends in the financial industry.
Rating
- Android: 4.1/5
- iOS: 4.6/5
10 Monarch Money
This budgeting app provides a detailed overview of your personal finances to see all your accounts in one place. Monarch is the best app to collaborate with your partner or a financial advisor on your personal budget or when creating savings objectives.
You can customize your Monarch app dashboard to choose what you want to see. It helps you keep the dashboard tidy. It also allows you to categorize your financial transactions and you can access and filter them all in one place.
According to their team, they add new features to the app on a monthly basis according to the user feedback to provide a seamless user experience.
Rating
- Android: 4.8/5
- iOS: 4.9/5
Benefits of Using Budgeting Apps
Budgeting apps allow you to create and adjust budget plans whenever you need them. Some key benefits of budgeting apps are given below:
- As budgeting apps can be installed on your smartphone, you can access your budget plan anytime, anywhere, without facing barriers of time and location.
- Effective use of a budgeting app keeps you from running out of money when you need it.
- A budgeting app keeps your budget plan with you so you don’t build bad spending habits. As a result, you don’t get into debt and are able to save bucks for emergencies.
- Some budgeting apps help you pay bills online to build good credit scores. With better credit scores, you can get better rates on personal loans and credit cards.
- A budgeting app can also send automatic alerts to help you avoid overspending and stick to the budget plan. Some apps also generate alerts for unusual transactions to detect fraud earlier.
How to Choose a Budgeting App?
Choosing the best option out of the available budgeting apps seems like a small financial decision as compared to others. Choosing the right budgeting app can make a huge difference in your financial phase of life.
Below are some important things to consider when choosing a budgeting app to manage your personal finances more efficiently:
Features
There is a huge number of budgeting apps on the web, and each comes with unique budgeting features and options. It makes sense to test different apps to figure out which one is best for you and fits your individual budgeting needs. The best features in leading budgeting apps in 2022 include:
- Creating budget plan
- Connecting all your accounts
- Bill payment reminders
- Credit score tracking
- Spending tracking
- Setting financial goals
So go through the list of features before you sign up for a budgeting app.
Fees
Not all budgeting apps are free and come with different pricing plans. Some are free, some premium, and some freemium (offer a free version with fewer features). Before you choose an app for personal budgeting, make sure you are aware of all the monthly fees and other financial charges if any. If you are about to use a paid budgeting app, make sure it has all the necessary budgeting tools and features that are worth the investment.
Security
Security of all your financial and personal information should be on the top. Since you may need to connect your bank accounts and other financial logins to the app, make sure the app has a superior level of security.
Before you sign up, check the level of security, encryption, and other security features to ensure all your personal and financial details will be protected. 256-bit encryption, multi-factor authentication, and advanced login features like fingerprint and facial recognition are some important security features to check in your budgeting app.
Customer Support
When you encounter an issue while using your budgeting app, having 24/7 access to the support team is useful. So when choosing a budgeting app, ensure there is an active customer support team that addresses consumer queries and issues in real-time. To make the right decision, go through the customer reviews and feedback to check users’ experience with the app before you consider it.
Conclusion
Budgeting is important to see a clear picture of your income and expenses. The use of a good budgeting app makes it easier to create, manage and track budget plans. Whether you are an Android or iOS user, our list of the best budgeting apps have plenty of options you can choose from.