The Best Budget App

Good Budget Apps for Budget Planning, Investing, Saving Money and Paying Off Debt

Struggling to manage your money do a budget? We’ve selected the best budget apps to help you pay down debt and build wealth.

Best Budget App Overall (and Most Popular Budget): Mint

With over 400,000 positive reviews on the iOS App store, Mint is the clear favorite among budget lovers who use their phone.

In short, Mint conveniently allows you to include bills, accounts and more on one dashboard. All bills and money are available on one screen. You have the ability to easily create personal budgets. You can also check your credit score frequently with no damage to your credit.

Best of all, upcoming bills are sent to the user as a reminder, to make planning easier. Payment alerts remind you of when bills are due. In addition, you receive alerts for low balances.

Unfortunately, the only downside is that Mint is not designed for couples who want to share financial information.

Questions for Budgeting Apps

How do you know which app is the best fit for you? For starters, we’ve compiled a list of questions to help guide you in your search for the best budgeting app. However, only you can know which app is best for you, based on what you want from a budget. Specifically, everyone’s situation is different. Namely, each person (or couple) may have different priorities toward features such as linking bank accounts, use of AI, spending vs. investing, etc.

Which Budget App Is Best for You?

Is account synchronization important to you? Or do you prefer to enter in your own banking data?

How much are you willing to spend?

Do you need help managing your accounts? Would you like suggestions from an AI assistant?

Do you have investment accounts and assets that require management?

Do you like a simplified budget?

What are your goals? Pay off debt? Grow your investments? Save money?

Will one person or multiple people be participating in your budgeting?

There are hundreds of budgeting apps available and each one is different. Let’s look at more budget app choices.

Best Budget Planner:  Goodbudget

Firstly, one positive attribute of Goodbudget is that it caters to couples, which is great for sharing budget information. Next, Goodbudget has a newer take on the old school envelope method where money is allotted into digital envelopes each week.

Finally, it’s important to note that using the paid version of the app allows you use of more devices and more envelopes, something you may need if your finances are more complicated. In addition, Goodbudget also features a debt tracking element.

The Downside:

You must manually update envelopes when transactions occur. In addition, the app doesn’t sync to your bank account.

Best Budget App for Couples: YNAB and Honeydue

Importantly, there are several great budgeting apps for couples.

YNAB is the acronym that stands for You Need a Budget. As such, the app boasts that it brings a solution to budgeting, personal finance, expense tracking. In addition, it offers a free trial for the first 30 days. Key features include:

Synchronization with your bank account and other accounts

Tools to help you pay down debt

Detailed reports on spending habits for progress measurement

Set and track personal financial goals

Access data in real-time

Ability to add partner (couples budgeting)

The downside:

Unfortunately, YNAB may cost more than some of the other budgeting apps.

Honorable Mention for Couples Budgeting: Honeydue

First, Honeydue bills itself as the couple’s budget app. Additionally, Honeydue now offers joint banking for couples., offering digital bank accounts with debit cards.

Features:

All balances in one location

Control how much you share with your partner

Set spending limits for expense categories, including notifications when you near limits

Bill pay reminder for upcoming due dates

Communication between you and your partner is built into the app

The Downside: some users complain of slow updates to balances.

2^nd Honorable Mention for Couples Budgeting: Spendee

Spendee has some interesting features and has been gaining in popularity. Therefore, it was added to budget app honorable mention.

Key features:

Synchronization with your bank account and other accounts

Links to cryptocurrency wallets for view of balances.

Tracks expenses and billing

Allows you to add financial goals

Create special category budgets, like Christmas for example

Share finances with unlimited number of people and many more

Best Budget App for Getting Out of Debt: EveryDollar

First, Dave Ramsey’s EveryDollar App utilizes his philosophy of the zero-based budget. Zero-based budgeting is when your income minus expenses equals zero. Specifically, the point of this kind of budgeting is that you maximize your income to pay off debts and eventually invest more. Furthermore, Ramsey’s book, “The Total Money Makeover” was a huge success, selling millions of copies worldwide. In addition, Dave’s philosophy has gotten hundreds of thousands of people out of debt and on the road to financial peace.

Lastly, Ramsey has created an anti-debt empire with thousands of success stories which are a result of what he preaches. EveryDollar is a very functional app that is effective at helping you pay down debt and get ahead financially.

Features:

Free trial for new users

Synchronization with your bank account and other accounts

Quickly customize a new monthly budget

Easy access from your desktop or mobile device

Track expenses and spending on the go

Access to the Ramsey network of Endorsed Local Providers program

No annoying advertisements on the app

Best Personal Finance App: Personal Capital (Best for Investing)

First, Personal Capital is the top contender for best budgeting investment app. It gives you the ability to keep track of money, investments, bank accounts, stocks, retirement accounts, 401k, IRA, credit cards, etc. Next, it features a retirement planner and portfolio tracker. Viewing everything on one app gives you a true look at net worth from a debt versus asset point of view. Finally, you can categorize expenses, view graphs of income and spending habits, and includes the ability for couples to coordinate their finances.

Features:

Track cash flow and spending

401(k) and retirement analyzer and calculator

Detailed retirement and investment tool

Investment checkup helps you optimize your portfolio

Calculate your net worth with aggregated accounts

Personal advisor access through the account

Free version and pay version (more options/access for investment)

The Downside:

Personal Capital is more account management and investment app then budget app. But if that’s what you need, this is a great option.

Best Budget App 2020: Truebill Budget and Bill Tracker

Truebill become an automated financial assistant and budget tracker. Monitors unwanted subscriptions and bills and can have them removed or canceled.

Features:

Uses artificial intelligence software to monitor and remove unwanted subscriptions

Notifies you of suspicious transactions and bills

Alerts you to changes in your credit report

Best Budget App for College Students: PocketGuard

Have problems over spending? PocketGuard may be the app helps you to take control of your personal finance and stop overspending. Pocket Guard can track spending, help you create a budget and build savings in an automated way.

Features:

Shows available disposable income level

Intuitively plans for future bills and expenses

App can identify and cancel unwanted expenses

Synchronization with your bank account and other accounts

Quickly customize a new monthly budget

Best Free Budget Tracker App: Spending Tracker

Budget Tracker is a no-frills, free app that gets very high marks. It does all of the basic features of budgeting well and keeps it simple.

Features:

User interface is simple and intuitive

Track spending easily

Spending targets pre-determine budgets

Monitor spending and saving progress

Carry over any remaining budget to the next period

Visualize where money is spent w/ charts

Fully Customizable periods, budgets, categories

Good Budgeting Apps: Zeta and Good Budget

Zeta is a budgeting app that manages shared and individual accounts all in one. Of course, you are in control of how much information your partner can see. This one is another option for couples who want to manage finances together.

 Features:

Synchronization with your bank account and other accounts or opt to manually enter data

Leave notes for your partner through communication channel

Tools to help you pay down debt

Set and track specific financial goals

Receive notification when approaching limits, bills are due or low balance

Ability to add partner (couples budgeting)

Uses the envelope system for controlled spending

Personalized reports of spending and saving

Use on multiple devices and platforms

The Downside:

The free version may be too limited for your budget needs. Also may require lots of manual entry of data, which isn’t fun.

Best Apps to Manage Money: Clarity Money

Clarity Money is a budget which uses artificial intelligence to take budgeting to the next frontier. It analyzes spending and saving to assist in making better decisions.

Features:

Automated expense tracking and savings options

Monitors expenses for canceling unwanted subscriptions

Synchronization with your bank account and other accounts

One stop shop for tracking savings, spending, debt and investments

Data provided allows AI to provide you with new financial options, like an assistant

The Downside:

This app is more an account manager than a budget. Still a reasonable choice for managing accounts.

Best Honorable Mention Budget App: Mvelopes

Mvelopes builds upon the classic envelope system for budgeting. Money is designated in envelopes for each week, and assigned to each bill. It’s a great way to control your spending and it promotes financial discipline.

Features:

Synchronization with your bank account and other accounts

Checking, savings and credit card balance stored in one location

App contains helpful financial education videos

Envelope budgeting allows you to organize and categorize easily

Adjust budget on the go

How Much Does My App Cost?

In conclusion, the Cost of Budgeting Apps varies. Our list of budgeting apps ranges from free to $5-15 per month. Some of the best budgeting apps start with a free trial, so you can try out the budget and see if it’s a good fit for you. Some budgeting apps are billed annually. Each one is different and prices go up and down. None of the budgeting apps that we have selected will break the bank and if they cost money, then it’s probably money well spent. These are suggestions. You be the judge.

Now that you have a great budget app, need to learn more about Money Management Principles? We’ve got you covered at Piggy Bank Coins.