Copilot Budget App Review

Our Copilot budget app review showcases a major up-and-coming budgeting app. After testing numerous competitors, this is the one our researcher and author chose to keep. However, the 2020 startup hasn’t taken the top spot in our best budgeting apps review just yet for two reasons.

Copilot Overview

While we love the Copilot budgeting app, it’s currently only available on iOS and Mac devices. Additionally, the company itself doesn’t yet have a Trustpilot or Better Business Bureau listing, and consumer reviews are hard to find.

The developers say they expect to launch an Android version by the end of 2024, but we haven’t seen anything yet—Fingers crossed. Because of the lack of online presence and its unavailability in the Play Store, we can’t, in good faith, put this one at the top of our favorites list just yet. Once the app is available for Android, we expect to see it jump near or into first place based on our findings and using our rating criteria.

That said, Copilot is the best budgeting app we’ve seen so far for our needs. Budgeting experts and beginners alike can choose the features they’re comfortable using and leave the rest without affecting the workability of the platform. Here’s what you need to know about the Copilot budgeting app.

Copilot Budget App Review: Features and Benefits

The Copilot budgeting app is so full of features that it would be difficult to list them without making it boring to read. Some of the stand-out budgeting tools and helpful attributes are listed below, with more info about the best parts later.

• Fully customizable features for beginners and experts
• Suspicious activity and other alert notifications
• Custom notification toggles
• Rebalance budget with a couple of clicks
• Cash flow reports available in multiple intervals
• Automatically connects accounts
• Automatically budget recurring charges
• Works with cash apps
• Monitors investment accounts
• Tracks Crypto accounts
• Pricing discount for annual payment
• Transaction tagging
• Works with variable income
• Easy-to-use interface
• In-app assistance available

About the Copilot Budget App

Admittedly, my budgeting consists primarily of a series of spreadsheets I’ve built over the years, and I occasionally check Credit Karma to monitor my credit score. Prior to testing multiple budgeting apps for this series of reviews, my budget-app experience was limited at best. I’m happy that Copilot wasn’t the first one I tested. Doing so could have made workiing with subsequent ones less fun.

The first thing you’ll notice is the price. At $13 monthly, it looks steep. However, choosing to pay annually reduces the cost to $95 total, saving $57 per year right out of the gate. Additionally, you won’t be charged until after the 30-day free trial period, allowing plenty of time to familiarize yourself with many of the features.

Next, using the app’s partnership with Plaid, you’ll notice how simple it is to connect most of your financial accounts, including banks, lenders, investment institutions, and crypto accounts. Most linking was simple. However, one of my accounts was unavailable, which isn’t uncommon. I have to manage that one manually, which is simple when using the tagging function in the app.

Once your connections are complete and your transactions are automatically imported, you’ll likely need to categorize many of them to get the AI function working in the app. It learns quickly and will, from now on, categorize automatically but still allow you to make adjustments, split categories, and tag items to create even more useful data points.

Lastly, but not nearly finally, you’ll notice early in the startup procedure that your dashboard and cash flow pages are coming alive. Provided cash flow reports include four-week to one-year options with month-to-date and year-to-date functionality. From here, you can adjust and customize almost anything in the app, categories, and tags to create a fully customized budget and experience.

Copilot App Ratings

Finding a Copilot budget app review isn’t challenging as experts are learning about the tool. However, finding ratings from consumers is harder. The app itself is only available in the App Store. At first glance, the 3.9-star rating seems low.

Reading into it reveals that customers either love it or feel it doesn’t work at all for them. Some negative reports stem from connectivity issues with financial institutions, which isn’t surprising. Plaid and Copilot will continue to work to improve this feature.

How Much Does the Copilot Budget App Cost?

The Copilot app costs $13 monthly if you pay by month or $95 with a single annual payment. A 30-day free trial is available, in which you won’t pay for anything. If you find the app doesn’t work for you, remember to cancel it before the trial expires.

Copilot’s cost is on the high end but still represents excellent value. With apps like Rocket Money coming in as low as $72 a year, users who don’t need as many features may choose the less expensive option.

Copilot Budget App Review: Editorial Rating

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for Copilot: 9.3

Copilot scores well in most areas that our rating criteria targets. The cost versus value data point is strong despite the app’s relatively high price. Knocking the app down several points is its lack of Android availability.

We’d also like to see Copilot include features like bill pay and credit score tracking. However, very few competitors do those things either, as most financial institutions and credit-tracking apps provide those features.

What We Like

While we like almost everything about the Copilot budgeting app, some features really stand out. The tagging function is excellent for individuals with variable incomes. Investors can take advantage of the app’s ability to track investments, including mortgages, reimbursements, crypto, stocks, and other miscellaneous accounts.

We also like the fully customizable category functions, rollover options, and at-a-glance reports that provide customized snap shots of precisely where your finances stand. The rebalancing tool allows you to use all of the information in the app to automatically update your current budget with a couple of clicks. I’ll use that feature often.

What We Don’t Like

The only downside I could identify after downloading the app and connecting my accounts was that many to most past transactions the app pulled in were placed in the generic “other” category. I spent roughly an hour changing categories in a bunch of old transactions.

While somewhat tedious, the effort paid off, and I was rewarded with a neat and tidy overview of my current financial situation. The app now automatically updates any transactions as they appear based on the information I provided.

Copilot Budget App Reviews

Copilot budget app reviews across the board reflect expert opinions that mostly praise the app. While Trustpilot and other online review sources don’t yet list the product, we expect they will shortly, and we expect to see excellent review scores.

Who Copilot Budget App is Best For

Because Copilot offers full customization, users at all income levels and budgeting experience levels will find features they like. The best part is that if a particular feature doesn’t apply to your budget situation, you can simply ignore it. Doing so will still allow the app to provide the useful feedback you need to help manage your money at your desired level.

Copilot Vs. Monarch

The Monarch budgeting app is a big deal. While the Copilot versus Monarch debate is still a new topic, it’s safe to say that the competing apps have plenty of things in common while being miles apart in other ways.

Both apps provide highly customizable categorization, reporting, and learning abilities, making each easy to use and supremely helpful. Both cost roughly the same, with Copilot being just a few dollars less per year, and both are excellent for users with complex budgets and investment accounts.

However, Monarch has the advantage of being able to add a spouse or partner to the account to share goals and budgeting tasks. The second person on the account receives their own login and has full access to the account. Copilot, on the other hand, doesn’t offer the feature, although you can share your login information with a partner.

Copilot’s advantage is its ability to provide deep insights into very complex budget situations. Where Monarch is sufficient for daily and monthly budgeting, Copilot’s AI learning and projections are just plain better and easier to manage.

While both apps will work best for experienced budgeters, Copilot is better for beginners, though the learning curve for each app can be steep for those without budget app experience.

Is Copilot Worth It?

Copilot’s customization, reporting, deep insights, and daily use functions make it well worth its price tag for those wishing for a comprehensive tool for managing their finances. While budget beginners may struggle somewhat when getting used to all of the features, we feel Copilot is great for beginners because the app will grow with you, or vice versa.

Copilot Budget App Alternatives

Copilot offers a comprehensive financial management tool for those with busy budgets, variable incomes, and investments. However, not everybody needs a full-scale financial assistant, and instead, they’re looking for a simple way to track spending. Rocket Money is an excellent app in that situation. Our other recommendations include the following.

• YNAB review – Excellent for budgeting beginners with more complex budgets or variable income
• Monarch review – Great for couples and experienced app users
• Quicken Simplifi review
• Credit Karma review – Excellent for tracking your credit score
• Rocket Money review – Great for beginners and those seeking traditional budgeting style

Rating Breakdown

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Logo image source: copilot.money

About Author

Deane Biermeier