Our Rocket Money review highlights one of the few budgeting apps that offers both a free version and a paid version. More unusual is that you can literally choose how much you pay, with limits, of course. The app is excellent for beginners and those already comfortable with traditional budgeting.
Pros
Choose your price
Can automatically cancel recurring subscriptions
Tracks FICO 2 credit score created by Experian
Blog site contains helpful financial learning information
Cons
Must opt out of having your personal data used for affiliate advertising
Pricing unavailable on the website until after providing information
Investment account linking is unavailable
Rocket Money Overview
With features like automatic recurring subscription cancellations on request, a bill negotiation service, and its “pay what you think is fair” option, Rocket Money stands out as a favorite among consumers and earns a spot in our best budgeting apps review.
The Rocket Money app offers vibrant graphics despite being a little low on reporting features. However, for beginners and those already familiar with how to set up a budget, the tool is a useful personal finance app that can help you take control of your financial life, provided you’re motivated. Here’s what we learned about the Rocket Money budgeting app.
Rocket Money Review: Features and Benefits
Rocket Money review scores tend toward the high side, averaging 4.4 stars between experts and consumers. It’s not a surprise, as the parent company as a whole offers a wide range of financial tools, one of which being a solid personal finance app with unique and potentially helpful features if they fit your needs.
- Choose your price feature
- Can cancel subscriptions for you
- Provides credit score tracking
- Links directly to bank and credit accounts
- Set spending goals in the app
- Internet, phone, wireless, and cable bill negotiation service offered
- Bill negotiation service costs 35% to 60% of annual savings
- Limited free version available
- Select which notifications you want to see
- Net worth tracking
- Proprietary, Smart Saving, account available with Premium plan
- Savings plan doesn’t earn interest
- Split-category feature for transactions
- Lacks detailed reports
About Rocket Money Budget App
The Rocket Money budget app is unusual in a couple of ways. It offers you the ability to create a budget with custom categories and stay on top of your spending as most other wallet-friendly budgeting apps do.
However, it also provides automatic recurring charge cancellations on request and an option to allow Rocket to negotiate lower bills for things like your cell phone, cable, or internet. Of course, this service comes with an additional fee and is only available in the Premium, or paid, version. The service isn’t available for managing credit card debt, but the company can provide assistance, in some cases, to remove or lower bank fees.
The fee is quite steep for using the bill negotiation service, ranging from 35% to 60% of your first year’s annual savings. Rocket Money’s terms and conditions page describes it best…
“For instance, if a 40% fee is chosen and Rocket Money is able to lower a bill by $10 per month, that would equal savings of $120 over 12 months and a Negotiation Fee of $48. We may charge the Negotiation Fee to the credit or debit card provided and authorized at the time the Bill Negotiation is submitted. The Negotiation Fee is non-refundable, except in the event that an error was made during the Bill Negotiation, or except as otherwise required by applicable law.”
Other features of the app include tracking of your net worth and your credit score, with available credit reports. While using Rocket Money to keep an eye on your spending is a good start, the app offers little in the way of significant reports or comparisons.
Additionally, Rocket Money’s blog provides excellent information to help you understand your finances better. The company also offers a proprietary, FDIC-insured savings account with optional automatic deposits from your chosen account.
The Rocket Money App Review Ratings
While Rocket Money reviews generally give the company high average consumer and expert ratings, the app itself rates well, but not stellar, on the Play Store and the App Store. Averaging 4.5 stars between the two platforms, consumers like the excellent graphics and easy-to-navigate interface. However, some reviewers would like to see the company add more features, such as reports to provide deeper financial insights.
Rocket Money Cost
Rocket Money is unusual in terms of pricing. It, for real, offers you the option to pay more or less depending on how valuable you find the tools it provides. When signing up, you’ll have the option to pay anywhere between $6 and $12 per month. Although the only payment option is a single annual payment of the entire cost, so, let’s call it $72 to $144. We suspect most users ultimately choose the lower end of that scale, making the cost of the app quite competitive against other premium budgeting apps.
A very limited free version of the app also exists. However, you can’t choose it as an option when signing up. The only way to get it is to sign up for the paid plan and cancel it within the 7-day free cancellation period, holding onto the free version.
Where the paid version offers significant features and benefits, the free version limits you to simply recording income and expenditures manually, which is just as simple to do on an Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet.
Rocket Money Review: Editorial Rating
Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for Rocket Money: 8.9
Our Rocket Money review rating comes in at 8.9 based on our judging criteria, coupled with the app’s high average ratings. While we like the graphic quality and unique characteristics, like bill reduction and recurring charge canceling, as much as anyone, we feel the app could use some more in-depth reporting and more practical features, like a bill pay option. That said, we were impressed with the ability to split categories on single transactions and get credit score tracking, which are often overlooked features in budgeting apps at this price point.
| Cost | $72 to $144 |
| Monthly pay available | No |
| Free Trial period | 7 days |
| Credit score tracking | Yes |
| App Rating (App Store/Play Store) | 4.4 / 4.6 |
What We Like
There are several attributes that make Rocket Money one of our favorites. Stand-out features include the ability to split categories on single transactions, credit score viewing, and the fact that Rocket Money uses FICO 2 credit scores instead of the VantageScore 3.0, which is used less often by lenders.
What We Don’t Like
While we’d like to see a couple more practical features included in Rocket Money’s app, it’s an excellent product overall. A couple of things we don’t particularly like about it, however, include the fact that the company’s terms and conditions state that it has the right to share your personal information with third parties for advertising purposes unless you specifically choose not to share your information. The option is available when signing up.
The other thing we’d like to see is a trial period of more than a week. The app can work well for budgeting beginners and veterans alike. However, seven days is far too short to really get a feel for how the app will perform for your needs.
Rocket Money Reviews
Rocket Money reviews almost invariably include a high star rating. Eighty-eight percent of Trustpilot reviewers award the app five stars, while just 6% give it a single-star rating. The company also earns itself an A+ grade at the Better Business Bureau for its timely responses to customer concerns.
Positive reviews center around overall product satisfaction, as well as a responsive staff when faced with questions from those who need help with their app or service. Negative reports often cite dissatisfaction with the app’s bill reduction process and cost, leading some to feel duped by the company’s advertising.
Who the Rocket Money Budgeting App is Best For
Apps users who feel that they can save money on some of their monthly bills will benefit most from Rocket Money’s app and services. However, those looking for a traditional budgeting system with the option to automatically save money in-house will also find satisfaction.
The app is great for you if you’re a budgeting beginner or first-time budgeting app user because of its user-friendly interface and available educational tools. It’s not great for those with variable incomes or for investors, as the platform relies on relative budgeting simplicity and also can’t connect to investment accounts. In those situations, you’ll be more satisfied with Copilot or YNAB.
Rocket Money Vs. Monarch
Rocket Money and Monarch are comparable in most respects. However, they offer some different features that will meet different needs. Rocket Money’s bill reduction service is unique and stands out from Monarch. Its on-request recurring charge cancellations can also work well. However, Monarch provides notifications for that. You can then cancel them on your own. The trick is to see which services you’re being charged for and not using, which both apps do well.
Monarch provides better and more detailed reporting to help you better understand your finances as a whole. However, Rocket Money offers credit score tracking, which Monarch doesn’t.
Monarch is the more capable of the two when it comes to dealing with complex budgets and is better suited to those already familiar with detailed budgeting, especially those with previous budgeting app experience. Rocket Money, on the other hand, is better for beginners or those with more simple budgets who still want more robust features than a simple spreadsheet can provide.
| Rocket Money | Monarch | |
| Cost | $72 | $99.99 |
| Free Trial | 7 days | 7 days |
| Who it’s best for | Basic budgeters and beginners | Couples and experienced budgeters |
Is Rocket Money Worth It?
Rocket Money is worth it because of its low, or at least optionally low, price. For the features it provides, which are more basic than many of its competitors, the price tag comes with solid value. That said, the free version provides little more capability than a spreadsheet and won’t be worth the time for experienced budgeters.
However, the free version could be an excellent tool for budgeting beginners to use to familiarize themselves with budgeting and app use before committing to an annual payment.
Rocket Money Budget App Alternatives
We recommend Rocket Money to those looking to save some cash on the cost of a budgeting app and can live with somewhat fewer features. We also say it’s excellent for beginners because of its relative simplicity. If you’re looking for something more robust or if your budget is a bit more complex, we suggest the following options.
- Copilot review
- 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
Rating Breakdown
| Attribute | Rating Score 1-10 |
| Cost | 10 |
| Cost variables | 7 |
| Trial period | 5 |
| Features | 8 |
| Setup ease | 6 |
| Ease of use | 8 |
| Average time to effectiveness | 5 |
| Trustpilot review score | 4.3 |
| Other reviews score average | 4.5 |
| Average app rating | 4.1 |
| Editorial opinion score | 7 |
| Total Raw Score | 68.9 |
| Raw score averaged = TCR Rating Score | 8.9 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rocket Money legit?
Does Rocket Money affect your credit score?
Source
Logo image source: rocketmoney.com
Deane Biermeier
