Best Apps for Budgeting 2025

What Are the Best Apps for Budgeting?

The best apps for budgeting allow users to monitor their income, spending and saving on a daily basis and in a meaningful way. The apps enable you to import transactions directly from bank accounts, investment institutions, and other sources to track your spending and potentially save money by being able to keep an eye on your entire financial health picture using a single money management tool.

While each budgeting app does things a little differently, such as offering zero-based budgeting versus making budget projections, all share the goal of making managing your finances easier than using a pile of spreadsheets or continuously pouring over financial documents.

Features like detailed financial reports, credit score reporting, identifying recurring payments, monitoring for fraud, category automation, and linking to your financial institutions are all common among the best apps for budgeting. The one you choose as your personal assistant will come down to cost versus value and identifying the functions that will help you most in your daily financial life.

Budgeting App Pros and Cons

Pros

• Convenient way to track multiple financial data points
• Can help you remember forgotten financial information
• Allows at-a-glance visualization of your financial health
• Can help you reach financial goals

Cons

• Requires frequent attention to maintain accuracy
• Can be challenging to learn everything about the app you choose
• Incomplete or inaccurate information in will produce poor results

Do Budgeting Apps Really Work?

Budgeting apps can work extremely well, okay, or very poorly, based on a couple of factors, including which functions an app provides versus which ones you need. However, the most crucial piece is how you interact with the app you choose.

While you can connect your bank and other financial institutions to nearly all budgeting apps, some of them work better than others, depending on the financial product involved. For instance, some budgeting apps don’t have provisions for managing investment accounts. While the app may still be useful for many, for those who wish to check their investment accounts easily, another app may be better suited to the task.

Additionally, budgeting apps that operate on a zero-based budgeting platform provide a much different feel than ones that use projections as a way to manage your accounts. A zero-based approach requires assigning the money in your accounts to spending categories. In contrast, projections-based budgeting assumes near-future expenses and tells you how you’re doing against your projected income.

Regardless of the budgeting mobile app or desktop application you choose, putting in significant effort to ensure your money is properly assigned, categorized, and accounted for is crucial to success. The more you put into a budgeting app, the more helpful it will be to you.

Do You Need a Budgeting App?

There are many ways to manage your personal finance details. Spreadsheets, checkbook registers, balance sheets, and filing systems are all options. In reality, you don’t need a budgeting app in the way you need air to breathe.

However, apps are powerful budgeting tools that not only simplify your financial life but they can help you save money by identifying things you may not be aware of, such as unknown recurring charges or incidents of fraud. Additionally, having a budgeting app offers you a way to see your entire financial well-being at any time. This capability can make you more aware of your spending and even help you notice wasteful spending or areas needing attention.

Some providers offer free budget apps or free versions of more robust ones. However, many of these are limited in their capacity to provide meaningful financial insight. Many simply amount to digital spreadsheets, which have their place and serve many happy users but aren’t representative of the potential power of paid apps. Paid versions cost between $70 and $120 annually but can be well worth the price if it helps you keep your finances under control.

Concerns About Budgeting Apps

Because budgeting apps handle your personal and sensitive data, and ID theft is common, it’s not surprising that they’re under heavy scrutiny regarding user safety. Additionally, it’s essential to be concerned about it.

As a general statement, budgeting apps are as safe as they can be. While online attackers, hackers, and ID criminals exist, budgeting apps take the risk they pose to your personal data safety seriously and employ high-level encryption and other methods to combat it.

256-bit encryption is commonly used by budgeting apps whenever data is transferred. Connecting to your bank only through secure connections also provides high-level security. Other steps include requiring multi-factor authentication or other verification methods.

Protecting Your Data

While budgeting apps take your data safety seriously, it’s important to understand that you can also play a role in your online safety with budgeting apps or any other online transactions.

• Check the terms and conditions of your provider and opt out of data sharing if possible.
• Use multi-factor authentication if it’s available.
• Use a strong and random password that’s not easy to guess
• Use separate passwords for each online application
• Change your password every 60 to 90 days at a minimum
• Use a trusted password generation and management program
• When using a chat function, only provide sensitive data in the app and not through other means.

What is the best app for budgeting?

We tested numerous budgeting apps to determine our top picks. Our researcher and writer ended up keeping the Copilot app for personal use when the testing was complete. Why? In his words, it just worked the best for his financial situation.

While we spend a great deal of time and effort researching and continuing to review the best apps for budgeting, the one that works best for you may not be the one we suggest. While the top pick in our review is Simplifi, our researcher learned that Copilot worked better for him. And that’s not unusual.

We recommend identifying what you wish to gain most from having a budgeting app, what kind of budgeting you’ll be most comfortable with, and determining how much you’re willing to spend to get what you want.

Then, try one or two of them to get a feel for how they work. Just remember to cancel within the free trial period if necessary to avoid being charged for a service you don’t wish to keep.

What is the Best Free Budgeting App?

While this review doesn’t cover free budgeting apps, there are a handful available. Rocket Money offers a free version of its more robust paid budgeting app, though it’s limited in scope.

Credit Karma is a free app. However, it’s not really a budgeting app by definition. Despite often being confused for one, it really belongs in a category all its own. It’s also often confused with identity theft protection apps or a credit monitoring service, which it’s not.

The app doesn’t offer line-by-line budgeting functionality. Instead, it provides credit scores, insights, and other features designed to help you envision your entire financial picture using a single tool. It’s often used as a supplement to dedicated budgeting apps.

Quicken Simplifi Budgeting App

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for Quicken Simplifi: 9.5
Quicken Simplifi earns the top spot in our review. The app simply provides the best user experience and the greatest value for the money. It also features one of the lowest annual prices among the financial apps we encountered in our research.

Earning a 9.5 out of 10 score, Simplifi offers high-level functionality and useful features for budgeting beginners and seasoned app users alike.

About

Quicken Simplifi costs $71.88 annually. Unlike much of its competition, it doesn’t offer a monthly pay option. Also, unlike others, it offers no real free trial period. A 30-day money-back guarantee is in place instead. However, That price is lower than most others, and the features you get in return are impressive.

Simplifi, as the name suggests, is a simplified version of Quicken’s premium, Classic budgeting app. While the Classic version adds a few perks, such as bill paying, the Simplifi version is no less capable of providing useful and detailed feedback to help you manage your finances as a whole. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t yet pair well and can’t import data from other Quicken financial products.

Features and Benefits

• Wallet-friendly pricing with frequent discounts
• Credit score tracking
• Spending Plan function for overview of remaining expenses
• Rollover budgeting options
• Premium version also available
• Tracks investment and crypto accounts
• Tracks investment markets
• Tracks net worth
• Customizable dashboard
• Mobile and web app functionality
• Split category functionality
• Multiple reports
• Account sharing with individual logins

Why We Chose

We chose Quicken Simplifi not just because it has a long list of features but also because of how well those features interact to provide meaningful reports and visualizations to you. Simplifi’s investment tracking tools are particularly beneficial for those with many and varied investment accounts to manage and monitor. Crypto account monitoring is also available through the app.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Low cost and an upgraded version available
• Credit score and investment tracking
• Mobile and web app versions
• Account sharing

Cons

• Free trial not available
• No savings goals tracker
• No option to import other Quicken tool data

Read the Full Review

YNAB Budgeting App

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for YNAB: 9.4
YNAB, our runner-up, is best for those who struggle with traditional budgeting constraints or are new to making a budget in general. It scores 9.4 out of 10, based on our rating criteria, and gets there by being unconventional rather than feature-packed. That said, the app offers plenty of useful features, it just does things a bit differently than its competition.

About

YNAB is the most expensive personal budget management app that we tested. At $109 with an annual payment or $14.99 per month, the price can turn some consumers off before even considering the app as an option.

While it’s true that the app costs more than others, it offers the longest free trial period among competitors. Having 34 days at your disposal before you need to pay anything allows you to get a good feel for the app and its potential benefits, including how it works when moving into the second month.

YNAB’s platform relies on zero-based budgeting, meaning you’ll assign a task to every dollar that comes in. You’ll have to pay close attention to the app once you get started. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it budgeting recorder tool. The app works great for those who can put in the effort to make it work for them.

Features and Benefits

• Operates differently than other budgeting apps
• 34-day free trial period
• App requires frequent input
• Customizable category options
• Helpful online information
• Works well with variable income earners
• Zero-based budgeting format
• Encourages you to save money
• Large and infrequent expense accounting
• YouTube channel provides education and support
• Allows budgeting flexibility as you go
• Progress bars allow simple financial visualization
• Banners notify you of where your attention is needed

Why We Chose

We chose YNAB for a prime spot in our review because it does things differently. Not a little differently, either. The highly interactive platform requires frequent user interactions. While some tasks are automated, the system needs your input. This is by design. The app is dedicated to teaching beginners how to manage their money. That said, it’s also excellent for seasoned budgeters seeking a less traditional budgeting method.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Excellent for budgeting beginners
• Good for use with variable income
• Is both a learning tool and a budgeting tool
• Account sharing with up to 5 others

Cons

• Needs frequent attention
• Experienced traditional budget app users may struggle
• Investment tracking unavailable

Read the Full Review

Copilot Budgeting App

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for Copilot: 9.3
The Copilot Budgeting app is a relative newcomer to the financial app game. Starting in 2020, it’s still working on gaining a more prominent presence among consumers. We put it in our number three position because it lacks customer feedback and isn’t yet available to Android device users. However, this is the app that our researcher and writer kept for himself after testing, and we expect it to climb in the rankings in the near future.

About

The Copilot app costs $95 per year or $13 if you opt to pay monthly. While that’s a little on the high end, it’s comparable to other big-name financial apps. For the investment, Copilot offers a long list of features and benefits, including detailed reports, investment and crypto tracking, and a category tagging feature that allows high-level customization to accommodate those with complex budgets or an income that varies by month or season.

One of the best features the app provides is a quick rebalancing tool. The feature analyzes your past and current month’s budget results based on the categories and tagging input you provide and, with a single click, reworks next month’s budget for you. The feature not only saves time but can also quickly fine-tune your budget to within pennies.

Features and Benefits

• Customizable features for beginners and experts
• Suspicious activity alert notifications
• Custom notification toggles
• Budget rebalancing with a couple of clicks
• Cash flow reports
• Automatically budgets recurring charges
• Works with cash apps and crypto accounts
• Monitors investment accounts
• Annual payment price discount
• Transaction tagging
• Works with variable income
• Easy-to-use interface
• In-app assistance available

Why We Chose

While Copilot costs more than our number one competitor and it’s not a well-known app just yet, we chose it for our list for its potential. The app is still evolving, but the features we discovered so far are impressive. Its cash flow overview, investment tracking, unique rebalancing tool, and transaction tagging features make it excellent for those with budgeting experience or who are looking for a more robust solution than the budgeting tool they currently use.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Suspicious activity alerts
• Budget rebalancing tool
• Allows split categories for transactions
• No advertising on the platform

Cons

• Currently only available on iOS platforms
• Desktop version only available for Mac
• Some non-connectivity complaints from users (mostly in Canada and the UK)

Read the Full Review

Rocket Money Budgeting App

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for Rocket Money: 8.9
Rocket Money earns 8.9 out of 10 points, according to our rating criteria. The app is a solid choice for those looking to familiarize themselves with budgeting in general, those who need a budget app with a little more functionality than they might have with their current app, or those looking for a few added perks like help negotiating the cost of bills or having a savings account connected directly to your budget. Rocket Money offers those things.

About

The first thing we noticed when testing the Rocket Money budgeting app was its variable pricing. For real, the app allows you to choose how much you want to pay to use the app. We suspect most choose the lowest possible price of $72 annually, which is likely what the company expects. Choosing the lowest price doesn’t affect anything in the app. Weird? Yes. But it seems to work for Rocket’s marketing team.

In any case, the Rocket Money app is a full-function budgeting tool. However, it lacks a few features that keep it from ranking higher in our review. First, there are no options for linking investment accounts. Our researcher was able to pull in data from an investment institution, but it appeared as just another bank account. Second, the free trial period lasts just seven days, which is too short to really get a feel for what’s going on.

However, the app does offer excellent features and benefits that make it a worthy contender. Its bill negotiation tool can actually help you lower your phone, internet, or cable bills. Other beneficial tools include custom notifications, credit score tracking, spending goal tracking, recurring payment cancelation, and a split-category feature for transactions.

Features and Benefits

• 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

Why We Chose

While Rocket Money doesn’t offer the most robust budgeting platform in our review, we chose it for its unique and helpful features that can help you directly and indirectly save money. The app’s cost is competitive among premier budgeting apps, and a limited free version is available. Although, the free version lacks most of Rocket’s best features.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Choose your price
• Automatically cancel recurring subscriptions
• Tracks, commonly used, FICO 2 credit score
• Blog site contains helpful financial learning information

Cons

• Must opt out of having your personal data used for affiliate advertising
• Pricing not available on the website until after providing information
• Investment account linking not available

Read the Full Review

Monarch Budgeting App

Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for Monarch Money: 8.4
The Monarch budgeting app scores 8.4 out of 10 points in our review. The app provides excellent functionality and a long list of features. In fact, experts often refer to it as the best budgeting app to replace Mint and list it as being the best budget app for couples.

While those evaluations are solid, we also found the app to be great for experienced budgeters who already understand how to categorize and organize their finances. However, budgeting beginners may find the start-up process overwhelming.

About

The Monarch budgeting app is a little on the spendy side, costing $99.99 per year or $14.99 monthly. However, experienced budgeters, especially those with finance app exposure, can justify the cost by using the app’s features to their fullest extent.

However, you’ll need some patience getting it set up just the way you want it. Our product tester needed over an hour to get the accounts and categories set up just right and still needed to make adjustments over the next several days. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Because of Monarch’s detailed reporting and snapshots that offer excellent budget visualization at a glance, taking the time to maximize the tools’ functionality is worth it.

Monarch’s stand-out features include its investment and crypto account tracking, two-year data history importing, and an AI-driven chat function that provides money-saving ideas based on your budget details.

Features and Benefits

• Goal tracking
• Sharable with individual logins
• AI chat function offers money-saving ideas
• Similar to the former Mint budgeting app
• Connects automatically to your accounts through Plaid
• Manual connections and transactions allowed
• Imports up to two years of transactions
• Unlimited savings categories and options
• Identifies recurring charges
• Potentially long set-up time, but worth it
• Works with crypto accounts

Why We Chose

While Monarch costs more than much of its competition, only provides a 7-day free trial, and is best suited to experienced budgeters, we included it in our list because of its highly detailed reporting functions and excellent applications for those with complex budgets and investment accounts, who need a robust financial tool.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Replaces Mint budgeting app
• Significant cost discount with annual payment
• Use on mobile or desktop
• Unique projections graphics

Cons

• Short, 7-day trial period
• High cost
• Variable income budgeting requires extra attention

Read the Full Review