Building long-term wealth starts with knowing where your dollars are going on a daily basis and how they’re helping you move closer toward your long-term goals. One way to do that: creating and maintaining a budget.
Luckily, there are various platforms out there that are designed to help you do just that. But if you’re not sure which app to use for your budgeting needs, we checked out a few of the most popular apps on the market to help you decide. The Fortune RecommendsTMeditorial team reviewed 16 budgeting apps and weighed minimum annual costs, mobile app ratings, security features, account integration capabilities, and more. (Read our full methodology here.)
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Our 10 top picks*
- Zeta
- Rocket Money
- PocketGuard
- EveryDollar
- Honeydue
- Wally
- Buddy
- Simplifi
- Goodbudget
- Oportun
Editor note: We previously listed Mint as one of our top 10, but this product will be discontinued in 2024 and has therefore been removed.
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The 10 best budgeting apps of 2024
There are several types of budgeting strategies and tools you can use to help get your financial house in order. Creating a budget and using an app to keep you accountable to your spending and saving goals is key to hitting all of your long-term financial goals.
(Note: Fees and account features in this list are up to date as of April 19, 2023, but are subject to change.)
1. Zeta
About: Zeta is a budgeting app that caters specifically to couples and families hoping to track their expenses together.
Annual cost: $0
Average app rating: 4.4
Account syncing capabilities: Yes
Our verdict
Good for couples and families who want to merge their finances. Zeta offers a number of features that make it an ideal app for budgeting with others in your household. The app offers both personal and joint accounts that allow you to pay bills, save for goals, and track shared expenses, and even offers in-app messaging to communicate with your partner or other members of your family about your budget. Zeta has an average mobile app rating of 4.4 and also offers two-factor authentication and data encryption to keep your data extra safe.
2. Rocket Money
About: Formerly known as Truebill, Rocket Money is a budgeting app that serves more than 3.4 million members worldwide and offers budgeting tools, bill negotiation services, and more.
Cost: $0; or $3–$12 per month for premium version
Average app rating: 4.4
Account syncing capabilities: Yes
Our verdict
Good for those who are looking to cut down on their monthly costs. Rocket Money allows users to create a budget that automatically monitors spending, separates transactions into spending categories, sends notifications about upcoming charges or a low balance, and more. The app also offers bank-level security with 256-bit encryption to keep your personal data safe. Rocket Money is free to use, although there are optional services, like bill negotiation, that you can opt in to for an extra cost ranging from $3 to $12 monthly. The good news: Using the negotiation service to cut down on your monthly spending could help you cover the cost of a premium membership. And if your mortgage is serviced by Rocket Mortgage, you get full access to Rocket Money Premium for free.
3. PocketGuard
About: PocketGuard is a budgeting app that offers bill organizing and budget planning services to over 500,000 users.
Cost: $0 for free version or $7.99 monthly, $34.99 annually, or $79.99 lifetime fee
Average app rating: 4.2
Account syncing capabilities: Yes
Our verdict
Good for users who are working on paying off debt. PocketGuard scored a spot on our list for its debt payoff tools. With PocketGuard, users can set bill reminders, set fee alerts, create savings goals, and more. What’s more—with PocketGuard’s personalized debt payoff plan, users can add all of their debt balances and interest rates to the app, and the platform will determine the most effective debt payoff strategy for you and create a repayment schedule. PocketGuard also offers a desktop version for users who prefer to budget on their computers, as well as Touch ID for extra security.
4. EveryDollar
About: EveryDollar is a budgeting app founded by Ramsey Solutions that helps users create a fully customizable budget and set financial goals, with additional perks for premium users.
Cost: $12.99 monthly or $79.99 annually
Average app rating: 4.0
Account syncing capabilities: Yes
Our verdict
Good for those who are creating a budget for the first time. EveryDollar is a straightforward, easy-to-use budgeting app that allows users to create a customizable budget and set savings goals. Users can opt to upgrade to a premium account (for an added cost) which comes with additional benefits like bank connectivity, paycheck planning, group financial coaching, custom budget reports, smart tracking recommendations, and more. One downside: This app offers mobile and desktop platforms; however, EveryDollar notes that users should budget from their computer for the best-quality experience.
5. Honeydue
About: Honeydue is a completely free budgeting app that allows couples to manage their personal and shared budgets all in one app.
Cost: $0
Average app rating: 4.0
Account syncing capabilities: Yes
Our verdict
Good for couples who want to manage their personal finances and joint finances in one place. Honeydue made our list for its zero-dollar annual cost, account syncing capabilities, and for making it easy for couples to budget together and manage their individual finances as well. Honeydue supports over 20,000 financial institutions across five countries and even offers a Honeydue joint bank account that is FDIC-insured through Sutton Bank. Couples can chat within the app about their financial goals, transactions, and more, making it easy to flag any potential errors and get on the same page about their financial habits.
6. Wally
About: Wally is a budgeting app available to IOS users only that offers customizable budgets, progress trackers, spending insights, financial calendars, and more.
Cost: $0 or $8.99 monthly, $39.99 annually for Wally Gold membership
Average app rating: 3.9
Account syncing capabilities: Yes
Our verdict
Good for those who like to keep an eye on their progress. Wally took a spot on our list for giving users the opportunity to create a free budget and have access to progress trackers as they work toward hitting their financial goals. Users can also sync their account with other members in their households to give everyone an overview of their spending habits and goals. Wally may also be an ideal app for those who spend time abroad. The app allows you to sync and manage foreign bank accounts across 70 countries.
7. Buddy
About: Buddy is a simple, mobile-only budgeting app that lets you track your spending, income, and savings as well as shared budgets with loved ones or friends.
Cost: $4.99 monthly or $34.99 yearly renewing subscription to unlock Premium functionality
Average app rating: 4.7
Account syncing capabilities: Yes
Our verdict
Good for those who often split the bill with friends. Buddy made our list for making it easier to manage budgets and shared costs among loved ones or friends. Apart from personal expense tracking and customizable budgets, Buddy users can also split larger costs among friends and make sure everyone pays their fair share. The app does not offer a desktop version, but it does have one of the highest average mobile app ratings on our list at 4.7.
8. Simplifi
About: Simplifi is a budgeting app offered by money management platform Quicken. The app is ad-free and offers budgeting services to over 20 million members.
Cost: $35.88annually or $71.88 per year if you sign up for a monthly membership
Average app rating: 3.3
Account syncing capabilities:Yes
Our verdict
Good for those who want a comprehensive overview of their finances, not just their monthly spending. Simplifi offers a combined approach to managing your finances with a monthly budgeting system, as well as a look into your debt repayment, investments, tax planning, and organizing personal and business expenses. While it did have a lower app rating than some of the other budgeting apps on our list, it does offer a desktop version with a more optimized experience. Simplifi also prioritizes keeping your personal information safe with 256-bit encryption.
9. Goodbudget
About: Goodbudget first started in 2009 and was developed by a San Francisco-based web and mobile development firm. It originally started as a virtual envelope budgeting method, but has expanded to become a comprehensive budgeting app, offering shared budgets, debt trackers and even educational courses and podcasts.
Cost: $0–$70 for annual membership, or $8 monthly
Average app rating: 4.5
Account syncing capabilities: No
Our verdict
Good for those who want to learn more about budgeting and how to better manage their money. Goodbudget took the final spot on our list for its high mobile app rating, sharing capabilities, and bonus educational resources for budgeters in the form of podcasts, articles, online courses, and more. For users who have never created a budget or want to learn more about how to be smarter with their money, they can pair Goodbudget’s software with the educational materials provided to go the extra mile. The free version of the app includes only one account, but if you want to add multiple users to your budget, you can add unlimited users to your budget for $8 per month, or $70 annually.
10. Oportun
About: Formerly known as Digit, Oportun, a fintech company, acquired the budgeting app in 2021. Oportun offers other products like personal loans and a credit card.
Cost: the first 30 days are free, then $5 monthly
Average app rating: 4.7
Account syncing capabilities: Yes
Our verdict
Good for users who want a hands-off approach to saving. With Oportun, you link an external bank account to the app, and then it uses an algorithm to automatically set aside small amounts of money for your personalized savings goals. You can also choose from pre-existing savings goals in the app—like building a nest egg or creating a rainy day fund—and determine how much you want to save and by when. When Oportun withdraws money from your bank accounts and deposits money towards your savings in the app, that money is FDIC-insured through a partner bank: Pathward. However, you won’t earn interest on your savings in the app, which makes it less lucrative than manually setting aside money in a high-yield savings account.
When it comes to security, Oportun uses 256-bit encryption and the fintech company Plaid to help you connect your external accounts. While Oportun offers a feature known as low balance protection, which helps ensure your linked accounts aren’t overdrafted, it’s gotten in hot water with the CFPB in the past for overdrafting customers’ accounts, but has since settled the issue.
How to choose a budgeting app
When choosing a budgeting app, you’ll want to think about the features that are most important to you and will serve you long-term. The best budgeting app and strategy will be the ones you can stick to and use consistently to keep yourself accountable to your goals. To help narrow down your options, consider the following:
- Costs: There are many free budgeting apps available, as well as free versions of apps with premium subscriptions. When you’re comparing different budgeting apps, pay close attention to the pricing to determine whether the features offered by the app align with what you’re looking for and if these extra perks justify the cost of a monthly or yearly membership.
- Syncing: Many budgeting apps allow you to sync your financial accounts so that you don’t have to manually enter transactions and account balances. This saves you time and ensures that the information in your budget is as accurate and up-to-date as possible.
- App/desktop experience: If you plan to budget solely from your smartphone, take some time to comb through app reviews to see if other users have reported any glitches or potential issues while using the app. You want to aim to have the most seamless experience possible.
- Personalization and sharing: Budgets are not one-size-fits-all. Your spending habits are unique, and having the flexibility to create your own categories and then give other members within your household a birds’-eye view of your budget can help you and your loved ones pinpoint where you need to rein in your spending and how much progress you’re making in other areas.
Alternatives to budgeting apps
If budgeting apps aren’t your thing, you might consider more traditional approaches like the envelope method or a budgeting spreadsheet. The caveat is that budgeting spreadsheets take time to build out, must be updated manually, and may be harder to access on the go. Still, if you’re diligent about keeping your information updated and don’t necessarily need to peek at your budget daily, this could be a viable option.
Another option is to go the envelope route, which requires that you designate one envelope for all of your spending categories and add a certain amount of cash into each envelope based on how much you want to allow yourself to spend within that category for the month. This can be incredibly effective, but it does require that you carry around cash (which may not be ideal for online shopping or shopping at stores that don’t accept cash. However, you may be able to alter this method to make it more digital-friendly by creating separate sub accounts for your spending categories.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free budgeting app?
There are countless free budgeting apps available for download on the App Store and GooglePlay. However, account features vary from platform to platform, and some basic or free versions of budgeting apps have limited capabilities.
Are budgeting apps safe?
Budgeting apps all take different approaches to protecting your data and privacy. To properly vet whether your information is safe, take some time to read the app’s privacy and security terms and determine whether or not the app offers any kind of multi-factor authentication or data encryption.
What information do I need to create a budget?
This will depend on how detailed you want your budget to be, but start by having all of your most recent bank statements on hand, access to your credit card statements, loan statements, pay stubs, and regular household bills.
Our methodology
The Fortune RecommendsTM team compared 16 budgeting apps to help you find the best platform for your needs. To come up with our final list, we ranked the best apps and exchanges on the following categories and weighted each category as set forth in the percentages below:
- Annual cost (25%): Apps that were free or had a lower membership cost ranked higher on our list.
- Free version (5%): We rewarded budgeting apps that offered a free version of their app with one point.
- Mobile app rating (5%): We calculated the average mobile application rating for each budgeting app using ratings from the App Store and Google Play. We rewarded apps that had a higher average mobile application rating.
- Security or privacy features (15%): Budgeting apps that offered multi-factor identification, have an encrypted network, or offered other security features were awarded one point.
- Desktop version (5%): Budgeting apps that offered desktop versions of their softwares (in addition to the mobile platform) for users who prefer the option to budget from their computers received an extra point.
- Account integration capabilities (25%): Budgeting apps that allow users to link bank accounts, credit cards, or other financial accounts within the app received an additional point.
- Categorized expenses (15%): We favored apps that categorized users’ expenses into different spending categories within the app and allowed for users to personalize their spending categories.
- Sharing capabilities (5%): Budgeting apps that allowed users to add multiple users to the same budget earned an additional point.
We think that the best apps are free or low-cost, have higher app ratings, allow users to budget from various devices, link their financial accounts, and securely share their budget with others. The features, costs, and fees associated with these apps are subject to change.
Building Long-Term Wealth with Budgeting Apps
Budgeting apps are a valuable tool for individuals and families looking to build long-term wealth by tracking their expenses and working towards their financial goals. These apps offer various features such as budget creation, expense tracking, bill organizing, and savings goal setting. In this article, we will explore the top 10 budgeting apps of 2024, as reviewed by the Fortune RecommendsTM editorial team. We will discuss the key features and benefits of each app to help you make an informed decision.
Zeta
Zeta is a budgeting app designed specifically for couples and families who want to track their expenses together. It offers both personal and joint accounts, allowing users to pay bills, save for goals, and track shared expenses. The app also provides in-app messaging for easy communication between partners or family members about the budget. Zeta has an average mobile app rating of 4.4 and offers two-factor authentication and data encryption for enhanced security [[1]].
Rocket Money
Formerly known as Truebill, Rocket Money is a budgeting app with over 3.4 million members worldwide. It offers budgeting tools, bill negotiation services, and more. Users can create a budget that automatically monitors spending, separates transactions into categories, and sends notifications about upcoming charges or low balances. Rocket Money provides bank-level security with 256-bit encryption. While the app is free to use, there are optional services like bill negotiation that require an additional cost [[2]].
PocketGuard
PocketGuard is a budgeting app that offers bill organizing and budget planning services to over 500,000 users. It provides tools for setting bill reminders, fee alerts, savings goals, and personalized debt payoff plans. Users can add their debt balances and interest rates to the app, and it will determine the most effective debt payoff strategy and create a repayment schedule. PocketGuard also offers a desktop version and Touch ID for extra security [[3]].
EveryDollar
EveryDollar is a budgeting app founded by Ramsey Solutions that helps users create a fully customizable budget and set financial goals. It offers additional perks for premium users, such as bank connectivity, paycheck planning, group financial coaching, custom budget reports, and smart tracking recommendations. EveryDollar is available on both mobile and desktop platforms, with a focus on budgeting from a computer for the best experience [[4]].
Honeydue
Honeydue is a free budgeting app designed for couples to manage their personal and shared budgets in one place. It supports over 20,000 financial institutions across five countries and offers account syncing capabilities. The app allows couples to chat about their financial goals, transactions, and more, making it easy to stay on the same page about their finances. Honeydue also offers a joint bank account that is FDIC-insured through Sutton Bank [[5]].
Wally
Wally is a budgeting app available only for iOS users. It offers customizable budgets, progress trackers, spending insights, financial calendars, and account syncing capabilities. Wally allows users to sync their accounts with other members of their households, providing an overview of spending habits and goals. The app also supports foreign bank accounts across 70 countries, making it suitable for users who spend time abroad [[6]].
Buddy
Buddy is a simple, mobile-only budgeting app that helps users track their spending, income, and savings. It offers shared budgets with loved ones or friends, allowing for easy management of shared costs. Buddy has a high average mobile app rating of 4.7 and provides account syncing capabilities. While it does not have a desktop version, it excels in splitting bills among friends and ensuring everyone pays their fair share [[7]].
Simplifi
Simplifi is a budgeting app offered by the money management platform Quicken. It provides a comprehensive overview of finances, including monthly budgeting, debt repayment, investments, tax planning, and expense organization. Simplifi offers a desktop version for a more optimized experience and prioritizes data security with 256-bit encryption [[8]].
Goodbudget
Goodbudget is a budgeting app that started as a virtual envelope budgeting method and has expanded to become a comprehensive budgeting app. It offers shared budgets, debt trackers, and educational resources such as podcasts, articles, and online courses. Goodbudget has a high mobile app rating and allows users to add multiple users to their budget for an additional cost [[9]].
Oportun
Oportun is a budgeting app formerly known as Digit, acquired by the fintech company Oportun. It offers a hands-off approach to saving by automatically setting aside small amounts of money for personalized savings goals. Oportun provides account syncing capabilities, 256-bit encryption for data security, and FDIC-insured savings through a partner bank. However, it does not offer interest on savings [[10]].
When choosing a budgeting app, consider factors such as costs, syncing capabilities, app/desktop experience, personalization and sharing features. It's important to find an app that aligns with your needs and helps you stay accountable to your financial goals. If budgeting apps aren't your preference, traditional approaches like budgeting spreadsheets or the envelope method can also be effective alternatives [[11]].
In conclusion, budgeting apps are powerful tools for managing finances and working towards long-term wealth. The top 10 budgeting apps of 2024 offer a range of features and benefits to cater to different needs and preferences. Whether you're budgeting as an individual or as a couple, these apps can help you track expenses, set goals, and make informed financial decisions.
Note: The information provided in this response is based on the content of the article and does not reflect personal experience or endorsem*nt.
