Ready to start using Best budget app To handle your finances and track your net worth?
Getting your financial life in order is the first step toward growing wealth, and technology can help you move in the right direction — specifically with budgeting apps and money tracking apps. But with the number of apps increasing every day, it can be difficult to know which one to use.
After testing and using dozens of apps, we’ve got a comprehensive look at which budget apps are worth downloading, and which you can safely ignore.
Additionally, it’s important to consider what you need for a budget app or spending tracker? Do you need basic budgeting tools, or investment tracking? Are you looking for your credit score? Each budget app focuses on a specific area, and we break down the best budget apps we’ve found for any reason you should consider using them.
Here’s a quick comparison:
Total net worth and spending tracking. Free +1000 AI Tools
| It is another free budget app. | ||
Track budget and net worth. | |||
Zero-based budgeting approach. | |||
Integrated AI assistance. | |||
Deliver your spreadsheet to your bank and brokerage. | |||
High net worth individuals. | Track any assets, including private equity. |
College Investor’s Picks: Best Budgeting Apps
Budgeting and financial tracking apps are designed to help you track your income, expenses, and net worth over time. Most of these apps also have a budget feature that will help you proactively plan your spending based on your income. Here are our picks for the best budgeting and financial tracking apps based on our experiments and testing.
- Enable
- Monarch money
- YNAB
- Co-pilot
- tiller
- Cobra
1. Empowerment
Empower (formerly Personal Capital) is one of the original apps for asset allocation, portfolio management, and net worth tracking. Users can also use the app to track income and expenses. It’s also the last major free budget app since Mint closed. If you’re looking for a free tool to track your spending and monitor your net worth, Empower is the only real option.
Its strength is the ability to track investments better than most budgeting apps.
One word of caution: Empower is also a financial advisory firm, and the company will contact you to ask you to purchase advisory services. But in return, it’s also one of the only free budget tools to make our list.
Read our full Empower review here.
2. The king’s money
Monarch has built a great budgeting and net worth tracking app that combines all the features we love — transaction categorization, net worth tracking, and investment monitoring.
And unlike some other apps that automatically link and update your accounts, Monarch actually works! We rarely see connectivity issues or issues because they use three different service providers to link the accounts.
It is a paid app, and you will pay $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year. And now, you can get 50% off your first year using promo code MONARCHVIP.
Read our full Monarch review here.
3. Yanab
In short you need a budget, YNAB is one of the leading budgeting software services. It allows users to set a budget based on their income, and adjust categories throughout the month when the unexpected happens.
If you earn a decent income, but are still living paycheck to paycheck, YNAB can help you take control of your cash flow, start saving, and break the cycle. It’s by far the best budgeting app we’ve seen.
A word of caution though – YNAB is based on zero-based budgeting. This is not a spending tracker, it is an actual budget that lets you allocate your money. It may take some getting used to if you’re not used to this system.
YNAB costs $14.99 per month or $109 per year. But if you’re a college student, you can currently get a year of YNAB for free. All you have to do is provide your student ID or any other proof of university student identity.
Read the full Budget Review review here.
4. Co-pilot
Copilot is one of the newer apps on our list, but they have developed a great budgeting and financial tracking app. It offers great connectivity, great visuals, and is one of the few apps that also supports cryptocurrency.
The only drawback now is that this app is only available for Mac and iPhone (which is honestly quite rare as most apps prefer PCs). We hope to see an Android version soon.
Copilot is a paid application. You get 60 days free with the promo code collegethe cost is $13 per month or $95 per year.
Read our full Copilot Money review here.
5. Al-Mal Al-Harith
Tiller Money is an app that feeds financial transactions and balance data into an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet. As far as “apps” go, it couldn’t be simpler. The downside is that you need to be a spreadsheet expert to find the app easy to use.
However, it is a great app for people who need flexibility in their apps. You can use it for traditional budgeting, financial tracking, and building cash flow and profit and loss statements for your business.
Tiller charges $79 per year after a 30-day free trial.
Read our full Tiller Money review here.
6. Cobra
Kubera has become one of my favorite finance apps, but its focus is a little different than most of the apps on this list — it’s a net worth tracking tool. It doesn’t do any budgeting, but I had to include it in this list because there comes a time when you step out of the budget to simply track your net worth, and Kubera should be your tool of choice.
It’s great because it connects to almost every account you have, including cryptocurrency. You can add entries for private investments, real estate, and more. They’ve recently added a lot of DeFi and NFT support as well.
Kubera charges $199 per year after a 14-day $1 free trial.
Read our full Kubera review here.
Other major money apps
In addition to budgeting apps, there are some other useful financial apps you might want to consider — including ones that help you find and cut copays, track your balance, and more.
Unsubscribe: Rocket Money
Rocket Money is a subscription monitoring and bill negotiation service, along with a full-service financial dashboard. It will let you know if you’re paying a subscription fee and can even try to help you cancel it.
Yes, they offer more than just unsubscribes, but for us, that’s what they’re known for.
If you’re someone who struggles to stay on top of your costs (especially cable and phone bills), Rocket Money can help you save a lot of money.
Additionally, Rocket Money is building more and more budget and spending tracking capabilities as well.
Rocket Money has a free version, but to access tools like opting out, you’ll have to upgrade to one of their paid plans.
Read our full Rocket Money review here.
Cash Advance: Dave
Dave is a low-cost membership banking platform that allows cash advances, cash back discounts, and more. You can get up to $500 with ExtraCash™
Dave has a membership fee of $1 per month. If you want your cash advance delivered within eight hours, you’ll have to pay an express fee based on your advance amount.
Read Dave’s full review here.
Credit Score Monitoring: Credit Karma
Credit Karma is a financial marketplace (that compares loans, credit cards, and more) that seems committed to giving its customers the most amazing financial experiences. It gives you a free credit score, credit score monitoring, and much more.
Additionally, they recently announced a high-yield savings account that should be very competitive.
Read our full Credit Karma review here.
Questions about budget application
Here are some common questions we see all the time when it comes to budgeting apps.
What is the best budgeting app?
This really depends on your budgeting style and your needs. Apps like YNAB have a very specific approach to budgeting, while others, like Personal Capital, are more like spending trackers. That’s why it’s important to find an app that suits your style.
Are budgeting apps safe?
Yes. Budgeting apps can never access your accounts to complete transactions. They only read data through a third party authorized by your bank or institution. In fact, by regularly looking at your transactions, you can be aware of fraudulent activity early.
How much do budget apps usually cost?
Budget apps range in cost from free to $100 per year or more. It all depends on the features you want in the app. Some apps are free, meaning they offer a free tier, and you can pay for more features.
Are budgeting apps free?
Yes, many of the most popular budgeting apps are free. These apps usually make money by recommending products and services to you based on your profile. Remember – if something is free, you are the product.
Do budgeting apps really work?
They can, but it depends on what you do with the data and information. A budget (whether on paper or using an app) is only as successful as how carefully you set and follow through on goals yourself.
Final thoughts
The best tool is the one you use. There is always the right tool for the job.
With all these apps, they will only help you if you enjoy using them. So, give it a try, see if it suits your style, and hopefully it will help you make positive improvements in your financial life.
