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It’s time to take control of your finances. An easy way to do that is with a budgeting app to help you manage your money responsibly. We know that everyone’s financial situation is different, so we picked our 5 favorite budgeting apps that vary based on the ideal user. Read on to find the right budgeting app for you to help you improve your personal finances.
1. Best Overall Without Connecting Accounts: Wismo
Wismo is a free budgeting app that tracks your daily spending. It doesn’t link to banks or credit cards and doesn’t require personal information. You simply add your recurring bills and income once and then add your expenses as they occur.
Wismo determines how efficient your spending is and helps you maximize your savings. This app is ideal for people who would rather not connect their bank and credit accounts and have some time to add transactions regularly.
This app is free and also offers a premium version for $2.99 without ads.
2. Best Overall With Connecting Accounts: Mint
Mint is touted as the best overall budgeting app by many reviews. The first step is connecting it to your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, investment accounts and recurring bills. Once you’ve connected your accounts, it shows you how much cash you have, your credit card balance and investment balance. It reminds you when bills are due and how much you can afford to pay if your balance is above the minimum payment. It shows your cash flow for the month (the amount you have earned vs spent), as well as a breakdown of your spending categories.
Mint also offers your Vantage 3.0 credit score for free by connecting with TransUnion. This app can be as complex or simple as you would like since it gives you the option to create budgets and monitor your credit score. The best part is that it’s free.
3. Best For Debt & Goal Setting: YNAB – You Need A Budget
YNAB is based on their four rules: give every dollar a job, embrace your true expenses, roll with the punches, and age your money. It connects with all of your accounts and allows you to import transactions. A feature that is different from other budgeting apps is that it not only is an expense tracker but also a goal tracker.
You can set goals and see a forecast of when you’ll be able to reach them. Their claim to fame is that on average new users save $600 in the first two months and $6,000 in the first year. Many reviewers claim it allowed them to break free of living paycheck to paycheck and helped them get out of debt. YNAB is free for 34 days and then is $11.99 a month or $84 a year.
Learn about different types of bank accounts to find the right one for your lifestyle to help you reach your financial goals.
4. Best For Multiple Users: GoodBudget
If you’ve ever heard of the envelope budgeting system, that’s what Goodbudget is based on. The idea is that you divide up your spending into categories and don’t exceed your monthly limits. The biggest advantage of this app is that you can have multiple users on the same account. This means you can manage your spending as a couple or as a family without needing to coordinate multiple accounts.
The free version allows you to track 10 monthly envelopes and 10 annual envelopes, which should be more than enough for starting out tracking expenses. The free version allows you to have 1 account with 2 devices and for $7 a month or $60 annually you have unlimited envelopes, unlimited accounts and 5 devices.
5. Best For Cutting Costs: PocketGuard
With PocketGuard you can see exactly how much money is “in your pocket” to avoid overspending on big purchases. It connects to all of your accounts so you have a clear picture of your finances. You can create spending limits and get notifications to keep you on track. One perk of this app is that it can help you cut your regular bills by up to 25% all within the app. It also has reminders for when bills are due and alerts for suspicious charges. This app is free and also offers a premium version for $4.99 a month or $34.99 a year which allows you to have more categories, savings goals and import cash transactions.
Take control of your finances today and plan for a brighter future. Try one of these budgeting apps and decide what your goals are. They could be lowering monthly expenses, saving more money, paying off debt or limiting your spending by categories. You can manage your money better and make it work for you.
If you have trouble sticking to a budget, you’re not alone. Read 5 Practical Must-Do’s To Help You Stick To Your Budget.
Ever heard of a “no spend challenge?” Find out what a no spend challenge is and the rules we decided on for our no spend month in our article, 7 Rules For Our No Spend Month Challenge.
Financial freedom begins with good habits.
Rebecca & Tiago, theloadedpig.com