5 Best Budgeting Apps in 2024

Maintaining a budget is the best way to know where your hard-earned money is going. Budgeting is also one of the key pillars of personal finance. 

However, the B-word makes many shudder. In fact, only 1 in 3 Americans prepare a detailed household budget. 

It is true that preparing a handwritten budget takes more work. Who wants to be forced to manually store and track all their expenses? Or write things down on paper - oh the horror! 

Although it is important to understand the fundamentals of budgeting, which preparing manually can help with, a budgeting app is a much more convenient and sustainable option to track your spending on the go long-term. 

As smartphones and screens have become an integral part of our lives, budgeting apps via desktop and mobile versions are replacing traditional budgeting methods. In this post, we discuss and compare the top 5 budgeting apps so you can make the best decision based on your personal circumstances. 

1. Best budgeting app for beginners: Goodbudget

Goodbudget transforms the tried-and-true envelope budgeting method into a digital avatar. In envelope budgeting, you create several expense titles based on your personal needs, like groceries, rent, transportation, eating out, shopping, and subscriptions. 

With traditional envelopes, cash is put into different physical envelopes marked with these expense titles. Goodbudget helps you to do that without using physical envelopes or cash. 

As you keep spending money under any category, you need to update your expenses on the app. So, the next time you open the app, it shows how much money you are left with under each expense category. 

This uncomplicated tool is designed solely for budgeting goals (i.e. spending categories, saving goals, and debt payments). It keeps features like tracking investments and loans out of it. Moreover, its convenient sharing option helps you keep your parents or partner in the loop. 

Pros: 

• Free version available 
• Easy interface - suitable for beginners 
• Supports multiple devices and users
• Get automatically synced across multiple devices
• Generates periodic spending reports 

Cons: 

• The free version supports only 10 envelopes; $10/month or $80/year gets you unlimited envelopes on more devices 
• Unlike many other apps that automatically sync your bank accounts, you need to manually enter transactions on the Goodbudget appBest budgeting app overall: YNAB (You Need A Budget)

2. Best budgeting app overall: YNAB (You Need a Budget)

While Goodbudget is relatively simple, YNAB is much more feature-loaded. It allows you to budget your expenses, set financial goals, automatically track bank account transactions, and schedule financial transactions like bill payments. 

YNAB is based on zero-based budgeting, which means every dollar you earn is accounted for, and has four simple rules:

• Give every dollar a job: Budget each dollar you earn by assigning it to one of the expense heads, savings, or debt repayment. 
• Embrace your true expenses: Meet unplanned expenses or non-recurring expenses like buying a gift or repairing your car from your savings/emergency fund. 

• Roll with the punches: If you overspend in one category (for instance, holiday shopping), compensate for it by moving funds from another category.  

• Age your money: Create a built-in buffer by increasing the time between when you earn your money and when you spend it.

Pros:

• Includes a 34-free day trial
• Bank accounts are securely linked and transactions are automatically imported
• Supports up to 6 people in a single subscription 
• Generates detailed financial and net worth reports
• Includes a built-in loan calculator and financial goal-setting tools
• Allows users to schedule recurring bills and track bill due dates 
• An average user saves about $6,000 within the first year of using YNAB

Cons

• There are no free versions - you’ll pay $14.99/month or $99/year, so it’s costly compared to most other budgeting apps 
• YNAB does not have a bill-paying feature 

3. Best budgeting app for advanced features: Monarch

This AI-enabled application is one of the most technologically advanced and comprehensive budgeting tools on the market that users can customize based on their needs. While many budgeting apps focus primarily on well... budgets, Monarch is designed to be more forward thinking.

Monarch forecasts future cash flow, tracks monthly savings rate, and keeps tabs on investments in addition to budgeting. You can also collaborate with your partners in managing household budgets. 

While YNAB promotes a zero-based budgeting model, Monarch provides personalized budgeting recommendations based on individual financial goals and spending habits.

Pros:

• Seamless syncing and connectivity with all your accounts 
• Customizable report to show your financial standing on a given date 
• Goes beyond simple budgeting - it helps you track your investments and long-term financial goals like buying a house
• Leverages AI to enable users to have better control over their financial goals and transaction categorization
• A detailed dashboard showing where each dollar is going
• Former Mint users get 50% off

Cons:

• Monarch has a short free trial period of just 7 days
• There are no free versions - you’ll pay $14.99/month or $99/year (same price as YNAB)
• Its steep learning curve makes it less intuitive for beginners 

4. Best budgeting app for simplicity: Simplifi by Quicken

Standing true to its name, Simplify by Quicken makes budgeting simple and flexible. Simplifi stands out for its user-friendly and straightforward design, which also makes it great for beginners. It helps you track and categorize spending, and get an automatic and fully customizable spending plan and suggestions to reach your saving goals. 

The best thing about Simplifi is its flexibility - it does not force you to choose a single budgeting system. It supports any budgeting method you like: zero-based budgeting, envelope budgeting, 50-30-20, and more.

With investing, Simplifi offers basic investment monitoring features and might be more appealing to users with a simpler investment strategy or those who are new to investing. 

Your Simplifi journey begins with entering your monthly income, from which the app deducts bills and subscriptions to show the amount of money available for spending, saving, or repaying debt. Next, the app recommends personalized spending plans based on your spending habits. 

Simplifi allows you to:

• See how much you are left to spend per day for the rest of the month  
• Add spending categories to set aside funds
• Integrate your saving plans into the budget to prevent overspending 

Pros: 

• Seamless syncing and connectivity with all your accounts 
• More affordable compared to Monarch and YNAB - it costs only $3.99 per month
• Easy-to-use interface and dashboard 
• Flexible with budgeting methods
• Provides free credit scores and reports 

Cons: 

• Does not have a free version 
• Unlike many budgeting apps, Simplifi does not support bill payment on the app. 
• Lacks a comprehensive view and detailed analysis of investments (unlike Monarch)

   

5. Best budgeting app for saving: Rocket Money

Do you want to track all your income and spending on a single platform, identify the recurring subscriptions that you no longer use, or want an app that negotiates an overdraft fee or late payment fee on your behalf? Then Rocket Money is the right budgeting app for you.  

Rocket Money, like several others listed, automatically organizes your transactions into categories like groceries, transportation, and rent, making budgeting easier for you to track expenses. 

With Rocket Money, you can set spending goals and see how much you've spent in each category so far. You can update your budget anytime to manage unexpected costs.

Its innovative features allow you to automatically save money and negotiate your bills. For instance, analyze your accounts to determine the optimal time to save so you reach your goals faster. It also identifies unwanted subscriptions and generates alerts for you to cancel subscriptions that you do not need. 

Moreover, the app analyzes your bills to find out nooks for savings by identifying extra charges or fees that can be negotiated for a refund. 

Pros: 

• The basic version is free
• Generates a variety of notifications (from bank fee alerts to a change in credit scores) enabling you to stay at the top of your finances 
• Its bill negotiation service helps users identify extra charges or errors in bills and get refunds from service providers
• Offers smart saving accounts, held by FDIC-insured banking partners, to automate saving

Cons: 

• The free version has limited features. The premium versions cost $4 to $12 per month 
• The bill negotiation service comes at a high cost - its service fee can go as high as 30-60% of your savings from the negotiation 

Budgeting apps are convenient ways to get started with budgeting and having better control of your finances. Once you have a budget, you can save more, pay off your debt faster, and achieve your financial goals sooner. 

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