If you need help controlling expenses and controlling your personal finances, a budgeting app may be for you. There are many free budget apps to choose from, and each app is trying to distinguish itself from others.
The number of applications used for money management, personal finance, and budgeting is huge. Therefore, it is helpful to understand which applications are designed for most users, while also providing exclusive tools for those with special needs. We did the hard work for you by listing the platforms that offer budgeting apps free of charge.
Table of contents
What Is A Budget App?
The budget application is a software application that you can access via a computer, tablet, or mobile device to track your personal finances.
This may include tracking your income, expenses, savings, debt payments, investments, or portfolios to improve your financial situation.
Budgeting applications are different from accounting software, which is usually used for company income and expenses.
The budget app can be synchronized with your financial account to provide an overview of your situation when changes occur.
The most common use of budgeting applications is to track expenses by synchronizing checking accounts. Many people don’t know how much they spend each month, which makes change difficult.
The budget app can categorize spending history to help identify trends and allow users to understand their habits over time.
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Key features to look out for in budgeting apps?
Most budgeting applications provide the option to synchronize bank accounts. You can record your income and consumption data in the app.
Many apps can track your expenses and categorize your expenses so that you can view trends over time.
These features can make it easier for you to understand your consumption habits and make better decisions.
Some applications go a step further, with automatic savings, money-saving advice, bill notification, credit access, and investment functions.
For applications with savings components, please make sure that the account is FDIC insured. You can also consider the APY of the account and its comparison with a very interesting online savings account that may also offer free budgeting tools.
Depending on the amount you save, it may be better to switch to a technology-driven online bank that offers a higher APY.
SEE ALSO: 10 Best Investment Apps For Beginners In 2022
Top Free Budgeting Apps
Here is a list of the best free budgeting apps:
- Trim
- Mint
- PocketGuard
- YNAB
- Personal Capital
- Zeta
- Mvelopes
- GoodBudget
- Wally
- Simplifi
1. Trim
Trim will analyze your bills and spending habits, and show you where you can save your budget.
Trim’s most unique feature is bill negotiation-the app will analyze your Internet, phone, cable, and WiFi bills and determine whether you can get the same services as the company at a lower price.
This feature may save you hundreds of dollars in a year, and then you can use, save or invest in other expenses.
Trim registration is free. If you agree to the billing negotiation proposed by Trim, you will pay the 33% fixed cost that Trim saves you in one year.
You can pay $99 a year for Trim Premium, which includes medical bill negotiation, credit card payment negotiation, and unlimited access to financial coaching via email.
Bill Negotiation is included in the Trim Premium membership, so you don’t need to pay the 33% annual membership fee.
2. Mint
Mint is one of the most well-known and well-established free budgeting apps. It is owned by Intuit, the same company that makes Quickbooks and TurboTax, provides a slew of features to help you track and manage your money from a plethora of banks, credit card issuers, brokerages, lenders, and other financial institutions.
It has a plethora of features, the most useful of which are its budgeting tools, which are prominently displayed when you log in.
Mint automatically categorizes transactions from linked credit and debit cards and tracks them against a budget that you can tweak and customize to meet your specific needs.
Get alerts when you go over budget, track your spending by category, or examine your overall cash flow to get a well-rounded picture.
Pros
- Budgeting app for free
- TransUnion credit scores are available for free.
- Tracking your investments
Cons
- Product advertisements in-app
- Some technical issues have been raised.
- Spending classification could be improved.
3. PocketGuard
PocketGuard is a budgeting app that helps you keep track of your spending. It also connects to all of your financial accounts and provides you with a comprehensive view of your overall financial picture.
This budgeting app is one of the simplest apps to use and does an excellent job of tracking your monthly income, savings, and bills.
It basically analyzes your bills and looks for ways you can potentially save money and find better deals on monthly expenses such as your phone bill, cable service, and Internet service.
Moreso, PocketGuard excels at assisting you in managing your cash flow by projecting your expenses soon and accounting for your expected income.
The interface is very simple to use and provides simple charts and graphs to give you an excellent picture of your financial situation.
Further, PocketGuard has iPhone and Android apps, as well as a desktop version. You can even use your Apple Watch to access your PocketGuard app.
4. YNAB
Because of its budgeting philosophy, YNAB is at the top of our list. The company offers a 34-day free trial (no credit card required), after which the cost is $84 per year. If you prefer to pay less upfront, the monthly fee is $11.99.
YNAB allows you to sync your bank accounts, import data from a file, or enter each transaction manually.
To begin, the company recommends learning the fundamentals of the app via video courses, a live workshop, or reading a guide.
Unlike some competitors, YNAB takes a proactive approach to budget rather than tracking what you have already spent.
After you sign up, you create your first budget and assign each dollar a purpose, such as your rent or car payment. The goal is to eventually get at least one month early, so you’re spending money you earned 30 days ago.
To keep you on track, the company provides extensive educational resources and customer support.
According to YNAB, privacy and security are its top priorities. The company safeguards your data by employing bank-level encryption for all data, best practices for password security, third-party audits, and other measures.
Pros
- Total budget makeover
- 34-day free trial
- Excellent customer service and extensive education
Cons
- 84 dollars per year
- Learning takes more time.
- Recent synchronization issues
5. Personal Capital
Personal Capital takes the top spot on our list as the best app for wealth creation. You can sync accounts using the product’s dashboards to get a complete picture of your finances.
The company’s main app is free, but you can add investment management services for 0.89 percent of your money for accounts under $1 million.
Personal Capital does not allow you to manually add budgeting transactions, but you can manually add investments without syncing those accounts.
Every month, you can use Personal Capital’s budgeting tools to see your total income and expenses. While you cannot set specific goals, you can create a budget, compare it to previous months, and view your spending by category.
Pros
- App for free wealth management
- Retirement Planning Software
- Tool for Education Planning
- Tracking one’s net worth
- Fee Analyzer is a tool for analyzing your portfolio’s fees.
Cons
- Budgeting is less important.
- There is no option to manually enter transactions for budgeting.
- Calls for sales of wealth management services
6. Zeta
Zeta is a budgeting app specifically designed for couples. It merges all of your personal and shared finances in one place and allows you to hide certain financial details from your partner. This app provides an excellent choice for couples who have combined their finances or for those who prefer to bank separately.
You can set personal and combined financial goals with Zeta. The app sends you monthly reminders to set “money dates,” making it an excellent tool for learning to communicate about money.
Pros
- Free budgeting app and no-fee joint bank account
- Designed for all types of couples
- Features like early direct deposits, contactless payments, and bill pay
Cons
- Low APY for joint account
- In-app product recommendations
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7. Mvelopes
Bar budget applies to envelop budget, which is a type of budget. You can put cash in envelopes of different expenditure categories.
When each envelope is empty, your budget in that category will be used for the entire month. This is a bit difficult for credit and debit cards, but Mvelopes can easily track the cash budget in the digital budget world.
Although is not free, Mvelopes provides the option to connect to unlimited financial accounts and use the classic envelope budget to track your regular expenses. With real-time budget reconciliation, you know whether you can buy a cappuccino or have to wait until next month to reset your budget.
8. GoodBudget
Formerly referred to as Easy Envelope Budget Aid or EEBA, Goodbudget is a super alternative for couples that need to percentage their budgeting system together. It makes use of the acquainted envelope budgeting philosophy to electricity your proactive price range for all your payments and spending.
Because you may percentage and sync budgets with budgeting companions throughout the iPhone and Android spectrum, it’s miles extremely good for couples with shared finances, whilst running extremely good for solo budgeters as well.
When you upload new transactions, you’ve got the choice to feature some of the details, breaking apart your prices into a couple of envelopes. Budget via way of means of the category (referred to as envelopes inside the app) with up to ten envelopes for loose. Add on your envelopes out of your profits each payday and you’ll realize simply how many you’ve got leftover for non-vital purchases.
Pros
- 10 loose virtual envelopes
- Sync throughout a couple of gadgets
- Track your development in the direction of paying off debt
Cons
- The loose model has barriers
- Doesn`t sync to financial institution accounts
9. Wally
Wally isn’t the easiest app to use when compared to others on this list, but it does one thing well: budgeting.
This app keeps track of your income and expenses while also providing you with a snapshot of your remaining budget to help you avoid overspending.
This app, which is more popular among Millennials, is free to use. Wally has built-in support for virtually all foreign currencies, making it a better option for those who live outside of the United States.
Pros
- The budgeting features are simple to use.
- Graphics to display your finances
Cons
- Extra features can add up.
- Aside from budgeting, personal finance tools are limited.
10. Simplifi
Thanks to the app’s effective tracking capabilities, Quicken’s Simplifi ranks best in terms of cash flow. This is the best option to track how much you can spend between salaries. The app offers a 30-day free trial, and then you pay US$2.99 per month (US$35.99 per year) or US$3.99 per month if you don’t prepay.
First, you need to synchronize your bank accounts, and then you will have a complete snapshot of your financial situation. The app will automatically categorize your expenses, track recurring bills and subscriptions, and track upcoming expenses.
A prominent feature is the application’s custom watch list, which you can use to limit spending by category or payee.
In addition, the custom spending plan monitors cash flow to ensure that your spending never exceeds your income. Quicken’s Simplifi provides tips when you use the app, but there is also a blog full of educational content.
Security and privacy are the top priorities of Quicken, the app’s parent company. Quicken has been familiar with sensitive financial data for decades (since 1982) and continues to work on new security measures. The application uses 256-bit encryption to transmit bank details and keep the information confidential.
Pros
- Effective cash flow management tools
- Watchlists for Conscious Spending
- 30-day free trial
Cons:
- $35.99/year
- Some technical issues have been raised.
FAQs On Free Budgeting Apps
The budget application is a software application that you can access via a computer, tablet, or mobile device to track your personal finances.
The budget app is used to make the budgeting process easier and faster. These applications can be a pre-formatted form in which you only need to enter your transactions, or it can be an application that automatically classifies fees for you.
Some applications with limited functions are free, while other applications with more powerful tools and functions are cheaper. If you pay annually, the monthly fee is about US$10-15, with discounts available. However, some applications are more expensive.
The budget application will be downloaded to your phone or tablet for use anytime, anywhere, but not all accounting software offers this option. Accounting software is usually more costly and has a steeper learning curve, while basic budgeting applications can be mastered in a matter of minutes.
Conclusion
The number of budget apps on the market seems endless. Each has its own set of tools and features to help you manage your funds more effectively. But only one thing will prove to be the best for you.
Mint is a good starting point. Not only is it a free application that won’t cut your budget, but it also has plenty of budgeting tools to help you succeed.
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