The 6 best budgeting apps of 2024

A budget can help you prepare for expenses, and with prices still high from lingering inflation, it’s especially important to track how much money is coming out of your bank account. Accounting for costs with a budget can help ensure necessary expenses are paid each month, build up savings and ease financial stress.

One tool that can help to track these expenses is likely just within reach: your mobile device. Numerous smartphone budgeting apps are available that come with enhanced features for tracking spending and boosting savings. See which features each app has to offer.

Best budgeting apps

Best for tracking spending: PocketGuard

Overview: If you find yourself constantly spending too much, it’s key to find an app that helps you easily understand how much money you can spend without having to build up credit-card debt. PocketGuard’s In My Pocket feature is designed to do just that by keeping a tab on how much spending money you have available after accounting for bills and other monthly necessities.

Features: Various components provide insight into spending and bill tracking.

• Insights tool: Breaks down your monthly spending into customizable categories, highlighting spending habits. It includes a “merchants” section that adds up all the money spent at a given retailer each month. This insight can help users avoid overspending and stick to a budget.
• Bill tracking feature: The Billshark component automatically identifies monthly bills and organizes them into categories, while also helping users negotiate for better deals on certain bills. It comes with no extra charge unless a bill is lowered successfully, in which case the app takes a 40 percent cut of the savings.
• Debt payoff plan: If you pay for PocketGuard Plus, you get a debt payoff plan. This allows you to link accounts, such as credit card and loan accounts. It then uses machine-learning algorithms to calculate a personalized debt repayment strategy.

Cost: Free for basic plan; Plus is $12.99 a month or $74.99 annually.

Best for user-friendliness: You Need a Budget (YNAB)

Overview: One of the foundational rules of You Need a Budget is that you have to assign a job to every dollar you earn. So, rather than hoping to live with some percentage-based rules — 10 percent of your income going toward groceries, for example — you have to assign a plan for the money that comes in each month.

Features: A single page shows your complete financial picture, and shared budgets are an option.

• A comprehensive roundup: The details of your income and spending are all provided on one main page. This includes account balances, loan debts and monthly bills.
• Shared budgets: Users can make shared budgets in order to split bills and other expenses with a partner, roommate or family member.
• Free 34-day trial:  After the free trial, YNAB costs $14.99 a month. While there’s no free version of the service, it notes that users never have to worry about YNAB selling their data — the product is entirely paid for by users, with their data kept private.

Cost: Free for 34 days, then $14.99 a month or $99 annually.

Best for organizing funds: EveryDollar

Overview: EveryDollar brings some old-fashioned budgeting techniques and integrates them with more up-to-date technology. It organizes expenses into a classic spreadsheet, with each transaction amount and date listed, which can then be exported as a CSV file. By linking a user’s bank account, EveryDollar eases up some of the manual work of filling out a spreadsheet and automatically imports transactions from bank data.

Features: Users can create custom spending categories, as well as set due dates for bills in a calendar.

• Custom spending categories: Users can categorize each expense through custom spending categories. They can also group similar expenses together.
• Calendar: Users can set due dates for the line items of their budget, and they get notifications when bills are due to avoid missing payments.
• Financial coaching: By paying for a premium version, users can connect their bank accounts, set up automated recommendations and recieve group financial coaching.

Cost: Free for basic plan; Premium is $17.99 a month or $79.99 annually after the 14-day free trial.

Best for envelope budgeting: Goodbudget

Overview: Goodbudget is based on the envelope budgeting method — an old-school approach of dividing cash into different envelopes for different expense categories — but it’s all digital. For each spending category, money can only be taken from the designated envelope, assigned in the app.

Features: Envelopes include one dedicated to savings, and multiple users in a household can sync budgets.

• Multiple users: You can share the app with other members of your household. This enables those with synced accounts to see money deducted from an envelope after another user spends from it.
• Dedicated savings envelope: An envelope earmarked for savings can help you save for future goals, such as buying a house or a car.
• Debt payoff tools: Included is a debt account option where users can track their payoff progress and calculate how long it will take to be debt-free.
• Number of envelopes: With the basic plan, users get 20 total virtual envelopes and can sync up to two devices. Paying for Goodbudget Plus gets you unlimited envelopes and up to five synced devices.

Cost: Free for basic plan; Plus is $10 a month or $80 annually.

Best for couples: Honeydue

Honeydue is designed for couples. While most budgeting apps allow you to link bank accounts to them and track them from the app, Honeydue takes it a step further by then organizing linked bank accounts into individual and joint accounts – a feature many with shared finances will appreciate.

Couples can set monthly household spending limits in customizable categories, as well as receive notifications when bills are due. These features can help partners collaboratively establish financial boundaries and makes it easier to manage shared financial responsibilities.

Communication is a vital component of any successful relationship, and Honeydue recognizes this by incorporating a built-in chat feature. Couples can easily discuss and clarify specific transactions, whether it’s coordinating shared expenses or addressing an unusual transaction.

The app and all its features are free to use, though it asks users for optional tips of $1 to $10.

Cost: Free

Best for couples: Honeydue

Overview: Honeydue is designed for couples. While most budgeting apps allow you to link bank accounts and track them from the app, Honeydue takes it a step further by then organizing linked bank accounts into individual and joint accounts – a feature many with shared finances will appreciate.

Features: The app offers various features geared toward shared budgeting.

• Monthly spending limits: Couples can set monthly household spending limits in customizable categories.
• Bill notifications: You can receive reminders when bills are due.
• Chat feature: Couples can send messages to each other to discuss and clarify specific transactions, whether it’s coordinating shared expenses or addressing an unusual transaction.
• Tips are optional: The app is free to use, although it asks users for optional tips of $1 to $10.

Cost: Free

Best for worldwide access: Wally

Overview: If you’ve got financial accounts in different countries, making a budget and tracking expenses coming from abroad in foreign currencies becomes all the more complicated. Luckily, Wally is an app that comes with global capabilities: It’s compatible with accounts in 70 different countries.

Features: Users can connect bank accounts in any currency, with AI-powered tracking.

• Connect accounts from banks in 70 countries: Users can connect accounts from 15,000 banks.
• Automatic money tracking: Once banks are connected, the app automatically tracks money coming in and out of the accounts using AI technology. It can predict when bills are due and notify users beforehand.
• Customization: Users can set up custom rules and manually adjust categories.
• WallyGPT: The integrated AI chat service provides financial insights and guidance for users regarding financial problems, investment stragegies and hot to meet financial goals.

Cost: Free

How to choose a budgeting app

With plentiful options available, choosing the right budgeting app means sifting through features and fees to get the financial assistance best suited to you. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind when comparing budgeting apps:

Take the time to explore different options, read user reviews and consider trial versions to find the app that suits your finances best.

You downloaded a budgeting app. Now what?

Budgeting apps allow users to divide spending into categories, but the creation of those categories falls on you. A good starting place is to make several categories for your largest monthly expenses, but avoid overwhelming yourself by creating too many subcategories.

To consistently work toward cutting spending and making progress toward savings goals, review your budget regularly, examine the spending data provided by the app and identify areas where money can be saved. Those savings can go toward paying down debt, rebuilding your emergency fund or investments.

Though it’s up to you to make good financial decisions, budgeting apps help to make those decisions easier.

Methodology

In selecting these budgeting apps, Bankrate looked for those that have diverse budgeting approaches, offering users a range of features to suit various preferences and financial goals. All chosen apps provide a free plan or offer a free trial, allowing users to explore features before committing. Automatic spending and transaction tracking were also a fundamental requirement for the apps on this list. The apps all have ratings of 3 or higher on the iOS App Store and the Google Play store, except for Wally, which has a lower score for Google Play, but was still included for its innovation as a multi-currency budgeting app.

–Freelance writer David McMillin and former Bankrate writer René Bennett contributed to previous versions of this article.