Budget App Guide: The 4 Best Apps to Get Your Finances on Track
What if I told you it’s possible to track your money without writing down every single transaction on paper? Say goodbye to being overwhelmed by the number of budget apps and hello to this simple budget app guide.
There are so many budget apps on the market right now that it can be truly overwhelming. And majority of us are guilty of trying a new budget spreadsheet and not being able to keep up with it
If this is you, know that you aren’t alone!
Good news is that by the end of this simple guide to personal finance you will be introduced to 4 money-saving-easy to use budget apps.
What’s ahead:
How much do they cost?
How do you choose the best app for your money situation?
Best app for digital cash envelopes Best app for tracking everything
Continue reading our budget app guide
for the answers to all of these questions and more!
This is a guest post written by Erin the creator of LevelUpPersonalFinance.com. Scroll to the end to learn more about our guest blogger. Click here to read our writer policy.
Budget Apps 101
What is a budget?
A budget is a way to assign a job to every dollar you make. If you haven’t built a budget, check out my guide to building your first budget here.
What is a budget app?
A budget app is a web or mobile app designed to help you build and manage your budget.
These apps can give you a clear picture of your income and spending, while helping you reach your savings goals.
How do they work?
This depends on your app.
Some apps connect to your bank accounts and credit cards to track every transaction you make automatically and allow you to insert cash transactions by hand.
Other apps require you to input each transaction manually.
If most of your spending is on credit or debit cards, I highly recommend using an automatic tracking app.
Can they really help me get my finances under control?
Absolutely- but you still need to put in some work to get there!
Let’s check out some of the best budget apps on the market.
Best Budget App for Beginners: EveryDollar
If you are a beginner budgeter or you’ve stepped on the Dave Ramsey Baby Step train, EveryDollar is for you.
Within 10 minutes of signing up via the EveryDollar website or app, you can have a budget built and ready to go.
All you need to do is put in the amount of money you expect to be paid for the entire month.
After that, EveryDollar uses a customizable template to help you plan all of your expenses for the rest of the month.
Each time you spend money, you simply log a transaction in the app to keep track of your budget.
EveryDollar focuses on your budget and your budget only, keeping you focused on one goal at a time.
If this sounds great BUT you really want to sync your bank accounts, EveryDollar offers a paid version for $99/year.
Best for Zero-Based Budgeting: YNAB
If you have decided that zero-based budgeting is the way to reach your financial goals, YNAB is for you.
You Need a Budget (or YNAB, for short) is a straightforward budget solution that helps you manage your finances quickly and easily.
YNAB offers the ability to connect to your bank and credit card companies for easy transaction tracking, similar to Mint.
Thanks to its organized platform, YNAB makes it easy to compare between months, track rollover funds from the previous month, and the amount you’ve spent to date.
You can even use the YNAB Alexa app to tell you your available balances and funds, plus record transactions for you.
Although YNAB lacks features for tracking your investments, this simple budget app has still created a huge following in the personal finance world and has helped a lot of people get their finances under control.
If you’re interested in YNAB, keep in mind that it does come with a $6.99/month price tag after its free trial ends.
Best for Digital Envelope Budgeting: Mvelopes
If you have fallen in love with the idea of envelope budgeting but the idea of carrying multiple envelopes full of cash with you everywhere drives you crazy, Mvelopes is for you.
Based on the method of envelope budgeting, Mvelopes brings the old-school method to a modern presentation with web and mobile apps.
After you separate your budget into different categories like groceries, rent, and gas, Mvelopes creates a monthly virtual envelope for each category.
Your Mvelopes account can be linked to any of your financial accounts, so you can automatically or manually track your spending for each category.
The standard Mvelopes tier is free, offering automatic connections for up to 4 financial institutions, plus 25 spending envelopes.
Mvelopes Premier offers users the ability to connect unlimited bank accounts and create unlimited spending envelopes for $9.95/month.
One extra perk of Mvelopes Premier is the “debt roll-down” feature, which enables you to put all of your debts into their system and use different variables to determine how to pay down your debt quickly.
Once you decide on a paydown plan, Mvelopes integrates this plan into your envelopes and overall budget plan.
If you’re looking for a debt paydown plan but aren’t up for paying $9.95/month, check out my free guides to the Debt Snowball Method and Debt Avalanche Method.
Best Budget App for Automatic Tracking of Your Entire Financial Life: Mint
If you just want to keep track of your spending, investing, credit score, and net worth in one place automatically, Mint is for you.
Mint is a one-stop shop for all of your personal finance needs, placing it all in a user-friendly app interface on both web and mobile.
The best part about Mint is that it allows you to connect ALL of your accounts.
You can securely track your cash levels in your bank accounts, your credit card spending across multiple lenders, your student loan balances, and your investment and brokerage accounts - all in one place.
Mint has its own built-in list of budget categories and automatically categorizes your transactions to align with them.
If you don’t like their categories, you can also create your own and train Mint to follow your category list instead.
The best part about Mint? Unlike the rest of the apps on this list, every feature that Mint provides is free.
In conclusion
Which Budget App Is the Best?
When it comes to choosing a budget app, the best app is going to be the one that fits your needs.
If you want a straightforward app that just focuses on your budget, try EveryDollar or YNAB.
Love your budget envelopes but want it in an app instead?
Try Mvelopes.
Want to put your entire financial life into a single app?
Try Mint.
Still not sure which budget app is best for you?
Pick one, test it out for a month, make some notes about what you do and don’t like about it, and try another if you haven’t found the perfect fit.
Finding the right budget app might take a few tries, but having your budget in the palm of your hand is a great step to tracking, managing, and saving your money!
Which budget app sounds like the right fit for you? Do you use a budget app already? Which one is your favorite?
Share your thoughts and answers in the comments!
More about our guest blogger
Erin is the creator of LevelUpPersonalFinance. Her goal is to help women find confidence, clarity, and success at every level of their financial journey. Connect with her on IG here.
