Budgeting is crucial to a successful financial plan, but it's not always easy, especially if you're doing it all on your own. The best budgeting apps can help you get your finances in order, stay organized and work toward your money goals.
Here are our choices for the top five budgeting apps.
| Our Picks for the Best Budgeting Apps of 2025 | |
|---|---|
| PocketGuard | Cost: $74.99 annually App Store rating: 4.6/5 Google Play Store rating: 3.7/5 Best feature: Simple snapshot of how much you can spend |
| You Need a Budget | Cost: $109 annually App Store rating: 4.8/5 Google Play Store rating: 4.7/5 Best feature: Helps you assign a purpose for every dollar with a zero-based budget |
| Goodbudget | Cost: Free, with a premium tier App Store rating: 4.6/5 Google Play Store rating: 3.9/5 Best feature: Lets you view your budget across multiple devices |
| Empower Personal Wealth | Cost: Free App Store rating: 4.7/5 Google Play Store rating: 3.9/5 Best feature: Also helps you track your investment accounts |
| HoneyDue | Cost: Free App Store rating: 4.5/5 Google Play Store rating: 4/5 Best feature: Helps couples share and manage expenses together |
PocketGuard
What we like: PocketGuard connects to your financial accounts and keeps track of your transactions and bills. Then, it gives you a snapshot of how much you have available to spend based on your income, past and upcoming bills, and the money you've budgeted for spending and savings goals.
If you want more detailed budgeting, you can get it through spending reports. You can also create a debt payoff plan, make up your own spending categories, add notes to transactions, set unlimited savings goals and more.
What we dislike: The PocketGuard app previously had a free tier that included basic budgeting features, but that's no longer the case. You can still try it out for free for seven days, but beyond that, you'll need to pay.
Cost: $74.99 annually or $12.99 monthly.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Lets you know how much you can spend at any given time | No longer free |
| Personalized spending reports | Website is difficult to navigate |
| Offers tools to help you with debt payoff and savings goals |
You Need a Budget
What we like: You Need a Budget (YNAB) allows you to connect your financial accounts and maintain a strict budget using a zero-based budgeting approach. With this method, you're essentially budgeting every single dollar you earn.
The YNAB app lets you share your budget with a partner, set and track various financial goals, review spending and net worth reports, track debt and investment accounts and more. You'll also get access to a trove of resources, including workshops and guides.
What we dislike: YNAB's biggest drawback is that it doesn't offer a free version of its budgeting software, and it's among the most expensive options—though there is a lengthy 34-day trial.
The cost may be worth it if you're a serious budgeter who prefers the zero-based budgeting method over others. But if you're new to budgeting, it may be better to stick to a free app (at least for now).
Cost: $109 annually or $14.99 monthly.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Allows for multiple budgets with joint accounts | No free version after the trial period |
| Direct importing and automatic categorization can help you save time | No bill tracking or bill pay features |
| Easy to customize, create spending goals and track expenses | Steep learning curve compared to other budgeting apps |
Goodbudget
What we like: Goodbudget is an envelope-based budgeting app that lets you share your budget with others. You'll create virtual envelopes for individual spending categories, then use those to manage your money.
Once the money from one envelope is gone, you can no longer spend money in that area unless you take it from another envelope.
The Goodbudget app has a free version with 10 envelopes, but you only get one year of budgeting history, and you can only share one account across two devices. You can, however, upgrade to Goodbudget Premium and get unlimited envelopes, unlimited accounts across up to five devices and seven years of history.
What we dislike: In addition to limited envelopes and history, the free tier of Goodbudget won't let you connect your financial accounts and directly import transactions. Instead, you'll need to manually update your transactions from each account.
This approach may be worth considering if your finances are relatively simple and you only have a few financial accounts. But the more accounts you have, the longer it will take to manually update transactions across all of them.
If you like what Goodbudget has to offer but want direct import, you'll need to pay for the premium tier.
Cost: Free basic tier; premium tier for $80 annually or $10 monthly.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simplifies the budgeting process | Free features are limited |
| Free version available | Doesn't connect to financial accounts with the free tier |
| Provides spending reports | No investing tools or resources |
Empower Personal Wealth
What we like: Empower, formerly Personal Capital, is primarily an app for managing your investment accounts, but you can also connect it to your existing financial accounts and use the app to track your budget and spending.
You can track your progress with your net worth, develop your retirement savings strategy, get some insights on your current investment portfolio and more with the Empower app. You can also get a spending snapshot with customizable spending categories.
What we dislike: Empower's main draw is that it provides access to digital wealth advisors. As a result, you might not get as much use from it unless you can qualify to be an Empower member, which requires at least $100,000 in investments.
If you want to focus more on your budgeting, another app may be a better option.
Cost: Free.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free budgeting tool with reports | High minimum balance requirement for premium investment tools and resources |
| Free investment tools | Geared toward investment-minded users |
| Investment management and resources for eligible users |
HoneyDue
What we like: HoneyDue is an app designed specifically to help couples budget together. You and your partner each sign up for your own individual accounts. Then, you can link views of your accounts and credit cards, choosing what accounts are shared between you and which are kept individual.
The app stands out for features that make budgeting as a couple and communicating about money easier. For instance, HoneyDue allows you to set bill due dates and create reminders—and designate which partner should receive them. Also, you can chat in the app or communicate in comment threads on transactions.
On the other hand, the app also allows you to keep private what you don't wish to share. So, for example, if you're checking off some birthday shopping for your partner, you can choose to keep those transactions to yourself.
What we dislike: One major drawback is that HoneyDue doesn't allow you to set up savings goals. When you contribute to your savings funds, those transfers will be tracked as transactions in your expenses. If staying motivated to save is a major priority in your budget, this could be a dealbreaker.
Also, while it's completely free to use, there are in-app advertisements that can be annoying.
Cost: Free.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Helps couples track expenses and income in one organized view | Includes in-app advertisements |
| Completely free | Account can only be accessed on mobile device, not from computer |
| In-app messaging allows you to discuss expenses in one place | No tool for setting savings goals |
Other Budgeting Resources
It can be overwhelming to try to find the best budgeting app for you, especially when there are so many overlapping features. As you research these and other options, here are some factors to consider:
- Cost: If you're new to budgeting or you don't have much cash to spare, you may be better off with a budgeting app that's entirely free. However, if you're confident that premium features can help you save more money overall, a paid subscription may be worth it.
- Budgeting style: Different budgeting apps may be better for different approaches to budgeting. If you prefer a zero-based budget, for instance, YNAB can be a great fit. If you prefer a simpler approach, however, PocketGuard may be better. Consider trying out a few apps to get a sense of which works best for your money management style.
- Features: If you're looking for specific features, such as direct import, savings goals or sharing, focus on apps that offer what you want to prioritize.
- User reviews: Take some time to read through some user reviews on your preferred app store. While experiences can vary, app reviews can give you a general sense of what you can expect.
While a budgeting app can be helpful, it's by no means the only way to manage your money effectively. Other potential options include:
- Spreadsheet: Whether you use Excel, Google Sheets or Apple Numbers, you can opt to build your budget spreadsheet from scratch or use an online template. This may be worth considering if you want a fully manual approach to budgeting or if you want to maximize your data privacy.
- Envelope system: If you prefer to use cash instead of plastic, you may consider envelope budgeting. You'll separate your spending categories by placing cash in physical envelopes—an analog version of the Goodbudget app—and stop spending once you have no more cash left over.
- Pen and paper: If you consider yourself old school and want to write down everything to keep track, develop a system that works for you. That may include binders, folders and other storage options to stay organized.
Regardless of which option you choose, you'll need to do everything manually. Again, this might not be a problem if you only have a few accounts to keep track of. But as your financial situation gets more complicated, you may want to use a budgeting app to make things easier and less time-consuming.
Your budgeting process will depend on which method you use and how much oversight you want. With that said, here are some general guidelines for how to make a budget:
- Determine your income. If you earn a fixed salary, this may be easy. However, if your income fluctuates from month to month, you may need to take an average over the past several months or set a minimum expected amount.
- Lay out your expenses. Review and categorize your expenses from the past three to six months to get an idea of how you've been spending your money. You may simply separate transactions into necessary and discretionary spending, or you can break down categories more fully to get a complete picture of your costs.
- Set goals. Once you know how you've managed your money in the past, set some goals on how you want to spend and save your money going forward. Then, you can set spending goals each month based on your overall financial goals.
- Track your spending. Review your expenses at least once a week to track your spending and make sure it stays in line with your goals.
It's also important to regularly evaluate your budget to make sure it's realistic and helpful for your situation.
Evaluate Your Budget to Ensure You're Still on the Right Track
As with anything in your financial life, it's important to evaluate your approach to budgeting at least once a year to determine if it's still working for you and helping you achieve your financial goals. This can include evaluating whether your current budgeting app is still right for you or if you should switch your budget over to another one.
Because this can be a time-consuming process, it's important to take your time to research your options and consider how to proceed. As you evaluate your financial health, be sure to keep an eye on your credit, which you can do for free through Experian.