Honeydue Budgeting App Review: Shared Finances Made Simple
Whether you're newly engaged, sharing a home or years into marriage, managing money as a couple can be challenging. Honeydue is a budgeting app designed with that in mind for couples looking to simplify shared finances and reduce money-related arguments.
The app lets partners link their accounts, track spending together and maintain customizable levels of financial transparency, all without charging a subscription fee.
What Is the Honeydue Budgeting App?
Honeydue is a mobile-only budgeting platform created to help couples manage their finances collaboratively. Available for both iOS and Android devices, Honeydue allows two partners to connect their individual and joint financial accounts in one place. The app gives both partners visibility into balances, transactions and spending patterns.
The app supports connections to over 20,000 financial institutions across five countries. Whether couples choose to combine all their finances or maintain separate accounts with selective sharing, Honeydue provides tools for tracking bills, setting budgets and communicating about money matters through in-app messaging.
Read more: Guide to Budgeting for Couples
Honeydue Features
Honeydue offers several features designed to make it easier for couples to manage their finances together. Here's a look at the most important ones.
Account Aggregation
The app allows users to link various types of financial accounts, including checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, loans and investments. Once connected, both partners can view real-time balances and transactions from all linked accounts in a single dashboard.
This eliminates the need to log in to multiple banking websites or apps to get a complete picture of household finances. It also allows each partner to share transaction details while keeping their login credentials private.
Customizable Sharing
One of Honeydue's standout features is its flexible privacy controls. For each linked account, users can choose exactly what information their partner can see.
Options include sharing both balances and transactions, sharing only account balances or hiding accounts entirely. You can even hide individual transactions, which can be helpful if you want to keep a birthday or anniversary gift a surprise.
This feature allows couples to maintain some financial independence while still collaborating on shared expenses and goals.
Budgeting and Spending
The app automatically categorizes transactions into one of its preset spending groups, but you can edit the names of the categories and even create custom groups. Partners can set monthly spending limits for each category and receive notifications when they're approaching those limits.
The budget section provides a clear overview of where money is going and helps couples identify their biggest expense categories.
In-App Communication
Honeydue includes a built-in chat feature that lets couples message each other about finances without switching to another app. Partners can comment or add emojis directly on individual transactions to ask questions or add context.
Bill Reminders
Users can add recurring bills with due dates to the app and receive notifications before payments are due. Both partners can be reminded about upcoming bills, helping ensure nothing falls through the cracks and avoiding late payment penalties.
Read more: Key Information Your Partner Needs if You Keep Your Finances Separate
Is Honeydue Free?
Honeydue is completely free to download and use. There is no paid version or subscription tier, meaning all features are available to every user.
Unlike many budgeting apps that offer limited functionality in free versions while reserving advanced features for paying subscribers, Honeydue provides full access to its platform at no cost.
How Does Honeydue Make Money?
Since Honeydue doesn't charge a subscription fee, it makes money in a few other ways. One way the company makes money is by showing ads in the mobile app.
Honeydue also gives users the option to leave a voluntary tip, typically between $1 and $10 per month. These tips work much like a subscription but are completely optional and can be adjusted or canceled at any time through the App Store or Google Play. Tips have no impact on your access to the app's features.
Is Honeydue Safe?
According to Honeydue's website, all information is encrypted using 256-bit encryption—the same level of protection used by banks. The app also requires multifactor authentication to help keep unauthorized users out of your account.
When you connect your bank accounts, Honeydue uses Plaid Technologies to ensure secure connections between apps and financial institutions. The company states that it doesn't store your banking usernames or passwords. You can also add extra protection by enabling a PIN code or biometric authentication on your device.
Of course, no digital platform is completely risk-free, but Honeydue follows industry-standard security practices similar to those used by major financial institutions.
Should You Get the Honeydue App?
Honeydue is best suited for couples who want to actively manage their finances together and value transparency about spending. The app works particularly well for partners at various stages of their relationship, from those just moving in together to long-married couples looking to improve financial communication.
The platform is ideal if you want basic budgeting features without paying for a subscription. Its customizable privacy settings make it appropriate for couples who maintain some separate finances alongside shared expenses.
However, Honeydue may not be the right choice if you need advanced financial planning tools, investment tracking or detailed reporting features. The app is also limited to mobile devices only, so users who prefer managing budgets on a desktop computer may find this restrictive.
The Bottom Line
Honeydue provides a free, straightforward solution for couples who want to manage money together. The app's combination of account aggregation, customizable privacy and built-in communication tools addresses the unique challenges of shared finances.
It may be missing some of the bells and whistles you'll find in paid apps, but being free makes it an easy entry point for couples who are new to budgeting or prefer to keep things simple. Before you get started, though, be sure to compare other budgeting apps to ensure you get the best possible fit.
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Ben Luthi has worked in financial planning, banking and auto finance, and writes about all aspects of money. His work has appeared in Time, Success, USA Today, Credit Karma, NerdWallet, Wirecutter and more.
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