We all know how important budgeting is and yet very few of us actually do it. Whether it’s a lack of time or just not knowing where to start, attempting to get your finances in order can often seem overwhelming.
Luckily, as with most things in life, there are lots of apps available to help you get your finances under control. But if you think budgets are just for those on lower incomes, then think again, because creating a budget can provide benefits for anyone.
Saving Money
A budget can help you save money by cutting back on unnecessary purchases and stop you from wasting cash. By saving up those funds, they can be used to pay for treats further down the line as a reward.
Whether it’s lunch at a nice restaurant, a weekend away, or gaming with friends and play poker online, budgeting can be incredibly fulfilling and a lot of fun. Other benefits of budgets include:
- Reduce stress caused by financial uncertainty
- Helps you make the most of your money
- Helps plan for the future and retirement
- Prevents bad spending habits
What is a budget?
A budget is a tool that helps analyse your finances. It will give you the answer to two key questions:
- Do I spend more than I earn?
- What can I afford to spend?
Once you know where you’re spending your hard-earned money, you can prioritise how you use it in order to stay within your means. All you need to do now is check out our review of the best free budgeting apps around and get budgeting!
Mint
Google Play Star Rating: 4.3
Downloads: 10m+
Cost: Free (includes in-app purchases)
This hugely popular app was one of the first free budgeting apps ever introduced and it’s still one of the best around. The app connects to your financial accounts and helps you keep track of your spending by categorising all your expenses as they come in.
It also tracks your bill due dates and sends handy reminders, plus you’ll get alerts when you go over budget or to notify you of any suspicious transactions on your account. The app promises to always know how much you have to spend and will notify you when it spots budget improvements you can make, helping you grow your savings and build stronger financial habits.
Positives:
Good customer support
Allows you to manage your money in one place
Custom alerts and reminders help you stay on top of your bills
Free
Negatives:
The app itself is free but there are in-app purchases
The quantity of adverts can be distracting and requires signing up for the premium version to banish them
No joint accounts
PocketGuard
Google Play Star Rating: 5
Downloads: 100K+
Cost: Free (includes in-app purchases)
PocketGuard makes personal finance simple by providing users with budgeting snapshot. The app takes care of all the routine tasks like expense tracking and bill monitoring so you can clearly focus on managing your money.
The free version doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of other apps on this list, but that may well suit those who don’t want to overcomplicate things. You can still connect bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investments and track your bills. PocketGuard will take care of the rest and show you how much you have left to spend.
The paid version, PocketGuard Plus, offers other features including a debt payoff plan. This means you have to pay them to help pay off your debts and feels out of sync with the apps ethos.
However, if you just want to know how much you have to spend every day, then PocketGuard is a good option.
Positives
Tells you how much you can spend at any given time
Personalised spending reports
Negatives
Free features are limited
Navigation can be confusing
You Need a Budget (YNAB)
Google Play Star Rating: 4.6
Downloads: 1M+
Cost: Free (includes in-app purchases)
You Need a Budget follows a zero-based budget system, which involves accounting for every single bit of money you earn. It does this by connecting your financial accounts and helping maintain a strict budget based on your spending habits.
YNAB differs from other apps by focusing on what you have the ability to influence and helps you think through your financial priorities and allocate your money accordingly.
Positives
Focuses on every single penny
Negatives
Free features are limited
Only Free for 34 trial
Goodbudget
Google Play Star Rating: 4.3
Downloads: 1M+
Goodbudget describes itself as an envelope-based budgeting app. The idea is that you create virtual envelopes for individual spending categories, then use them to manage your money. Once the money from one envelope is gone, you can only spend money on that item if you take it from another envelope.
The biggest difference between Goodbudget and other apps on the list, is that you can’t connect your financial accounts and directly import all your transactions. This means you’ll need to manually update your transactions from each account which can be time-consuming.
Positives
Free version only has 10 envelopes
Simplifies budgeting process
Negatives
Manual updates required
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