If you need help controlling your spending and having money to save and invest, a budgeting app may be just what you need. There are many budgeting apps to choose from, each with different features, catering to different needs. While some specialize in personal budgeting tools, others offer bill trackers that complete a money management system. With a wide array of apps available, it’s important to know which ones are designed for your specific needs.
Many applications are designed for general personal budgeting, but each has something unique to offer. Some specialize in personal budgeting tools, while others offer bill tracking. One is unique in offering the ability to assign each dollar you have a job, creating a complete money management system. Another offers warnings when you are close to overspending.
BAYFI’s top budgeting apps:
Mint: Best Overall
PocketGuard: Best to Keep From Overspending
Wally: Best for Managing Offshore Accounts
Simple: Best App Tied to a Bank Account
Personal Capital: Best for Investors
Mint: Best Overall
Mint is one of the best-known budgeting apps. Owned by Intuit, the same company that makes Quickbooks and TurboTax, Mint offers a variety of features that help you track and manage your money.
When you log into the app, the budgeting tools are front and center, displaying an easy-to-use user interface. Mint also automatically categorizes transactions from linked credit and debit cards and tracks them against a budget that you can tweak and customize to your needs. Make sure to set up notifications to track your spending so you’re immediately notified when you surpass your budget! We are nominating Mint for “best overall” as it has features that are ideal for general/personal budgeting.
PocketGuard: Best to Keep From Overspending
As the name implies, this app helps guard you against spending too much. PocketGuard links easily to all of your financial accounts and helps you track your spending compared and helps analyze your spending habits over multiple months.
The app is one of the easiest to set up and connect to your bank accounts. It tracks your income, follows what you're spending on recurring bills and everyday expenses, and tracks deposits into your savings account.
There’s a special feature that helps you track each bill and find opportunities to save on your payment! PocketGuard looks out for recurring bills from phone, TV, and Internet companies, for example, and helps you find a better deal on your monthly service costs. Not only does it help you track your budget, but it also helps you lower your spending! PocketGuard gets “best to keep from overspending” from us because of its stringent spending monitoring. It’s great for shopaholics or those of you who want to cut back on spending.
Wally: Best for Managing Offshore Accounts
Wally is a little bit more complex to navigate than the other apps listed here, but it works well for one thing: budgeting. This app helps you track your income and expenses while offering you a snapshot of your remaining budget to help you avoid overspending. It offers an accurate well-rounded picture of where your money goes each month.
The key benefit of Wally is its support for virtually all foreign currencies, which makes it a great option for those who live outside of the United States. The other apps on this list only support US-based financial institutions. That’s why we’re giving Wally “best for managing offshore accounts.”
Simple: Best App Tied to a Bank Account
Simple is totally different from the other apps on this list because it’s more than a budgeting app. Simple is an online bank account with tons of budgeting features built-in. When your budget and your bank live in the same app, it is much easier to manage and keep everything under control because you only have one place to visit to track and manage your money.
Simple tracks your income and spending automatically, and has a goal feature to motivate your savings, similar to the goal feature on Google Calendar. It’s trademarked Safe-to-Spend® feature tells you if you are staying true to your budget, or if extra spending might derail your plans. With no fees, this is a fantastic two-in-one banking and budgeting app.
Personal Capital: Best for Investors
Personal Capital is an investment assistance app with a hint of budgeting. Completely for free, you can access Personal Capital’s money tracking dashboard, which includes some handy budgeting features. The majority of the app’s features emphasize investment, with free and automated analysis of your investment fees and asset classes.
The cash flow and budgeting tools are not quite as extensive as other apps on this list, but they work just the same, using automated tracking of purchases from linked accounts.
And, that’s our list! We hope you find a budgeting app for you on this list!
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