You’ve set your goals for 2023. Perhaps it’s a tropical holiday, starting a new business venture, or simply joining the gym. Whatever your plan is, you’ll need to put some money towards making it a reality. That’s where budgeting apps come in.
Budgeting apps help track your spending and put money aside for other things. When considering budgeting apps, you’ll want to look at the features included. How does the app monitor your spending? Is it easy to use? And how is the app helping you save money towards your goals?
We’ve researched some of the most recommended budgeting apps of 2023 to discover the pros and cons of each, so you can find the best budgeting app for you.
Best Budgeting Apps 2023: Comparison Table
| App Name | Location | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription Panda | Worldwide | Free, plus receive discounts and exclusive offers. |
| EveryDollar | US only | A limited free plan is available. The premium plan costs $12.99 per month or $79.99 per year. |
| Bluecoins | Worldwide | A limited free version is available. The premium version costs £7 GBP (€7.50 EUR/$8 USD). |
| Mint | US and Canada only | Free with ads. Ad-free is $0.99 per month. |
| Wealth Position | Worldwide | A free limited plan is available. For the full features, you must pay for a premium plan at £3.99 per month. |
| Personal Capital | US only | Free |
| YNAB | Worldwide | Monthly (£12.50 GBP/€14 EUR/$14.99 USD) or annual (£82 GBP/€92 EUR/$99 USD) subscription plans are available. |
| HomeBank | Worldwide | Free (although it is suggested you make a donation to use the app.) |
| Money Manager Ex | Worldwide | Free |
Subscription Panda
With Subscription Panda you can easily track all your subscriptions in one place. Whether it’s music, movies and TV, subscription boxes, Amazon Prime or otherwise, the platform is 100% free and its easy-to-use interface means you can get started right away.
It’s fantastic for budgeting thanks to its email reminders, which send you monthly reports on how much you spent — categorised by different subscription types — and spending forecasts. So if you’re overspending, you’ll know exactly where the money is going.
Even better: unlike other options on this list, Subscription Panda actively helps you reduce your expenses. Subscription Panda sends you email notifications for your upcoming payments, so you’ll know well in advance when money is leaving your account, allowing you to plan and cancel subscriptions accordingly. You’ll never pay for an unwanted subscription again. The platform also sends you exclusive offers based on your subscription preferences. Whether it’s binging a new TV series or binging on a new food box subscription, you can enjoy doing so at a discounted rate, making those big purchases, like a new car or holiday, all the more achievable.
Cost: Free
Pros
- ✅ Track all your subscription expenses in one place.
- ✅ Easily add new subscriptions with prepopulated text and categories.
- ✅ Receive reminders about renewals, allowing you to keep on top of them and cancel unwanted ones before they're charged.
- ✅ Receive monthly summaries of your spending.
- ✅ Access special offers to save money on subscriptions.
- ✅ Categories, analytics dashboard and email reminders give you a clear overview and control over your spending.
- ✅ Total data privacy: your data is never sold to third parties.
- ✅ No ads.
- ✅ Shared accounts are available to involve your family, housemates or otherwise.
- ✅ Available worldwide.
Cons
- ❌ Tracking includes subscriptions but not one-off purchases.
EveryDollar
EveryDollar is a simple budgeting app giving you oversight of your expenses. It’s run by Ramsey Solutions, founded by personal finance mogul Dave Ramsey, whose mission is to help people transform their lives through personal finance education and services.
Cost: EveryDollar basic is free. EveryDollar premium costs $12.99 per month or $79.99 per year. There is a 14-day free trial for premium support.
Pros
- ✅ Add savings goals to prepare for big purchases.
- ✅ Set due dates for bills.
- ✅ Automatic transaction syncing with your bank account (premium feature).
- ✅ Categories, reminders and user-friendly app dashboard give you a clear overview of your spending.
- ✅ Easy to use.
Cons
- ❌ Only available in the US.
- ❌ The free version is limited so you have to pay for certain features.
- ❌ The app doesn't actually save you money, it just tracks your spending to give you insights.
Bluecoins
Another budgeting app option is Bluecoins, which allows you to track expenses and savings for yourself, your family, or even a small business.
Cost: A free version is available. The premium version costs a one-time fee of £7 GBP (7.50 EUR/$8 USD).
Pros
- ✅ Supports all international currencies and symbols (including Bitcoin).
- ✅ Track budgets, earnings and expenses.
- ✅ Add reminders for bills.
- ✅ Organise transaction types with labels.
- ✅ Attach photos of receipts and bills.
- ✅ Search and filter options.
- ✅ Budget planning options have flexible quantities and time periods, as well as future projections.
- ✅ View cash flow as a dashboard with charts and reports, or with the calendar view.
- ✅ Themes, colours and widgets aid accessibility and user customisation.
- ✅ Export data to Excel.
Cons
- ❌ You must pay to access all Bluecoins features.
- ❌ Your data is stored and you're targeted with ads.
- ❌ The app doesn't actively save you money, it just tracks your spending.
Mint
Mint is run by Intuit, a global platform providing solutions for customers and small businesses to handle their finances.
Cost: Free, or $0.99 per month for the ad-free version.
Pros
- ✅ Track spending and other aspects of your finances by linking debit and credit cards, investments and bills.
- ✅ The bill negotiation option highlights where you could save money.
- ✅ Set budgeting goals and alerts.
- ✅ Categorise transactions.
- ✅ Receive offers on credit cards, loans, investments, banking, student loans and insurance.
Cons
- ❌ Only available in the US and Canada.
- ❌ Your data is stored and you're targeted with ads (unless you pay to upgrade).
- ❌ You can't have joint accounts.
- ❌ You must pay to access all of Mint's features.
Wealth Position
Wealth Position presents your cash flow as a journey where you can plan, track and optimise your route towards financial independence. The app aims to help you get ahead of where your money is going and create a plan for saving and cutting costs.
Cost: A free basic plan is available. For the full features, you must pay for a premium plan at £3.99 per month. A 30-day free trial is available for the premium plan.
Pros
- ✅ Track income, expenditure, assets and liabilities.
- ✅ Plan short-term budgets and access a long-term financial forecast.
- ✅ Plan paying off debts.
- ✅ Enter and categorise transactions either manually, by importing data, or by connecting to your bank.
- ✅ Supports 150+ currencies and 570+ cryptocurrencies.
Cons
- ❌ You must pay to access all of Wealth Position's features.
- ❌ The app doesn't actually save you money, it just tracks your spending.
Personal Capital
The Personal Capital app focuses on long-term budgeting, specifically with retirement in mind. It helps track spending, savings and investments, providing forecasts of your retirement fund.
Cost: Free
Pros
- ✅ Track spending and other aspects of your finances, with a focus on saving for retirement.
- ✅ Provides retirement forecasting.
- ✅ Reviews your investment portfolio allocation to see how well they're doing.
- ✅ Fee analyser tool uncovers where savings could be made by avoiding hidden fund fees.
- ✅ Set budgets and savings goals.
- ✅ Tax planning.
- ✅ You can select an SRI strategy to invest in companies aligned with your ethical, social, and environmental values.
- ✅ Easy access to analytics dashboards and educational tools.
Cons
- ❌ The emphasis is on budgeting for your future and retirement rather than short-term goals, so day-to-day transaction tracking and budgeting is limited.
- ❌ You can't manually enter transactions — everything must link to a bank account.
- ❌ Only available in the US.
YNAB
YNAB stands for ‘You Need A Budget’. It’s based on the concept of ‘giving every dollar a job’. With YNAB, your money is allocated to specific purposes — such as your car insurance, savings, mortgage or otherwise — to avoid surprises and assist with budgeting.
Cost: The free trial lasts 34 days. After that, you have to choose a monthly (£12.50 GBP/€14 EUR/$14.99 USD) or annual (£82 GBP/€92 EUR/$99 USD) subscription plan. Students with a .edu email address can get an annual plan for free.
Pros
- ✅ Supports multiple currencies.
- ✅ Flexible budget goals, including multiple budgets.
- ✅ Reports and dashboards give you a clear overview of your savings and spending, including clearly coloured categories.
- ✅ Loan calculator option helps track and pay off debts.
- ✅ No pop-ups or ads.
- ✅ Add bank accounts and transactions to track your spending.
Cons
- ❌ No free plan is available beyond the 34-day free trial.
- ❌ The app doesn't actually save you money, it just tracks your spending.
- ❌ More complicated to use and navigate than other options.
HomeBank
HomeBank has helped users track their personal finances since its launch 28 years ago. This open-source desktop app acts as a personal finance bookkeeping system that doesn’t require prior accountancy knowledge.
Cost: Free (although it is suggested you make a donation to use the app.)
Pros
- ✅ Supports multiple currencies and 56 languages.
- ✅ Personal accounting software for tracking and managing budgets and finance.
- ✅ Import bank statements.
- ✅ Easy to use interface, including reports and charts to understand your cash flow.
- ✅ Category and payee options for tagging transactions.
- ✅ Transaction scheduling.
- ✅ Add monthly and annual budgets.
Cons
- ❌ The app doesn't actually save you money, it just tracks your spending.
- ❌ Not as many features as other options.
- ❌ Doesn't sync with your bank accounts; you have to manually import or add your spending.
- ❌ It doesn't warn you about upcoming bills and expenditures.
- ❌ Less aesthetically pleasing than other options.
Money Manager Ex
Money Manager Ex aims to give you total transparency over your finances through accessible record-keeping. It helps you understand your income and expenditure, giving you insights into what to cut back on.
Cost: Free
Pros
- ✅ Supports multiple currencies and 30 languages.
- ✅ Track your incomings and outgoings, including salary, bills, assets, and stocks and shares.
- ✅ Add statuses and categories to transactions to organise them.
- ✅ Set up payees.
- ✅ Set up monthly and yearly budgets and receive custom reports.
- ✅ Attach files to transactions, such as invoices and receipts.
- ✅ Import and export data.
- ✅ Add repeating transactions, such as for recurring bills.
- ✅ Search, filter and sort transactions.
Cons
- ❌ The app doesn't actually save you money, it just tracks your spending.
- ❌ Doesn't sync with your bank accounts; you have to manually import or add everything.
- ❌ Setting up your account, categories and payees is time-consuming.
Conclusion: Which app is best for budgeting?
Ultimately, the choice is yours when it comes to the budgeting app you choose.
Subscription Panda is the best budgeting app for giving you oversight of your subscriptions, quickly saving you money through avoiding missed renewal dates and access to exclusive offers.
Other platforms, like Money Manager Ex and HomeBank, are akin to fully-fledged accountancy software, but specifically for personal finances. Alongside extra detail comes complexity and lengthened set-up times.
Plus, it’s important to consider if you want to pay to use the software or not. Many options, such as Mint and Bluecoins, may give you a good overview of your spending, but are limited in their functions or pester you with ads unless you actually pay money — which isn’t ideal if you’re looking to save.
For more apps that can help your personal finances, click here to discover the best money-saving apps of 2023.