budget apps on smartphone

Best Budget Apps: I Tried 4 Apps for 6 Months (Here’s Which One I Actually Use)

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Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal.

I spent way too much time trying to find the best budget app. Like, embarrassingly too much time.

Tried 4 different apps over 6 months. Only one survived. The other three? Deleted, abandoned, or ignored after the free trial ended.

The 4 Budget Apps I Tested

  1. YNAB (You Need a Budget) – costs $99/year
  2. Mint – free
  3. EveryDollar – free (there’s a version that costs $79.99/year)
  4. Goodbudget – free (there’s a version that costs $70/year)

I will try to be truthful when explaining which of the apps will be worth the time to use and which will not.

mobile banking app budgeting features
Budgeting through mobile banking apps

App #1: YNAB (You Need a Budget)

Timeline: January – April 2024 (4 months)
Cost: Free trial 34 days, then $99/year
Final verdict: Good but expensive

What I liked:

  • Forces zero-based budgeting (give every dollar a job)
  • Syncs with bank accounts automatically
  • Great for planning ahead (can budget next month’s money)
  • TONS of tutorials and YouTube videos explaining how to use it

What I hated:

  • $99/YEAR is expensive when you’re trying to save money
  • Learning curve is STEEP – took me 2 weeks to understand how it works
  • If you miss a few days of tracking, catching up is annoying
  • Mobile app was glitchy for me (transactions wouldn’t sync sometimes)

My experience:

Months 1-2 were great. I felt so organized. Assigned every dollar, watched my categories, felt like a budget genius.

In Month 3, I got lazy. Stopped updating it daily. By the time I checked again, I had 47 transactions to categorize manually.

Month 4, my free trial ended. $99/year felt steep when I wasn’t using it consistently.

Would I recommend it?

If you’re serious about budgeting and don’t mind paying $99/year, yes. It’s powerful. But only if you’ll actually USE it every day.

I didn’t. So I cancelled.

App #2: Mint (After merging with Credit Karma)

Timeline: February – June 2024 (5 months)
Cost: 0 Bones
Final Reviews: Good for tracking, bad for actual budgeting

What I liked:

  • No cost
  • Fully tracks spending, syncs to your bank
  • Even shows your credit score (not super useful, but cool)
  • Visually useful to see where you spent your money AFTER

What I hated:

  • SO MUCH AD ( Credit Card loans, then more loans)
  • Budgeting services are bad
  • Does not HELP you set the goal, and then track the activities you do
  • Wrongly assigns things into categories
  • Shopping = Grocery Store

My Experience:

Mint was a useful 2nd tracker for me when I used other apps, and was even useful for the one thing where it automatically told me I spent $340 on ‘dinning out’ last month.

But it really did not have any other functionality outside of showing you the damage. No $340 spent out on dining last month.

Mint then did a merge and shut down with Credit Karma.

Would I recommend it still (not very great)? I guess. It was an issue, but thank Credit Karma. Budgeting still offers even less. I’ll leave you to Mint.

Budget apps can simplify zero-based budgeting by tracking every dollar automatically.

App #3: EveryDollar

Timeline: May – June 2024 (2 months)
Price: Free version (manual entry), paid $79.99/year (bank sync)
Final verdict: Good if you love Dave Ramsey, else, annoying

What I liked:

  • Budgeting (zero-based)
  • User friendly
  • Satisfying UI (drag and drop)
  • Simple design

What I hated:

  • Instead of paying $79.99/year for the VERSE (manual in every transaction) to auto-sync banks, they should just unlock the feature for FREE!
  • Screams sales funnel for Dave Ramsey courses
  • Barely any options

My experience:

With the free version. Manually entering every $4 coffee got old in 5 days.

With the paid version. $80/year felt too much for less updates than YNAB for $99

For Ramsey fans, there are no Baby Steps, no redeeming value.

Would I recommend it?:

Yes, YNAB is annoying. Otherwise, no.

App #4: Goodbudget (Envelope Budget)

Timeline: June – Present (7 months and counting)
Cost: FREE (up to 20 envelopes)
Final verdict: THIS IS THE ONE I STILL USE

What I liked:

  • They work a form of digital envelope budgeting
  • Free version is actually GOOD (20 envelopes are enough)
  • Everyone can use it since it is device-independent (phone + computer sync)
  • They can be very strict since it is simple, no bloat, no ads
  • Anonymity is a big plus, no bank account linking

What I hated:

  • They only offer very strict functionality since it is manual (it is a budget app, enough with the automation)
  • If you want a pretty color and a bit of value with your paid version ($70/year), you have to pay for manual categorization.
  • It is a bit slow and glitchy, and the vintage feel is a tad dated

My experience:

Screenshots from a long time ago are the only reason I didn’t skip this app, but I’m glad I didn’t!

  • You get to set a certain amount of money you can spend for certain categories or “envelopes.”
  • For example, I have a Groceries envelope with $250, an Eating Out envelope with $100, and a Gas envelope with $120.

That means I can spend $45 on groceries, but after that, I will only have $205 left.

What works for me:

  1. I manually enter transactions (takes 2 minutes per day)
  2. I see exactly how much is left in each envelope
  3. If groceries envelope hits $0, I’m done buying groceries this month
  4. Free version lets me have 20 envelopes (I use 12)

It’s simple. It doesn’t sync my bank (which I actually prefer – keeps me intentional). It’s free.

I’ve been using it since June, and I’m not switching.

ynab budget app interface
Using YNAB app for budgeting

Which Budget App Should YOU Use?

  • If you want the most powerful app and to spend money, YNAB ($99 a year)
  • If you want bank syncing for free, Nothing good exists anymore since Mint died. Try Rocket Money (premium is pushed hard, so it’s not a great app)
  • If you just want envelope budgeting, the app Goodbudget is great.
  • If you’re in the Dave Ramsey program, you use EveryDollar.
  • If you just want to track, use any bank app. Almost all banks have a spending tracker these days.

The Honest Truth About Budgeting Apps

I learned some things in my 6-month experience.

I learned to budget using Goodbudget, and it wasn’t because it’s the highest-rated budgeting app. It was because:

  • I actually used it. It took 2 minutes to use every day.
  • The app was basic and didn’t stress me out.
  • Because it was free, I didn’t feel like I was wasting money even if I missed a day.

I didn’t “flunk” using YNAB because it was a bad app; I simply didn’t use it because it was more complicated than I was ready for.

Digital tools make it easier to stay aligned with your financial goals.

Yours will be the best budgeting app for you:

  1. Analytical and meticulous? Try YNAB.
  2. Like basic envelopes that fill up? Go Good Budget.
  3. Like to sit back and let things happen? Sorry, none of them fit.

And the truth is, you don’t need an app at all. You could use a simple spreadsheet. I just prefer a more modern way to log my budget.

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