4 free budgeting apps to help manage your money

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Developing and maintaining a budget requires discipline, but once you know where you stand, financial stresses—like running out of money or accumulating debt—can be a whole lot easier to handle.

Nearly 54 percent of respondents to a recent CampusWell survey said they don’t keep a budget, often because they’re too busy. Luckily, there are apps and tools that can help you build a budget without having to stare at a spreadsheet for hours (or part with any of that hard-earned cash).

“[A budget] gives me concrete plans or goals for how I can properly use my money,” says Haaset O., a second-year student at the University of California San Diego. “I’m able to prioritize my needs such as groceries, tuition, supplies for school, etc. [Being able to] concretely see what I have, how much I will earn, and how much my needs cost helps me maintain financial stability.”

Tracking your spending can, of course, help you avoid running out of cash. But budgeting also helps you figure out where you might be spending unnecessarily so you can put that money toward savings goals—like a new laptop or a car—instead. 

“Saving even small amounts as early as possible is important,” says Amy Conrad, managing director of Insights at the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) in Denver, Colorado. Adding to your savings can be challenging when finances are tight, so it’s OK to have small goals. Doing so helps you get into the habit; the earlier and more regularly you save, the better off you’ll be when you hit a big milestone. 

Budgets are a great tool to help you develop these helpful financial habits—and keep you from getting overwhelmed. “I have ADHD, and keeping [a detailed budget] helps me not get overwhelmed and lose track of my necessities,” says Jackie C., a third-year graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle.

If tracking your money with a pen and paper feels a little archaic, there are plenty of free or low-cost online tools, apps, and programs to help you develop and maintain a budget. For this list, we picked four apps that provide unique ways of approaching money management and budgeting. You can sign up for each of these for free and, if it’s in your budget (see what I did there?), they all have premium subscription options with more bells and whistles.

#1 Mint
Price: free, or $4.99/month 

Mint merges all your money info into one place, monitors your bills and subscription payments to let you know when they’re due and if they’ve increased, and provides visual graphs and insights so you can easily see where your money is going. Plus, their budgeting goal tracker makes it easy to set up multiple budgets and track them automatically as you go about your day.

#2 Fudget
Price: free, or $27.69/year 

A simpler app than the others on this list, Fudget requires you to manually add your financial transactions (i.e., you don’t connect it to your bank accounts and it won’t automatically track your spending). This approach means Fudget can help keep you accountable—every time you add an entry, you’ll think about how your spending habits are affecting your finances. Fudget apps are available for both phone and desktop, if you prefer using your computer to manage your finances. 

#3 PocketGuard
Price: free, $7.99/month, $34.99/year, or $79.99 once
(lifetime option)

Like Mint, PocketGuard automatically tracks your finances and builds a budget for you based on your income and savings goals. It’ll prompt you when bills come due, analyze how your spending affects your overall finances, and provide insights so you can see what’s happening at a glance. The paid version can even help you plan how to pay off debts. You can download the PocketGuard app to your phone or computer, and manage your finances on the device of your choice.

#4 GoodBudget
Price: free, or $8/month ($70/year)

GoodBudget lets you track your spending, put money into savings, and share your budget with others (like your roommates, to split rent and groceries), using the “envelope” system. The envelope system sets up your expenses and budgets as “envelopes,” and the app separates your incoming cash into each envelope. Throughout the month, you’ll only use the money from designated envelopes to pay for the items that fit within each envelope’s category. For example, if you go out for coffee, you’d deduct that expense from the entertainment envelope. If the envelope is empty, you stop making those types of purchases for the month.

“By tracking your income and expenses, you can…allocate your money wisely, ensuring that you spend within your means and prioritize your financial goals,” says Mohana C., a first-year graduate student at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. “Tracking your finances [also] allows you to identify spending patterns and habits. This awareness can help you recognize areas where you may be overspending or where you can cut back on expenses. With a clear view of your finances, you can set realistic financial goals and track your progress toward achieving them.”