Budgeting app enables users to easily track and keep a record of their income and expenses to achieve financial goals. A budgeting app helps individuals, financial planners, or businesses set a budget, get out of debt, track net worth and credit score through savings goals automation, and much more.
The fact is that planning, creating, and working out a budget could be time-consuming as well as a very daunting task, particularly if you are not used to keeping an account of your money. This is where the budgeting application is helpful.
For example, if you have a financial goal that you want to achieve either in the short term or long term, like buying a house, paying a debt, or early retirement, then budgeting apps will help you monitor and track your income and expenses automatically, set goals, and achieve them within the stipulated time frame.
Being in control of your financial resources can sound like a major thing in today’s fast world, but budgeting apps perform wonders. Budgeting apps let users create a roadmap where a person may be able to fulfill their goals, not overspend, and guide a person in new financial situations besides helping them keep a closer track of money coming in and going out.
In the below section, we will look at some of the best budget apps, their core competencies, pros and cons, and several other aspects that would help you gain insight into popular budgeting apps and pick the best one for your needs.
- YNAB – Best Overall
- Empower Personal Wealth – Best for Investors
- EveryDollar – Best for Simple Budgeting
- Goodbudget – Best for Envelope-Budgeting and Beginners
- Honeydue – Best for Couples
- PocketGuard – Best to Curb Overspending
- Oportun – Best for Hands-off Passive Saving
- Stash – Best for Beginner Investors
- Credit Karma – Best for Personal Finance
- Simplifi – Best for Automation and Alerts
- Wally – Best for Mobile Tracking
- Tiller – Best for Spreadsheet Tracking
- Rocket Money – Best to Manage Subscriptions and Spend Insights
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YNAB
Best overall
- Ease of UseModerate
- Primary FocusBudgeting
- NotificationProactive Tips
About YNAB
YNAB is the acronym for “You Need a Budget,” and it is the best budgeting software that bases its system on the concept of “giving every dollar a job,” meaning every dollar you earn should be given a name and a purpose to fulfill. This is also called a zero-based budgeting system.
YNAB started in 2004 in the United States and is a subscription-based budgeting app that succeeds on a distinctive system of envelopes to help users get their finances under control.
Unlike most automated budgeting applications, YNAB insists on user control and core principles, such as assigning every dollar a job.
YNAB says that the average user saves $600 in two months and more than $6,000 during one year of using it. It is perfect for hands-on budgeters looking to control their finances and eliminate paycheck-to-paycheck living. YNAB works with Apple Watch, Amazon Echo, Alexa Devices, and other devices.
The YNAB platform runs on sophisticated technology supported by AWS to offer the highest level of security and even efficient risk management. The AWS evaluates constantly in the pursuit of meeting industry best practices in tandem with ISO 27001, SOC 1, and SOC 2 accreditation. YNAB, on its part, has its payment provider PCI-certified, so its users are safe while making transactions with it. All data is securely encoded using the most up-to-date 128-bit encryption when at rest. In case a customer needs help, YNAB offers award-winning email support services.
YNAB software can further perform integration options with numerous banking institutions in the UK and EU via API access initiated by YNAB developers. Users can also import Apple Card, Apple Cash, and savings with Apple Card transactions into YNAB.
YNAB Pros and Cons
Automatically import your account information and transactions and sync across devices.
You can share a single YNAB subscription with up to six people.
Alerts notify you when you exceed your budget in any spending category
College students get a 365-day free trial
No bill tracking or bill pay features
There is no free version of the app
There are no features to track investments
Supports countries only in the UK and EU for the direct import of financial data
Empower Personal Wealth
Best for Investors
- Ease of UseSimple
- Primary FocusInvestment
- NotificationStandard
About Empower Personal Wealth
Empower is an easy to use budgeting app that comes with a Robo-advisor-supported platform for investing, along with a set of free financial management tools.
Empower has an attractive budgeting dashboard that is robust and user-friendly. It helps in syncing financial accounts and easily keeping track of spending and cash flows on a
day-to-day basis. It allows you to track all your spending goals, including your investments, savings, bills, future goals, etc. On top of this, this award-winning dashboard is free to use.
Empower is recommended as the number one retirement planning tool by financial experts and one of the largest retirement planning companies in the world. The platform is one of the best investment and retirement planning applications with customizable solutions for your future.
Empower has over 18M Americans onboard, and Empower Personal Wealth originated from the acquisition of personal capital by Empower in 2020, which is headquartered in the United States.
Empower Personal Wealth has always been in line with the idea that customers would require proper customer support; hence, its support through dedicated phone lines and email support. The firm is mostly concerned with security, having multiple layered measures like 256-bit encryption and Multifactor Authentication that prevent the customer’s data from any kind of breach.
If you are looking for investment opportunities, Empower provides an investment account that supports over 150 mutual funds, commission-free stocks, and ETFs (Exchange-traded funds).
Empower manages an impressive $1.5 trillion for its customers, demonstrating its immense popularity.
Empower Personal Wealth Pros and Cons
Free budget planning application
Able to access all financial accounts from a centralized dashboard
Adopts the highest encryption and methodologies to protect customer data
Comprehensive retirement and investment planning feasibility
Wealth management services require a minimum of $100,000 in investment assets.
No credit monitoring capabilities
High management fees for investment and other financial aspects
EveryDollar
Best for Simple Budgeting
- Ease of UseSimple
- Primary FocusBudgeting
- NotificationCustom Alerts
About EveryDollar
EveryDollar is a simple budgeting app designed by financial advisor Dave Ramsey to help users create budgets confidently, track financial transactions, and gain insight into spending and saving habits. The app is most suitable for individuals and business owners due to its personalized recommendations for spending and saving, which make it a simple and quick budget creation app.
EveryDollar claims that, in the initial month of utilizing its budgeting tool, clients can discover an additional $395 that has been eluding their notice and reduce monthly expenditures by 9%.
Regarding possibilities for integration into the system, EveryDollar seemed compatible with many, including bank and credit card accounts. The app also links users to live customer support, which is equally central to the app’s value offer.
Dave Ramsey Solutions’ website, including educational blogs, podcasts, and workshops, may provide insights and support for using the EveryDollar app.
The application was first released in the United States on December 11, 2015, and serves over 10 million budgeters.
EveryDollar Pros and Cons
It helps you build better money habits for the month ahead.
Its user-friendly interface ensures the ease and simplicity of budgeting.
Automatic expense tracking to save time and accurate budgeting.
Supports over 10,000 banks and credit unions in one app.
The app’s focus on the Baby Steps plan may not be suitable for everyone
Available only in the USA
The premium version may sound costly for new entrants compared to its competitors
The free version requires manual tracking of expense
Goodbudget
Best for Envelope-Budgeting and Beginners
- Ease of UseModerate
- Primary FocusBudgeting
- NotificationCustom Alerts
About Goodbudget
Goodbudget is a modern-age Envelope budgeting app based on the traditional envelope system. Goodbudget will help keep your budget limit in mind without having to carry a lot of actual cash in physical envelopes. Goodbudget is available on the web, iPhone, and Android and helps you get a grip on big expenses, split household expenses with a partner, and budget amidst a hectic day.
Goodbudget plans and saves for upcoming expenses while tracking your progress in debt repayment. It has the ability to sync across all devices to keep everyone on the same page when it comes to managing household finances. Goodbudget is the one to help make it real to live according to a preplanned budget that has been pocketed according to the envelope budgeting system.
Goodbudget is highly secure and prioritizes user data privacy by locking away the data with about 256-bit bank-grade encryption.
Goodbudget offers an in-depth customer help center in its Help section on its website, where you can tutor yourself on how to use the software and get help if you are stuck.
Goodbudget started in 2009 in San Francisco, USA.
Goodbudget Pros and Cons
Various resources like budget podcasts, online budget courses, etc. to educate users
Simple approach to budgeting
Can set reminders for scheduling future transactions
Provides spending reports
The free version has only community support, which may delay responses
Only email support for the paid version, no phone support
It doesnโt sync with a bank account and track transactions
Honeydue
Best for couples
- Ease of UseModerate
- Primary FocusBudgeting
- NotificationCustom Alerts
About Honeydue
Honeydue is the best budgeting application for couples to manage their finances together, and it’s free to download and use. Honeydue helps couples collaborate on money matters and organize their finances together in one place.
Honeydue supports over 20,000 institutions across five countries, including bank accounts, loans, and investments.
Honeydue bill reminder ensures you don’t miss a bill payment and its penalties. You can discuss easily with your partner or even ask questions about the transactions via the chat function. You can feel safe with the measures that Honeydue strictly follows; it observes strong industry standards and practices like data encryption at rest and in transit, SS/TLS, use of a valid passcode, and multifactor authentication.
The customers can get help from the Honeydue support team through email, and typically, they respond within 1 day. Also, a chat option is available on the app.
Honeydue is based out of San Fransico, USA, and came into existence in 2017.
Honeydue Pros and Cons
The app is free of cost
Easy to use, and its user interface is straightforward
Automatic categorization of all your spending
Not suitable for individuals and businesses
Some users reported glitches like slowness in the app
Phone support is not available
Users have to deal with advertisements
PocketGuard
Best to Curb Overspending
- Ease of UseSimple
- Primary FocusBudgeting
- NotificationProactive Tips
About PocketGuard
PocketGuard is a complete budgeting package that offers end-to-end budgeting solutions to those who want to curb overspending. One of the most tedious activities in budgeting is manually entering expenses and bills, which PocketGuard evades as it easily syncs with all of your financial accounts, etc., to keep track of all your balances, debt, net worth, etc.
PocketGuard budgeting app helps one cut out over-expenditure by tracking income and expenses and understanding what the spending habit is all about. The platform helps you schedule and track all your recurring expenses, which helps you cover all bills on time and also alerts you on due dates and upcoming bills. PocketGuard budget app ensures the safeguarding of their customer identities and financial information by following industry best practices.
The platform adopts an intelligent algorithm to monitor and detect suspicious transactions and probably save your identity from scammers. PocketGuard actually builds the budget automatically based on spending habits while tracking income sources.
The security of financial data is the number one priority for PocketGuard. The security measures it adopted are in sync with common industry standards, such as privacy laws, including but not limited to GDPR and CCPA, to ensure users have protection over their information and thus usage and regular security reviews. Customers can also get support from PocketGuard via email or phone.
The company was founded in 2015 in California, USA, and has a customer base of over 1 million.
PocketGuard Pros and Cons
Automatically sync your bank account to the app
Adopts intelligent algorithm for optimal Debt payoff
256-bit SSL encryption to align with all major banking standards
Only supports USA and Canadian financial institutions
It doesnโt support transaction monitoring and verification
Import and export of transactions are not supported in the free version
Oportun
Best for Hands-off Passive Saving
- Ease of UseSimple
- Primary FocusDebt Repayment
- NotificationProactive Tips
About Oportun
Oportun is a budgeting app integrated with full features that clearly paint a bigger picture of spending and income landscapes. An Oportun app ensures that saving goals and financial targetsโfrom buying that house to buying a car and debt repaymentsโare set all the way to early retirement, which is just a click away. In short, Oportun spends, saves, and runs budgeting on all your wants, including managing your loan account.
The app will review the bank account to which it is linked on a daily basis through machine learning applied to your spending patterns and balance. It will then get the amount that one could save without much hustle and will move this amount to an Oportun account of preference for the customer, either savings or retirement.
Oportun aims to efficiently direct funds towards both significant and minor needs, ensuring monthly budgets remain manageable. It becomes a truly simple tool for anyone in search of passive saving. Oportun supports customers through channels like phone and email.
Oportun has not provided any security information on its website besides the fully encrypted app, but its cloud infrastructure provider is AWS (Amazon Web Services), which provides a full listing of security resources, from network security to encryption, access control, etc.
The appโs name was Digit, and it was acquired by fintech company Oportun in 2021. It is based in California, USA, and has over 1.9 million members.
Oportun Pros and Cons
Automatically learns spending habits and calculates the right amount to save
Provides personal loans and credit cards through its partner WebBank
Passive approach to maintaining savings and investing automatically
Affordable lending and credit-building opportunities
It is available only in U.S. states
The maximum loan amount ($10,000) may not fully cover larger expenses
Limited investment options
Stash
Best for Beginner Investors
- Ease of UseModerate
- Primary FocusInvestment
- NotificationProactive Tips
About Stash
Stash is a financial app best suited for individuals looking to build and grow their financial portfolios. Stash is equipped with almost everything that helps an individual save, invest, and budget from a single app. Use the Stash Goal feature to easily and automatically separate the funds from your online bank account into different areas for specific spending or savings categories.
Stash is an excellent budget planner for managing expenses, whether for rent, bills, groceries, or vacation savings. Simply enter the due date for each amount payable and rely on Stash’s timely alerts to ensure you make your payments on schedule.
In addition, Stash monitors all expenditures, organizing them into categories such as food, shopping, bills, etc. It offers insights to better understand spending patterns and assists in creating a monthly budget.
The Stock Round-Ups feature allows you to automatically invest your spare money in purchases made through connected accounts, which is a simple way to grow your wealth.
Stash self-regulates as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and a fiduciary to offer unbiased advice at the same time that it keeps up with federal regulations.
Stash uses biometric recognition, such as fingerprints and facial scans, for account access. Support options are available through various channels, such as contact, email, and live chat.
Stash also offers access to a Robo-advisor investing service, retirement and brokerage accounts, as well as a debit card that earns stock rewards – all for an affordable monthly fee.
Stash was founded in February 2015 in New York City, USA, and has over 2 million subscribers.
Stash Pros and Cons
Beginners can benefit from its user-friendly interface.
Builds investing portfolio automatically based on your inputs
Automatically tracks spending in real time
Sends reminders to keep you on track of your goals
A flat fee structure can be expensive for smaller portfolios.
Limited to only USA states
Credit Karma
Best for Personal Finance
- Ease of UseModerate
- Primary FocusAutomation
- NotificationStandard
About Credit Karma
Credit Karma is one of the largest fintech organizations offering end-to-end solutions for managing personal finances. Its platform allows you to link accounts and assets from over 17,000 financial institutions into one place to create organized visibility on expenses and account balances.
Credit Karma will track the growth of your net worth, monitor monthly cash flow, and further categorize it to have better granular insights. These monthly granular insights on spending habits help users figure out areas where money could be saved and invested. Once a month, Credit Karma runs a cash flow tracker to monitor how many accounts in which money comes in or goes out.
Credit Karma uses 128-bit encryption to protect data during transmission and at rest. Its credit management services and support technologies for online credit systems are ISO 27001 and SOC 2 compliant. While Credit Karma is slightly more focused on providing services within the United States.
Founded in 2007, Credit Karma has at least 130 million users across the U.S., U.K., and Canada under its parenteral company, Intuit, listed on the Nasdaq. In one of the major consolidations, the most popular budgeting application, Mint, was merged with Credit Karma in January 2024.
Credit Karma is based out of Oakland, California, USA.
Credit Karma Pros and Cons
The app is free and user-friendly
Recognizes spending patterns to curb extra expenses
A centralized place to track all of your assets, debts, and investments
Only available in the US
Transaction history is limited to three years.
Noted budgeting features of Mint are not available with Credit Karma
Constant updates of credit card and loan options
Too many advertisements or emails about credit cards
Simplifi
Best for Automation and Alerts
- Ease of UseSimple
- Primary FocusAutomation
- NotificationProactive Tips
About Simplifi
Simplifi by Quicken is an app that will help one manage their finances much more easily to achieve financial well-being. As an award-winning budgeting app with a sleek interface, Simplifi consolidates all of your financial information in one convenient place. From money tracking to bill reminders to optional savings, do everything with this easy-to-use app.
Simplifi tracks money for you automatically and never lets your money be out of control. Simplifi sets a 100% custom spending plan on autopilot, giving you an automatic, more predictable way to work toward your savings goal.
Simplifi maximizes your financial management by offering automatic reporting with customizable options for spending, income, net income, and savings. Receive timely alerts for unusual transactions or upcoming bills to confidently take control of your finances.
Security is of prime importance with Simplifi; like data encryption, multi-factor authentication, and firewalls, their infrastructure has strong security guards in accordance with industry norms. Quicken offers telephone, email, chat, and community support for all of its Simplifi users. Third-party services that Quicken Simplifi integrates with are banks, as well as payment and other financial services.
Having served over 20 million customers for more than four decades as the top-selling app in its category, it goes without saying that your data is kept safe with industry-standard encryption measures.
Quicken Simplifi is based in California, USA.
Simplifi Pros and Cons
It is feasible to share your account with another person.
The platform does not show advertisements
Get insights with real-time alerts and reports
Personalized spending plan to know what you have left to spend or save
Customize your transactions to easily track and manage your spending
Simplifi doesnโt offer a free version
Lacks some advanced investment and retirement planning tools.
It is available only in the USA region
Wally
Best for Mobile Tracking
- Ease of UseComplex
- Primary FocusBudgeting
- NotificationCustom Alerts
About Wally
Wally excels at assisting you in monitoring your daily expenses and income from every conceivable source, allowing you to customize the duration and specific amount towards achieving your financial goals. Wally app automatically liaisons your bank account from anywhere across the globe to support over 15,000 banks across 70 countries to track your net wealth, show insights into your spending pattern, and align everything with your financial pursuits.
Wally’s budgeting app is the best mobile tracking app, with many awards in its kitty, including Expense Tracker of the Year by Investopedia. Medici, an Italian banking, has called Wally a “global-best-in-class” personal finance app. Wally’s budgeting app is the first budgeting app with personal finance analysis, superpowered by the revolutionary AI assistant WallyGPT.
WallyGPT raises the bar for personalized financial insights above traditional charts and numbers. It provides plain and simple answers in real time to help users make informed financial decisions.
The Wally Budget app helps you put your expenses into perspective and get them under control. It tracks everything from spending and balances to your net worth and cash flow. Just to give you a glimpse, Wally will automatically track and categorize all your spending by going through credit cards, savings, loans, investments, crypto, etc.
In terms of security and compliance, Wally prioritizes user privacy by encrypting data end-to-end and complying with various privacy regulations, including PCI, ISO 27001, and GDPR.
Wally’s budget app is totally free, and you can use all its features without paying a dime.
Wally was founded in 2014, is headquartered in California, United States, and is trusted by millions of people worldwide.
Wally Pros and Cons
ISO 27001-certified budgeting tool
PCI and GDPR-compliant platform
Wally alerts you about upcoming bills and payments.
Automatic tracking of your balance and net worth in any currency.
Not a beginner-friendly budgeting tool
No built-in investing tools
No phone support
Tiller
Best for Spreadsheet Tracking
- Ease of UseComplex
- Primary FocusAutomation
- NotificationCustom Alerts
About Tiller
Tiller is an automatic personal finance tracker working in flexible spreadsheets to keep daily finances, incomes, and expenditures in detail without ever having to make a manual data entry. Customize Tiller to automatically track all the budgeting, cash flow, and saving needs that are most important to youโand it will even support your debt pay-off strategy.
The most obvious aspect of Tiller is that it’s a single service that provides easy, effective personal finance management using Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. The Tiller platform can be easily consolidated with a diverse range of financial sources, including banks, brokerages, and credit cards, making it easy to track all expenses in one place with customizable and prebuilt templates.
Users can also customize their budget spreadsheets with colors, formulas, and more, which enhances the user experience.
Tiller includes top-rated, US-based customer support, and the application supports 256-bit AES encryption.
Tiller was founded in 2016 in Seattle, Washington, USA, and is adopted by tens of thousands of people to navigate their financial arena and manage their money.
Tiller Pros and Cons
AI technology automatically categorizes financial transactions, saving you time and effort.
Customizable categories allow for personalized budget allocation to fit your needs
Connections to over 21,000 banks, syncing data with spreadsheets
Templates are available for tracking expenses, budgets, and net worth
There is no free version of the app
It may require some learning for beginners
Automatic categorization can lead to some errors that need to be fixed manually
Rocket Money
Best to Manage Subscriptions and Spend Insights
- Ease of UseSimple
- Primary FocusBudgeting
- NotificationProactive Tips
About Rocket Money
Rocket Money simplifies the process of overseeing your financial activities. It allows for the creation of an automated budget that diligently records and categorizes your expenditures, ensuring compliance with your financial strategy. With Rocket Money, eliminating unnecessary subscriptions is effortless, as it has the capability to identify and manage all your subscriptions. It converts the act of saving into a hands-free experience, enabling the platform to adapt and support you seamlessly without requiring any direct involvement from your side.
Rocket Money scans through your bills to find potential savings or negotiate better rates for you so that you don’t have to worry about overspending or overdraft fees again. Stay informed about where exactly each penny is going with its straightforward breakdowns powered by advanced technology designed to simplify expense management.
Rocket Money utilizes 256-bit encryption to secure your personal information. Its very high security standards are further reinforced through two-factor authentication features. Rocket Money is independently SOC 2 certified, ensuring it submits to independent, rigorous risk control standards and policies across the industry. Its integration options allow easy connectivity with various banks and financial institutions to simplify managing multiple accounts. Rocket Money serves its customers via phone, email, or live chat to assist with any queries.
Rocket Money was founded in 2015 and is based in Silver Spring, Maryland. It currently serves over 5 million customers and offers a free and paid version.
Rocket Money Pros and Cons
Provides access to credit report and history
Identity theft protection for fraudulent activity up to $1M
Can negotiate your bills and save money on your subscriptions
Effective spending monitoring and goal tracking for successful financial management
Available only for US residents
The free version has limited budgeting capabilities
No investing tools are available
Why do Businesses need a Budgeting App?
Budgeting apps make managing and administrating financial activities for businesses pretty straightforward and user-friendly. Budget apps help businesses manage financial transactions, increase cash flow, reduce overspending, and meet short and long-term financial goals.
Below are further details.
Budgeting apps make tracking finances simple: The automation of tracking both income and expenses by using budgeting apps provides a clear picture of the financial condition of your business.
Better decision-making: With budgeting apps, businesses can quickly see where most of their money is going, which will enable them to take better measures in terms of spending prudently and making sensible investments.
Facilitates goal achievement: Budgeting apps break down financial goals into achievable steps, thus helping businesses remain focused on their targets.
Improves cash flow: A budgeting app can help businesses stay aware of potential cash shortfalls, providing them time to plan in ways that will avoid troubled waters with cash.
Save time and reduce effort: Centralize all your finances into one point using budgeting apps, which means eliminating mistakes that come with errors and taking time to do manual spreadsheets.
How does Budgeting Software Work?
Discover how budgeting software functions and aids in achieving your money-saving goals.
Feed your income sources and expenses: The budgeting software works based on income (cash in) and expenses (cash out) and aligns them with your set financial goals; therefore, you must start inputting details like sources of income like your monthly paychecks or side hustle incomes, then include expenses like rent, insurance, utilities, transportation, etc. Some budgeting apps support the automatic fetching of income and expenses from your linked bank account or credit card. All the financial data is analyzed and categorized based on whatever input you have made.
Financial goal: Once the user defines specific and time-bound financial goals like a plan to buy or renovate a house, upgrade a car, foreclose on a debt (any loan), have an early retirement plan, etc. The budget software analyzes the money that is credited or debited while giving a simplified picture of your financial position, as well as the expense habits and trends according to your financial goals, and keeping you advised whether you are going off budget or within budget and at which time you will meet your financial objectives.
Adjustments based on priorities or financial status: Chances are your priorities or financial standing may change in the futureโsuch as an increase in salary, raising unexpected expenses, and so forth. It’s possible to adjust your budget, and the budgeting software will necessarily adjust the allocation, make new targets, and align itself with your new financial goals.
Monitoring and alerting: The budgeting software monitors and tracks your income and expenses in real time and updates you if you are off track with your financial goals. You can also set reminders for your recurring payments to avoid due dates.
Reports: It generates reports, charts, and graphs that display your financial data in a visual manner. The report also presents the trends in areas of spending and improvement whereby you are spilling out money unaccustomed.
What is the Average Pricing for Budgeting Software?
Most budgeting software is priced on a monthly basis and the price range varies from $3-$50. On an enterprise-level scale, budgeting software can be priced at a few hundred to even a few thousand dollars.
The total price is based on different numbers of users, complexity in budgeting, scaling, AI capabilities, business type and size, the sophistication of projects, integrations, etc.
What are the Advantages of Budgeting Software?
The advantages of budgeting software are outlined below.
Help in creating financial goals: It makes it easy to control the way people spend their money, keep tabs on revenues and expenses, and manage their portfolios.
Enhanced financial decision-making: Budgeting software helps one make wiser financial choices, and when unexpected changes occur, one can change their budget and achieve their financial goals.
It is easy to forecast the expenses: With great accuracy, budget estimating can be done by understanding spending patterns, reducing overspending, etc., which an individual or company could use for forecasting and planning.
In-depth financial data visibility: Displays your expenses with complete visibility and helps overcome and improve any unwanted or regular expenses impacting your goals. Since budgeting software functions as data-driven, it has the added benefit of showing areas where one may be overspending and restraining.
Categorization of expenses to make tracking easy: You may classify expenses into several different categories, for example, daily, hourly, fixed and variable, billed and unbilled. This will help you track them closely and, if required, make necessary adjustments.
Alerts or reminders of bills: Budgeting software helps you avoid paying late fees by alerting you of upcoming bills like credit card payments, EMIs, etc., and can generate statistics on how exactly your whole financial situation stands.
Monitoring and Tracking: Its tracking feature would solve ad-hoc fees or bills generated without the user knowing. Other than daily expenditures, it can even track your investmentsโbe it in the form of stocks, mutual funds, debt funds, etc.
Automation of Bills and SIPs: Budgeting software automation feature eliminates the possibility of human errors and brings about solid financial visibility and control. Budgeting apps even make the automatic initiation of payment for one’s recurring bills, SIP, and subscription fees so that due dates are never missed.
Reporting and Analysis: Budgeting applications generate expense reports and represent data graphically, so you are better prepared with a wholesome picture of your expenses and may plan better for the next expenditures.
What are the Disadvantages of Budgeting Software?
The disadvantages of budgeting software are outlined below.
It is not suitable for people who donโt know how to use it or donโt have devices like smartphones, laptops, etc.
- There is a learning curve, as budgeting software is altogether a different way to manage finances.
- It may not be suitable or less effective for people with irregular income streams, like the self-employed, freelancers, etc.
- Many features may overwhelm users who are not screen-friendly.
- Some free versions may show ads that may annoy users who are serious about financial planning.
- Manual entry of income and expenses by some apps may be a tedious and boring activity for users.
- Instant notifications or alerts on budgeting apps may not be liked by some users, especially during their office hours or personal time.
- There were cases of the sale of personal information by some budgeting apps, so your financial details may be at risk.
- In certain budgeting apps, they may charge you fees for the cancellation or closure of your account.
Can Accounting Software be Used as a Budgeting Tool?
Yes, it is possible to utilize accounting software for budgeting. Most of the new-age accounting software solutions offer functionalities related to budgeting in addition to their existing accounting features, such as.
- Almost all the accounting software has budgeting modules that will help to make budgets, set targets for income and expenses from different categories, and point out areas where one overspends.
- Accounting software records all the transactions as and when they take place; thus, this real-time data on your earnings and spending provides the basis for a very detailed budget.
- Most accounting software allows you to organize payments under various categories, which will help you assess expenditure items in terms of how and where you spend money, identify categories where you can cut down on expenditure, etc.
- Accounting software gives you financial statements, such as income statements and balance sheets, which represent overall financial health and data-driven values to guide future budgeting decisions.
- Accounting software may allow setting up financial goals, such as buying a house or car, planning a retirement, etc., which may be linked to your budget and can help you track your progress.
- AI accounting tools help automate data entry, analyze financial trends, and generate insights that improve efficiency in budgeting processes.
Is there a Free Budget App?
Yes, several budget apps are available at no cost. Budgeting apps like Goodbudget, EverDollar, RocketMoney, YNAB (You Need a Budget), etc. offer a free version of the software. However, if one goes with free apps for budgeting purposes, then there are limitations in their usage, features, and even support.
The best app will be firmly based on individualized needs and preferences. Hence, the best policy for starters is to make an actual test with the basic free versions of such budgeting applications and check out their features and more in practice. They can move on to the premium version if they suit them well.
Is Excel a Budgeting Tool?
No, Excel is not a budgeting tool. Basically, one is required to type in their sources of income and various expenses into the Excel sheet, making it time-consuming and prone to human errors. Modern software does quite a lot of things that Excel does not, e.g., auto-import transactions from a bank account or credit card, bill pay, scheduled transactions, alerting and reminders, accessing investment account balances, etc.
Even if you use formulas in the spreadsheet and try to use it as a budgeting tool, it may require a steep learning curve, and there are high chances of human errors and a lot of man-hours involvement.
Excel doesn’t do many things uniquely, as modern budgeting software is designed to do so. The specific software for budgeting or the apps will be much better if you are searching for a less difficult and feature-laden tool.
What is the importance of Budgeting Apps for Businesses?
Streamlining the budgeting process is important for any organization to succeed and remain afloat. Budgeting apps are crucial for the financial operations of various types of businesses, including.
Decision-Making: With integrated budget management software solutions, businesses can see significant efficiency savings throughout the entire cycle. It helps in better decision-making, early problem-spotting, and continuous monitoring of the financial situation of the organization.
Management of Budgets: Budgeting apps allow businesses to effortlessly create, track, and manage finances to achieve their financial goals.
Time-saving activities: The overall activity of amalgamating voluminous financial data is done manually by labor and is very time-consuming, thereby losing productivity. Appropriate budgeting software can cut down the days-long preparation time of a budget to a matter of a few hours.
Integration into other systems in the office: Being integrated with other back-office systems, budgeting management solutions eliminate guesswork. Everybody would have real-time data, so decisions would be based on real numbers. Revenues and expenses may not always be traceable to their exact sum, but with budgeting software, it is possible to track precisely any changes so that outcomes can be tweaked accordingly. It can be integrated with invoicing software to ensuring that billing and payments are accurately tracked and reflected in the overall budget.
Improved accuracy: The right budget management software will significantly save time through automation from having to redo the same task many times over, as innumerable account types, e.g., expenses, cost of services provided, revenues, etc., need repetitive updating.
The budget app’s precise report-generation capability assists stakeholders in making timely financial decisions based on data-driven values.
What is the difference between Budgeting Software and CRM Software?
Budgeting Software and CRM Software serve distinct purposes, and the key differences between the two are outlined below.
Parameters | Budgeting Software | CRM Software |
---|---|---|
Primary Purpose | To create, track, and manage budgets | To maintain and manage customer relationship |
Focus | Financial management | Customer management |
Use cases | Individuals, financial planners, businesses, etc | Service teams, Marketing teams, etc., of small to large enterprises |
Activities | Monitors and tracks income, expenses, and financial goals. Alerts payment reminders. | Tracks activities like sales, marketing, and leads, ensure growth and manages customer relationships. |
Companies | YNAB (You Need A Budget), EveryDollar, Goodbudget etc. | Salesforce, Zoho, HubSpot, Zendesk, etc. |