As the cost of living crisis in the UK continues, many of us are looking for ways to save more and spend less. But sticking to a budget isn’t always easy. Thankfully, though, there’s a wide range of budgeting apps that can help with your financial planning.
Most budgeting apps enable you to keep track of your spending and highlight any areas where you can make cutbacks. Some common features of these apps include expenditure tracking, automated savings and bill payment notifications — but some are more sophisticated than others. The basic apps tend just to give you an overview of your income and outgoings so you can see where you can make changes, but the more comprehensive ones will monitor your expenditure for you. Many can be connected to your bank accounts and credit cards to provide even more insights about your financial situation.
With so many budgeting apps to choose from, we thought it would be helpful to compile a list of our favourites so you can decide which one is best for you. Continue reading to find out what they are.
What are the best budgeting apps of 2023?
Our top budgeting apps of 2023 are Mint, YNAB, Emma, Snoop, Money Dashboard, Plum, Money Hub, Wally and Goodbudget.
Most of these apps are free to download with the option of paying a subscription fee to upgrade and unlock extra features.
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1. Mint
Mint is a free budgeting app that helps you track spending and investments, categorise your expenses, create a budget and savings goals and access your credit score. It allows you to sync bank accounts and credit cards, set up reminders for paying bills, and be alerted about ATM fees, going over budget and large transactions.
Free and easy to use, with so many great features. It’s no wonder 25 million people have downloaded it.
Pros: It’s completely free, it’s easy to use, and it gives you access to your credit score
Cons: You have to put up with in-app advertising, and users have complained about technical issues
Apple App Store rating: 4.8
Google Play Store rating: 3.6
Cost: Free
2. YNAB
Rather than simply tracking your expenditure, YNAB (You Need a Budget) provides a complete overhaul of your finances. Boasting an extensive array of features, it does take a while to get set up and learn everything, but there’s a workshop, guide and video to help you learn the basics. Additionally, YNAB provides educational resources to help you budget, with the end goal of getting you one month ahead with your finances.
While there is no free subscription option, you don’t have to pay for the first 34 days, and it has many other benefits over some free budgeting apps, such as an emphasis on privacy and security and unrivalled customer service.
Pros: It gives a complete overhaul of your finances, it has unrivalled customer service, and security is a top priority
Cons: It takes a while to set up, there’s no free subscription option, and there can be issues with syncing
Apple App Store rating: 4.8
Google Play Store rating: 4.7
Cost: £12.99 per month
3. Emma
Emma is arguably one of the best well-known budgeting apps in the UK. Like many other money-tracking apps, it allows you to link your bank account and credit card, create a budget and identify the areas that need improvement.
What sets it apart are features like the ability to connect to compatible cryptocurrency accounts and pension accounts, the option to invest in stocks and shares and cashback offers on hundreds of retail partners. Another bonus is that, with Emma, you don’t have to disclose your bank details, as payments via the app are made using QR codes and payment links.
Pros: It’s compatible with certain crypto accounts, you can use it to invest in stocks and shares, and you don’t have to disclose your bank details
Cons: You now need to pay for some basic features that used to be free
Apple App Store rating: 4.7
Google Play Store rating: 4.2
Cost: Free – £14.99 per month
4. Snoop
As well as having all the typical features of a budgeting app (such as linking all your financial accounts, tracking your income and expenses and receiving insights to help you manage your finances better), Snoop gives its users access to money-saving deals on services like broadband, mobile phone contracts and mortgages. Additionally, it finds discounts and vouchers for the places you spend your money.
You can subscribe to Snoop for free; however, its paid subscription option is affordable at just £3.99 per month, and you get a range of additional features, like net-worth tracking, payday budgeting and custom spending reports.
Pros: It provides access to money-saving deals on services like broadband, mobile phone contracts and mortgages and finds discounts and vouchers for the places you shop
Cons: Its tools aren’t as powerful as some of the other budgeting apps in this list, and some users have complained about app crashes
Apple App Store rating: 4.6
Google Play Store rating: 4.4
Cost: Free – £3.99 per month
5. Money Dashboard
Another completely free budgeting app, Money Dashboard, allows you to view all your bank accounts in one place, transfer money between your accounts and track your expenditure. Plus, it’s got a ‘Spending Plan’ tool that encourages you to stick to your budget through forecasted cash flows. Upcoming bills are deducted from your balance, so you always know how much disposable income you have.
The downside to it being free, though, is that the app makes its money by selling your anonymised data to third-party companies.
Pros: It’s completely free, and you can transfer money between all of your bank accounts
Cons: It makes money by selling user data
Apple App Store rating: 4
Google Play Store rating: 3.4
Cost: Free
6. Plum
Plum enables you to link bank accounts and credit cards, transfer funds between accounts, track your money and analyse your spending.
One of its best features, though, is the automatic savings feature, which rounds up your transactions to the nearest pound and automatically deposits the difference into a ‘Spending Pocket’. You’ll get between 0.5 and 1.01 percent interest on these savings, depending on the subscription you have. With the ‘Ultra’ subscription, you’ll also get a debit card, and you won’t incur foreign transaction fees when you spend your money in other countries.
Pros: It helps you save money by rounding up your purchases and putting the difference into an interest-bearing savings account and can help you switch to cheaper service providers
Cons: You can’t instantly access your money, and customer service is only available at certain times
Apple App Store rating: 4.7
Google Play Store rating: 4.6
Cost: Free – £9.99 per month
7. Moneyhub
Moneyhub is another great budgeting app that lets you connect your current savings, credit and crypto accounts and your mortgage, pensions and investments. Suppose you have any incompatible accounts or ones that are non-digital (such as cash savings). In that case, the app allows you to track them manually so you have a complete overview of your financial situation in one place.
Like YNAB, there is no free subscription option, but subscribing to Moneyhub only costs £1.49 per month or £14.99 per year, which means you’re getting two months for free.
Pros: You can track all your transactions in one place, including those that are non-digital, and it helps you find old pensions that you may have forgotten about
Cons: The free subscription option only lasts for six months
Apple App Store rating: 4.3
Google Play Store rating: 4.3
Cost: £1.49 per month
8. Wally
Despite being free, the basic version of this app has a great range of features. You can create shopping lists and bill reminders, you can link to your bank accounts and credit cards to view all your spending in one centralised location, and there’s a financial calendar that gives you an overview of your previous and upcoming transactions.
However, some of the best things about Wally are that you can scan and upload your bills and receipts and label them with your location so you know what you’ve spent and where, and you can start groups with your friends and family to manage shared finances.
Pros: You can upload bills and receipts and manage shared finances with your friends and family
Cons: Only available for iOS devices
Apple App Store rating: 3.3
Google Play Store rating: N/A
Cost: Free – £8.99 per month
9. Goodbudget
One of the best things about Goodbudget is its envelope budgeting feature, which allows you to split your spending into separate categories — such as groceries, utility bills and debt — and allocate a certain amount to each one to prevent you from overspending in certain areas. You can also track how much of your debt you’re paying off, and you’ll get regular budgeting reports, but one of the best features of this budgeting app is how user-friendly it is.
If you upgrade to the Plus version, you’ll get unlimited accounts and envelopes, you’ll be able to sync up to five devices, and you’ll get seven years of transaction history.
Pros: It’s extremely easy to use, you can track how much of your debt you’re paying off, and you get regular budgeting reports
Cons: It has fewer features than some of the other apps on this list, and it takes a while to learn how to use it
Apple App Store rating: 4.7
Google Play Store rating: 4.3
Cost: Free – £6.99 per month
Budget with a Getsby prepaid card
By downloading one of the budgeting apps listed above, you should be able to manage your finances better, but you can increase your chances of sticking to your budget with a Getsby prepaid card. Use it to pay for things like mobile app purchases or managing subscriptions, as you can only spend what you’ve loaded onto it, which means you can’t go over your budget.
Order your Prepaid Card today
