Budgeting is difficult, and just plain stressful for most people.
No one wants to sit down and track their income vs their debts, but it needs to be done!
Fortunately, there’s a ton of budget tools on the market that can help make the process easier for you. These tools will give you one convenient place to see all of your accounts and monitor your finances so you can reach your financial goals.
But with all the options on the market, which budget tool is right for you?
We’ll go through the features you should look out for, and the top tools out there.
We’re going to cover:
What’s a Budget Tool?
Budget tools are designed to help you organize and keep track of your money. You’ll be able to tell if you’re spending your money wisely, by recording how much you owe and how much you have coming in.
If you’ve looked into using a budget tool in the past, you’ll know that there are a ton of options! The only way you’re going to be able to find a budget tool that works for you is by looking into the different features they offer and determine what you need.
Most budget tools will help you see all of your accounts in one place.
Budget Tools will access and display:
Personal accounts such as:
- Savings
- Checking
- CD’s
Your consumer debts, such as:
- Loans
- Credit lines
- Credit cards
As well as retirement accounts:
- 401K
- IRAs
- Investments
These budget tools are there to help you stay on track with all of your payments, and save what you have left over!
Have something you’re saving for?
Maybe you want to get together some extra money for a:
- emergency fund
- rainy day fund
- down payment for a car
- down payment for your first house
- vacation
Your budget tool will help you accomplish the goals you’ve set for yourself by keeping you on track and alerting you if you go off track.
Both Mint and YNAB were designed to help you create a #budget and analyze your #spending patterns so you can make the modifications necessary to reach your #FinancialGoals.https://t.co/rw7DGBQ6UZ#ThursdayThoughts #financialservices pic.twitter.com/IcpIJOIcek
— Get Out of Debt (@getoutofdebtcom) February 28, 2019
What Features do Budget Tools Have?
Each individual budgeting tool will offer their own features, and of course some will have more than others.
Plus, some will have options for investing your money.
It really comes down to determining your needs, so let’s explore the features you’ll come across when researching budget tools.
Bank Syncing
Allows you to see all of your accounts in one place so you can stay on top of your finances.
On the Go
This will allow you to see real time info from any device, at anytime. With this feature, you’ll be able to see all of your account balances, bills, and credit score in one place. Allowing you to know where you stand and how and where you can improve.
Debt Paydown
This feature will allow you to learn how to get out of debt and even better…stay out of debt. Providing suggestions and giving advice.
Goal Tracking
This feature allows you to track your progress when creating a goal like:
- purchasing a big ticket item
- go out on vacation
- give a down payment on a house or car
- Repair your car
Most of these budgeting tools will help you keep track of what you’ve saved for a specific goal of yours and how much is left to go.
Reporting
Most budgeting tools will allow you to see reports in form of charts and graphs, making it easy for you to understand your trends. Each individual tool will have their own reports, but in general most of them show you your spending trends and goal progress.
Personal Support
Some budgeting tools offer you additional support to assure that you are getting the most out of their budgeting tool. Their goal is to help you have success at budgeting, so they may offer additional support like workshops.
Create a Monthly Budget
Each month is different, so with most of these tools you will have the ability to create your monthly budget and make as many changes as needed to satisfy your financial needs and accomplish your goals. Some of these budgeting tools will require that you give every dollar a job, in other words a zero balance budget. This means that no money should be left over, and everything has to have a purpose in your budget.
Add and split transactions
Some of these budgeting apps will allow you to divide your transactions into more than one category. This way you can separate your groceries from your personal items, as well as any other categories you may need to separate your transactions in.
Track bills
Some of these budgeting tools will even help you with your bills. They will be organized in one place and better yet, it will help you stay on top of them.
- They help you track your bills with:
- Bill Reminders
- Bills Due Alerts
- Low Funds Alert
- Unusual Spending Alert
- Rate changes
- Large purchases
The cool thing about this type of feature is that you’ll receive reminders to make sure you don’t forget to make your payments on time. Staying on top of your payments play a big factor in budgeting correctly, and maintaining your credit score.
Free credit score
Another cool feature that some of these budgeting tools offer is the ability to check your credit score at anytime, at no cost to you. This comes in handy since you’ll have the ability to know if you qualify for certain products like credit cards, loans, and insurance.
Plus, you’ll receive alerts when your credit score changes.
Alerts and advice
Some budgeting tools will alert you when important changes are made:
- You’re being charged a fee
- You’re going over budget
- Any unusual or suspicious activity is seen
- When your payments are due
Easy and Convenient Categorization
In order to create a successful budget, you need to be able to categorize your spending well. Doing this will make it easy for you to go through your spending and identify trends. Some of these budgeting tools will help you break your spending in multiple categories so it’s easier for you to track and adjust.
Investment Tracking
This is not a feature that all budgeting tools offer, but it’s a really good one to have. With this feature you’ll be given advice and tips on investing. Investing wisely will help you a lot in the future, especially when it comes to retirement. So, it’s something you’ll want to start thinking about early on.
- Some things that they will help you track of:
- 401K
- IRA’s
- Mutual Funds
- Brokerage accounts
Security
Most of these budgeting tools are also looking to make sure that they’re constantly improving their security measures.
Double Entry
This means that every transaction needs to have a debit on one account and a credit on another one.
Checkbook Style Register
The appearance will be like doing a manual checkbook.
Account Reconciliation
This will allow you to compare transactions entered in an account against your bank statements.
14 Budget Tools
YNAB (You Need a Budget)
Price: 34 day free trial. After the free trial you can either choose to pay $6.99 a month, or subscribe to their yearly plan for $83.99.
Automatic Syncing: No
Investment Planning Options: No
Features:
- Bank Syncing
- On the Go
- Debt Paydown
- Goal Tracking
- Reporting Bliss
- Personal Support
YNAB one of the most well known budgeting tools out there. And based on reviews, it seems to be a very easy application to use.
YNAB is designed to encourage you to live off of your last month’s income.
So in other words, you will base your budget on the money that’s already in your account, not on any future income.
Unexpected things happen all the time and can derail your future plans. So, it’s best to base your budget solely on the money you know you have, and not the money you expect to come in.
YNAB’s philosophy is to assign a job to every dollar, helping you to escape from living paycheck to paycheck.
This budgeting tool is based on budgeting to a zero balance. This means that you have to give every dollar a purpose, and end up with a zero balance at the end of the month.
YNAB does not have the ability to integrate with your bank accounts, so you’ll need to manually add your transactions from your different accounts.
For some people, this is is a plus as they’re unsure of entering their personal account details into a third party program. Either way, this will require more work on your end to enter everything correctly.
This budget tool is compatible with:
- Browser based
- Apps in IOS
- Android
- Amazon Alexa devices
Here is an image of the YNAB Dashboard:
Personal Capital
Price: Free
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: Yes
Personal Capital is a free budgeting tool for those who would like to track their budget and investments at the same time. This budgeting tool has been around since 2009, so it’s had some time to work out the bugs.
Personal Capital allows you to link your banking accounts and retirement accounts, as well as your investment accounts. You can choose to either manually input your transactions to this budgeting tool, or you can also have it linked automatically.
Personal Capital separates your spending into categories, making it easier for you to see where your money is going.
This budgeting tool tracks many different things, like:
- Investments
- Retirement
- Returns
- Asset Allocation
- Dividends
- Investment Costs
All of this could be seen right from the dashboard of this budgeting tool.
Personal Capital is ideal for people that want to get the most out of their investments. It will provide great information in regards to different investment accounts.
It will help you analyze your:
- Fees – allowing you to know if you are paying to much
- Stocks – advise if you need to sell some stocks
- Invest – advise if you need to invest in other assets to be more diversified.
Personal Capital allows you to have all of your accounts in one place, but they are more focused on investment. If you’re looking to make your money grow, this is definitely a tool you should consider.
This is a free of cost budget tool and it’s compatible with any:
- Browser based
- Apps for iOS
- Android devices
Here is an image of Personal Capital dashboard:
EveryDollar
Price: Free & Paid Options
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: Yes
Features:
- Create monthly budgets
- Add and split transactions
- Track your spending habits
- Track Dave’s Baby Steps
- Make funds available to meet your savings goals
- Connects you with local experts
EveryDollar is a budgeting app created by Dave Ramsey to help make the budgeting process easier. EveryDollar was founded in 2015, so it’s relatively new compared to some of the other budgeting tools out there.
EveryDollar’s software aims to give every dollar a purpose. By knowing where every dollar is going, you’ll have complete control over your finances. This budgeting tool follows ‘Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps Journey’ and will keep you updated on where you’re at in the journey.
It’s designed to keep you on track and walk you through how to:
- Save $1,000 emergency fund
- Pay off all debt using the snowball method
- Save 3–6 months of expenses
- Save 15% for retirement
- Start a college fund for the kids
- Pay off the house
- Build wealth and give
Currently, the software is available for residents of the U.S. and Canada.
EveryDollar offers two different versions:
- They offer a free version in which you will need to manually update all of your accounts but they will allow you to see all of the graphs and charts that will illustrate all of your spending.
- They also offer a paid version in which you will have a 15 day free trial and then you will pay $99 as an annual fee. This version will allow to sync all of your bank accounts and update all of your transactions automatically for you.
Here an image of the EveryDollar dashboard:
Mint
Price: Free
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: Yes
Features:
- All in one
- Track bills
- Easy budgeting
- Free credit score
- Alerts and advice
- Simple categorization
- Investment tracking
- Security
Mint is a budget tool owned by Quicken that was founded in 2006, and was acquired by Intuit in 2009. This tool will allow you to link your bank accounts, credit card statements, and even investment accounts with the purpose of helping you stay on track with all of your payments and save at the same time.
Plus, you’ll be able to set goals and turn on alerts for spending trends & to avoid missing payments.
Mint also provides great information on spending, budgets, and even trends.
As soon as you link your bank accounts, Mint will start categorizing your spending allowing you to see an overview of your finances, in just a matter of minutes.
Mint has great features that allows them to track:
- Your income
- Assets
- Liabilities
- Net worth
This budget tool is free of cost and comes with a credit monitoring tool.
Mint is compatible with:
- IOS
- Android
Here is an image of Mint’s dashboard:
Quicken
Price: Free & Paid Options
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: Yes
Features:
- Manage Spending
- Create a budget
- View and Pay Bills
- Plan for Retirement
- Track Investments
- Manage Small Businesses
- Property Management
Quicken will connect to the financial institutions that hold your accounts, and will automatically sync the information as soon as you log in to the budgeting tool.
Quicken works better on its PC version than it does on the Mac version, so if you’re a Mac lover, this might be a little bump on the road.
Image of Quicken dashboard:
PearBudget
Price: Free & Paid Options
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: No
PearBudget is a great web application that began as an Excel worksheet that proved to be very useful. PearBudget is simple to set up, and based on reviews it seems like they have an array of features.
Easy to use, you’ll be able to make adjustments to your budget with PearBudget.
You can download The Original PearBudget Spreadsheet without entering any personal information.
If you’d like to try the online version, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial, and the cost is just $4.95 a month from there.
Image of the PearBudget Spreadsheet:
GnuCash
Price: Free
Automatic Syncing: No
Investment Planning Options: No
Features:
- Double Entry
- Checkbook Style Register
- Account Reconciliation
- Reports and Graphs
- Scheduled transactions
- Categorize Income and Expenses
- Stock and Mutual fund Portfolios
Founded in 1988, this budgeting tool is free and helps you keep track of your income and spending.
It’s based on a double entry bookkeeping, and it is suitable for both home and small business use. You can track your income and spending, as well as bank, investment, and retirement accounts all in one place.
Users can input account details manually or download and import OFX files provided by most banks.
While it doesn’t have the best appearance, it is compatible with the following operating systems:
- Windows
- OSX
- Linux
Windows image of GnuCash:
PocketGuard
Price: Free
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: No
Features:
PocketGuard is a free budgeting tool with one purpose: to base your budget on how much you actually have to spend.
The way it works is that it crunches the numbers and determines how much you have left to spend on:
- Bills
- Spending
- Savings
- Financial Goals
It breaks down the money you have left by each:
- day
- week
- month
You will be able to link your credit cards, checking accounts, savings accounts, investments accounts and loans, all in one place.
They will update and categorize your transactions, helping you understand where your money is going.
Know how much you spend:
It will automatically build a budget, based on your specific financial situation:
They will give you ways to save:
It is compatible with:
- iOS
- Android
Prism
Price: Free
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: No
Prism is a free budgeting tool that allows you to see your account balances and bills on one platform. This tool will allow you to pay your bills directly from the app, and even schedule payments for later.
They will also keep you alerted when payments need to be made, helping you to avoid missing a payment.
This budget tool is compatible with:
- iOS
- Android
- Windows Phone
- Windows 8
- Kindle
iOS image of Prism:
Albert
Price: Free
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: No
Features:
- Alerts
- Overpayment Protection
- Automatic Saving
- Smart Investing
Albert is a budgeting tool, and a digital financial assistant all in one. You can actually ask questions to Albert, as if you were speaking to a financial adviser in person.
This free tool will build a unique plan based on your income, spending habits, bills, savings and goals. Albert keeps track of all of your accounts and provides easy to understand recommendations to help improve your financial health.
This budgeting tool is compatible with:
- iOS
iOS image of Albert:
Mvelopes
Price: $4 – $59 per month
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: No
Features:
- Connect unlimited accounts by syncing with your different financial institutions
- Have access to real time budgeting
- Give every dollar a job
- Financial trainer
This budgeting app brings the old envelope method to life in a digital way.
They offer three different options:
- Basic Option – Free 30 day trial and then a $4 a month payment or a $40 a year payment
- Plus Option – Free 30 day trial and then a $19 a month payment or a $190 a year payment
- Complete Option – No free trial, you would have a $59 a month payment or a $549 a year payment.
What do these options include?
This budget tool is compatible with:
- Browser based
- iOS
- Android
Dashboard image of Mvelopes:
MoneyDance
Price: Free & Paid Options
Automatic Syncing: No
Investment Planning Options: Yes
Features:
- Online Banking
- Summary
- Graphs & Reports
- Account Registers
- Reminders
- Mobile App
- Investments
MoneyDance is a budgeting tool has the aspect of a ledger, where you can add automatically recurring transactions.
The MoneyDance dashboard will quickly summarizes your financial situation, including assets and liabilities, and your net worth. The budgeting tool creates charts and graphs to visually represent your spending, and to project your finances into the future.
MoneyDance has a free trial which includes 100 manually entered transactions. Once you’ve exceeded the 100 manually entered transactions, there is a cost of $49.99.
They also offer a 90 day money back guarantee if you are not happy with the budgeting tool.
This budget tool is compatible with:
- Browser based
- iOS
- Android
Dashboard image of MoneyDance:
MoneyStrands
Price: Free
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: Yes
Features:
- Analysis of your expenses and cash flow
- Creates a budget based on your financial situation
- Will help you stay on top of your financial goals
- The calendar option will help you see when your income is going to get a hit or when something is going to change throughout the month.
Founded in 2004, MoneyStrands is a free budgeting app that allows you to manually enter your bank account information, or link to your bank accounts.
It’s compatible with:
- iOS
- Android
Moneystrand’s Dashboard:
Cinch
Price: $4.99 a month
Automatic Syncing: Yes
Investment Planning Options: Yes
Features:
Cinch is a another budget tool that likes to think of itself as your personal Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
This tool will require that you provide personal information like:
- Bank account information
- Your annual income
- Your social security number
Again, if you’re hesitant to share sensitive information with an app, this might not be the best choice for you. If you do not provide this information, they will not be able to create a budget plan for you.
They offer a 90 day free trial and after that, it’s a $4.99 a month fee.
This budget tool is compatible with:
- Browser based
- iOS & Android apps in production
Image of Cinch:
Conclusion
When it comes to budget tools, there’s a plethora of options out there! It all comes down to picking a tool with features that’ll benefit you and your financial plans the best.
Make sure you look over all of your options and pick a budget tool that works with your current needs.
But the tools can’t do it all on their own! You need to be committed to your budget and keep track of your progress. Once you get the hang of it, we promise it’ll get a little easier.
Which budget tool do you use to manage your finances? Let us know in the comments!
Up Next: 15 Debt Payoff Planner Apps & Tools
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