(Learn more in the app's review.) How do you create a budget? Users can set goals, customize spending categories, plus get access to 100+ free educational workshops offered every week. A popular choice is budgeting app You Need A Budget (YNAB), which offers a 34-day free trial then costs $84 per year, or $11.99 per month. While the top-rated tools on this list come no cost to users, those who don't mind paying a premium have options for budgeting tools with more robust features. You'll also want to decide if you want to pay for a budgeting tool. Hands-on methods, such as manually enter your transactions into a spreadsheet, may take more time, but the process can help you be more thoughtful about your spending. That tool might be an already-formatted spreadsheet where you just plug in your transactions, or an app that auto-categorizes your spending for you.īecause different budgeting tools offer slightly different approaches to tracking your money, first decide how intentional you want to be.

Security features include 256-bit bank grade encryption in a secure data center.

App plans to launch a pandemic-inspired feature allowing people to prioritize “envelopes” based on their most urgent expenses, such as housing, utility bills, etc.

App offers educational resources like a blog, a podcast and online courses people can take.

App provides real-time updates of how your transactions impact your budget and personalized reports.

Requiring manual entry of data helps users to really analyze their spending habits versus it being automated (users can also download their recent activity from their bank’s website and import that into Goodbudget).

Users can customize the envelope categories according to their needs, such as saving for an emergency fund or a vacation.

Envelope feature allows user to visualize their spending and prioritize meeting different goals.

Free to use for creating 20 envelopes, one account user on up to two devices, one year of transaction history, debt tracking and community support.

Personal finance software online