What to look for in a reliable budgeting app

Young man looking at mobile phone with personal finance symbols in background

An app that 'matches your lifestyle makes budgeting much more manageable'

(Image credit: We Are / Getty Images)

A budgeting app can be a great tool to ensure you are spending within your means and saving adequately. Many of the top apps today allow you to easily track and categorize your expenditures, set and work toward your financial goals and even forecast your cash flow in the future.

But no matter how many bells and whistles an app may have, if it does not actually serve your needs, you find it frustrating to use or it is otherwise unreliable, then it’s sure to become just another icon cluttering up your phone screen. As you peruse the myriad budgeting app options, take these factors into consideration.

Alignment with needs and preferences

Selecting an app that “matches your lifestyle makes budgeting much more manageable,” said Money. Contemplate what features you need — e.g. sharing access with a significant other, integrating investing, help tracking payments and subscriptions — and what style of budgeting may work best for you.

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Also consider how much active management you want to put into budgeting. While “many budgeting apps connect with your accounts and pull data automatically” and even “automatically categorize your spending,” other apps will “encourage you to be more involved in the process, requiring you to manually categorize transactions,” said WSJ Buy Side, The Wall Street Journal’s research and commerce division.

Ease of use

Budgeting is not necessarily a fun activity as it is — so if a budgeting app is also frustrating or confusing to use, there is a very good chance you will not end up using it. When comparing different apps, look for those “that allow you to quickly input transactions, set budgets and track your spending without a steep learning curve,” said Community Choice Credit Union. User reviews and ratings can help in this evaluation, as people are likely to flag what did and did not work for them, as well as any areas they think could use improvement.

Affordability

While you should consider price, “don’t just gravitate toward the cheapest option” when choosing a budgeting app, said CNBC Select. After all, “spending money to help you save can be worthwhile in the long run.”

Some apps are entirely free, others may charge for certain premium features, and then there are those that require you to pay for a subscription. Often, however, you can get a free trial that will at least let you test out the app before purchasing.

Security

Security is key when using a budgeting app, as you are inputting a lot of personal financial details and typically connecting the app to many of your other financial accounts. You stand a better chance of ensuring your data is safe by “opting for reputable budgeting apps,” namely those that utilize “bank-grade encryption and multi-factor authentication,” said Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus.

Becca Stanek has worked as an editor and writer in the personal finance space since 2017. She previously served as a deputy editor and later a managing editor overseeing investing and savings content at LendingTree and as an editor at the financial startup SmartAsset, where she focused on retirement- and financial-adviser-related content. Before that, Becca was a staff writer at The Week, primarily contributing to Speed Reads.