Every Thursday in 2025, I’ll be answering a question on money and/or budgeting. If you have a question you’d love for me to answer in an upcoming post, please submit it here.
We’re considering using a budgeting app to help us stay on track. I’ve heard really great things about Every Dollar, YNAB, and Rocket Money. Would you able to do a post comparing the features of each? We’re a little overwhelmed. -Julie
Great question, Julie! I know so many people wonder if it’s worth it to use a budgeting app and, if so, which one is the best one to use.

Want to try zero-based budgeting without an app first? Grab my free budgeting worksheets here!
The Best Budgeting Apps:
EveryDollar, YNAB (You Need A Budget), and Rocket Money are three popular options, but they each have unique features depending on how hands-on you want to be with your budget and how much support you’re looking for.
Let’s break them down (in no particular order) to help you make the best decision for your family:
1. EveryDollar
EveryDollar is a simple and clean budgeting app developed by Dave Ramsey’s team, and it’s based on the concept of zero-based budgeting where you give every dollar a job before the month begins. The app is perfect for beginners who want something straightforward without a steep learning curve.
The free version lets you manually enter all your income and expenses, while the paid version connects to your bank accounts and automatically tracks transactions.
If you’re already familiar with the envelope method or like the idea of planning your spending before the month starts, you’ll probably love how organized EveryDollar makes you feel. However, to unlock helpful features like bank syncing and custom budget reports, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version. Still, it’s a great entry point for anyone just getting started.
Pros:
- Simple, clean interface that’s great for beginners
- Based on zero-based budgeting (assign every dollar a job)
- Manual version is free
- Syncs with your bank account with the paid version
Cons:
- Limited features in the free version
- Automated transaction importing only available with paid plan
Cost:
- Free (manual entry)
- $79.99/year for the premium version with bank sync and additional features
2. YNAB (You Need A Budget)
YNAB is a favorite among budgeters who really want to take a hands-on approach to managing their finances and for good reason. It’s incredibly intentional.
This app doesn’t just help you track spending; it helps you build new financial habits. YNAB operates on four key rules that encourage you to give every dollar a job, embrace your true expenses, roll with the punches, and age your money. In other words, this app teaches you how to stop living paycheck to paycheck.
YNAB is ideal if you’re looking for more than just an app and want a complete budgeting system. But you must be willing to spend a little time upfront learning how it works.
The interface syncs with your bank accounts in real time, and the support community and tutorials are top-notch. If you’re someone who loves spreadsheets or tracking things down to the penny, YNAB might be your new best friend.
That said, it does come at a higher price point and has a bit of a learning curve, so it may not be the best option if you’re looking for something super simple right away.
Pros:
- Excellent educational tools and tutorials
- Encourages long-term mindset shifts about money
- Real-time sync with bank accounts
Cons:
- Pricier than other options
- Learning curve can feel steep at first
If you need help budgeting when you have a fluctuating income, this post is a great place to start.
Cost:
- $14.99/month or $99/year
- 34-day free trial
- Free for college students for one year
3. Rocket Money (formerly Truebill)
If you want a more passive approach to managing your money, Rocket Money could be a great fit. This app is designed to do a lot of the heavy lifting for you by tracking your spending, flagging subscriptions you might want to cancel, negotiating bills on your behalf, and even helping you set up automated savings. It’s especially helpful if your biggest budgeting struggle is not knowing where your money is going each month.
Rocket Money shines when it comes to identifying hidden expenses, especially monthly subscriptions that tend to sneak by unnoticed. The app even offers premium services that include budgeting insights and credit monitoring.
However, Rocket Money is less about hands-on planning and more about organizing what’s already happening with your money. If you want to be more intentional with your spending from the start of the month, a tool like EveryDollar or YNAB might be a better match. Still, for busy families who just want to keep tabs on their finances with minimal effort, Rocket Money has a lot to offer.
Pros:
- Automatically finds subscriptions and bills you may want to cancel
- Tracks spending and helps you negotiate bills
- Offers credit score tracking
- Set savings goals directly in the app
Cons:
- Less emphasis on detailed budgeting and planning
- Some features are locked behind paid plans
- Negotiation services take a portion of the savings
Cost:
- Free version available
- Premium: Pay what you want, $3–$12/month
Bonus Option: Quicken Simplifi
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Quicken — once the mother of all personal-finance products. It’s been around for 40 years so almost everyone has heard of it or used it before. Quicken Simplifi (their personal budgeting software) is a not primarily a cloud-based software and was designed to be used via desktop. (Quicken Simplifi does now have a companion mobile app, but they still intend for you to primarily access your data from your desktop.)

Pros:
- Quicken is very good to use for an electronic register and is great at connecting with your bank and keeping bank accounts balanced.
- When we used it for a short time, we liked how easy it was to keep track of all of our assets (house, car, etc) updated with present values for tax and net worth calculations.
Cons:
- When we used it years ago, Quicken was pretty clunky, so we ended up using it only as a register and then budgeted on paper or Google Sheets. Based on current reviews, it seems like they may have fixed that issue. But just something to keep in mind!
- Reviews say Quicken Simplifi doesn’t have good tools for helping track or pay off debt. If this is one of your financial goals, you’d at least need a supplemental tool, or maybe want to go with one of the other options.
- Since this is designed primarily for a desktop, Quicken Simplifi won’t be a good fit for you if you prefer to manage your budget from your phone.
Cost:
- $5.99/month or $47.88/year
I hope this helps give you some additional insight as to which budgeting app and budgeting method may be the best fit for your needs and goals. Remember, there’s no perfect app or system. It all comes down to what works best for you at the stage of life you’re in.
The good news is that many budgeting apps have a free trial so you can test out the features to see if it’s a good fit. And if you’re not ready to commit to an app yet or prefer to budget paper to pen, don’t forget you can start with my free printable budgeting worksheets to get into the habit of planning your money intentionally on paper first!
Mint was by far the best! A good balance of budgeting and tracking. And FREE! I was crushed when they closed it down and haven’t found anything that has all the features Mint has.
Yes! After using Mint for years, I’m getting sticker shock when seeing how much other apps charge for what Mint did for free!
I have used YNAB for a year now and love it!!! I have tried a couple of other budgets but with my variable income each week, YNAB just fell into place. Ton of tutorials out there to help and so many people to follow that use YNAB to help learn how to use it. Just being on a budget has helped so much but YNAB has made me became a budget nerd. Check it out!! 30 days free and on Youtube there are codes to get for an additional free month.
YAY! I love to hear that! We are big fans of YNAB!
I’ve loved YNAB and my sister with ADD feels like it’s a great option for her too. I use both the web version and app.
That’s so good to hear!
We use Every Dollar. We do the paid version, but I find it is worth it to have my transactions sync automatically. Life gets busy and I know if I had to manually enter them, I would miss some, or get so far behind that I would just give up. I budget so much a month for memberships and try to include a little extra each month for annual ones like this, so it’s not a such a large cost once a year.
This is super helpful to hear! Thank you for sharing!
I use Monarch and it’s my hands-down favorite. I’ve tried YNAB and I used Mint when it had a budgeting feature. Monarch is well worth the money, and its mobile app makes budgeting on the go super easy.
Oh! Great to know! I haven’t heard many people recommend Monarch so I love to hear that!
My 2 cents: I LOVE Monarch! We used to use Mint until they closed up shop. Once you set up your budgets in Monarch, it’s so easy to keep on track, move money around as needed, etc. one thing that was a big deal to us is being able to roll over overage to the next month. It’s really easy to do that in the app. It does cost I think $15 per month but I think it’s worth it. I just wanted a budgeting tool for monthly expenses, not extra things like financial goals. We set those ourselves.
I LOVE that two of you are recommending Monarch! I haven’t heard many recommend it before and I am so happy to hear this!