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If you’re looking for a way to track your expenses and stay on top of your budget, you’ll need to choose the right spend tracking app. There are a lot of them to choose from, though, so your choice might vary depending on what’s important to you—things like ease, whether you share expenses, whether you’re self-employed, and how much you travel.
Mint is the best free app
Mint is free and one of the most well-known apps for tracking your spending and helping you create a budget. It’s not as feature-packed as some of the other options on this list, but it’s a great choice if you’re moderately experienced and are looking for something that isn’t too complicated or expensive.
Goodbudget is best app for beginners
If you’re new to tracking your spending, Goodbudget may be a good choice for you. Goodbudget members get 20 “envelopes” for free (think back in the day when you might have put cash for certain categories in separate, literal envelopes). But to access more envelopes, you’ll need to upgrade to Goodbudget Plus, which costs $8 a month or $70 a year.
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YNAB is the best app for tracking every detail
YNAB is short for “You Need a Budget,” and it’s one of the most popular spend tracking apps available. YNAB is great for those who want to track every detail of their spending and budget. It’s a bit more expensive than some of the other options on this list, but it does offer a free 34-day trial. After that, YNAB costs $14.99 a month or $98.99 a year. People who don’t need so much granularity or as many features might not want to pay YNAB’s higher prices, but if you want the most functionality, YNAB is worth it.
Splitwise is best for tracking expenses shared with other people
If you share expenses with other people, like roommates, family members, or a partner, Splitwise can help you track who owes what. It also works really well for trips that you take with other people. It’s a great choice for those who need to track shared expenses and keep everyone accountable.
Splitwise allows users within the same group to “simplify expenses.” If person A owes person B $20 and person B owes person C $20, Splitwise will automatically simplify the expense so that person A owes Person C $20. Settling up can done outside the app via Venmo, PayPal, cash, or other transfer. Splitwise is free to use, but there is a paid premium version that costs $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year. The premium version includes features like receipt scanning, currency conversion, and expense search.
TravelSpend is the best app for tracking expenses in multiple currencies
TravelSpend is a great choice if you often travel internationally or need to track expenses in multiple currencies. It’s easy to use and offers a lot of features, including the ability to track expenses in multiple currencies, set budgets, and categorize expenses. Users can also follow their expenses on a map based on GPS location when the expense is added to the app. TravelSpend is free to use.
Quickbooks Self Employed is the best app if you’re self employed
Quickbooks Self Employed is a great choice for those who are self-employed or have side hustles. It helps you track things like your income, expenses, and car mileage. Quickbooks Self Employed also syncs with your bank and credit card accounts to pull in expenses, and then users can swipe left on business expenses (and re-categorize them if the auto-categorization isn’t correct) and swipe right on personal expenses. It also offers some features that other spend tracking apps don’t, like the ability to track your mileage (useful for tax purposes) and create invoices. Quickbooks Self Employed costs $15 a month or $120 a year.
