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Title: The best budgeting apps for 2025

Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2025 09:00:37 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/apps/best-budgeting-...

Managing your finances doesnΓÇÖt have to be a headache ΓÇö especially with
the right budgeting app at your fingertips. Whether youΓÇÖre trying to track
everyday spending, save for a big purchase or just keep a closer eye on your
subscriptions, thereΓÇÖs an app that can help. With Mint shutting down,
plenty of users have been looking for the best budget apps to replace it, and
luckily there are plenty of solid alternatives.

From AI-powered spending trackers to apps that break down your expenses into
easy-to-follow categories, the best budgeting tools help you take control of
your money without the hassle of spreadsheets. Some focus on automating
savings, while others give you a deep dive into your finances with powerful
analytics and custom reporting. If youΓÇÖre still searching for the right
Mint alternative, check out our guide to the best budgeting apps to replace
Mint to find the best fit for your needs.

If youΓÇÖre not sure where to start, weΓÇÖve rounded up the top budgeting
apps to help you track spending, save smarter, and stick to your financial
goals.

Best budget apps of 2025

How we test budgeting apps

Before I dove in and started testing out budgeting apps, I had to do some
research. To find a list of apps to try out, I consulted trusty olΓÇÖ Google
(and even trustier Reddit); read reviews of popular apps on the App Store;
and also asked friends and colleagues what budget tracking apps (or other
budgeting methods) they might be using for money management. Some of the apps
I found were free and these, of course, show loads of ads (excuse me,
ΓÇ£offersΓÇ¥) to stay in business. But most of the available apps require
paid subscriptions, with prices typically topping out around $100 a year, or
$15 a month. (Spoiler: My top pick is cheaper than that.)

All of the services I chose to test needed to do several things: import all
of your account data into one place; offer budgeting tools; and track your
spending, net worth and credit score. Except where noted, all of these apps
are available for iOS, Android and on the web.

Once I had my shortlist of six apps, I got to work setting them up. For the
sake of thoroughly testing these apps, I made a point of adding every account
to every budgeting app, no matter how small or immaterial the balance. What
ensued was a veritable Groundhog Day of two-factor authentication. Just hours
of entering passwords and one-time passcodes, for the same banks half a dozen
times over. Hopefully, you only have to do this once.

Budgeting app FAQs What is Plaid and how does it work?

Each of the apps I tested uses the same underlying network, called Plaid, to
pull in financial data, so itΓÇÖs worth explaining what it is and how it
works. Plaid was founded as a fintech startup in 2013 and is today the
industry standard in connecting banks with third-party apps. Plaid works with
over 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada and Europe.
Additionally, more than 8,000 third-party apps and services rely on Plaid,
the company claims.

To be clear, you donΓÇÖt need a dedicated Plaid app to use it; the technology
is baked into a wide array of apps, including all of the budgeting apps
listed in this guide. Once you find the ΓÇ£add an accountΓÇ¥ option in
whichever one youΓÇÖre using, youΓÇÖll see a menu of commonly used banks.
ThereΓÇÖs also a search field you can use to look yours up directly. Once you
find yours, youΓÇÖll be prompted to enter your login credentials. If you have
two-factor authentication set up, youΓÇÖll need to enter a one-time passcode
as well.

As the middleman, Plaid is a passthrough for information that may include
your account balances, transaction history, account type and routing or
account number. Plaid uses encryption, and says it has a policy of not
selling or renting customer data to other companies. However, I would not be
doing my job if I didnΓÇÖt note that in 2022 Plaid was forced to pay $58
million to consumers in a class action suit for collecting ΓÇ£more financial
data than was needed.ΓÇ¥ As part of the settlement, Plaid was compelled to
change some of its business practices.

In a statement provided to Engadget, a Plaid spokesperson said the company
continues to deny the allegations underpinning the lawsuit and that ΓÇ£the
crux of the non-financial terms in the settlement are focused on us
accelerating workstreams already underway related to giving people more
transparency into PlaidΓÇÖs role in connecting their accounts, and ensuring
that our workstreams around data minimization remain on track.ΓÇ¥

Why did Mint shut down?

When parent company Intuit announced in December 2023 that it would shut down
Mint, it did not provide a reason why it made the decision to do so. It did
say that Mint's millions of users would be funneled over to its other finance
app, Credit Karma. "Credit Karma is thrilled to invite all Minters to
continue their financial journey on Credit Karma, where they will have access
to Credit KarmaΓÇÖs suite of features, products, tools and services,
including some of MintΓÇÖs most popular features," Mint wrote on its product
blog. In our testing, we found that Credit Karma isn't an exact replacement
for Mint ΓÇö so if you're still looking for a Mint alternative, you have some
decent options.

What about Rocket Money?

Rocket Money is another free financial app that tracks spending and supports
things like balance alerts and account linking. If you pay for the premium
tier, the service can also help you cancel unwanted subscriptions. We did not
test it for this guide, but we'll consider it in future updates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/apps/best-budgeting-...

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