Best Budget Apps

The best free budgeting apps that you can use without linking your bank account are Goodbudget, EveryDollar, WalletHub, PocketGuard and Honeydue. These apps allow you to manually enter your expenses to track them, and they offer you budgeting tips you can use to manage your finances.

Best Free Budget Apps to Use Without Linking Your Bank Account

Goodbudget

Goodbudget uses the envelope budgeting method, which allows you to create envelopes for each budget category, such as housing, transportation, and entertainment. You can manually enter your expenses and assign spending limits for each envelope. With the app's free account, you can create up to 20 envelopes.

EveryDollar

EveryDollar is based on the zero-based budgeting strategy, where you allocate every dollar to a specific expense so that every month your income minus expenses will always equal zero. The idea is that every dollar has a purpose in your budget. The app's free account allows you to input your income and expenses and track them throughout the month, so you don't go over budget.

WalletHub

WalletHub allows you to manually add transactions, categorize expenses and create customized budgets with a free account. You can also easily reference your average spending by category to inform your budgeting efforts and customize your budget categories any way you want. In addition, you can share your transactions with others – if you want to review expenses with your spouse or accountant, for example – and you'll get spending reports so you have a clear view of your finances.

A free WalletHub account also comes with valuable non-budgeting features like access to your credit score, the ability to set and track debt payoff goals, recommendations for financial products like credit cards and loans, a thorough credit analysis, and a personalized credit improvement plan.

PocketGuard

With a free PocketGuard account, you have the option to manually add and track your expenses. You can also create budget categories and set spending limits for each. PocketGuard doesn't give you the option to sign up for a free account on their signup page, but they do email you about unlocking their free account if you put in your information.

Honeydue

Honeydue is an app designed specifically for couples. Couples can manually enter their transactions, and the app enables couples to chat about transactions within the app. Honeydue also sends bill reminders so couples can avoid late fees.

Finally, the YNAB app is another great option that doesn't require you to link your accounts, but it has a monthly or yearly fee. YNAB is based on the envelope strategy and lets you input your bills and transactions to track them and set spending limits.

For more budgeting tools and tips, check out WalletHub's guide to budgeting.

Yes, major budgeting apps are safe to use since they provide a high level of security to protect your personal information. The safest budgeting apps tend to have good online reviews and encrypt your data to prevent fraud and block scammers from getting access to your information. Some of these apps also add another layer of protection by supporting biometrics like Touch ID.

Safest Budgeting Apps

• WalletHub
• YNAB (You Need a...

What Is Envelope Budgeting?

Envelope budgeting is a budgeting strategy that requires you to create “envelopes” for each line item or category in your budget, into which you put the amount of money you're willing to spend each month. These can either be real physical envelopes or virtual envelopes with dollar amounts written down in a spreadsheet. As you spend money during the month, you take money out of the designated envelope for each expense.

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Creating and sticking to a budget is hard, and doing it on a low income is even more difficult. In a recent WalletHub survey, 44% of people said the most challenging part of sticking to a budget is not having enough income, but simple steps like listing your expenses and prioritizing your essentials can make budgeting easier. Below, we'll list some manageable steps you can take to budget effectively on a low income.

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Figure out your income

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Yes, there is a WalletHub app! Depending on your device, you can find the WalletHub app on iTunes or Google Play.

The WalletHub app will provide you on-the-go access your credit score and full credit report. Plus, you'll always be up to date with the latest credit improvement tips to help push your credit score higher.

And that's not all! We'll watch your TransUnion credit report 24/7 and let you know if anything changes via the WalletHub...

Learning how to budget involves figuring out your income and expenses, allocating money based on how essential each expense is, and diligently tracking your progress. You'll need to prioritize paying bills and other essential expenses, then savings and investments, and hopefully you'll have a bit left over for yourself. You'll also need to periodically reevaluate your budget and hold yourself accountable for any lapses.

While that might sound complicated, and it is to some degree, we've put together a plan to streamline the budgeting process as much as possible and help you succeed financially. With 74% of Americans saying that rising costs are the biggest budgeting challenge for them, according to a recent WalletHub survey, it's more important now than ever to learn how to budget.

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There are lots of different budgeting strategies. The most popular ones include the 50/30/20 rule, zero-based budgeting, envelope budgeting and the pay-yourself-first method since these strategies provide easy-to-implement techniques to categorize and track expenses as well as enforce spending limits.

Popular Budgeting Strategies

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