Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer
@milvionne_copeland
The best family budget apps include YNAB, Goodbudget and WalletHub. These apps have good user ratings, allow you to track your family’s expenses anywhere you go, and offer the ability to share your account with multiple members of your family so everyone can have easy access to the budget.
Best Budget Apps for Families
WalletHub
- Number of people allowed on account: 6
- Cost: Free for basic, $2.99/month for the first year ($7.99/month after that) for premium
WalletHub is the best budget app for families because it offers easily customizable budgeting tools and allows you to share your account with up to five other people, making it easy to jointly manage family finances, educate your kids about money, or help an aging parent. Everyone will have their own separate login, so there is no need to share passwords.
With WalletHub, you’ll also be able to choose between multiple budgeting strategies, create debt payoff goals, and see spending trends broken down by category. In addition, with a premium plan, you can sync your financial accounts for automatic tracking and customize your dashboard so you can see the most important items at the top. A premium account enables you to share your account with others as well.
WalletHub offers plenty of non-budgeting features, too. For example, you get access to your credit score and report, personalized credit analysis, credit monitoring, the ability to track your net worth, and recommendations for financial products like credit cards and loans.
YNAB
- Number of people allowed on account: 6
- Cost: $14.99 per month or $109 per year
YNAB uses zero-based budgeting, which requires you to allocate every dollar of your household income to a specific expense so that subtracting your monthly expenses from your monthly income will always equal zero. The app also allows you to sync your banking accounts to automatically track your expenses, and one subscription can be shared among six people. This lets you share finances with your partner and kids, and each person on the account will have their own login credentials.
Goodbudget
- Number of people allowed on account: 5
- Cost: Free for basic, $10 per month or $80 per year for premium
Goodbudget lets users share accounts and budgets across multiple devices, helping families stay on the same page about their finances. Goodbudget uses envelope budgeting, which is a method that requires you to group expenses into separate budget categories (or envelopes), such as housing, food, and transportation.
The app allows you to allocate a specific dollar amount for each envelope, and when funds get pulled from an envelope, the people you are sharing the account with will get notified. Goodbudget’s free plan lets members access their account on up to two devices, while the premium plan allows up to five devices.
PocketGuard
- Number of people allowed on account: 2
- Cost: Free for basic, $12.99 per month or $74.99 per year for premium
PocketGuard allows you to share your account with other family members, but you have to use the same login credentials. Still, families can sync their financial accounts to automatically track spending, set up bill reminders to avoid missing a payment, and cancel unwanted subscriptions to save money.
Monarch Money
- Number of people allowed on account: No limit
- Cost: $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year
Monarch Money lets families sync their bank accounts to track spending, view monthly reports to see how their finances are doing, and access the same account with their own unique logins. Monarch Money is unique since it is the only app on this list that does not have a restriction on how many people you can add to the app, so you can share your account with anybody that you want.
For more options, check out WalletHub’s complete list of the best budget apps.
Benefits of Budgeting as a Family
Budgeting together as a family can help ensure that everyone is on the same page financially and working together to achieve family goals. It can also help everyone understand what they can and cannot do with household funds.
In addition, going over the household budget with your kids can help instill good financial habits related to saving and managing money, which will benefit them in adulthood. It also gives them an opportunity to have their voices heard and a chance to suggest ways they can contribute to keeping the household under budget.
To learn more, check out WalletHub’s guide on how to make a family budget and our complete list of the best budget apps.
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