Best Expense Tracker Apps of 2026

Oct 13, 2025

WalletHub Writer

Fact checkedFact Checked by Alina Comoreanu, WalletHub Senior Researcher

WalletHub Senior Researcher

The best expense tracker apps are WalletHub, Monarch Money and Rocket Money. These apps have good user ratings and will automatically categorize your expenses when you link your accounts, allow you to easily import and export transactions, and provide insight into your spending so you can see where your money goes. They also have automatic account syncing, which allows you to link your financial accounts to have your transactions automatically tracked.

7 Best Expense Tracker Apps

WalletHub

Average App Rating: 4.8 / 5

Cost: $0 for basic, $7.99 per month, billed annually (SAVE 50.0%) for premium

WalletHub automatically categorizes your expenses in your budget and uses AI to clean up your transaction data to make it easier to understand. You can quickly import and export your transactions or automatically sync your financial accounts to have your expenses tracked for you.

WalletHub will provide you with information about your historical spending, clearly listing the total amount you’ve spent in each category for the past six months, along with a six-month average. Plus, you can flag certain types of transactions to review manually later, split transactions among different categories, and add notes to your expenses if you need to. WalletHub also offers a subscription manager feature that lets you see all your recurring expenses in one place.

Along with expense tracking, WalletHub gives you the ability to see your credit score and reports, create budgets and debt payoff plans, access credit and identity monitoring services, and customize your dashboard in whatever way works best for you. You can access many features for free, including importing and exporting transactions, though advanced features like auto-account sync, the subscription manager, and the ability to customize your dashboard are only available with a premium subscription.

Rocket Money

Average App Rating: 4.6 / 5

Cost: $0 for basic, $6 - $12 per month for premium

Rocket Money is one of the few apps that lets you sync your financial accounts for automatic tracking for free, and the app will automatically categorize your expenses into one of its pre-defined categories. Rocket Money will also put all your recurring expenses in a list view so you can easily keep track of them.

In addition, Rocket Money provides services that will negotiate bills on your behalf and cancel subscriptions you don’t need, though you have to pay to use these services. You also must have a premium account to create custom categories for your expenses or export transaction data.

Monarch Money

Average App Rating: 4.8 / 5

Cost: $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year (for the Core Plan)

Monarch Money allows you to sync your financial accounts to combine all your transactions into one searchable list. The app also uses AI to categorize your expenses and clean up your transaction data to make it easier to understand. In addition, you can generate customized reports that can give you insight into your spending in whichever way makes the most sense for you.

Monarch Money’s subscription manager feature lets you view all your recurring transactions in one list to make it easy to keep track of them and quickly spot the subscriptions you no longer need. Monarch Money does not offer a free plan, so you will need to pay for an account before you can access any of Monarch Money’s features.

Copilot Money

Average App Rating: 4.6 / 5

Cost: $13 per month or $95 per year

Copilot Money has a feature called smart categorization, which allows the app to auto-categorize your expenses using AI. The app will learn every time you review your transactions so it can make better category predictions over time. Copilot Money also provides monthly and yearly reports on your spending and automatically organizes your recurring transactions into one list, so you can easily keep track of them.

Unfortunately, Copilot Money is only available for iOS devices. In addition, you must pay for an account since Copilot Money does not offer any free plans.

PocketGuard

Average App Rating: 4.5 / 5

Cost: $0 for basic, $12.99 per month or $74.99 per year for premium

PocketGuard allows you to do things like create custom categories, import and export transactions, upload photos for your transactions, and sync your financial accounts. The app also automatically categorizes your expenses and has a subscription manager that can detect your recurring bills. In addition, PocketGuard offers to negotiate on your behalf to lower your bills.

PocketGuard does have a free plan, which allows you to auto-sync your financial accounts and get customized spending reports. But to access more advanced features, such as importing and exporting transactions and the ability to make custom categories, you must have a paid account.

Albert

Average App Rating: 4.6 / 5

Cost: $14.99 to $39.99 per month

When you sync your financial accounts with the Albert app, the app uses AI to automatically categorize your expenses and detect recurring charges. It will also provide a detailed breakdown of your spending and analyze your income and expenses to find small amounts the app thinks you can put away into savings.

Furthermore, Albert will notify you of any bill increases and can negotiate to lower your bills for you or cancel services you no longer need. Albert does not offer any free plans, so you need to pay for an account to access any of Albert’s features.

Wallet by BudgetBakers

Average App Rating: 4.6 / 5

Cost: $0 for basic; $5.99 - $49.99 for premium

Wallet by BudgetBakers uses machine learning algorithms to categorize your expenses. It also has auto-account sync and lets you create your own custom categories if you have transactions that won’t fit the categories Wallet offers.

Additionally, Wallet allows you to import and export transactions and provides insight into your spending so you can see where your money goes. Wallet does offer a free account, but advanced features, such as auto-account sync and the ability to export transactions, are only available with a premium account.

Honorable Mention

YNAB, Goodbudget, and Expensify are other apps worth considering. These apps allow you to track your transactions and categorize your expenses. They also provide spending reports. However, while other apps on our list use AI to automatically categorize your expenses, YNAB and Goodbudget rely on your past categorization of transactions. So, these apps may prompt you to categorize a new expense before they automatically categorize it going forward.

Expensify is designed for businesses, but it does offer accounts for individuals looking to track their business expenses or personal spending. Individuals can only choose to get a free account, though. To access features such as bank account syncing, you will need to have a business account.

How Expense Trackers Work

Expense trackers are designed to help you organize and categorize your expenses so you can easily keep track of what you are spending your money on and how much you are spending. Expense trackers can come in the form of a spreadsheet, an online or desktop tool, or an app. With most expense tracker apps, you can manually add your transactions, import your transactions from a bank or credit card statement, or connect your financial accounts and have your transactions automatically added to the tracker as you make purchases.

WalletHub’s expense tracking feature lets you sync your financial accounts so you can have your expenses automatically tracked. It will also automatically categorize your expenses and use AI to clean up your transaction data to make it easier to understand where your money is going. You can also easily adjust your settings so the most important transactions get flagged for manual review. In addition, WalletHub can analyze your expenses and suggest ways for you to save money, and you can incorporate these insights directly into your budget.

Benefits of Using an Expense Tracking App

Expense tracking apps offer various features that can make it easier and more convenient to log all your transactions and analyze spending patterns than using a spreadsheet or pen and paper. Making data entry mistakes and losing your work are also less likely with an app.

Expense tracker apps can:

Sync with your financial accounts to automatically track your expenses
Automatically categorize your expenses
Provide detailed insights into your spending habits
Detect recurring charges
Analyze your spending and recommend ways you can save money

You can continue reading below to get a more detailed breakdown of the features to look for in an expense tracking app.

What to Look for in an Expense Tracker App

Affordability

There are some free apps that will let you track your expenses, though it may be worth paying for an app that offers more advanced features, such as automatic account syncing, which can make tracking your expenses less time consuming. It really depends on your budget and what you are trying to accomplish. If possible, take advantage of a free trial to try the service before you buy it.

Account Syncing for Automatic Expense Tracking

This feature lets you sync your financial accounts with the expense tracker app, so your expenses get logged automatically. This prevents you from having to spend time manually entering the transactions and can cut down on errors. Plus, some of the best expense tracker apps automatically categorize your expenses, so you can easily see where your money is going.

Customization

Not everyone has the same expenses, so an expense tracker that lets you customize your spending categories can help you organize your expenses more effectively and give you a more accurate view of where your money is going. For example, instead of having a single category for food, being able to create separate categories for groceries, takeout, and dining out can help you determine whether there are some food costs you can cut back on if you need to.

Spending Insights

An expense tracker app that provides detailed reports on your expenses can help you see if there are any patterns in your spending, which can be eye opening. It can also help you identify areas where you’re overspending, so you can come up with strategies to save money. Some apps, like the WalletHub app, can analyze your spending for you and suggest steps you can take to reduce costs.

Ease of Use

You want to look for an expense tracker app with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for you to track and categorize your expenses. It should also be simple to understand how to get spending reports, add notes to expenses, and make changes to transactions when you need to.

Good Reviews

A lot of good user reviews is a sign that an expense tracker app will be helpful. You can read reviews from users on Google Play or on the App Store. You can also read reviews on third-party sites like WalletHub and Trustpilot.

Strong Security

Since you are going to provide a lot of sensitive personal information, you need an app that will take steps to prevent your information from being accessed by anyone other than you. That is why you should look for an expense tracker app with data encryption and security features, such as multi-factor authentication or Touch ID, which can help protect your information from getting into the wrong hands.

Methodology

WalletHub’s editors compared 29 options to find the best expense tracker apps. We focused on the following factors:

The availability of a free plan
The cost of the premium subscription
The ability to sync financial accounts
The availability of automatic categorization for expenses
The ability to customize spending categories
The availability of spending reports
The ability to import and export transactions
Features included in the free plan

We also considered the average app ratings from Google Play and the App Store for each company.

Best Expense Tracker Apps FAQ(11 questions)

Editorial and user-generated content on this page is not reviewed or otherwise endorsed by any financial institution. Please keep in mind that it is not a financial institution’s responsibility to ensure all posts and questions are answered.

Upvotes

What is the best free budgeting app that you can use without linking your bank account?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

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.

Upvotes

Are budgeting apps safe?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

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...

Upvotes

Are budgeting apps worth it?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

Yes, budgeting apps are worth it since you can use them to organize your finances and save money. A good budgeting app, like the WalletHub app, lets you create a personalized budget and sync your financial accounts to automatically track your expenses, allowing you to save time and easily identify areas to cut spending.

Some apps offer completely free accounts, while others charge a fee ranging from $6 to $18 per month for premium features....

Upvotes

Which banks have budgeting apps?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

Banks that have an app with budgeting features include Bank of America, Chase, and Capital One, along with several other options. These apps are tied to your accounts at the bank, allowing you to track expenses, schedule bill payments, create budgets and receive insight into your spending.

Top Bank Apps With Budgeting Features

Bank of America

Cost: Free

Average App Rating: 4.7

Key Features:

Provides interactive charts breaking down your...

Upvotes

Is there an AI budgeting tool?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

Yes, there are AI budgeting tools, such as the Cleo app and the Copilot Money app. These apps use AI to do things like track your spending, automatically categorize your expenses, provide feedback on your spending, and even predict when you are about to go over budget. Using AI can be a useful way to optimize your budget, saving you time and money.

Best AI Budgeting Apps

Albert

The Albert app uses...

Upvotes

What is the best envelope budget app?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

The best envelope budget apps are WalletHub, Goodbudget, and PocketGuard since they have good user ratings and allow you to build a budget based on the envelope method for free. The envelope method is a strategy that requires you to categorize expenses into digital or physical envelopes, then assign each a spending limit. Once the money has been used up in a particular envelope, you can no longer spend any more in that category for the...

Upvotes

What is the best bank account for budgeting?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

The best bank accounts for budgeting are from Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, and Bank of America. These banks have good mobile app ratings and provide budgeting tools that are integrated into your accounts, allowing you to do things like easily create a budget and receive insight into your spending.

Best Banks Accounts for Budgeting

Wells Fargo: Best for making a budget

WalletHub User Rating: 3.7

Average App Rating: 4.9/5

Best...

Upvotes

What is the best zero-based budget app?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

The best zero-based budget apps are WalletHub, YNAB, and EveryDollar. These apps have good user ratings and easily allow you to create a zero-based budget where every dollar has a purpose, whether that's paying your monthly bills, paying down debt, or saving for your financial future. With a zero-based budget, you should get zero when you subtract your expenses from your income every month.

Best Zero-Based Budget Apps

WalletHub

Average App Rating: 4.8...

Upvotes

What budget app connects to your bank account?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

The best budget apps that you can connect to your bank account are WalletHub, YNAB, Rocket Money, and Monarch Money. These apps let you sync your financial accounts, such as bank accounts and credit cards, so you can have your transactions automatically tracked and avoid having to do it yourself. Being able to sync your financial accounts makes budgeting easier and less time-consuming.

Budget Apps That Connect to Your Bank

App

Financial Accounts Tracked

Feature Offered for Free

Cost

...

Upvotes

How can I use Excel to track my expenses?

Milvionne Chery Copeland, Writer

You can use Excel to track your expenses with either a pre-built template or a spreadsheet you make yourself. You will have to manually input your transactions into Excel, where you can then categorize and analyze them to track how much you spend on each type of expense.

How to Use Excel to Track Expenses

1. Pick a pre-built template or create your own spreadsheet.

In Excel, under “File,” select “New” and...

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