Top Money Saving and Budgeting Apps to Download Now

Top Money Saving and Budgeting Apps to Download Now

Nicole Brown

Nicole BrownJan 12, 20184 min read

Saving money nowadays goes beyond shoving dollar bills in a mattress or coins in a job. Utilizing today's technology and all the online offerings you can manage, save and spend your money how you please!

Apps are some of the most convenient ways to manage and save money. Whether you use your banks' mobile app or not, download one of these helpful money-saving and budget apps that are sure to fit your financial needs.

Digit

This is an awesome app that focuses on helping you to set money aside or save money! 

How it works

The premise of Digit is to assess your account to see what it can transfer into a digit savings account for you.  This is assessed daily and because of there is no overdraft fee, you never have to worry about over-drafting! You can access your money anytime and if requested, it is transferred the next business day! 

Fee: Free 100 day trial then 2.99/month 

Acorns

This app is great for saving as you spend

How it works

Acorns rounds up all purchases from one or more linked cards and then invests the change in stocks and bonds. Stocks and bond portfolios are created with the help of a notable economist and there are also additional ways to add to your investments. 

Fee: $1/month, college students free for four years from registration, accts over 5k pay .25% a year 

Ibotta

This app works wonders at saving money through everyday shopping. 

How it works

You find offers at one or multiple stores within the app. Click on the store and the offers that you want from the store or stores. Go shop and afterward take a photo of the receipts. The amount next to the item offer is what you will receive per item. The money is sent to you within two days. You can also earn money using your loyalty card or phone number. Again, find the stores then find offers, shop, and check out using a card or phone number. You will receive cash within 2 days. Lastly, you can receive cash back from apps. You search for offers from apps in the platform, use their shop button to make the qualifying purchase and wait for the pending confirmation to go through and receive your cash within 3 days. You can cash out your earnings through PayPal, Venmo or gift card as long as it amounts to 20 dollars. 

Fee: Free

Skyscanner, Skiplagged, Momondo, and Hopper

They all awesome apps for finding cheaper flights and therefore saving you money!

How it works

Hopper makes direct predictions about the best time to buy and suggests savings on other days. You can also watch a flight or multiple routes.

Skyscanner also allows you to watch a flight.

Skiplagged searches through fights using hidden cities to get you the best flights.

Momondo organizes the flights in an easy to see interface and categorizes them for you.

Conducting a test trip produced the best results (lowest fares) on Skyscanner followed by Skiplagged, Momondo. and lastly Hopper. This may have been based on the particular route, however. All of the sites with the exception of Momondo show you what the prices look like on other days in a calendar comparison. 

Fee: All free

Mint and Prism 

Both apps are excellent to use to get an overall look at your money or financial situation. 

How it works

You can link bills, income, and debts/loans on both. Mint can also check your credit score and provide you with analytics, while Prism can handle bill payment that process directly through its site. This ensures that billers receive money right away which creates no delay. 

Fee: Free

Goodbudget

This app is a great online envelope system for budgeting 

How it works

Every dollar is accounted for and goes into an envelope. (You name the envelopes.) You can choose how often when to deposit money, and how much based on your income. 

Fee: Free version contains 20 envelopes

Pocket guard

This app manages your current balance

How it works 

This app is a good money manager for assessing what you have left to spend at a glance, your bills and set spending limits in various areas. It has a simple and easy to use interface and if there is any overspending, you are alerted to your financial mistake within the app. 

Fee: Free 

These are just a few money saving and budgeting apps to use! While there has been much success with these, there are many others that may suit a variety of needs as well. Explore these and others to find what best fits your financial situation.