Budgeting is an important part of getting your finances under control, but who wants to pay for a tool to help them se money?
Below, you'll find a list of our forite budgeting apps.
Best forLearn more
Net Worth trackingLearn more
Subscription managementLearn more
Envelope budgetingLearn more
De Ramsey fansLearn more
Small business ownersLearn more
CustomizationLearn more
How We Created This List
For a budgeting app to appear on this list, it must be absolutely free with most of its budgeting features ailable at the free tier.
Some apps on this list he a free tier and a paid tier, with the paid tier offering automatic transaction downloads and synching of accounts, but the free tier offered almost every other ailable feature. Several of the apps on this list are completely free (Empower, GnuCash, Google Sheets) while others are freemium.
🔴 On August 8th, 2025, NerdWallet shut down the 50/30/20 budgeting tool, bills feature, and insurance manager of their app. As a result, they were removed from this list.
1. Empower Personal Dashboard 🏆Best For: Net worth tracking
Imports transactions: Yes | Paid version: No | Ad supported: May get sales calls for wealth management
➕ Imports transactions➕ Syncs at least daily➕ Easy to track investments and net worth➕ No ads
Visit Empower
➖ Budgeting features are basic➖ May get calls regarding their wealth management services
Empower Personal Dashboard is a personal finance dashboarding tool that was good at tracking your net worth and helping you plan for your retirement. They offer budgeting tools, which can help you manage your cash flow and your bills, but this is not their strong suit.
It is completely free and syncs better than many alternatives, which is why it takes the top spot. Empower syncs once every night around midnight but also whenever you log into your account (up to once every 4 hours). Despite the frequency of their syncing, the budgeting tools are very simple.
If you only want basic tracking and cashflow management, Empower fits the bill and can help you get a better understanding of your investments and your path towards retirement.
How can they afford to offer a free budgeting app? Empower offers wealth management services and when you sign up for the dashboard, if you he enough assets, they will ask you if you'd like to speak with a representative. This service is lucrative for them and it pays for the tools. If you don't want their services, and you're not obligated to use them, tell them you aren't interested. If you just ignore the phone calls, they will keep calling.
👉 Learn more about the Empower Personal Dashboard
2. Rocket MoneyBest For: Subscription management
Imports transactions: Yes | Paid version: Yes | Ad supported: No
➕ Subscription management and bill negotiation services➕ Imports transactions
Visit Rocket Money
➖ Must upgrade to paid version for all the features
Rocket Money didn't start off as a traditional budgeting app, but over time, it's added features that make it a good option for many people. Because of its origins, it can also solve some of the problems you he in your budget by helping you cancel subscriptions.
The big selling point about Rocket Money is that you can manage all of your subscriptions in one place. With their help, you can see your recurring bills (such as subscriptions) and then cancel the ones you no longer want.
In my post about canceling spending you won't miss (unlike coffee!), I recommend that you look at your recurring expenses and be intentional about which ones add to your life. Rocket Money is a very good tool for this.
They also he many popular budgeting features, like tracking your spending and setting sings goals. You can sync your banking and credit accounts to get reports and make a basic budget.
If you don't want to cancel a subscription, they can also help negotiate bills. It's free to start the negotiation process but Rocket Money keeps a 40% success fee of the total sings for the first year.
👉 Learn more about Rocket Money
3. GoodbudgetBest For: Envelope budgeting
Imports transactions: Yes, on paid version only | Paid version: Yes | Ad supported: No
➕ Based on the envelope budgeting system➕ Free version is basic
Visit Goodbudget
➖ Must upgrade to paid version for all the features➖ No bank syncing on free version
Goodbudget is a simple budgeting app that supports envelope budgeting, a very popular and “old school” way of budgeting. We list them fourth because their free version is basic but offers a good look at the features you get with their premium version.
Envelope budgeting is also a very well-understood and well-regarded methodology. It's not all that different than budgeting categories, you just approach how you spend money a little differently.
The free version gives you 10 envelopes, 10 “more” envelopes, for one account on two devices. You get 1 year of history. Sadly, no bank synching unless you pay.
If you pay, which will run you $10 per month or $80 a year, you will get bank synching, unlimited envelopes, unlimited accounts and 5 devices. You also get 7 years of history.
👉 Learn more about Goodbudget
4. EveryDollarBest For: De Ramsey fans
Imports transactions: Yes, on paid version only | Paid version: Yes | Ad supported: No
➕ Includes features to follow De Ramsey's baby steps➕ Basic budgeting features on free version
Visit Everydollar
➖ No syncing on free version
EveryDollar is the budgeting app run by Lampo Licensing, which is owned by De Ramsey, and we list them fifth because they offer a free budgeting tool but no automatic transaction synching (unless you pay).
In fact, many of the tool's features are locked until you pay for Premium:
FeatureFreePremiumCustomizable budget✅✅Sings funds✅✅Bank connectivity✅Financial roadmap✅Paycheck planning✅Goal setting✅Group financial coaching✅Custom budget reports✅Smart tracking recommendations✅One-click tracking✅We list this as an option because it is a free budgeting tool that does come with some nice features if you're willing to enter in your transactions manually. You can categorize items, edit your categories, split transactions between categories, and manage your budget across several devices.
It's a basic but effective budget and if you don't want to pay (it's $17.99 a month or $79.99 a year, so quite expensive for a budgeting tool), it offers some nice features.
Our EveryDollar review goes into greater detail into what they offer.
👉 Learn more about EveryDollar
5. GnuCashBest For: Small business owners
Imports transactions: Some banks | Paid version: No | Ad supported: No
➕ Very customizable➕ Can also do small business bookkeeping
Visit Gnucash
➖ Not cloud-based➖ Run by volunteers, so limited support➖ Outdated design
GnuCash is an older desktop application software that is free but you're going to he to do some work. It's got a bit of a dated look and was designed for those familiar with double-entry accounting. It's been around for a long time but if you're willing to put in the work, it may be a good option for you.
I've never used it and he only looked at screenshots and it's feature set. If you are willing to learn it, I suspect it's quite powerful because it offers a lot of features that more modern cloud-based apps try to emulate (like splitting transactions, multiple accounts, etc.)
GnuCash can download transactions using OFXDirectConnect, but your bank needs to offer this as a service. If your bank doesn't offer it, you can't automatically download transactions into GnuCash.
I share this because it's completely free but I've never used it.
👉 Learn more about GnuCash
6. Google SheetsBest For: Customization
Imports transactions: No | Paid version: No | Ad supported: No
➕ Totally customizable➕ No ads or promotional emails
➖ Doesn't import transactions➖ No guidance
While not technically an app, sometimes the simplest budgeting tool is a spreadsheet.
I've been using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for decades as a way to track my net worth, but never before as a budgeting tool… but there are plenty of folks who do.
You can search for Google Sheets template or make your own from scratch. Using an online spreadsheet might be better than tracking it on paper but you still need to manually enter each transaction, which can be a pain. What is nice is that Google Sheets is accessible from anywhere and since you're managing it, your data is safe. You control what you se into the file.
If you want to be able to automate some of the data collection, you can pay for a service like Tiller to do it. They can pull your transactions into your sheet for you.
👎 Credit Karma(Do not use Credit Karma for budgeting)
When Intuit shut down Mint, they told everyone to migrate over to Credit Karma. I ge it a try and was disappointed. I don't think they put any resources towards improving Credit Karma's budgeting tools because they're even more basic than NerdWallet.
I share them on this list because they exist and because Intuit told Mint users to move to it… but I would not recommend that. The features are so limited.
If this changes, I'll update this section but I'm not hopeful they will because nothing has changed between the announcement that Mint was closing and the date it eventually closed.
Did I miss a free budgeting app for this list?If you know of a completely free budgeting app that I should know about, please lee a comment below and I'll check it out.