The best personal finance apps in 2025: Expert tested

I have tried budgeting apps in the past, and the clutter always made money feel more complicated than it should. YNAB feels different. Its clean interface gives you space to start fresh. The Home tab shows your top priorities, tracks progress toward next month, and even lets you quickly add new expenses.

And let’s admit it, many of us cannot resist buying that new iPhone or planning a solo trip when the mood strikes. This is where Targets step in. You set them up like promises to yourself, whether it is saving a little each month for travel, setting money aside for car insurance, or keeping groceries topped up with a refill target. 

Why we like it: YNAB helps you plan every dollar with purpose. The app’s structure builds habits that stick, and the interface feels calm and intuitive. Once you start assigning jobs to your money, spending decisions become simpler. Instead of guessing if you can afford something, YNAB helps you plan every penny you’d spend.

For payday, YNAB prompts you to pause and decide what needs attention first. Bills come before extras, future expenses get a little cushion, and if there is room, you can start building next month’s budget. Even my credit card purchases were tracked the same way. Since the repayment amount was automatically set aside, the final bill did not feel like a shock at the end of the month.

YNAB costs $15 per month or $109 per year, giving you full access to syncing, reports, and debt tools for up to six users. The 34-day free trial allows you to experience a full budget cycle, from setting a plan to spending against it and watching categories roll over into the next month.

Who it’s for: 

-Families saving for irregular or big expenses

-Anyone struggling with overspending or debt repayment

-Individuals who want to stop paycheck-to-paycheck living

-Users who prefer guided methods over open-ended spreadsheets

Who should look elsewhere: 

-People looking for a simple expense tracker only

-Users who want heavy investment or net worth tracking

-Anyone put off by a monthly/annual subscription model

-Those unwilling to change their spending habits or routines

YNAB features: Rule-based budgeting system | Real-time syncing across devices | Color-coded spending categories | Goal tracking and reports | 34-day free trial | Live workshops and tutorials

While not a minimalist personal finance app, Empower (formerly Personal Capital) helps you track your net worth, manage budgets, plan for retirement, and bring all your financial accounts into one place. The initial setup does take a little time since you need to link your bank, credit, and investment accounts. Once that is done, the payoff is clear. The dashboard shows you everything side by side: your assets, liabilities, transactions, your progress toward retirement, and even how your investments are holding up over time.

Why we like it: Empower keeps everything in one clean dashboard. You see what you own, what you owe, and how your investments are really doing. The retirement and fee tools give a useful perspective without overloading you with data. It feels practical, especially if you like seeing the bigger picture.

The cash flow tab shows where your money is going each month, though the budgeting side is fairly basic with just one monthly limit. To make up for that, the Savings Planner nudges you toward bigger goals like building an emergency fund or paying off debt. Plus, there is also a high-yield cash account built right in, with no minimums and strong FDIC coverage, so you can keep savings in the same place you track everything else.

But if you ask me why I’d choose Empower, the answer is simple: safer retirement planning. Its Retirement Fee Analyzer uncovers how much advisory and fund fees could cost you over a lifetime. Sometimes it even shows you the losses in the six- or seven-figure range. This builds real awareness of the hidden risk in your portfolio and shows how fees can quietly erode long-term growth. 

Empower’s core tools are free, including its dashboard, budgeting, and retirement planner. Wealth management clients pay a 0.89% annual advisory fee, which drops for portfolios over $1 million.

Who it’s for: 

-People exploring free investment tools before committing to a paid advisor

-Individual investors who want a clear view of net worth and portfolio health

-Families juggling multiple bank, credit, and investment accounts in one place

-Professionals in their 30s and 40s planning for retirement and monitoring fees

Who should look elsewhere: 

-Anyone hesitant to link sensitive financial accounts online

-People who prefer desktop-based or offline budgeting software

-Students or young adults who only need simple day-to-day budgeting

-Beginners who are not yet focused on long-term investing or retirement

Empower features: Free financial dashboard | Net worth and cash flow tracking | Investment fee analyzer | Retirement planning simulator | Savings and education planners | Optional wealth advisory services

Quicken Classic is still tied to desktop software, but Simplifi moves everything to the cloud. You can open it on the web or check in from your phone, making it feel more like a tool that travels with you. Link your accounts once, and your transactions flow in automatically, already sorted into categories. 

The heart of Simplifi is the Spending Plan. It starts with your income, subtracts bills, subscriptions, and savings goals, and shows you what is left to spend. The cash flow calendar maps out when money lands and when bills go out, so you can quickly see if rent or a credit card payment is about to hit before payday. There is also a Watchlist feature for keeping tabs on tricky categories or merchants. 

Simplifi’s plans start at $3 per month, with a $4 bundle that adds LifeHub for organizing important documents. Both come ad-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Why we like it: Simplifi organizes your money automatically. It pulls in transactions, sorts them neatly, and adjusts your spending plan as life happens. The real-time cash flow view makes it easier to stay on top of bills and goals. It is detailed, reliable, and feels built for everyday use. 

Simplifi is also backed by Quicken’s 40 years in personal finance software, which adds a layer of trust. Your data is protected with 256-bit encryption, and the app runs without ads or pushy upsell calls.

Who it’s for: 

-Couples or families who want to share a single financial dashboard

-People who prefer AI-driven categorization over manual spreadsheets

-Anyone setting both short-term and long-term savings or debt payoff goals

-Professionals with multiple accounts who need an automated cash flow calendar

Who should look elsewhere: 

-Anyone who doesn’t want a recurring subscription

-People uneasy about linking accounts to external institutions

-Students or casual users looking for a free daily expense tracker

-Minimalists who only want a simple budgeting app without extras

Quicken Simplifi features: Automated spending plan | Real-time cash flow calendar | 14,000+ account connections | Debt and savings goals | Investment portfolio tracking | Customizable categories

Personal finance isn’t always just personal, and Monarch understands that. It lets you invite a partner at no extra cost, decide which accounts to share or keep private, and even tag each other on specific transactions. If you work with a financial advisor, you can give them the same direct access, saving yourself from endless exports or email threads.

The Amazon and Target extension is another smart touch. Instead of a $200 lump showing up as “shopping,” it broke down my order into groceries, home supplies, and a book, then automatically slotted each into the right category. It sounds small, but it keeps budgets honest. 

Monarch costs $8.33 per month when billed annually and includes unlimited connections, budget tracking, investment data, and support for shared or individual financial dashboards.

Why we like it: Monarch combines collaboration and control. You can share budgets with a partner, tag expenses, and keep certain accounts private. The dashboard is customizable, and the flex budget view makes tracking simple. It feels designed for modern households that want clarity without micromanaging every penny. 

When I tested the budgeting side, Monarch suggested spending limits based on my past six months of transactions, which made it feel less like guesswork and more like a data-backed plan. Add to that an AI assistant that answers questions like, “How much did I spend on car insurance last year?” with a chart, and Monarch starts to feel like a real-life financial partner.

Who it’s for: 

-Families who need to tag, assign, and discuss transactions directly in the app

-Couples who want a shared financial view while still keeping some accounts private

-Professionals who want to loop in a financial advisor or coach without messy spreadsheets

-Shoppers who buy from Amazon or Target often and want item-level spending tracked automatically

Who should look elsewhere: 

-Minimalists who just want a simple daily expense tracker

-People looking for a free budgeting app (Monarch is subscription-only)

-Anyone hesitant to link bank accounts or share financial data with a partner/advisor

-Investors who need deep asset allocation breakdowns beyond basic performance charts

Monarch Money features: Shared budgeting for couples | Customizable dashboard widgets | Flexible fixed and non-monthly budgets | AI transaction assistant | Credit utilization tracking | Amazon and Target purchase breakdown

PocketGuard is built around one simple idea: showing you how much is safe to spend. Link your bank and credit accounts, and the app crunches your income, bills, subscriptions, and savings goals into a single number called In My Pocket. It’s the figure that stares back at you on the Overview tab, resetting every month. Instead of guessing, you know exactly what is left after the essentials are covered.

And the way PocketGuard automates the boring parts makes it easy to stick with. Recurring bills are flagged on their own, so you never have to keep mental notes or chase due dates. I have always hated tracking those manually, so this felt like a relief. The alerts are timely nudges when you’re close to overspending, and the rollover feature was an even bigger surprise. Last month’s leftover dining budget carried into this one, giving me room for an unplanned night out without guilt.

The good thing is that PocketGuard is free for basic use. The Plus plan costs $13 per month for perks like unlimited accounts, custom budgets, and long-term debt and savings tracking.

Why we like it: PocketGuard shows how much money you actually have left to spend after bills and goals. The In My Pocket number updates in real time, helping you avoid overspending. It is simple, quick to use, and surprisingly effective for keeping day-to-day spending in check.

PocketGuard also helps you save money on bills. Through a partnership with Billshark, it offers to negotiate down cable or phone plans, taking a cut of what you save. I did not test this myself, but reviews suggest it works better for some providers than others. 

Who it’s for: 

-People who want a no-fuss way to see daily or monthly spendable money

-Premium users who want integrated debt payoff plans and SMART savings goals

-Budgeters who benefit from rollover features to carry unused money into the next month

-Anyone juggling multiple subscriptions and looking for help managing or canceling them

Who should look elsewhere: 

-People who need an extensive investment tracking or financial reporting

-Minimalists who prefer manual control instead of algorithm-driven budgets

-Users unwilling to pay for unlimited accounts and advanced tools (the free plan is limited)

-Anyone uncomfortable with linking accounts through third-party connectors like Plaid or Finicity

PocketGuard features: “In My Pocket” spendable balance | Automatic bill detection | Rollover budgeting option | Hashtag-based expense tracking | Debt payoff planner | Manual cash account support

The 70/30 rule suggests you live on 70% of your income and set aside the remaining 30% for savings, investments, and debt repayment. It’s a simple guideline that helps people strike a balance between enjoying money now and building financial security for the future.

Empower is one of the best free personal finance services. It offers a dashboard for net worth, investments, and retirement planning without subscription costs. Unlike many free tools, Empower includes powerful extras like fee analysis and retirement simulations, making it a rare option for budget-conscious investors.

Quicken Classic is the best offline personal finance software. Unlike newer cloud apps, it runs as desktop software and lets you keep all financial data stored locally. While less modern in design, it appeals to users who prioritize privacy and want full control over their records without syncing online.

Most personal finance apps use bank-grade encryption, multifactor authentication, and read-only account access, which means they can view but not move your money. Data is typically never sold, and services such as YNAB, Empower, and Quicken Simplifi emphasize strict privacy. Safety also depends on choosing trusted, well-reviewed platforms.