There are a ton of budgeting apps out there. When Martha and I started towards debt freedom, there were no zero based budgeting software programs and I became the spreadsheet Nazi. I'm pretty sure the phrase "Enough of your (insert appropriate expletive) spreadsheets" came out of her mouth a few times during our more or less 5 year journey to zero debt.
Which budgeting app should you use? My guide for selection has 3 rules: 1) The software needs to be a zero based budget 2) The app needs to be free for the basics with options to purchase for more advanced features 3) Accessible by everyone involved with the budget. The following apps meet these requirements.
EveryDollar.com (Only thing the free version does not have is the ability to link to your bank account which can be changed with the subscription. Martha and I have used this one for nearly 5 years now)
GoodBudget.com (Limited functionality with free portion but good if your budget is super simple)
What about the other apps such as Mint, YNAB, PocketGuard, or any other app? Even though YNAB is a type of zero based budget, it works on you living off the previous month's income (not a realistic situation for most people) and it costs about $85/year just to have access. The others are really good at tracking your spending; telling you how much you have spent and where. They DO NOT help you create a spending plan for the month.
Again, you want something that functions on a zero based budgeting principle, is free (we are trying to save money after all!) and can be accessible by everyone involved with the budget.
I've been wanting to try one of these apps for years, but I've also been wary of the idea of a third party app having access to my bank information. I've got a bit of paranoia when it comes to information security. But at this point I feel like I need one of these apps so I'm getting EveryDollar, Thanks for the recommendation.