The Ultimate Guide to Free Budget Apps: Save Money Today

Stop paying to save money. We review the best free budget apps of 2026, including Empower, Goodbudget, and the best hidden gems that replaced Mint. Find the perfect tool to manage your finances for $0.

In 2026, “subscription fatigue” is real. You are likely paying for streaming, cloud storage, AI tools, and gym memberships you rarely use. The last thing you should do is pay a monthly fee just to see how much money you don’t have.

Since the shutdown of Mint in 2024, a massive void was left in the personal finance space. Millions of users were scattered, forced to choose between expensive premium apps like YNAB (You Need A Budget) or manual spreadsheets.

But the free ecosystem hasn’t died—it has just evolved.

This is your definitive guide to the best truly free budgeting tools available right now. We aren’t talking about “30-day free trials” that auto-renew into a $100 charge. We are talking about apps you can use indefinitely without spending a dime.

Table of Contents

The “Free” vs. “Freemium” Warning

Before we list the apps, you must understand the two types of “free” in the fintech world.

The Ad-Supported Model: The app is free because they show you credit card offers, loan products, or insurance quotes. If you click and sign up, they get a commission. (Example: Credit Karma, NerdWallet).
The “Freemium” Funnel: The app gives you a basic version for free, hoping you will eventually get frustrated by the limitations (like manual entry or limited syncing) and upgrade. (Example: Goodbudget, Rocket Money).

The Golden Rule of Free Apps: If you aren’t paying for the product, your data is likely the revenue stream. We will highlight the privacy policies for each app below so you can choose your comfort level.

Category 1: The Best for Net Worth & Big Picture

Ideal for: People who have savings/investments and want to track growth, rather than count every penny of grocery spending.

1. Empower (formerly Personal Capital)

The Verdict: The undisputed king of free wealth tracking.
Cost: $0 (They make money by upselling wealth management services to users with $100k+ assets).

Empower is not a “budgeting” app in the strict sense. You won’t find envelope stuffing or zero-based budgeting tools here. However, it connects to almost every US financial institution to give you a live view of your Net Worth.

Why it’s great for 2026:

Investment X-Ray: It analyzes your 401(k) and IRA fees to show you if you are paying too much.
Retirement Planner: The best free retirement forecasting tool on the market. It runs thousands of “Monte Carlo” simulations to predict if you’ll run out of money.
The Catch: You will likely receive a phone call from an Empower advisor asking if you want help managing your portfolio. You can politely say “no thanks,” and they will generally leave you alone.

Key Features:

[x] Auto-syncs with banks
[x] Net Worth Tracking
[ ] Custom Budget Categories (Limited)
[ ] Bill Negotiation

Category 2: The Best for “Cash Envelope” Budgeting

Ideal for: People who need discipline and want to stop overspending.

2. Goodbudget

The Verdict: The best digital version of the “Envelope System.”
Cost: Free Tier available (Limits: 10 envelopes, 1 account).

Goodbudget doesn’t try to be fancy. It is based on the grandfather of all budgeting methods: The Envelope System. You allocate a specific amount of money to “Groceries,” “Gas,” and “Rent.” When the envelope is empty, you stop spending.

Why it works:

It forces you to be intentional. Unlike automated apps that just tell you after you overspent, Goodbudget requires you to manually input transactions (in the free version), which psychologically makes you more aware of your spending.

The Free Tier Limits:

| Feature | Free Plan | Premium Plan ($10/mo) |

| :— | :— | :— |

| Envelopes | 10 Regular / 10 Annual | Unlimited |

| Accounts | 1 Account | Unlimited |

| Devices | 2 Devices | 5 Devices |

| History | 1 Year | 7 Years |

Pro Tip: If you have more than one bank account, the free version of Goodbudget will be frustrating. It is best for students or those with a simple financial setup.

Category 3: The Best for Couples

Ideal for: Partners who want to stop fighting about money.

3. Honeydue

The Verdict: The only app on this list designed specifically for two-player mode.
Cost: 100% Free.

Most apps make it a nightmare to share finances. You have to share passwords or export CSVs. Honeydue allows both partners to log in from their own phones and see a joint view of their finances.

Unique Features:

“Ask Partner” Button: See a weird transaction? Click one button to send a notification to your spouse asking, “What is this?”
Privacy Controls: You can choose to share everything or just specific accounts. Want to keep your personal credit card private? You can.
Bill Reminders: It alerts both of you when the rent or mortgage is due.

The Catch:

The app is supported by ads and financial product offers. The interface is clean, but you will see recommendations for credit cards.

Category 4: The “Mint” Replacements (General Trackers)

Ideal for: Users who just want to see where their money went.

4. Rocket Money (Free Version)

The Verdict: Great for finding forgotten subscriptions, but the budgeting is basic.
Cost: Free (Premium is “Pay What You Want”, starting at ~$4/mo).

Rocket Money (formerly Truebill) became famous for canceling unwanted subscriptions. The free version is actually a robust expense tracker. It links to your bank accounts and categorizes your spending automatically.

What you get for $0:

Link bank accounts and credit cards.
See all recurring subscriptions in one list.
Basic spending insights (e.g., “You spent $400 on dining this month”).

What is locked behind the paywall:

Cancellations: The “Concierge” service that calls Comcast to negotiate your bill is paid.
Real-Time Sync: The free version sometimes delays syncing by a day or two compared to the premium version.
Net Worth: Full net worth tracking is a premium feature.

5. NerdWallet App

The Verdict: A high-level dashboard for credit and cash flow.
Cost: Free.

NerdWallet is a media company first, but their app is surprisingly good. It is less of a “budgeting” tool and more of a “financial health” dashboard. It excels at tracking your credit score and giving you a general overview of your cash flow (Income vs. Expenses).

Category 5: The Ultimate DIY Option (No Ads, No Selling Data)

Ideal for: Privacy advocates and control freaks.

6. Google Sheets / Excel

The Verdict: The only tool that is truly flexible.
Cost: Free.

If you are willing to do a little manual work (or learn to import CSV files), a spreadsheet is more powerful than any app. You own the data. No one is trying to sell you a loan.

Free Templates for 2026:

You don’t need to build one from scratch. Here are the best free templates available online:

Vertex42 Money Manager: A classic, reliable template for Excel and Sheets.
Aspire Budgeting: A community-built Google Sheet that mimics the “Zero-Based Budgeting” style of YNAB, but for free. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it is powerful.

Comparison Table: The Best Free Apps of 2026

App	Best For…	Bank Sync?	Joint/Couples?	Privacy/Ad Level
Empower	Net Worth & Investing	Yes (Auto)	No (Single Login)	Moderate (Sales Calls)
Goodbudget	Envelope Method	No (Manual)	Yes (Shared Login)	High (Freemium)
Honeydue	Couples	Yes (Auto)	Yes (Native)	Moderate (Ads)
Rocket Money	Subscriptions	Yes (Auto)	No	Moderate (Upsells)
NerdWallet	Credit Monitoring	Yes (Auto)	No	Low (Heavy Ads)
Google Sheets	Total Control	No (Manual/CSV)	Yes (Share Sheet)	Highest

The “Missing” Apps: Why aren’t they on this list?

You might be looking for a few famous names that are conspicuously absent.

Mint: Shut down in 2024. Users were migrated to Credit Karma, which lost most of the budgeting features.
PocketGuard: Previously a favorite free option, PocketGuard has moved almost exclusively to a paid subscription model in 2025/2026. The “free” version is now effectively just a trial or so limited it is unusable.
EveryDollar: The free version of Dave Ramsey’s app exists, but it does not sync with banks. You have to manually enter every single transaction. Unless you have extreme discipline, you will likely abandon it in week 3.

Step-by-Step: How to Choose the Right One

Scenario A: “I have $5,000 in credit card debt and need to stop spending.”

Download: Goodbudget or EveryDollar (Free).
Why: You need friction. Automated apps make it too easy to ignore spending. Manually entering every latte you buy is painful—and that pain will help you stop spending.

Scenario B: “I am doing okay, but I don’t know where my money goes.”

Download: Rocket Money (Free version).
Why: Use it to audit your subscriptions. You likely have $50/month in “vampire costs” (streaming services, old gym memberships) you can cut immediately.

Scenario C: “I want to retire early and track my portfolio.”

Download: Empower.
Why: Budgeting $50 less on food won’t make you rich. Asset allocation will. Empower helps you optimize your investments.

Final Tip: The Security Checklist

Even free apps need access to your bank credentials. Here is how to stay safe:

Look for SOC 2 Compliance: This is the gold standard for security.
Read-Only Access: Ensure the app only has “read-only” access. It should never be able to move money or make transfers.
Use 2FA: Enable Two-Factor Authentication on the budgeting app immediately.

Ready to start?

We recommend starting with Empower for the big picture and Rocket Money for the day-to-day tracking. They complement each other perfectly and cost exactly $0.

External Resources & Further Reading

Disclaimer: We are an independent publisher. While we may earn commissions from partner links, our reviews of free software are based on actual user testing and feature verification.