Top 5 Best Budgeting Apps for Android | 2017 Ranking

2017 RANKING & REVIEWS
TOP BUDGETING APPS FOR ANDROID

Selecting the Best Budgeting Apps for Android Phones

Where does your money go each day, each month or even each year? Where are you spending the most money? What are you spending on that you could do without?

These are all essential questions many of us ask ourselves each day. One of the best ways to uncover the answers is through the use of budgeting apps.

Today’s top budgeting apps for Android devices are valuable tools that can help us become more knowledgeable, empowered, and in control of one of the most important aspects of our daily lives: our money.

Money management apps for Android phones can do everything from providing a basic way to track expenses to delivering a platform that offers in-depth investment planning and insight.

Whether your goals are to spend less on grocery bills or save more for retirement, budgeting apps often offer the features and functionality to provide you with a strong framework.

Award Emblem: Best Budgeting Apps for Android

2017’s Best Budgeting Apps for Android Phones

The following is a list of the top budgeting apps for Android devices.

Each of these budgeting apps is packed with features, offers an excellent reputation and positive customer reviews, and is designed with a wide variety of consumer needs in mind.

This list of the leading budgeting apps for Android covers five of the best and details reasons why these best budget apps were selected for our ranking.

AdvisoryHQ’s List of the Best Budgeting Apps for Android

This list is sorted alphabetically (click any of the above names to go directly to the detailed review of that budget planner app)

Mint
MoneyWise
Personal Capital
Wally
YNAB

Why Would You Use Budgeting Apps for Android Phones?

Before exploring top budgeting apps for Android, as well as the best checkbook app for Android, it’s important to have an understanding of how valuable these budgeting apps can be in the management of personal finances.

Below are some of the top ways the best budget apps can help you more efficiently manage not just your finances, but also how you view and spend money as well as your planning for the future.

Organize your money and your life. When you have no sense of organization, it can be hard to plan for current and future expenses and also know where the money is going and when things, like bills, are due. By using a budget planner app, you can eliminate the uncertainty, categorize spending, plan ahead so that an upcoming bill doesn’t blindside you, and maintain better overall organization.For many people, using the best budgeting app for Android devices for financial organization can lead them to feel more positive and empowered. As an added bonus, when you’re organized, you can avoid late fees that come with missed bills and payments.

You can save more. Many of today’s best budgeting apps have features that focus on saving more money, whether it’s automatically or simply by helping you eliminate unnecessary spending that can be put toward various savings opportunities.

Cut costs. Along with wanting to put more into savings, cutting costs can be valuable in many ways. Using a best checkbook app for Android phones may help you be more prepared for an emergency and able to know where all of your money is going.

Avoid mistakes. You may not even realize small mistakes or errors that are adding up to a lot of money each year. With budgeting apps, you can have a bird’s-eye view of everything happening with all of your financial accounts so that mistakes are avoided.

Confidence in your decision-making. Life is full of choices, many of which involve money. It can be difficult to know if you’re making the right financial decisions without having a tool to help you maintain a comprehensive, current view of your money as well as an in-depth look at the future. Using a budgeting app can allow you to base your decisions on facts and figures rather than just hoping for the best.

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What Are the Most Important Features When Choosing the Best Budgeting App for Android?

When selecting the best budget apps or the best checkbook app for Android, the specific features offered are probably going to be the number one thing you consider.

So, which features are most valuable?

Multiple account management: Most consumers have more than one financial account, including checking, savings, and other options, like money markets or retirement accounts. Most of us also have accounts at more than one financial institution. If so, it can be wise to look find money management apps that allow users to integrate several different accounts into one dashboard.

Automation: Many people want to use budgeting apps to simplify their life, and one way this is done is through automatic features.For example, you might select a budgeting app that automatically categorizes spending based on your banking records and then shows you how much is being spent in each category on a weekly or monthly basis. You might also find budgeting apps for Android that automate when and how bills are paid, or how much money you save during a specified time period.

Handling of cash: When you’re using your debit or credit card, the best budget apps cn easily handle these transactions. Still, what about cash? If you often use cash, you might want to think about how the budgeting app allows you to track this spending and integrate it with your card-based spending.

Calculators and decision-making tools: As mentioned above, budgeting apps can be great because they allow users not just to look at their present financial situation, but, in many instances, they also have tools and calculators so users can weigh the impact of future decisions and see how these will ultimately affect their budget.

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How Do You Select the Best Budgeting App for Android?

While some of the important considerations for choosing the best budgeting app for Android have already been mentioned above, below are some general considerations to keep in mind:

Compatibility: When choosing between budgeting apps for Android, compatibility, of course, is a top concern. Some apps may work for both Android and iPhone, but there are some designed for one operating system or the other.Along with operating system compatibility, also think about whether the budget planner app will work well across devices. For example, will the interface and usability remain the same whether you’re on your smartphone, tablet or desktop computer?

Cost: Budgeting apps can vary significantly in cost, either charged through an upfront price or a monthly subscription fee. If you find apps for Android phones that are free, think about whether there are numerous ads located within these money management apps that could diminish the user’s experience.Another option that you may encounter are the budgeting apps that are technically free, but then offer upgrades and premium services that you can purchase after the initial download.
Customer Reviews: If you want to get great information about how various budgeting apps for Android phones function, one of the top places to look is at customer reviews. When you’re searching for the best budgeting app for Android, you’re more than likely to find plenty of customer reviews before making a purchasing on the Google Play Store.

Methodology for Selecting the Best Budgeting Apps for Android

What methodology does AdvisoryHQ use in selecting and finalizing the budgeting apps for Android that are ranked on its various top-rated lists?

Please click here “AdvisoryHQ’s Ranking Methodologies” to find a detailed review of AdvisoryHQ’s selection methodologies for ranking top firms.

Detailed Review – Top Ranking of the Best Budgeting Apps for Android

After carefully considering budgeting apps for Android, we compiled the following list of the top five. As you continue reading, you’ll find detailed reviews of each of our picks, as well as an outline of the factors used in the decision-making process.

Mint Review

Mint, owned by Intuit, is one of the most popular budgeting apps for Android and iPhone. With Mint, users can do everything from managing a budget to accessing customized tips that allow for better money management.

Mint is from the creators of TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Quicken, and all financial accounts can be linked in one place. Using the Mint Android app is free of charge. All users do is sign up and install the app, making it one of the best budget apps for users who value affordability.

Key Factors That Enabled Us to Rank This as One of the Top Budgeting Apps for Android

Below are features and key reasons the Mint Android app was selected as a contender for the best budgeting app for Android.

Account Integration

With the Mint Android app, users have the opportunity to link all of their financial accounts, regardless of type or financial institution, in one place and view everything for each of these accounts in one user-friendly dashboard. This includes not only checking and savings accounts but also credit cards and 401(k) accounts.

All transactions are pulled together in one location, so rather than receiving bits and pieces of information, you have a complete picture of your finances each time you use this best budgeting app for Android. This makes everything not only simple but also easy to understand.

Budgeting

Mint isn’t just a general budget planner app – it’s one of the most comprehensive budgeting apps. Mint’s technology looks at the user’s spending patterns to create budgets that are realistic and easy to adhere to.

Then, users can adjust their budgets or set up their own based on their spending, lifestyle, and actual needs.

Once a budget is created, users can see how much they’re spending in each budget category on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. For these budgets and the general transactions listed on Mint, everything is straightforward and easy to read and understand.

The right category is automatically detected, and even then, you can customize categories or move transactions as you find necessary.

Advice and Alerts

To help users maintain control over their finances, Mint features more than 20 types of alerts. These alerts can be customized to let users know when they’re paying fees, if they’re going over their budget, or even if suspicious activity is detected in one of their accounts.

This best money management app can also send weekly alerts that show users a breakdown of their spending, progress on goals, and how well they’re sticking to their budget.

Additionally, several different alert options let users know if they’re paying a fee or may have to pay a penalty. For example, you can quickly see how much you’re spending on ATM fees, and bill reminders are sent to your phone or email. In this way, users aren’t late on payments and don’t accrue high fees as a result.

Free Credit Score

One of the unique and valuable features available from Mint, a pick for the best budgeting app for Android, is access to free credit scores. When users download the app and register for Mint, their credit score is located directly inside the app. It requires no credit card to gain access, and, instead, the score is just part of the complete dashboard Mint users have access to.

Also, you’ll get a free credit report summary that helps you understand your credit score and what factors are impacting it. Mint also offers tips and guidance to help users improve their credit score

MoneyWise Review

MoneyWise is amongst top-rated budgeting apps for Android, with great reviews from both technology experts and customers alike. This best money management app lets users do things like create budgets and track expenses. MoneyWise is considered one of the best budgeting app for Android because it’s fast and free.

In addition to these benefits, it’s also one of the budgeting apps that combines powerful features with incredibly simple use. It’s ideal for someone who’s on the go frequently but wants to stay ahead of his/her finances consistently.

Key Factors That Allowed This App to Rank as One of the Best Budgeting Apps for Android

Below are details of why MoneyWise was chosen as a pick for the best budgeting app for Android.

International Compatibility

A unique element of MoneyWise is its international compatibility. When users download the MoneyWise app, they’ll find that it supports all global currencies. It is also translated into the following languages:

English
German
Spanish
Portuguese
Korean
Russian
French
Italian
Swedish
Norwegian

This makes MoneyWise one of the best budget apps for not only people who live in many countries around the world, or for those who frequently travel, whether for work or fun.

The supported currencies mean users never have to abandon their budget, regardless of where they may be located in the world or in what currency they’re spending money.

Graphs and Filters

MoneyWise makes it easy for users to see how they’re spending money and maintaining their budgets, and one of the ways they do this is through the creation and display of graphs and visual elements. For many people, it’s easiest to understand their finances with a well-organized, straightforward chart or image.

You can get a quick overview of your spending, but you also have the option to move beyond the visual representation and see more in-depth financial data. Users can even export their data to a spreadsheet application if they choose.

Expense Management

MoneyWise is often considered one of the best budgeting apps, but the expense tracking features go well beyond being a digital checkbook. You can tag your expenses and then filter those transactions based on labels and categories.

You can also mark transactions as being cleared by the bank, split transactions over multiple categories, and create sub-categories for even greater visibility into your spending.

Compared to other money management apps, MoneyWise is actually the only app that lets users tag transactions with labels for clear viewing and filtering.

Accessibility

As mentioned, MoneyWise is ranked as one of the best money management app because it can easily be used on the go. If you want to add transactions, labels or other financial information, you can do so without Internet access.

Uniquely, MoneyWise is also not only free but doesn’t require registration. All you need to do to use this streamlined, best budgeting app for Android is to download it.

You can then integrate multiple accounts while enjoying security and device-specific password protection.

Personal Capital Review

Personal Capital has one million registered users and nearly $240 billion in tracked accounts. This financial and wealth management software company operates with one primary goal, which is to build a better money management experience for consumers.

The company unites leading-edge technology with superior financial advice as a means to empower customers. As part of the services offered by Personal Capital, users can take advantage of their best budgeting app for Android, which is both free and award-winning.

Key Factors That Enabled Us to Rank Personal Capital for Best Budgeting App for Android

Detailed below are features of Personal Capital that led to its inclusion on this list as one of the best budgeting app for Android.

Detailed Dashboard

While it may be free, Personal Capital is one of the best budget apps for its rich features. The dashboard, while simple and intuitive, is also highly detailed. The app’s dashboard provides users with everything they need, not just to view and monitor their accounts and finances but also to optimize them. All external financial accounts can be linked, and users can log in from their desktop, tablet or mobile device at any time.

The Personal Capital dashboard includes the following:

Net worth
Cash flow
Portfolio balances
Portfolio allocations
Key holdings
Top gainers and losers
Account balances and transactions
Spending by account, category
Income reports
Spending reports
Upcoming bills
Investment returns
Projected investment fees

Investment Checkup

One of the ways Personal Capital is unique – as compared to other budgeting apps for Android or even comprehensive apps for Android phones – is in the inclusion of in-depth, investment-based tools and features.

With the Investment Checkup options from Personal Capital, users can see not just how their investments are currently performing but also how they could do better. You can look at your current allocation as compared to your ideal allocation to build a personalized plan.

Features include the ability to assess your risk, analyze past performance, and obtain a strategy that blends asset classes in an optimal way.

Fee Analyzer

The Fee Analyzer lets users see how much they’re losing in hidden fees, whether it’s in their mutual fund, investment or retirement accounts. Financial institutions charge custodial fees on assets, and these can add up to thousands of dollars in a lifetime. This can create a significant impact on savings and retirement.

Personal Capital offers a Fee Analyzer tool that not only makes these fees transparent but also shows their impact and how they can be avoided.

Net Worth

The Net Worth functionality available through the Personal Capital app provides users with the opportunity to see what their assets are as compared to what they owe, all available conveniently in the Dashboard.

You have the option to link all accounts, including mortgage, credit cards, home equity, and more, so you can have fast access to your net worth whenever and wherever.

Assets may include cash, investments, retirement accounts, home, and other valuables while liabilities cover mortgages, car and student loans, and credit card debts.

Wally Review

One of the best budget apps for Android, Wally is an intuitive tool for users to manage their money in a way that’s individualized and personally tailored. Wally prides itself on offering a 360-degree view of money and finances, including what’s coming in and going out, what’s saved, and how money is being budgeted.

Wally was initially only available for iPhone but has recently been launched as one of the best budgeting app for Android as Wally+. It includes all the traditional offerings of Wally, along with robust new features.

Key Factors That Enabled This App to Be Named as One of the Best Budgeting Apps for Android

Specific reasons Wally was selected as a contender for the best budgeting app for Android are highlighted below.

Experiences

A distinctive theme that users of Wally will discover is “experiences, not expenses.” What this means is that Wally provides a different approach to showing users how they’re spending their money.

Rather than just having a simple overview of where the money is spent, Wally lets users tag friends, add pictures, and even track their feelings while they were at the places they were spending money.

This is just one element of Wally designed to offer advanced insights that are completely personalized to the user. This means users can see not just where and when they’re spending, but they can also gain insight as to why they’re spending.

Location Services

To simplify budgeting and expense tracking as much as possible, Wally users can turn their device location services on, and the app will then automatically identify and categorize the venue. This means all users need to do to track their spending on the go is enter the amount spent.

Advanced intelligence also powers Wally, so it will automatically adapt to the spending behaviors and preferences of the users with powerful analytics, making budgeting, tracking money, and finances as easy as possible for the users.

Customizable

As mentioned, Wally is incredibly customizable, which is one of the primary reasons it was selected for this ranking of the best budgeting apps for Android. Users can categorize their spending in the ways that are most in line with their needs and also add subcategories if they choose.

You can not only create your targeted budgeting and view what you’re spending, but Wally even has the capability to show details, such as why you overspent and the total amount you overspent in a particular period of time.

User-Friendly

Wally doesn’t lack in features, but it also delivers a high level of functionality and a user-friendly design and interface.

It doesn’t have a learning curve that comes along with its use; the dashboard is easy to understand and navigate; and it’s a simplified, streamlined way to take something complicated (the management of finances) and turn it into something attainable for anyone.

As an added bonus, budgeting apps through Wally are also free to download and use.

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You Need a Budget (YNAB) Review

You Need a Budget (YNAB) offers a technologically-driven way to gain control of your money. YNAB unites a simple method and award-winning technology to help you categorize every dollar spent and view your true expenses. YNAB was created by a married couple who realized they would need a smarter yet simpler system for managing their finances.

They created a four-rule process, and that’s what their best budget apps and software products are based on.

These rules include organizing your spending so that you know where every dollar goes; breaking up large, less frequent expenses into “monthly bills”; the ability to change a budget as necessary; and only spending money that’s at least thirty days “old.”

Key Factors That Led Us to Rank This App as One of the Best Budgeting Apps for Android

Below are features of YNAB that led to its inclusion on this list of the top Android budgeting apps.

Giving Every Dollar a Job

The first rule of the distinctive YNAB approach to money management is defined as “giving every dollar a job.” This concept is essential in the tools and features offered by the best budget apps.

Users have the opportunity to create their own priorities, then they assign only the dollars they have at that moment to those priorities. Each and every dollar has a job, whether it’s being spent on bills, paying the debt or going into savings.

With the use of the YNAB app, once an initial budget is created, users can update accounts with one click and assign new transactions to the pre-defined budget categories.

Scheduled Transactions

To make sure bills are budgeted for and paid on time, there are options within the YNAB app to set them up as scheduled transactions.

This is valuable because users not only know when they have an impending bill, but it’s also a good way to organize payments and avoid having to pay late fees or penalties.

Users can create priorities around these bills when they’re defined as scheduled transactions rather than scrambling to find ways to pay them at the last minute.

Entering Transactions on the Go

One of the newest features of the YNAB budgeting apps for Android is the ability to enter transactions when you’re on the go so that you never miss anything when it comes to budgeting and finances.

This is done through the use of ultra-fast, geo-targeted transaction entry flow. This means transactions sync across all of the devices you use with YNAB before you even leave the store where you made a purchase or completed a transaction.

You can also quickly check your category balances before you make a purchase.

Syncing

The YNAB app automatically syncs across all devices where it’s downloaded, so you can seamlessly track your finances, budget, and perform transactions across your mobile phone, tablet, and desktop computer without any extra effort on your part. All devices are always up to date, all the time.

It’s ideal not only for easier, more effortless money management, but it can also be valuable if you’re sharing finances with a partner and you want to be able to manage all spending in one location.

Conclusion – Best Budgeting Apps for Android

In the past, successfully budgeting of one’s money meant countless hours spent trying to keep track of everything. This often proved to be a method prone to mistakes, and it was difficult for people to really gain a true understanding of where their money was going.

Now, with modern technology and, particularly, mobile apps, anyone can maintain a close sense of control over their finances, regardless of what their financial situation is, what their lifestyle may be or what their budget goals are.

These best budget apps are all unique from one another in many ways but share some common characteristics, including ease of use, accessibility, and powerful technology that streamlines and centralizes how users see and spend their money.

The names on this ranking of the top budgeting apps for Android are all designed to reflect innovation and forward-thinking features, but they’re also intended to meet the needs of diverse consumers at any stage of their financial life.

AdvisoryHQ (AHQ) Disclaimer:

Reasonable efforts have been made by AdvisoryHQ to present accurate information, however all info is presented without warranty. Review AdvisoryHQ’s Terms for details. Also review each firm’s site for the most updated data, rates and info.

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Top 5 Best Budgeting Apps for Android | 2017 Ranking | Best Budget Apps