Expense tracking and staying on top of your money are among the hardest habits to develop. There’s really no getting around it but with lots of patience, determination, and discipline. It can take a while to develop and perhaps not the most enjoyable thing to do.  Now that we live in the day and age where there’s an app for almost everything, you can actually make Budgeting and expense tracking can be a tad-less painstaking process with the right budgeting apps.  In this article, we have compiled and reviewed some of the best budgeting apps found in both App Store and Google Play which you can download today. The best thing about them is that they’re available for free!

Moneyfy

This budget tracking app is pretty straight forward, from the time you open the app to inputting an entry, to changing your currency. The home screen displays everything that you need to see: like your balance, and itemized expenses that are represented by relevant clickable icons, and the settings. You’ll instantly know where you need to go and click what you need to click.  It’s as simple as you could get but without oversimplifying the necessary features. You just need to hit the plus sign to see your balance and edit it. Hit the red minus button for expenses. You can also add notes to each transaction and their respective categories. 

Feature highlights

Moneyfy has all the necessary features you need from a budgeting app such as the following:

• Different spending categories
• Localized currency
• Wallet tracker
• Capability to add a different wallet for debit cards
• Spending tracker
• Export to spreadsheet. 

Who is this budgeting app for?

This app is suitable for newbies to start tracking their expenses and budget. While it may be user friendly to everyone, the lack of more advanced features like automated budgeting, bank Account integration, and more sophisticated financial goal planner may prove to be insufficient for people who want to take theri budgeting to the next level. 

What are the paid features?

First of all, the pro version costs a one time ₱150 fee -  it’s not really expensive and it can give you some extra features that you may need if you want a more detailed budgeting system.. The paid features lets you use multiple currencies,  use dark mode theme, set recurring payments, apply for passcode protection, and add new categories and icons.  Moneyfy is a very practical app for practical expense tracking. It offers the necessary features to track your budget and expenses easily. If your demand is nothing more than that, this app should be easily on top of your list.  [block type="info" title="For your information"] This app is available for both iOS and Android phones. [/block]

Money Lover

This isn’t just a budgeting app, but an all-in-one finance management app. Aside from allowing you to get a better tracking system for your expenses, income, and budget, it also lets you keep tabs on your bank accounts separately. To be clear though, it doesn’t link to your bank account, rather, it has a dedicated record-keeping feature for bank accounts which you need to fill in manually. While that isn’t the most efficient way to do it, it does encourage you to constantly check your account regularly and get a real feel of what’s going on in your finances. 

Feature highlights

Money Lover has more than a few budget tracking tricks on its sleeves that can make your overall finances easier to manage. 

• Different category spending
• Debt tracker
• Ability to export reports to an excel file 
• ATM and bank finder
• Income and expense report
• Automated budget planning
• Recurring transactions such as bills and subscriptions 
• Localized wallet and bank integration feature
• Ability to sync with your Gmail, apple, or Facebook account
• Daily reminder feature in case you forget to record your expenses for the day in the app  

[block type="success" title="Upcoming feature"] Automatically input your expenses when you have SMS banking enabled through your bank, no sharing of any bank information is required. [/block]

Who is this budgeting app for?

This app is not difficult to navigate and get around with, but there are some learning curves that must be mastered to fully make use of its potential to your advantage. With that being said, this app is good for both pro and rookie budgeting enthusiasts, but less tech-savvy individuals may encounter some challenges initially.  Either way, just like any budgeting apps, this one is more of a record-keeping tool that gives you more options on what to keep track of and how to keep track of them better. It still needs you to make it a habit to record your expenses down to the last cent in the app. Even though the app can remind you daily to input your expenses, it will be ultimately up to you to do so. 

What are the paid features?

Money Lover is a free app, but free users are limited to only 1 wallet, will be bombarded with ads, and won’t be able to export their reports into an excel sheet. If you don’t want to deal with the in-app ads, you want more in app wallet, or simply need to export your expenses into a neat looking excel sheet report, it might be worth it to pay for those features.  Premium account costs ₱539 [block type="info" title="For your information"] This app is available for both iOS and Android phones. [/block]

Wallet by Budgetbakers

A budgeting app that managed to make a balance between more complex features and a simple interface. At first glance, you can immediately tell that the app has a lot of things going on, but you won’t be disoriented with its layout. On the surface, it offers a very user-friendly interface, packed with rich features that will not just streamline your budget and expense tracking, it will make it a whole lot easier.  For starters, the layout is really well thought out. You just get two tabs (“accounts” and “wallet now”) ;and the information that you may need is just a scroll away. 

Feature highlights

This app can let you keep track of all of your accounts in one spot - even your bank accounts! You don’t even have to pay for that feature too. There are a lot more features that you can benefit from using this app.

• Integrate your bank account within the app, showing you a real-time overview of your bank account under the accounts section. The banks you can sync with the app at the moment are BPI, BDO, Metrobank, and Security Bank 
• A card-based dashboard that you can scroll through vertically and add more cards 
• The cards show information such as analytics, notifications, your balance trend, upcoming payments and bills, expense structure, etc. 
• Plan your payments
• Budget planner
• Goal simulator
• Create a shopping list and eventually add it to your expense tracker 
• Individual reports for different aspects of your budget and expense tracking like balance, credit, spending, cash flow, income, etc 

There’s a lot to unpack from this app, and when you explore this app’s features, you’ll be surprised how much they can enrich your budget and expense tracking experience. 

Who is this app for?

Despite the long list of features that Wallet has in store, it managed to keep things simple on the surface. Thus, it’s easy for people to get around its expense tracking and budgeting feature despite having more advanced and sophisticated features.  You can keep your expense tracking simple if you wish to, but you can also step it up a couple of notches higher if that’s your thing. Either way, you can do both with this app in a breeze. It’s basically for everyone - whether you’re a young soul who just wants to save up for that new iPhone, or an adult who is building his wealth until he retires, this app can surely make that experience richer for you. 

What do you get with the paid subscription?

First of all, this app isn’t cheap. Monthly subscription costs ₱235 and ₱1250 yearly, but there’s a lifetime subscription which is only ₱1,900. The price is quite hefty but if you’re serious about your budgeting and savings goal, it is well worth the money.  With the premium subscription, you can sync as many bank accounts as you want, create as many accounts as you need, create more advanced charts and reports, and you can have full access to the app's tools and widgets.  [block type="info" title="For your information"] This app is available for both iOS and Android phones. [/block]

Ipon: 52-week money challenge

If you’re keen to do the 52-week money challenge to save up for something big by the end of the year, you couldn’t find a more localized app than this. This app is basically inspired by the 52-week money saving challenge that trends every start of the year.  This is a very straightforward app with a single goal in mind: hit your savings goal by the end of the year. 

Feature highlights

• Lets you set your initial deposit and the amount of weekly increment you want to apply to your savings feat
• A weekly breakdown of your savings
• A dashboard that shows your savings progress
• You can change your currency
• Allows you to log-in using your Facebook or Gmail account 
• Free user account if you don’t want to log in using your personal information
• Free to us 

Who is this app for?

This app doesn’t let you track your income and expenses, it doesn’t even let you create a budget. If your aim is only to set aside a budget for your immediate savings goal, this app can work just fine. Besides, it’s free, so it won’t hurt to use this app simultaneously with other apps.  [block type="info" title="For your information"] This app is only available for Android phones, but you can download similar apps on iOS. [/block]

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