Saving money is hard, but it’s crucial if you want to achieve your financial goals. Most people know that they should be saving more money, but they have trouble saving enough because they think that they have to make big changes or drastic cuts. The good news is, saving money is easier than ever with money saving apps. But which are best?
We’ve done the research and rounded up the best apps to save money so that you can start saving without making any big changes. These apps will help you automate your finances so that you can easily sock away money without even thinking about it.
What is a money saving app?
A money saving app is an app that helps you put money towards your goals by automating your finances. There are a lot of different ways that these apps can do this, but the most common way is by helping you set up a budget and track your spending.
Some money saving apps will also help you invest your money so that you can grow your savings over time. Others will give you cash back on your everyday purchases, or help you find deals and discounts on things that you’re already buying.
Best money saving apps
Budgeting and money management apps
1. Mint
Mint is a great all-around tool for managing your finances and it’s a totally free app. You can link all of your bank accounts including checking accounts, credit card accounts, and savings accounts for Mint to pull in data from.
Then Mint displays a complete overview of your finances, including your income, expenses, debts, and investments. It also helps you create a budget and track your spending so that you can easily see where your money is going.
2. You Need a Budget (YNAB)
You Need a Budget (YNAB) is a budgeting app that takes a “zero-based budgeting” approach to help you save up ahead of time for the next month’s expenses. In the app you can create a budget based on your income and expenses, and then build a “buffer” of money each month to cover unexpected costs, also known as a rainy day fund.
The best part about YNAB is that it’s not just an app, it’s also a community. YNAB has all the tools available, including forums and resources, that you’ll need to learn how to successfully budget and reach your savings goals.
3. Qapital
Qapital is another automated savings app that works by tracking your spending and then transferring money into a savings account for you based on your habits. It’s simple to open up a Qapital account and connect it to an existing checking account and savings account.
With the handy savings rules feature, Qapital can round up your purchases to the nearest dollar or put money away when you spend money on a guilty pleasure or spend less in a category than you did previously.
Investing or savings account apps
4. Albert
Albert is an app that helps you save money and invest for your future. First Albert tracks your spending habits, income, and bills and then it will transfer money into a bank account for you based on your habits.
The app also helps you invest your money so that you can grow your savings over time. Albert offers a variety of different investment options, and you can choose how aggressive or conservative you want to be with your investments.
5. Digit
Digit is an automatic savings app that helps you save money with minimal effort. Similar to Albert, the app analyzes your income and spending habits and automatically transfers spare money into a savings account for you.
You can choose how much you want to save each month, and Digit will do the rest. A Digit account has a $5 monthly fee following a 6-month free trial.
6. Acorns
Acorns is an app that helps you grow your savings by investing your spare change. Every time you make a purchase, the app rounds up to the nearest dollar and invests the difference in your investment account. When you spend money, you’ll be automatically saving money with Acorns.
For example, if you spend $3.50 on coffee, Acorns will invest $0.50. The app also offers a variety of investment options so that you can grow your money in a way that fits your goals.
7. Chime
When you set up an account with Chime, you can choose to have a percentage of your paycheck deposited into an FDIC insured savings account automatically. Chime is a smart place to build an emergency fund, plus Chime boasts all of the benefits of online banks, such as using the mobile banking app to deposit checks.
You can also choose to have your expenses rounded up to the nearest dollar every time you make a purchase on the Chime Visa debit card, and the app will transfer the difference from your checking account into your savings account.
8. Robinhood
Robinhood is a stock trading app that allows you to buy and sell stocks without any commission fees. The app also offers a variety of features to help you stay on track with your investments, including a portfolio tracker and market news.
Investing is a smart way to earn interest on cash that you won’t need in the short term. You can download the app on your phone and get a free stock to get started.
9. Stash
Stash is an app that will help you automate your investments. If you have extra money that you want to use to grow your savings, hands off investing with Stash could be the answer.
With the Smart Stash feature, Stash will automatically transfer some money from your funding account to your Stash Individual Account, depending on your spending patterns.
Apps to save money on your bills
10. Trim
Trim is a personal finance chatbot that offers features like bill negotiation and spending analysis. For example, Trim can help you identify unwanted subscriptions that you didn’t even realize you were still paying for. It also negotiates your monthly bills such as internet, phone, cable, and medical bills to save you money every month.
11. Truebill
Truebill is personal finance mobile app similar to Trim. The app’s main focus is on helping you manage your subscriptions, but it also offers features like bill negotiation and automated savings.
With Truebill you can get spending insights and budget your money. There is also an option to monitor your credit score.
Money saving apps for shopping
12. Honey
Honey is a browser extension that helps you save money while shopping online. The app automatically applies coupons and promo codes to your online purchases, and it also offers cash back on certain sites.
13. Ibotta
Ibotta is a cash back app that helps you save money on your everyday purchases. The app gives you cash back on things like groceries, gas, and online shopping.
You can also earn cash back by taking advantage of special offers, and the app has a feature that allows you to link your loyalty cards to earn even more cash back.
14. Shopkick
Shopkick is a rewards app that helps you save money while shopping. The app gives you points (called “kicks”) for things like walking into a store, scanning items, and making purchases.
You can then redeem your kicks for things like gift cards and discounts on products.
15. RetailMeNot
RetailMeNot is a coupon app and extension that offers coupons and deals on a variety of items and brands. You can also earn cash back on your online purchases with the browser extension. People submit the referral and coupon codes that have saved them money to RetailMeNot, and you can easily apply these codes when you checkout.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of different money saving apps out there, so it’s important to find the one that works best for you and your unique financial situation. If you need a budget, wish you had an emergency fund, are slacking on investing, or want to save money while shopping, these apps can do it all.
No matter which of these money saving apps you choose, it is important that you commit to saving money towards your goals. Automating your finances is the best way to save money without thinking about it, and these apps will help you do just that. So pick one, download it, and start saving money today.
