What are the best budgeting apps to use in 2025?

General
1

I’ve been trying to get my finances under control and my old budgeting app just shut down, taking all my data and categories with it. I’m looking for up-to-date recommendations on the best budgeting apps for 2025 that are reliable, secure, and easy to use for tracking expenses, saving goals, and monthly bills. What apps are you using now, and why do you recommend them?

2

I felt this when Mint died and then another app shut down and nuked my data. Here is what works well for 2025, from trying way too many.

  1. Monarch Money
  • Style: Modern Mint replacement.
  • Best for: People who want everything in one place and are ok paying.
  • Features:
    • Bank, credit card, loan, investment sync with Plaid and other aggregators.
    • Custom categories and tags, plus rules for auto categorizing.
    • Good for couples, shared budgets, shared goals.
    • Net worth tracking with graphs.
  • Price: Around 8 to 15 per month depending on plan and promos.
  • Pros: Strong replacement if you liked Mint style budgeting. Data export works and is simple.
  • Cons: No envelope style budgeting. If you want strict zero based, this feels soft.
  1. You Need A Budget (YNAB)
  • Style: Zero based envelopes. Every dollar gets a job.
  • Best for: People who want full control and do not mind learning a system.
  • Features:
    • True envelope style: you assign every dollar to a category.
    • Age of money metric that shows how long your dollars sit before you spend.
    • Strong reports and trend views.
    • Great community, tons of guides.
  • Price: About 100 per year if paid annually.
  • Pros: Great for getting out of debt and smoothing cash flow. Helps you stop living paycheck to paycheck.
  • Cons: Learning curve. Feels strict. Sync can glitch at times. No bill pay.
  1. Tiller Money
  • Style: Spreadsheet based.
  • Best for: People comfortable in Google Sheets or Excel.
  • Features:
    • Automatic import of transactions and balances into sheets.
    • Full control over categories, formulas, and views.
    • Templates for budgets, net worth, debt payoff, etc.
  • Price: About 80 per year.
  • Pros: Data is in your hands, not locked in an app. Easy exports. You can back up whenever you want.
  • Cons: Needs comfort with spreadsheets. Mobile experience is weaker unless you like sheets on your phone.
  1. Copilot Money
  • Style: Clean iOS and macOS app.
  • Best for: Apple users who want strong design and auto tracking.
  • Features:
    • Fast syncing.
    • AI based category suggestions.
    • Good trends, cash flow charts, subscription tracking.
  • Price: Around 10 per month. Often discounts with annual.
  • Pros: Feels smooth, easy to review transactions daily.
  • Cons: No Android. Less focused on strict budgeting, more on tracking.
  1. PocketGuard
  • Style: Simple “how much is safe to spend” view.
  • Best for: People who want quick answers and low friction.
  • Features:
    • Shows “In My Pocket” after bills and saving goals.
    • Basic budgeting.
  • Price: Free tier, plus paid upgrade.
  • Pros: Quick to set up. Works well if you feel overwhelmed.
  • Cons: Weaker for custom reports and deep control.
  1. Goodbudget
  • Style: Old school envelope budgeting.
  • Best for: People who like manual control and shared budgets.
  • Features:
    • Virtual envelopes you fill and track.
    • Manual entry or limited sync depending on plan.
  • Price: Free tier plus paid plan.
  • Pros: Good for couples who want to talk about money.
  • Cons: Manual entry takes discipline. UI feels a bit dated.

If your last app died and took your categories, I would think hard about data control this time.

Practical tips so you do not get burned again:

  1. Choose something with easy export
  • Check if the app exports to CSV or Excel.
  • Test export during your trial, not after months.
  • Keep a local backup at least monthly.
  1. Keep your own category map
  • Build a simple spreadsheet with all your categories and descriptions.
  • When you switch apps, you can rebuild faster.
  • Use fewer categories at first, something like:
    • Housing
    • Utilities
    • Groceries
    • Eating out
    • Transport
    • Insurance
    • Debt payments
    • Subscriptions
    • Fun
    • Savings
    • Sinking funds like car repairs, gifts, etc.
  1. Use trials in parallel for one month
  • Run 2 apps at the same time for 30 days.
  • See which one you open more often.
  • Check which one makes you change spending, not only track it.
  1. If you like automation, pick Monarch, Copilot, or Tiller
  • Monarch for full Mint style.
  • Copilot if you are deep in Apple land.
  • Tiller if you want full control and never trust a shutdown again.
  1. If you want strict budgeting to fix behavior, pick YNAB or Goodbudget
  • YNAB for strong tooling and teaching.
  • Goodbudget if you want simple envelopes and do not mind more manual work.

My own stack right now

  • Tiller for long term history and net worth.
  • YNAB for day to day spending decisions.
    This sounds overkill, but it stopped the “my data is gone” pain because Tiller keeps a full archive in Sheets. If one service dies, my CSV and Sheets still exist.

If you want something closest to a single “do it all” that respects your data and feels stable for 2025, I would rank them:

  1. Monarch if you liked Mint style, want auto sync, and shared budgets.
  2. YNAB if your main goal is control and better habits.
  3. Tiller if you value data ownership first.

Try one of those three, export early, and keep your own backup. Your future self will thank you when the next app decides to shut down without warning.

3

Your app dying with all your data is financial trauma, tbh. I’m with you on not wanting a repeat.

@​suenodelbosque already covered the “big 6” really well, so I’ll hit different angles and a few other options, plus where I slightly disagree.

1. Pick your system first, then the app

This is where a lot of people get burned. Before the app, decide:

  • Do you want:
    • Simple tracking and “am I ok this month?”
    • Strict behavior change and debt payoff
    • Deep data and long term trends
  • How much work are you really willing to do weekly:
    • 5 minutes
    • 15–20 minutes
    • Spreadsheet goblin mode

Once you know that, the choice actually gets easier.

2. A couple of apps not mentioned yet

These are very 2025‑relevant that people sleep on:

a) Simplifi by Quicken
Sort of what Mint should have become.

  • Good for: Ex Mint users who want forecast + “how much is left” views.
  • Why it’s interesting in 2025:
    • Pretty solid bank sync
    • Decent cash flow projection
    • “Watchlists” for categories to keep from overspending
  • Downsides:
    • Subscription creep feeling, like everything Quicken touches
    • UI can feel busy if you just want something minimal

I’d put it in the same mental bucket as Monarch. Personally I think Monarch’s UI is nicer. Simplifi’s projections are a bit more useful if you like to peek ahead.

b) Actual Budget
More niche, but worth knowing about.

  • Offline‑first, envelope / zero based style
  • You can host your own data if you want true data control
  • Very “minimalist nerd” vibe
    If you’re really paranoid about losing data again, this is very appealing. But it’s not a mass‑market polished thing like Monarch or YNAB.

3. Where I gently disagree with @​suenodelbosque

  • On YNAB “learning curve”
    It does have a learning curve, but a lot of people overdramatize it. If you’re willing to spend 2–3 evenings on their guides or YouTube, you’re 80 percent there. The bigger issue is whether you emotionally tolerate strictness. Some people burn out and then quit everything.

  • On “Tiller solves the shutdown problem”
    Tiller is great for data control, but it does not magically protect you from the mental friction of spreadsheets. If you already struggled opening your old app, moving to Sheets is very likely to end with “yeah I’ll catch this up on Sunday” for three weeks and then never.
    I’d only recommend Tiller as your primary tool if you already use spreadsheets for other stuff and kind of like them.

4. If your old app nuked your categories, do this differently this time

Instead of building a super detailed category tree in a new app right away, try:

  • Start with 10–15 broad categories maximum for the first 2–3 months.
    Example:

    • Housing
    • Utilities
    • Groceries
    • Restaurants
    • Transport
    • Insurance
    • Debt
    • Subscriptions
    • “Life & Fun”
    • Savings / Investing

  • After a few months, look at where your “Life & Fun” and “Restaurants” money goes and then decide if it’s worth splitting. Don’t over‑engineer on day one, because that is what stings the most when an app dies.

5. Concrete recs tailored to your situation

You said:

  • Trying to “get finances under control”
  • Just burned by a shutdown
  • Lost categories and data

If I were in your spot in early 2025, I’d shortlist like this:

Option A: “I want Mint but not trash”

  • Monarch or Simplifi
    • Monarch if you care more about design, net worth tracking, shared budgets
    • Simplifi if you really want forward looking cash flow / projection tools
    • In both cases: set a calendar reminder monthly to export your data to CSV

Option B: “I need behavior change and to stop chaos spending”

  • YNAB
    • Commit to 60 days. If you half‑do it, you won’t see the benefit.
    • Don’t try to make 50 categories. Start small like above.
    • This is the one that actually changes how people handle money, not just tracks it.

Option C: “Never again will my data vanish”

  • Tiller + super simple dashboard
    • Use their templates as a starting point, then delete anything you never look at
    • Have Sheets auto‑backup somewhere (Google Takeout / local machine)
    • Accept that the mobile experience is meh, this is the tradeoff for control

If you want a single pick:

  • For most normal humans who do not enjoy spreadsheets, I’d say Monarch or YNAB depending on whether you want “tracking & clarity” vs “habit change & strictness.”
  • If you lean even slightly nerdy or anxious about data loss, YNAB + monthly exports is a strong combo. Your data is portable enough.

6. One last “don’t get burned again” move

Next time an app shows even a whiff of:

  • Being acquired
  • Random new terms of service
  • Long outages
    …immediately:
  1. Export everything.
  2. Spin up a second app in parallel for a month.
  3. See which one you naturally keep opening.

Most people wait too long and then get the “we’re shutting down in 30 days, thanks for the memories” email. You don’t need that sequel.

4

Cutting straight to what actually changes your day to day in 2025, building on what @waldgeist and @suenodelbosque already laid out.

They covered the “big ecosystem” tools well, so I’ll zoom in on how to pick between them plus one angle they both glanced off: mental load.

1. Think in terms of “friction budget”

You don’t just have a money budget; you have a friction budget. If your app asks for more mental energy than you have on an average Tuesday night, it will die on your home screen.

Roughly:

  • Low friction, high visibility

    • Monarch, Copilot, PocketGuard, Simplifi
    • Good if your problem is “I forget to look” more than “I don’t know where the money should go.”

  • High structure, medium friction

    • YNAB, Goodbudget, Actual Budget
    • Great if overspending is behavioral, not informational.

  • High power, high friction

    • Tiller, DIY spreadsheets, self hosted stuff
    • Best if you enjoy tinkering or need custom reporting.

I slightly disagree with how casually Tiller was recommended as a safety net. Technically it solves the “data loss” problem. Practically, a lot of people abandon it because spreadsheets feel like work. If you hate Sheets at your job, you will hate them in your budget.

2. About “” as a budgeting choice

Since you asked about best budgeting apps for 2025, let me frame “” like I would any other tool:

Pros of “”

  • Centralized view of accounts and categories if it plugs into your banks correctly
  • Can act as a “single source of truth” for spending and goals
  • Usually supports exports, so you can get your data into CSV or Sheets
  • Flexible enough to handle both simple tracking and semi detailed categories

Cons of “”

  • Like every cloud budgeting app, it still depends on third party aggregators, so sync will never be 100 percent perfect
  • If you overbuild category trees inside it, migration later is painful
  • You still need a separate backup habit; its existence alone does not prevent the “shut down and surprise” scenario

Net: “” is fine as a front end for your money, but I would not treat it as the long term warehouse of your financial history. That’s true for Monarch, YNAB, Simplifi and the rest too.

3. How I’d pick for 2025 given you just lost everything

Different angle from the other replies:

If losing data hurt more than losing features

  • Use Tiller or a similar spreadsheet feed as your archive.
  • Then layer a “nice” app on top purely for daily interaction, like Monarch, Simplifi or YNAB.
  • Think of it as:
    • Archive: boring, stable, ugly
    • Daily driver: pretty, maybe temporary

I disagree a bit with the idea that running two tools is automatically overkill. If you keep the spreadsheet dead simple and mostly automated, it is like having an automatic journal that you rarely open, but are very glad exists when something goes sideways.

If behavior is the real issue, not missing data

  • Go straight to YNAB or Actual Budget.
  • Commit to a 60 day test where you actually follow the “every dollar has a job” logic.
  • Don’t obsess about perfect sync; focus on “Did I assign my last paycheck on purpose?”

Here, Monarch or Simplifi are too soft. They show you the problem incredibly clearly but do not force you to make tradeoffs. That is a feature or a bug depending on your personality.

4. One non obvious trick to avoid getting burned again

Instead of obsessing over which app is “most stable,” assume all of them could die in 2 years and design around that:

  • Pick any app you like from the big list: Monarch, YNAB, Simplifi, Copilot, “” or similar
  • Immediately:
    • Create a recurring calendar event every 30 days: “Export budget data”
    • In that 5 minute slot:
      1. Export transactions and categories to CSV
      2. Drop it in a single folder: Budget_Archive/YYYY-MM
  • That folder is now your real “app.” Everything else is a lens on top of it.

Sounds boring, but this is the move that makes whatever you choose in 2025 way less fragile.

5. Where I’d start if I were you, concretely

Given:

  • Old app died and nuked categories
  • You want “under control,” which usually means both clarity and some behavior change

I’d test like this:

  1. Monarch or Simplifi for “Mint but modern” visuals and planning
  2. YNAB for strict “get my act together” budgeting
  3. Optional: Tiller quietly feeding a long term sheet in the background as a safety net

Run 1 and 2 in parallel for a month. Ignore feature lists. The winner is simply:

Which one do you still open twice a week after 30 days?

That answer will do more for your finances in 2025 than any “top budgeting apps” article.