10 best expense tracker apps to manage your finances

As I inch into adulthood (and one step closer to retirement), the need to manage my expenses well has become inexplicably important.

The many hats of adulthood also meant that I needed to keep a close tab on my expenses. But more often than not, I find myself overspending my slated budget despite my efforts.

There’s always something new that I want, and the temptation to hold back on that spending is a tough one.

So in a bid to curb my overspending, I turned to expense tracker apps. They are super easy to use and readily available on any smartphone which makes them my new best friend!

Best expense tracker apps

1. Spendee

Spendee is a great fuss-free expense tracker app that is suitable for any and everyone. By linking your credit card and bank account to your Spendee account, you can gain better control over your personal finances.

All incoming and outgoing transactions are automatically tracked by the app, which makes it extremely convenient. And most importantly, the app is free, with the option to upgrade your plan.

2. Seedly

If you’re a frequent reader of the Seedly blog, you’ll be glad to know that they have their very own free expense tracker app!

What makes the Seedly expense tracker app stand out is its decluttered and minimalist user interface.

Most expense tracker apps often feature complex graphs and charts to help you “visualise” your spending, but I often find it difficult to understand them instead.

To put an end to that, the expense tracker app from Seedly is a breath of fresh air that allows users to easily navigate through the app, while also providing key features such as budgeting and month on month comparisons.

3. Pocket Expense with sync

Pocket Expense is one of the few expense tracker apps that allow users to link multiple bank accounts for free. It greatly reduces the hassle of having track individual bank transactions and gives you a bird’s eye view of all bank transactions at once.

Pocket Expense also helps to keep track of your bills so you’ll never miss a payment date again. Other notable features include password management, and a standard monthly budget management.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid version to access unlimited transactions

4. Expensify 

Known to be the best expense tracking app for corporate purposes, Expensify is a popular expense tracking app for companies of all sizes.

All employees using the same email domain can be linked via the app, making the tracking of all employee transactions and submission of claims more convenient.

My personal experience in using Expensify as an employee has been positive and super easy to navigate.

Its SmartScan features is incredibly accurate and saved me tons of time from manually keying in all the information, which is also subject to human error.

5. Household Account Book

The cutest expense tracker app on this list, Household Account Book makes expense tracking much more enjoyable than actual. The adorable user interface is splashed out in colours and yet, its features are still easily accessible.

If expense tracking is stressful for you, then this expense tracker app will make it more bearable.

There aren’t any fancy features and transactions are limited on a monthly basis. However, this expense tracker is well functional and aesthetically pleasing that I will have no complaints about it.

6. Monny

If you’re new to using such expense tracker apps, Monny is a great place to start. What makes Monny stand out is how it challenges users to use the app and in turn, save their money.

The challenges encourages a cumulative habit and award incentives for users to continuously head back to the app to keep track of their expenses. Pretty genius, I would say.

Access to the premium version is also available at an extra fee, but I think the free version of Monny will more than suffice for those looking for a free and reliable expense tracker app.

7. Zenmoney

Zenmoney is arguably, the smartest expense tracker app here. It can automatically make transaction entries based on incoming text messages, which will save you tons of time.

The app also encourages users to save by showing the accumulated amount that you have saved in the app, and if you would like to transfer that amount to your savings account.

Zenmoney is also able to predict future expenses based on your spending habits, which is pretty impressive.

In fact, that gave me an urge to tackle its prediction and in turn, I actually spent below my budget in the previous month. Which proved its reverse psychology trick was working on me.

8. Money Lover: Expense tracker & budget planner

Let’s admit it. Money Lover is aptly named for its purpose. This award-winning expense tracker app has all that you will ever need.

It is jam-packed with features, including linking of credit cards and accounts, and even includes crypto-currency, if that’s your kind of thing.

The top-notch security also boasts fingerprint recognition should your phone support. And if you upgrade to their premium version, you’ll be able to export your monthly expenses into an Excel Sheet or PDF report which is pretty neat.

However, there are many categories in the app which can feel a tad cluttered at times. But if you’re a pro expense tracker and is used to them, then Money Lover will be the best expense tracker app for you.

9. Spending Tracker

Spending Tracker is as simple and intuitive as its name suggests. This expense tracker app is extremely user-friendly with its minimalist user interface. It does away with the fancy features but gets it basic job done extremely well.

Finance and expenses tracking can be easily viewed and understand at a single glance.

10. Toshl Finance

I was a little overwhelmed when I read the description of the Toshl Finance app on the PlayStore as the many features sound overwhelming.

Fortunately, despite packing a ton of features inside, the app was streamlined and easy to use, simply because it didn’t try to overload you with information at one.

Keying in your expenses is seamless and the app also allows you to connect to various banks across the world.

Similar to some of the other expense tracker apps, multiple accounts and credit cards can be linked to Toshl Finance which makes it convenient for the users.

Advanced features which includes unlimited financial accounts and fingerprint scanning is also available at a monthly fee.

But personally, the free version of this expense tracker app is more than sufficient for personal expense tracking uses.

This article was first published in Shopback.