7 Budgeting Management Apps That Can Help You Track Your Expenses For Free

If you’ve ever set a budget but lost track of it along the way and ended up just spending money without any idea of how much you have taken out from your wallet, then you might need some help on managing your finances in a smarter and more practical way. 

Getting your cash flow on track isn’t as easy as it sounds; it requires commitment and discipline in doing so. Keeping notes on every Ringgit that comes in and goes out from your pocket and the bank can be tiring, but once you have the right budgeting app to keep your budget in place, you’ll spend much less time updating it.

Whichever app you go for in the end, you will have all the data you need to stick to your budget in your pocket, so you can check it anywhere you go. All of the apps listed below are mostly free, so there’s no excuse not to try them.

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1. Money Lover

Money Lover is an all-in-one financial management app that includes tracking, budgeting, reporting and planning functions. It’s a simple app that allows you to categorise and keep a tab on your expenses across weeks, months and years. The report will be presented in an easy-to-read graphical format so you can have a clear view of your spending patterns. 

Read our full review on this app here.

Features:

• Available on multiple devices
• Recurring bills and transaction reminder
• All currencies available with updated exchange rates
• Scan receipt
• Reporting
• Link online banking to Money Lover

Price: Free (In-app purchases available)
Platform: iOS | Android | Web

2. Spendee

Spendee’s minimalistic interface makes it easy to navigate and picture all your finances through an app. The main feature gives an overview of your weekly spending, organised from the most recent expenses or savings to the least recent. There are also options to display an overview of the month, year or a custom period of time. 

Features:

• Connect Spendee with online banking, e-wallet and crypto-wallet
• Automatic categorisation
• Multiple wallets for different events
• Shared finances
• Multiple currencies
• Personal finance insights
• Available on multiple platforms

Price: Free (In-app purchases available)
Platform: iOS | Android | Web

3. Expensify

Expensify is a favourite among startups, as accounts using the same email domain can be linked for easy submission and tracking. You can easily group your expenses under different reports or trips. The app is handy to have while travelling since it tracks distance and time spent on a particular project. One unique feature of this expense tracker app is SmartScan, which reads your receipts for all the details of an expense. It was designed so there would be “no typing needed on your end”.

Features:

• Unlimited receipt scanning
• Expense management
• Multiple currency conversion
• Travel booking
• Automatic credit card import
• Receipt integrations (Uber, Lyft, Hotel Tonight, Grab)
• Accounting integrations (QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and more!)
• Custom report exports
• Mileage tracking

Price: Free (In-app purchases available)
Platform: iOS | Android | Web

4. Monny

Known for its ‘cute’ features, Monny gives you mini-challenges to make saving a bit more exciting. For example, the first challenge is to key in entries for seven days straight, which would be helpful for getting you into the habit of using the app, if you’ve never used budget tracking apps before. The app records a daily or monthly report of all your transactions and creates reports to show where your money is being spent. 

Features:

• User-friendly reports and charts
• Separate account books into different categories
• Backup support
• Daily notification alert
• Passcode lock for privacy and security

Price: Free (In-app purchases available)
Platform: iOS | Android

5. Goodbudget

Formerly known as Easy Envelope Budget Aid (EEBA), Goodbudget is a perfect option for couples that want to share their budgeting process together. It uses the familiar envelope budgeting philosophy to power your proactive budget for all of your bills and spending. An envelope system means dividing your cash into separate envelopes for different expenses like groceries, utilities, and car loan.

Features:

• Sync across multiple devices
• Scheduled transactions and account balances
• Split expense transactions
• Spending category suggestions
• Location-based widget
• Insightful reports

Price: Free (In-app purchases available)
Platform: iOS | Android | Web

6. You Need A Budget (YNAB)

This award-winning budgeting app allows you to manage your expenses easily when you’re not sure how to get your spending under control. With YNAB, you’ll be learning how to spend smart instead of spend less. If you share expenses with your partner, you can do the budgeting together so both of you will not accidentally overspend on shopping or groceries. 

Features:

• Bank syncing
• Transaction matching
• Goal tracking
• Report and budget data
• Personal support

Price: Free for first 30 days
Platform: iOS | Android | Web

7. iSaveMoney

iSaveMoney is a powerful budgeting app and expense tracker that is suitable for people of different ages to create personal or family budget. It comes with different features and functions that will help you to plan your budget, record your transactions and forecast your budget with ease. You can create a monthly budget, tracking spending and get the report for free on all the recorded expenses for you to have clear insights on your spending habit.

Features:

• In-speech recognition
• Autocomplete function based on previous entries
• Built-in calculator
• Budget maker template
• Budget forecast
• Daily transaction monitoring
• Export data and report in CSV format
• Auto backup data to cloud

Price: Free (In-app purchases available)
Platform: iOS | Android

With different types of expense tracker apps available, it can be a little daunting to choose just one to help manage your money. You can try any of the apps we listed above and consider which one gives the best features for your personal finance tracking. 

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