The best apps for money saving are designed to automate savings, track spending, and even reward good financial habits. If you’re looking to round up spare change, earn cash back on purchases, or get insights into your budget, there’s an app to fit your needs. With so many options available, choosing the right one can be overwhelming. This guide breaks down the best money saving apps of the year, comparing their features, fees, and benefits to help you find the perfect fit for your financial goals.
Here is a list of our best apps for money saving in 2025:
- Best overall app for assigning a purpose to every dollar in your budget to help users get control of their finances: YNAB (You Need A Budget)
- Best for rounding up purchases to the nearest dollar and investing the spare change: Acorns
- Best app that turns saving money into a game, allowing users to set rules that trigger money saving as they reach goals: Qapital
- Best app for a financial snapshot helping users identify disposable income: PocketGuard
- Best for managing subscriptions, tracking spending, and reducing bills: Rocket Money
- Best cash back app for making purchases through partner retailers: Rakuten
- Best comprehensive budgeting app helping users track spending and set a workable budget: Monarch
Best apps for money saving quick comparison
Best Overall: YNAB (You Need A Budget): best app for assigning a purpose to every dollar in your budget to help users get control of their finances
YNAB is a powerful budgeting app. It stands for You Need A Budget. That’s exactly what it does by giving every dollar a job. Unlike traditional budgeting tools that track past spending, YNAB focuses on proactive money management, ensuring that every dollar is allocated toward expenses, savings, or financial goals.
It uses a zero-based budgeting approach, meaning users plan for every dollar of income before spending it. YNAB also provides educational resources, goal-setting features, and real-time syncing across devices, making it ideal for individuals who want a structured, hands-on approach to managing their money while also developing smart financial habits.
Why I chose it
YNAB promotes financial discipline, proactive money management, and long-term financial stability. Here are a few features that really make this app stand out:
- Encourages responsible spending
- Reduces financial stress and debt
- Helps build savings and emergency funds
- Saves bank fees
- Supports long-term financial planning
Monthly fees
- $14.99 monthly or $109.00 annually
Features
- App connects and syncs in real-time with your bank
- App view can be customized
- App includes date prioritized goal tracking
- Loan calculator helps to pay debt down faster
- Robust reporting feature
- Assign jobs for every dollar
- Provides educational resources and community support
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Acorns: Best for rounding up purchases to the nearest dollar and investing the spare change
Acorns specializes in micro-investing, which allows users to automatically round up purchases to the nearest dollar and then invest the spare change into a diversified portfolio. It also has additional savings features such as recurring deposits, retirement accounts, and checking with cash back rewards. This is perfect for those who want to be hands-off investors, growing balances gradually without needing financial insights on market trends.
Why I chose it
Acorns approaches saving money from a perspective that’s attainable for most people. By using Whole Dollar Round-Ups®, you’re not investing large sums of money at once. Each investment is less than $1, allowing you to grow gradually without compromising your budget. The concept is that tiny acorns grow mighty oaks.
It will allow you to link as many debit or credit cards as you would like in the round up program; however, the round-up portion would come from your Acorns checking account. The more cards you link, the more opportunities you create for investing.
Monthly fees
- Acorns Bronze: $3 monthly
- Acorns Silver: $6 monthly
- Acorns Gold: $12 monthly
Features
- Investment account with a diversified portfolio
- Checking account automatically invests for you
- Debit cards available with accounts
- No overdraft fees
- 55,000 free nationwide ATMs
- 450 in-app partner brands to earn bonus investments
- Video learning modules for tips on money and investing
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Qapital: best app that turns saving money into a game, allowing users to set rules that trigger money saving as they reach goals
Qapital is a goal-based savings and budgeting app designed to help users build better financial habits through automation and behavioral psychology. It allows users to set savings goals and use customizable “rules” to save money effortlessly. Whether rounding up purchases, saving when hitting fitness milestones, or automatically setting aside money on payday, Qapital makes saving money easy and engaging.
Why I chose it
This app appeals to goal-driven users, allowing them to turn money saving into a game by reaching certain benchmarks. Many struggle with finance and saving but love a challenge. The sense of accomplishment that comes with achieving a goal is compounded by attaching a financial achievement to it. Qapital has figured out how to gamify finance which makes it fun and rewarding at the same time.
Monthly fees
- Basic: $3 monthly
- Complete: $6 monthly
- Premier: $12 monthly
Features
- Automatic saving rules, such as rounding up purchases
- App allows you to increase savings over a 52-week period
- Recurring deposits can be set on a schedule
- Specific savings goals encouraged, like emergency funds and vacations
- Robust spending and budgeting tools
- Automated investment portfolios
- Paychecks can be divided into categories
- Family members can be added as collaborators
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PocketGuard: best app for a financial snapshot helping users identify disposable income
PocketGuard is a budgeting app designed to help users track spending, manage bills, and save money effortlessly. Its standout feature, “In My Pocket,” calculates how much disposable income you have after covering bills, necessities, and savings goals — making budgeting easy and intuitive. It’s an all-in-one platform that brings everything you need together so you can manage your finances efficiently.
Why I chose it
PocketGuard has a user-friendly interface, allowing users to get a quick overview of their monthly finances or dive deeper into them. With PocketGuard, disposable income is easily identified by using technology that categorizes income and expenses. It assists in paying down debt, identifying any extra funds that can be redirected toward a debt paydown plan. It also tracks spending and lets you set savings goals to maximize financial benefits.
Monthly fees
- $12.99 monthly or $74.99 annually
Features
- Unlimited Financial accounts
- Rollover budgeting
- Subscription tracking
- Custom financial goals
- Debt payoff plan
- Import/export transactions easily
- Desktop site and mobile app available
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Rocket Money: best for managing subscriptions, tracking spending, and reducing bills
Rocket Money is a personal finance app designed to help you track spending, manage subscriptions, and save money effortlessly. It focuses on bill negotiation, subscription management, and budgeting to help users lower expenses and stay on top of their finances.
It also has a bill negotiation service that helps you lower internet, phone, and cable bills. It offers spending insights, allowing you to categorize and track expenses and make transfers into savings accounts. In addition, it tracks your credit score, making your finances and progress more transparent.
Why I chose it
This app is designed to help users keep up with expenses that sometimes fall through the cracks. One feature is the ability to manage and cancel subscriptions you may not realize you still have. It also has budgeting tools to help you keep track of funds coming in and out of your account while encouraging saving, even in small amounts.
Monthly fees
- Rocket Money: $0
- Rocket Money Premium: Between $6 and $12 monthly
Features
- Subscription management
- Spending insights
- Bill negotiation
- Net worth calculation
- Financial goal tracking
- Credit score insights
- Budgeting tools
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Rakuten: best cash back app for making purchases through partner retailers
Rakuten is a popular cash back and rewards app that allows users to earn money back on everyday purchases from thousands of retailers. By shopping through the Rakuten app or browser extension, users can receive a percentage of their purchases as cash back, which is paid out via PayPal or check. Rakuten partners with major brands like Walmart, Lenovo, CVS, Sam’s Club, and Lowes, making it an easy way to save money online and with in-store shopping.
Why I chose it
This is definitely one of my favorite apps. I’ve personally been using it for years. As a banker, it’s easy for me to recommend Rakuten since it aligns with smart financial money management and saving strategies. It allows you to save money on everyday purchases, ultimately making your income go a little farther each time you use it. It helps you to build better financial habits, teaching you to look for savings opportunities and coupon codes for every purchase.
Monthly fees
- Free for buyers, online merchants pay all fees
Features
- Cash back rewards from purchases made at over 3,500 retailers
- Browser extension automatically applies coupon codes and cash back deals
- Cash back can also be earned when shopping in-store with some retailers
- Cash back is sent quarterly via PayPal or check
- Referral bonuses for inviting friends to join
- Cash back rewards can be directed into a PayPal savings account
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Monarch: best comprehensive budgeting app helping users track spending and set a workable budget
Monarch is a premium all-in-one personal finance app that helps users budget, track spending, manage investments, and set long-term financial goals. Unlike traditional budgeting apps, Monarch offers a holistic view of financial health, making it a powerful tool for individuals and families looking to take control of their finances.
Why I chose it
Monarch is a comprehensive financial management platform that helps you take a holistic approach to your finances. Unlike basic budgeting apps, Monarch is designed for those who want to actively manage wealth, long-term savings, and financial goals in one place. It syncs bank accounts, credit cards, investments, loans, and assets into a single dashboard, giving you a complete financial picture and allowing you to set up goal-based financial plans for the future.
Monthly fees
- $14.99 monthly or $99.99 annually
- Sign-up discount: 50% off first year with code NEWYEAR2025
Features
- Transaction tracking
- AI categorization for spending
- Customizable reports
- Outgoing expenses in a calendar format
- Monitor investments
- Flexible budgeting
- Future planning available past 30 days
- Set goals to save up for big life events
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Alternative apps for business use only
Many of the best money saving apps are designed for personal finance with built-in saving features. However, business owners also want access to powerful tools that help track spending and optimize cash flow. Whether it’s automating expense reporting, streamlining budgeting, or identifying cost-cutting opportunities, these business-focused apps provide essential financial management features. While the money saving features are not as prevalent, these apps do save time for business owners.
Some of the best business apps offer solutions for tracking operational costs, handling invoicing, and uploading receipts from employees. Here are some standout apps designed specifically for businesses looking to streamline operations and improve financial management:
- QuickBooks: A full-featured accounting and expense-tracking app that helps businesses manage finances, generate reports, and optimize cash flow.
- Expensify: Automates expense tracking and receipt management, making it easier for businesses to monitor spending and streamline reimbursements.
- Bill.com: Automating accounts payable and receivable, ensuring businesses never miss due dates or incur late fees.
- Ramp: A corporate card and expense management platform that provides AI-driven insights to help businesses manage spending.
- Brex: A financial platform offering expense tracking, budgeting tools, and cash back rewards for business spending.
- Zoho Expense: A cost-effective expense management app that simplifies business reimbursements, approval workflows, and financial reporting.
How to choose the seven best money saving apps
When choosing the best money savings apps, YNAB checked all the boxes. It offers proven methods for budgeting by using a zero-based system where every dollar has a job to do and is assigned to a specific category.
The comprehensive budgeting tools also make it a top pick, encouraging proactive budgeting so users can gain control of their finances. They can also attend educational workshops, listen to tutorials, or read educational material so the financial choices they make are well planned out.
Overall, the apps in this guide allow for some form of financial automation and offer goal-oriented saving methods. Many have tracking and budgeting tools, customizable financial controls, and also assist with subscription management. The main commonality among all the choices here is the improvement the app can make on financial health by encouraging saving while cutting costs.
Methodology
When reviewing apps to compile the list of the best apps for money saving, I looked for features that allow users to keep up with expenses so it’s easier to identify disposable income. The app would also need to integrate with an existing bank account or offer a new bank account to users with an option to sync transactions. I also checked for budgeting and insight tools along with automated savings features that make financial management easier.
Frequently asked questions
How do money saving apps work?
Money saving apps help you take control of your income and expenses by providing an overview of your financial picture along with tools to help you improve it.
Are there any money saving apps that offer automatic savings features?
Yes, Acorns and Qapital offer a round-up feature, so spare change under $1 can be deposited into a savings account automatically with every purchase. Monarch allows you to build rules so you can manually set up transfers based on spending patterns.
Are there any money saving apps that offer rewards for saving money?
Yes, Acorns offers a one-time reward of $10 when you start saving or investing.
Are there any money saving apps that offer discounts on purchases?
Acorns allows you to earn rewards when you shop with over 300 participating brands. Ratuken is another app with rewards. You can earn cash back by shopping at over 3,500 partners across the Ratuken marketplace.
What are some good Android apps for saving money?
All the apps mentioned in this guide, YNAB, Acorns, Qapital, PocketGuard, Rocket Money, Rakuten, and Monarch, are available in the Play Store for Android users.
