I’ve been budgeting for years now. In the beginning, I would use a google sheet to track my budget but when Ramsey Solutions came out with an app for budgeting I had to try it. I signed up and used the free version for the next few years. I believe budgeting is one of the most important things people can do to be good stewards of their money in finances. And always looking for ways to help. As I become less of a control freak over my budget I’ve been looking for ways to automate what I do for my budget. I do love the zero-based budgeting system and here are two apps that allow this type of budgeting.

EveryDollar

EveryDollar is a budget app provided by Ramsey Solutions.

Pros

• Customizable
• Forecasting
• Giving and Savings First
• Free version
• Included with Ramsey+
• Paid version is $9.99

Cons

• Can’t link credit cards
• No forecasting expenses
• Pending transactions double count

I’ve used EveryDollar for a few years now and have honestly loved using it. EveryDollar is simple and easy to use. I love the organization of the budget and put the categories in place so that giving is the top, savings is second, necessities, and then everything else. I loved being to add and plan for the month and project out. You can use it for free by manually adding transactions, pay for the monthly subscription, or pay for ramsey+, which includes this as well as all the pieces of training and courses Ramsey Solutions has available including their Financial Peace classes.

I would say the biggest con of using EveryDollar me is not being able to link credit cards. If you don’t know, Ramsey Solution abhors credit cards and teaches against their use of them. I understand why since these companies really are in the business of debt. I go more into how I feel about credit cards here. I respect them for sticking to their guns but I do responsibly use credit cards so it is a big hassle. Everydollar’s funds which you can set up savings goals on are just hard for me to practically use for sinking funds or saving goals and they don’t automatically categorize transactions.

The biggest pro is the ease of use of their software and you can be onboarded in minutes. Their bread and butter from an education standpoint are budgeting and if you have ramsey+ it links with their debt snowball app and helps you stay on target for your debt goals. Honestly, I really love what this company is about. If you are new to budgeting I would strongly suggest using their budgeting tool and taking their financial peace class. Dave Ramsey has a book you can check out that goes into his philosophy called The Total Money Makeover.

YNAB

Pros

• Link credit cards
• Can use it to calculate your net worth
• Automated categories
• Can use it as a checkbook
• Multiple budgets
• Set goals and recurring transaction

Cons

• No forecasting income
• Cost is $11.99
• Onboarding is super tough

I just switched to YNAB and I’ll be honest the first few weeks we used it my wife and I didn’t really like it. There are a lot of pros to YNAB but the biggest and significant con is onboarding. Honestly, if it wasn’t for this article I probably wouldn’t have YNAB today. I’ve heard people talk about it and this tool has a cult following so I wanted to give it a shot. I scoured the interwebs, listening to their podcasts, and watching their YouTube videos and still didn’t quite get how it worked. On one of YNABs podcasts, I listened to a guest name Chelsea with Smart Money Mamas and found out she did tutorial videos on YNAB and watch this video. This video unlocked it for me. She did such a great job going step by step through it all and I was finally able to use it to its full benefit.

The biggest pro is being able to project expenses and set goals in every category in YNAB. This combine with only budgeting what you have in terms of real money helps with planning for the future. When you combine this with setting goals with your partner and it can be magical. I also like the automatic categorization of transactions.

Conclusion

Pick the one that you will stick with. If you are new to budgeting or just not software savvy I would point you to EveryDollar it is the clear winner. It is so simple to set up and easy to use. And if you are tech-savvy, experienced, and don’t use a credit card it is a toss-up for me. It comes down to if you want to plan your whole month or if you want to just budget the money you have. If you have credit cards, multiple savings goals, multiple sinking funds, and automation I would use YNAB.

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This article is informational; it should not be considered Health, Financial, or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult health, financial, or legal professional before making any significant decisions

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Updated on 11/1/23