UK’s 10 Best Budgeting Apps to Help You Save in 2022

Are you feeling overwhelmed when managing your finances, cutting back on wasteful spending, or setting up a nest egg for the future? 

To help you with that, we’ve covered the 10 best budgeting apps in the UK that offer various budgeting features, from classifying your spending to connecting all your bank accounts.

Read on to start making better financial decisions today!

The Best Money Budgeting Apps in the UK

If you are looking for the best budgeting app in the UK, chances are you will find it below.

Starling Bank

Like Monzo, Starling Bank is a UK-based digital bank that provides modern banking services and budgeting features designed to help consumers manage their finances.

This app-only bank is excellent for round-up saving as it combines a bank account at your fingertips with spending analytics, savings pots, automatic saving, and more.

Sterling Bank is also in the running for the best money management app in the UK as it has been voted Britain’s Best Bank for four years running.

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Emma

Arguably the best budget app in the UK, Emma is marketed as the consumer’s best financial friend as it gives you total control of your finances via a compact and user-friendly interface.

All in all, Emma helps you manage your overdrafts, cancel unnecessary subscriptions, connect all your bank accounts, and classify all your expenses in various categories.

You can access other valuable features, such as cashback, custom categories, savings goals, and more, by subscribing to Emma Plus (£4.99/month) or Emma Pro (£9.99/month).

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Money Dashboard

Money Dashboard is another money budgeting app available to UK residents that offers advanced features like tracking your spending, setting budgets for your habits, managing your bills, and monitoring your total balance across all bank accounts.

No wonder it has won the award for the best budgeting app in the UK several times in a row, as it can connect to more than 90 UK banks and transfer the user’s funds across them. Plus, unlike Emma, this platform does not hide some of its features behind a subscription plan.

Ultimately, downloading Money Dashboard is a worthy time investment as you can connect your accounts and start managing your financial goals in under 5 minutes. Moreover, you can review your spending history, and it warns you if and when your balance is looking low.

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Plum

Unlike the previous two apps, Plum not only manages your finances but also helps you organise your spending and safely invest your savings without any hassles.

You can get started with Plum in less than 2 minutes: download the app, link your bank accounts and cards, and let Plum automatically make deposits in your name. You only have to set up a few smart rules that will allow you regularly save small and affordable amounts.

While the free Plum option is enough for most users, you can also subscribe to a paid plan (Plus at £1/mo, Pro at £2.99/mo, or Ultra at £4.99/mo) to get access to additional benefits such as investing as low as £1, assigning financial goals, cashback rewards, and more.

Note: Currently, Plum organises a £20,000 giveaway for users with Stocks & Shares ISAs.

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Moneyhub

This paid-for money budgeting app seamlessly connects all your financial accounts (bank, savings, credit card, investment, mortgage, etc.) to track your total balance in real-time.

Furthermore, you can set your spending goals and track your saving progress which is useful for saving up for a wedding or a gadget like a tablet. Also, once your spending data starts accumulating, Moneyhub’s intelligent tools will categorise your expenses every month and show you how and where to cut back.

On the downside, Moneyhub is free to use only during your first six months. Afterwards, you have to pay £1/month or £10/year, but the company pledges they won’t sell away your data.

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Snoop

Snoop is next on our list of the best finance apps in the UK, a unique service that won 2021’s Innovation of the Year award. The platform’s selling point are the personalised and free daily ‘Snoops’ that offer valuable money-saving tips, offers, and balance summaries.

Snoop aims to save each UK household at least £1,500/year with features like Spending Sorter (sorts your expenses), Payment Hub (tracks your bills), Discount Code Finder (shares various vouchers), Money-Saving Scanner (checks the internet for ways to save), and more.

The platform also partners with over 35 UK banks and trawls the internet every day to find and recommend the best deals on utilities and other living expenses. If the app cannot provide you with a good tip, you can also offer one and get the credit in the process.

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Monzo

While a fully-fledged mobile bank, Monzo also includes useful budgeting features. However, while the free plan gets you standard banking services and benefits like spending categories and virtual saving pots, the paid plans offer other budgeting features too.

For instance, the Monzo Plus plan available at £5/month includes custom categories for your payments, a credit score tracker, purchasing offers, virtual paying cards, and more. 

On the other hand, the £15/month Monzo Premium plan adds features like various insurance coverages, higher interest on savings, and free withdrawals on top.

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Quirk

Marketed as ‘Not Just Another Budgeting App’, Quirk is making a name for itself as the complete finance planner personalised to your current balance and saving goals.

Once you download and install Quirk for free, it asks you to fill out a ‘money personality’ test to learn about your current situation. Then, you are asked to connect all of your bank accounts to get a complete financial overview before tracking and managing your money.

All in all, with Quirk, you will learn more about finances in general and get tailored insights into your spending behaviour. Moreover, the app develops a spending plan that corrects bad habits and helps you grow your credit score and get better deals.

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Claro Money

What makes Claro Money stand out from the other money budgeting apps in the UK is the addition of a financial coach who helps you reach your financial goals faster.

After completing the standard steps of installing the app, connecting your bank accounts, and talking with Claro’s coach, you can set your financial goals, start investing as little as £10 and grow your savings at the market’s leading rate of 2%.

However, unlike some of the apps on this list, Claro is a subscription-based service for everyone except their early adopters. Therefore, unless you meet the platform’s ‘Early Bird’ requirements, you will have to pay £10/year. 

Note: Additional coaching and investment fees may apply in certain circumstances.

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Tandem

Tandem is another fully-regulated UK bank, but with a twist: it’s becoming UK’s leading green bank! This bank’s ultimate goal is to work with and offer its customers a fair and green method of managing their finances while reducing their environmental impact.

In this regard, Tandem focuses on providing services such as instant bank transfers, instant access savers, fixed savers, green loans, high-value mortgages, and more.

While lacking extensive budgeting features as some of the apps on this list, Tandem is one of the best platforms when it comes to growing your savings account, especially when 6.5% of Brits don’t have savings at all.

Getting a Hold of Your Finances Today!

Once you decide to start tracking your spending and planning your financial future, you need to find a good budgeting app. To help you make that choice, you can read through our brief overview of the best budget apps in the UK in the sections above.