Best Finance Apps in Australia

Building a budget isn’t easy, especially when you have multiple bank accounts, credit cards, and loans to keep track of. A budget app can help streamline your financial planning by compiling information in one place and helping you manage your bills and purchases. But not every budget app is the same, so it’s important to pick one that matches your circumstances and your goals.

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    What is a budgeting app?

    Budgeting apps, also called finance apps, are designed to help you organise your earning, spending, and saving. A budget app can centralise your finances in one easy-to-understand setup by pulling data from your bank accounts and outstanding loans. Most finance apps have spending & saving goal trackers and category breakdowns which all help you manage your money.

    How do you find the best finance apps?

    No two apps are identical. Some apps have simpler features designed to give you the basic, bottom-line numbers. Other apps provide more in-depth analysis and can even integrate your student debt or home loans into the calculations. Here are some things to consider when picking out a finance app—and remember, you can always test-run a couple before settling on what works for your style.

    • Features

      Your budget app should match your financial goals. Finance apps can link your bank accounts, notify you of upcoming bills, design a budget, monitor your credit score, set up and track spending goals, and watch your investments.

    • Prices

      Most apps are free, but some cost money or are free but offer a premium option. Look at which tools and features are free versus which ones require payment. Paid apps tend to have the most advanced features and tools.

    • Security

      Since budget apps require you to sync up your financial accounts, you want to be mindful of cybersecurity features. The most secure finance apps use bank-level encryption to keep your financial data safe from hackers.

    • Customer service

      If something goes wrong or if you have any questions, you will want to have reliable customer support to get your problem addressed quickly. Pay attention to support availability on both desktop and mobile.

    Best finance apps for Australia

    Frollo

    Cost: Free
    Availability
    iOS and Android
    App Store rating
    4.0
    from 794 reviews
    Google Play rating
    3.3
    from 280 reviews

    Frollo is an Australian company whose main business is open banking services. However, they have also developed a personal finance app that uses the same encryption technology. The app lets you sync up your financial accounts into one dashboard which then organises your transactions and tracks regular payments.

    Frollo stands out in a few ways. They offer a Financial Passport that displays your income, spending, assets, and liabilities over the past 12 months—useful information when applying for loans. They also offer a Frollo Score between 1 and 1,000 which represents your financial situation based on spending, savings, and debts.

    Notable Features
    • Budget setup
      Create a budget in minutes that matches your pay cycle
    • Smart insights
      Get tips that highlight the best areas for improvement
    • Goal tracking
      Create and maintain new finance goals and see your progress

    Splitwise

    Cost: Free base version; paid upgrades from $0.99 to $39.99
    Availability
    iOS and Android
    App Store rating
    4.4
    from 649 reviews
    Google Play rating
    4.6
    from 127K reviews

    Splitwise is less centred on budgeting and mainly intended for bill-splitting for friends, family, or housemates. To use the app with a group, each person must download it individually. The app does not allow you to actually transfer money, but rather lets you record shared expenses and repayments.

    The Splitwise app is optimal for group budgets or shared spending, so it’s a good fit for friends going out together, or a few housemates sharing a home. The app keeps a running total of how much is owed, and provides helpful reminders for recurring expenses like rent or when you forget to pay someone back.

    Notable Features
    • Receipt scanning
      Directly upload receipts to the app for ease of tracking
    • Itemization
      Identify specific categories of purchases to organise spending
    • Expense search
      Parse through past purchases or track prior expenses

    Raiz

    Cost: Savings — Free; Investment — $3.50-$4.50 per month or 0.275% per year
    Availability
    iOS and Android
    App Store rating
    4.7
    from 32.8K reviews
    Google Play rating
    4.6
    from 100K reviews

    Raiz is primarily a micro-investing app that enables customers to invest in ETF (exchange-traded fund) portfolios through smaller-dollar amounts. Raiz users can round up their purchases to the nearest dollar and invest that change into their selected portfolio. There are many types of portfolios offered based on goals and risk tolerance.

    As an auxiliary feature, Raiz offers a My Finance dashboard at no cost. This section links up your financial accounts to give a personalised overview of your earning, spending, and saving. It allows for standard functions like categorising expenditures and tracking changes from month to month.

    Notable Features
    • Saving tips
      Analyses your habits to provide personalised saving reminders
    • Chatbot
      Provides users with additional details, explanations, and advice
    • Bank-level security
      Extra steps taken to protect user privacy and finances

    WeMoney

    Cost: Free
    Availability
    iOS and Android
    App Store rating
    4.3
    from 1.7K reviews
    Google Play rating
    3.4
    from 100K reviews

    WeMoney is purely a personal finance app and seeks to provide a comprehensive view of a user’s finances. The app incorporates all types of bank accounts, lines of credit, and even cryptocurrency accounts in its summary. One of the selling points is the ability to easily manage subscriptions and other recurring monthly charges.

    One advantage of WeMoney is that they have a large number of partners which offer special deals and discounts. These include financial products such as energy bills and various types of insurance. However, WeMoney’s roster of partners may not cover all of your needs given your particular financial situation.

    Notable Features
    • User network
      Connects you with other customers to trade tips and advice
    • Comparative statistics
      Compares your spending to others in your demographic
    • Login flexibility
      Offers fingerprint, FaceID, and PIN-based logins for safety

    Beem

    Cost: Free
    Availability
    iOS and Android
    App Store rating
    4.9
    from 81K reviews
    Google Play rating
    3.8
    from 12.5K reviews

    Beem is an instant payment app commonly used among friends and family to send and receive money. The app helps keep track of shared expenses and enables easy splitting of bills. Beem emphasises its BPAY feature where users can pay via BPAY and then request reimbursement from friends through the app.

    Beem is particularly useful for loyalty cards and shopping rewards programs to help you earn back some money on your retail spending. The app helps track expenses through its financial feed, offers projections of future spending, and gives alerts for upcoming bills and monthly subscriptions.

    Notable Features
    • Scheduled payments
      Plan for upcoming expenses and recurring charges
    • Groups
      Structured space for housemates, families and friend groups
    • QR code option
      Easy digital payment by sharing and scanning QR codes

    Goodbudget

    Cost: Free; paid plan costs US$8 per month or US$70 per year
    Availability
    iOS and Android
    App Store rating
    4.7
    from 12.8K reviews
    Google Play rating
    3.8
    from 19.2K reviews

    This is a budget-oriented app designed around the envelope budgeting strategy. It allows you to allot money into digital envelopes based on what it’ll be spent on (e.g rent, groceries, utilities, recreation). Once money is assigned to an envelope, it can only be used for that particular expense.

    This method helps ensure that all of the essentials will be covered. You can even dedicate a “savings” envelope and save up for a specific purchase or build an emergency fund. Goodbudget is a great fit for a household budget, as it enables you to sync your account with other users.

    Notable Features
    • Spending analysis
      Breaks down spending by envelopes with clear pie charts
    • Community support
      Enables users to trade savings strategies and suggestions
    • Excel compatibility
      Export data into a spreadsheet for further analysis

    Spendee

    Cost: Free, with paid plans for $14.99 per year or $22.99 per year
    Availability
    iOS and Android
    App Store rating
    4.6
    from 4.7K reviews
    Google Play rating
    4.3
    from 45.5K reviews

    Spendee is a budgeting app oriented towards international currencies. It allows you to switch and convert currencies by linking up your accounts to hundreds of banks worldwide. You can use the app to save up foreign currency which is useful if you travel often or engage in foreign exchange trading.

    This app also offers many personal finance features, such as categorising transactions to manage your budget. Budgets are customisable and can be adjusted to match your savings goals. Spendee even adds a picture and location per category for easy identification.

    Notable Features
    • Shared Wallet
      Perfect for housemates, couples, and families to share spending
    • Reminders
      Updates on upcoming bills and budget progress for the month
    • Global synchronisation
      Links up international accounts for smooth exchanges

    Budget Apps FAQ

    Are online budgeting apps really effective?
    Yes, especially when you use the right app for your needs and stay true to the limits that you created. Many users have saved hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year with budget apps. The most successful users are those who engage fully with the app and follow its recommendations.
    Why is budgeting important?
    Budgeting is vital for cutting back on non-essential expenses and building a stable financial future. A finance app helps you create a financial plan so that you don’t overspend and end up relying on debt to cover essentials like housing or food.
    Can I use bank apps for budgeting?
    Some bank apps have budgeting functionalities or can at least sort transactions into categories. However, it is usually just a pre-built display without any customisable options or user input. One advantage of using your own bank’s app is that you don’t have to share your banking details with a third party.

    Final thoughts on picking the best budget app

    Having a realistic budget for their personal finances is important for every Australian. Using a budget app puts you in a stronger position to curb non-essential spending habits and make sure that your financial responsibilities are met. Now that you know more about what some of the biggest budget apps in Australia specialise in, you can choose one that works for your goals.