Best budgeting apps

What is open banking?

Open banking is an initiative first launched in January 2018 to encourage innovation in financial services.

As part of this, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ordered the nine biggest current account providers (Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, RBS Group, Santander) to unlock customer data.

These banks can now share your data with third parties safely, by plugging into feeds called Application Programming Interfaces or APIs - but, crucially, only with your permission.

Find out more: open banking explained

How can open banking help you budget?

Third parties that access your data can use it in a wide range of ways to help you manage your money more effectively. From getting an overview of all your accounts in one place, to developing algorithms to squirrel away extra savings without impacting your normal spending habits.

While more than three million people already use open banking, just one in 10 Which? members use a finance app that's not provided by their bank, according to a survey we carried out in February 2021.

However, when we asked those who were interested in using finance apps, more than half of the respondents said they'd like to have an overview of all of their accounts, and around four in 10 said they'd like help with budgeting.

Find out more: how to plan an effective budget

Video: budgeting apps to help you save

Watch our short video below to find out which budgeting apps could help you save money:

Where to find safe open banking apps

There are some 231 third-party providers currently listed by the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), which is the body set up by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to set standards and guidelines for open banking.

We've listed just a few that can help with your budgeting and savings goals.

The apps listed here are all regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and either appear on the list of approved providers on openbanking.org.uk, or access open banking via a listed firm.

To get started, you'll need a smartphone that has access to either the iOS App Store or the Google Play store. You can search for the name of the app you want to try, and then download it to your phone. Make sure it looks like the images and videos we've featured below.

You'll have to provide some personal information to get the app started - this can vary, but you'll usually be asked for your name, mobile number and email address, before being asked to set security details such as a password and a Pin. After that, you'll need to select which accounts you want to link to, and you'll also need your login information for these.

Emma

Cost: Free for standard Emma; £4.99 per month for Emma Plus; £9.99 a month for Emma Pro; £14.99 per month for Emma Ultimate.

Key features: In a bid to cut your spending and make the most of the money you have, Emma is another app that links to bank accounts and other financial products, analysing the information to make suggestions on wasteful subscriptions you could cut.

The standard free version of Emma allows tracks your subscriptions, set up monthly budgets, track your payday and make payments within the app.

Emma Plus, Pro and Ultimate offer extra features. With Emma Plus you can take advantage of in-app cashback offers and a fraud detection feature that alerts you if your details have been accessed as part of a data breach, along with bill reminders and a 'true balance' feature that shows you how much you really have left to spend each month.

Emma Pro offers features such as the ability to track your net worth and the ability to update balances for unlinked accounts, such as a savings account you make regular transactions to.

Emma Ultimate has additional features, such as business accounts, unlimited bank transfers and a 'Spaces' feature, where you can set budgets on a more specific level.

Drawbacks: If you go for either of the paid-for Emma options, make sure you'll use enough of the features to justify the price.

HyperJar

Cost: Free

Key features: HyperJar is a bit different from other budgeting apps, as it includes a prepaid card (physical or digital). The idea is to load your money onto the card, then allocate it into different digital 'jars' on the app. You can label these jars according to your spending habits - such as groceries and transport.

You can auto-link individual shops to the jars, so the money comes out of your jar automatically. For example, if you link Sainsbury's or Aldi to your groceries jar, money would automatically be taken from this jar when you shop in these stores.

You can earn interest on your money if you commit to spending with certain brands - participating retailers change fairly regularly.

For example, TUI is currently offering an Annual Growth Rate (AGR) of 10% to HyperJar savers that commit to saving for a future trip with TUI. So, if you were to save £500 in a TUI holiday jar, after 12 months your balance will have grown by £50. While you'll need to spend this money with TUI to keep the bonus cash, there's no official time limit on when you'd have to do it.

You can also set up shared spending jars - parents can share these with their children to keep an eye on where they're spending money, and it could also work with housemates or partners for paying household bills.

Another bonus is that you can also use your prepaid card to spend abroad, with no foreign transaction fees.

Money you load onto the card is managed by a regulated e-money provider, Modulr FS Limited, held in segregated accounts at the Bank of England.

However, you should note that your money is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

Drawbacks: You can't withdraw cash from an ATM with your prepaid card, and you might be able to earn more interest with your money in a regular instant-access savings account.

Money Dashboard

Cost: Free

Key features: If you'd prefer to assess your budget on your computer, the good news is Money Dashboard is also available as a web app - along with the usual smartphone app offerings.

It links to more than 90 UK banks and financial providers to give you an overall view of your finances, which can help inform you to make budgets for different spending categories.

It can also account for all of your scheduled bills and regular payments, so you know what you'll have left to spend. And when you make purchases, they'll be split into spending categories with the merchant information, so you can see exactly where your money's going.

Drawbacks: It does require a certain amount of effort from you to decide how you want your budgeting to work, which is fine if you're fairly interested in your finances and like to keep control over them.

Plum

Cost: Standard version of Plum is free; Plum Pro costs £2.99 per month; Plum Ultra costs £4.99 per month; Plum Premium costs £9.99 per month.

Key features: Plum's app features an AI assistant that analyses spending going on in your linked account, and calculates how much you can put aside every few days. You can use Plum to store this cash in a savings account (Interest Pocket). Your spending is split into categories and tracked so you can see how much you have left until your next payday.

Your transactional data is also used to flag what Plum calls 'lost money', which is where it thinks you've been overcharged on bills that could be cheaper if you switch elsewhere.

Drawbacks: To get a savings rate of 2.9% AER you need to pay for Plum Premium, and to receive 2.45% AER you need to pay for Plum Pro or Ultra; the savings account that comes with the free version of Plum pays 2.2% AER.

Snoop

Cost: Free, but you're asked if you want to give Snoop a 'tip' if it makes you a big saving. Snoop plus is £3.99 a month.

Key features: By gathering all of your accounts together in one place, Snoop tracks your regular bills and flags up when they're higher than usual - sometimes offering up cheaper providers you can switch to.

It also has features such as an annual insurance checker to check up on policy prices, and a mobile monitor that looks out for cheaper phone deals.

Your transactional data is used to tell Snoop where you shop, meaning it can then suggest voucher codes and cashback offers for your favourite shops or brands to make the most of your spending.

Snoop Plus has extra features such as tracking your spending from payday to payday and the ability to create unlimited custom spending ports and refund alerts.

Drawbacks: You might not get as much out of it if you're already a savvy shopper who looks out for things like cashback offers and discount codes.

What to check before allowing access to your data

There are hundreds of apps out there claiming to revolutionise your finances, but it can be hard to tell which ones are safe to try.

Opening up your data to third parties does come with a certain amount of risk - for instance, if the worst should happen and the third party firm is hacked. There are measures in place to ensure your information is as secure as possible, but you should also perform a few checks before allowing your data to be shared with a third party.

1. Check the FCA register

A company's regulatory information should be listed on its website, detailing its trading name and FCA reference number (also called an FRN) - you can usually find this information by scrolling to the bottom of the company's website.

Compare this information to what's listed on the FCA register. The authorisation a company needs can vary depending on the services its app provides, but most commonly it will be 'account information service providers' and/or 'payment initiation service providers'.

2. Check openbanking.org.uk

You can look through a list of approved providers at openbanking.org.uk if you want to double-check an app or service.

Note that not all regulated apps will appear on this list, as some access open banking via another approved company. If this is the case, the details should also appear with other regulatory information on the company's website.

3. Check your data permissions

The information you share through open banking is protected by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws, which state that your personal data can only be used for the specific purposes you've approved, it cannot be shared or stored indefinitely, and you should be able to revoke your permission to use it at any time.

If an app or service doesn't appear when conducting these searches or doesn't seem to be following these rules, it's best not to grant it permission to access your data.

Find out more: best ways to save money