I have to be honest with you. I’m not the biggest fan of online budgeting software. I love my Budget Binder as it truly does keep me sane but I have used a few free budgeting software programs before. I also know that many of my readers aren’t fans of the paper system.  

I totally get that. And if I’m really being real with myself, there are certain seasons in my life where having my budget tracked online has been been a blessing. Like when I was first climbing my way out of debt all those years ago.

So, I thought I’d share with you my favorite FREE online budgeting tools.

1. EveryDollar

Obviously I’m a huge Dave Ramsey fan, so it’s probably no surprise that his online budgeting software, EveryDollar is included here. I love that you can track your baby steps progress and that it encourages you to be debt-free. A huge plus in my book.

I do not like the mobile version though. I keep trying to like it but it’s just not for me. My husband likes it but it’s just not my cup of tea.

You can check out here how we used EveryDollar for our summer vacation budget tracking…say that five times fast.

2. Mint

I used to use Mint way back in the day when I was climbing my way out of financial hell. And it worked perfectly well until a handsome man asked me to be his bride.

Mint just doesn’t categorize a lot of the transactions well so I always had to end up going back and spending forever changing the categories (another reason tracking expenses as they happen is so important). My husband is the spender so I just couldn’t keep up with all the new transactions.

It was time consuming but overall it’s still a great platform to use. You link all your accounts and you’ll be able to create your budget and track all your spending through whatever mediums you use — you know I don’t like credit cards but if they’re your thing, Mint will link to your credit card accounts and track your budget with them as well.

3. Personal Capital

This one is quickly becoming my favorite. Personal Capital actually has an investment focus to it which I like, because that’s the season of life I’m starting to walk in. But I love that it really breaks stuff down with charts (us accountants LOVE our charts! ).

I also like that you can clearly see which account the deposit was made to – so it’s not like I’m looking at the transactions going “okay so which account was this one made to and which one do I need to credit for what”.

It really works for our “funds” system that we have in place.

Okay so with all that said, I still love my paper system and that’ll still be what I use because it helps me think through my budget and money goals every month, but I will be using Personal Capital more because retirement really is something we need to focus more on.

Do you have a favorite online free budgeting software program that you use? If so, please share it with us!

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