The 6 Best Money-Saving Apps of 2024 (2024)

While it's always a good idea to consult a financial advisor before making any major money decisions, loads of apps can help you save money on a day-to-day basis.

Here are some of the best money-saving apps on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. They can give you discounts when shopping, help you manage your finances, and help you save more effectively.

01

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Best Budgeting App: Mint

The 6 Best Money-Saving Apps of 2024 (1)

What We Like

  • Can display account balances and credit scores on the Apple Watch.

  • Beautifully designed UI that makes financial data easy to understand.

What We Don't Like

  • Mint requires iOS 15 or above which means that it won't work on older Apple devices.

  • Data can take a while to sync on Android devices.

Mint is an app that collects your banking and investment data in one place to give you an easy-to-understand overview of your finances. Mint can track your bills, payments, and other transactions while setting saving goals for you to work toward.

In addition to presenting all your financial information, the Mint app detects your credit score and displays it for you in a graph along with actionable tips for improving it. All data is rendered in stylish charts with large text making it easy to tell where your money is, what it's doing, and where there's room for improvement.

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02

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Best Micro-Investing App for Beginners: Acorns

The 6 Best Money-Saving Apps of 2024 (2)

What We Don't Like

  • Selection of investment options is limited.

  • $3 monthly fee can be expensive if you're only investing a few bucks a month.

Acorns, also called Raiz, is a popular saving and investing app on iOS and Android devices. After connecting your bank account and cards, Acorns rounds up your transactions to the nearest dollar and puts the difference into your Acorns account.

This loose change is then invested into one of five Acorns-managed portfolios, which you select, and has the potential to increase in value over time. Given the nature of the stock market, it does have the potential to decrease in value, too.

After the initial setup, all of the saving and investing happens in the background in an automated fashion, which makes Acorns a good option for those who have trouble motivating themselves or remembering to set aside money every month.

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03

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Most-Fun Savings App: Qapital

The 6 Best Money-Saving Apps of 2024 (3)

What We Like

  • The savings applets make reaching financial goals more engaging.

  • Qapital sends you a free debit card, which you can use to access your funds when offline.

What We Don't Like

  • Those who have numerous bank accounts may not want to open another one.

  • Qapital isn't for those who like to visit their bank in person.

Qapital is a neobank, which is a bank that runs digitally via smartphone and tablet apps and has no physical branches you can visit. The Qapital apps allow you to fund your Qapital account with your existing bank account, manage balances and transfers, and gain interest on your funds as you would with a regular bank.

What sets Qapital apart from its rivals, though, is its gamification of goal-oriented savings through the implementation of applets (small, mini apps). Each applet can be set up to transfer a set amount of money to a savings goal when a specific requirement is met. You can have some money put aside when you meet a fitness goal or when your favorite sports team wins. You can even set an applet up so your account transfers money towards your goal when a specific person tweets or when it begins to rain.

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Best Expense Management App: Shoeboxed

The 6 Best Money-Saving Apps of 2024 (4)

What We Like

  • Data can sync to the Shoeboxed website for easy access on a computer.

  • App looks great on smartphones and has a low learning curve.

What We Don't Like

  • Requires a $22 monthly fee for 25 document scans.

  • The app stretches when viewed on a tablet and doesn't make use of the extra screen real estate.

Shoeboxed, also called SquirrelSheet in Australia and New Zealand, is an app designed to save you money by helping you keep track of your expenses for claiming on your tax return, filing in an expense report, or giving to a client.

The Shoeboxed app works by using the camera on your iOS or Android device to take a photo of a paper receipt and then extracts all of the expense, payment method, date, and location information and saves it digitally. This data can then be sent in an email or exported as an Excel document or other file format.

Information from all scanned receipts can also be searched from within the app or on the Shoeboxed website, which is convenient when trying to match expenses with an item or date.

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05

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Best Coupon App: Groupon

The 6 Best Money-Saving Apps of 2024 (5)

What We Like

  • Features money-saving coupons for numerous cities and countries.

  • Discount coupons for clothing, eating out, events, and more.

What We Don't Like

  • The iOS app is limited to Apple devices with iOS 15 or up.

  • Can be difficult to contact support from within the Groupon app.

Groupon has almost become a household name due to its popularity and with good reason. This coupon app has a huge presence in the USA and abroad and offers an enormous number of coupons for almost everything from restaurant meals to cultural experiences.

All you need to do is present the chosen Groupon coupon when purchasing the selected product or service to get the discount. The savings offered by Groupon aren't small either, with examples of the type of coupons available including 90% off Microsoft Office, $15 off of Lindt chocolates, a three-month free subscription to Pandora Premium, and $40 off an Apple Watch band.

Using the Groupon app is free.

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06

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Best App for Earning Gift Certificates: Swagbucks

The 6 Best Money-Saving Apps of 2024 (6)

What We Like

  • A good variety of activities for earning points.

  • Many major brands participate in Swagbuck campaigns and rewards.

What We Don't Like

  • Watching a video on older devices can freeze or crash the app.

  • Must use Swagbucks on a regular basis to earn gift certificates of significant value.

Swagbucks is a popular free service that can be used to earn gift certificates for major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Nike. By using the smartphone apps or the website, you can earn points by completing surveys, watching videos, or shopping through referral links.

These points, referred to as Swagbucks, can be redeemed for gift certificates, and that's all there is to it. Something that's particularly cool is that you can redeem Swagbucks for a PayPal gift certificate, which is essentially extra money that you can spend on anything, such as groceries, or deposit into your savings account for a rainy day.

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The 6 Best Money-Saving Apps of 2024 (2024)

FAQs

What is the best free money saving app? ›

Best money-saving apps compared 2024
TitleBest for
AcornsInvesting spare change
RevolutHands-off investing
QapitalGoal setting
OportunSimplicity
7 more rows
Apr 9, 2024

Is there an app that forces you to save money? ›

If you're looking to save for a specific purchase, an app like Qapital that allows you to set up multiple savings goals may be a good choice. If you're looking to invest more, an app like Acorns that automatically invests your spare change may be a better fit.

What is the best round up app for saving money? ›

Best Round-Up Apps
  1. Acorns (Best for Using Round-Ups to Invest) Function(s): Saving, spending, investing. ...
  2. Greenlight Max (Best Investment Account With Parental Controls) ...
  3. SoFi Checking and Savings Account. ...
  4. Current Bank (High-Powered Banking App) ...
  5. Chime Bank (Checking Account With Round-Ups) ...
  6. Qoins. ...
  7. Qapital.
Apr 4, 2024

What is the app that has a rainy day fund? ›

Oportun learns your spending habits and saves amounts you won't feel, but add up fast. Set up your savings goals, target amount and date, and we'll help you save for them effortlessly. If you don't have specific goals, you can save towards a Rainy Day Fund and have savings on hand for whatever comes your way.

What is the secret money app? ›

POWERFUL PRACTICES TO ATTRACT ABUNDANCE INTO YOUR LIFE. The Secret to Money is an app that is designed to change the way you think about money, and to radically change the circ*mstances of money in your life. DESIRES: In this practice, you create a list of 7 things you would buy if money were no object.

How can I save $1000 fast? ›

11 Easy Ways to Save $1,000 in 30 Days
  1. Create a Budget. ...
  2. Automate Your Savings. ...
  3. Create a Savings Bingo Sheet. ...
  4. Negotiate Your Bills. ...
  5. Separate Wants From Needs. ...
  6. Plan Your Meals. ...
  7. Buy Generic Brands. ...
  8. Cancel Unnecessary Subscriptions.
Sep 26, 2023

Are there any apps that actually give you money? ›

The best money-making app will depend on how you want to earn money. We chose Rakuten and Ibotta for the best apps that give you cash-back on purchases, Survey Junkie as the best survey app, and Swagbucks as the best app for making money in a variety of ways, such as playing games.

What is the best money app to use? ›

The 9 best apps for transferring money
  • PayPal.
  • Venmo.
  • Cash App.
  • Google Pay.
  • Apple Pay.
  • Zelle.
  • Western Union.
  • Remitly.

Are savings apps safe? ›

As long as you're taking steps to protect your data -- such as avoiding public Wi-Fi and enabling multifactor authentication -- using a banking app to manage your money is safe.

Is Rocket money legit? ›

Is Rocket Money legit? Yes, Rocket Money is a legitimate budgeting app that can help you track your spending habits, identify ways to save money and get a better handle on your personal finances. It has a 4.5-star (out of 5) rating on Trustpilot and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

Is the Acorns app worth it? ›

Is Acorns Worth it? Acorns charges monthly membership fees, starting at $3 per month. Even though it is a very easy way to get started investing, if you don't make enough purchases each month to round up and set aside enough money, the monthly fee could outweigh the benefit.

What's better, acorns or stash? ›

Stash caters to new investors who want to build long-term wealth and may be best for investors who want to choose their own individual stock and ETF investments. Acorns completely automates investing, which appeals to investors who want a truly simplified set-it-and-forget-it investing approach.

How to get instant cash app money? ›

Having a debit card linked to your Cash App may let you convert pending Standard Deposits to Instant Deposits:
  1. Tap the Activity tab on your Cash App home screen.
  2. Choose the deposit to expedite.
  3. Select Deposit Instantly.

How many savings accounts should I have? ›

While there's no blanket answer for how many savings accounts you should have, Woroch recommends at least two on top of the investment accounts you're using to save for retirement: one for emergencies and one for goal-based savings for purchases like a home or car.

How much money should you have saved for a rainy day? ›

A rainy-day fund is smaller than an emergency fund and is often used for one-time small, unexpected expenses. A rainy-day fund should generally have $500-$1000 to ensure you have enough cash on hand to cover things such as car repairs, new appliances, etc. without affecting your monthly budget.

Is there a free savings account? ›

Best no-fee savings account accounts. Varo Savings Account. Affirm Money™ Account. Synchrony Bank High Yield Savings.

Is mint free to use? ›

Mint is available in both a free and paid version. The paid version is called Mint Premium and costs $4.99 a month.

Is there a free budget app without linking bank account? ›

The YNAB app is the best budget app if you're not interested in linking anything directly to your bank account. While YNAB does allow you to automatically sync your accounts and many people prefer to do it that way, you don't have to.

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