The foundation of good finances is arguably a solid budget. Luckily, there are many ways to make a budget that works for your lifestyle and financial goals. One strategy is to use an app such as EveryDollar to manage your income and expenses.This app may be ideal for people who are left wondering where all of their money went at the end of the month, since it takes a meticulous approach to budgeting. Before diving in, learn how the app works and whether it aligns with your budgeting needs. We downloaded and tested the iOS app in addition to the web-based version to get a better understanding of the app features, pros and cons. What is the EveryDollar app? The EveryDollar app is a budget tracker that helps you stay on top of your spending. The mobile app, designed by Ramsey Solutions, uses a zero-based budgeting method. The aim of zero-based budgeting is to ensure that every dollar goes into a category, such as wants, needs, savings and debt repayment. With every dollar accounted for, your income minus expenses equals zero at the end of every month. Zero-based budgeting can be ideal for people who want to understand where their money is going, and be more intentional about how they spend every dollar. Find the right budget app for youIf you want help following a budget, check out and compare some of the most popular budgeting apps.How much does the EveryDollar app cost? There are two versions of the EveryDollar app: free and premium. The free version is pretty basic, while the paid version has many more features to help you on your budgeting journey. Free versionEveryDollar is available for free through the Apple App Store and Google Play store. The free version has limited features, which can make tracking your budget tedious.For instance, while you can customize your budget categories and set savings goals, you have to manually add each transaction. You can’t link your financial accounts with the free version, which can make it easy to lose track of expenses. Premium versionThe premium version of EveryDollar is $17.99 a month or $79.99 a year. It’s cheaper to pay for the year, as you’ll save $135.89. With the premium version of the app, you get additional features, such as bank connectivity, paycheck planning, budget insights, group coaching and a financial roadmap, among others. If you’d like to test before you buy, sign up for the 14-day free trial to see if the app meets all of your budgeting needs and is worth your money. How does EveryDollar work? EveryDollar creates a budget for you via its mobile app, which is also available via desktop. It separates your budget into three main categories: planned, spent and remaining. Planned: This is the money you anticipate getting, from any source of income.Spent: This is where you track the money you spend throughout the month. Remaining: This bucket shows how much money is left over after spending. The goal is to get to zero remaining dollars at the end of each month by accounting for eve
