EveryDollar
- Best for: Baby Steps followers and couples who want a simple zero-based budget
- What Sets It Apart: A zero-based budget that stays free with no cap on categories, built around Ramsey’s Baby Steps
- Features: Sinking funds, bill due dates, and split transactions free; one budget a couple can share; Premium adds bank syncing with 13,000+ banks and credit unions, paycheck planning, spending reports, CSV export, and live group coaching
- Price: Free version; Premium $79.99 a year or $17.99 a month after a 14-day free trial for new users
- Eligibility: Premium and the mobile apps in the US only
- Pros: Free version never expires; Premium costs less than YNAB’s $109 a year; Premium flags debt payments that won’t meet your debt-free date; annual plan refundable within 30 days
- Cons: Bank syncing only on Premium; imported transactions assigned by hand; monthly billing comes to $215.88 a year; balances from only a handful of investment accounts; upgrade ads in the free version
If you’ll log each purchase yourself, use EveryDollar’s free version for a zero-based budget, where you plan every dollar of income before the month starts. Premium’s $79.99 a year adds bank syncing, but you still assign every imported transaction to a budget line, so pay only if typing in purchases keeps you from budgeting.
EveryDollar comes from Ramsey Solutions, Dave Ramsey’s company, and lists your debts smallest to largest, the order his Baby Steps plan pays them off. It suits his followers, and it lets couples share one zero-based budget.
Key Features
- Free version with unlimited budget categories, sinking funds for planned costs, bill due dates, and transactions you enter by hand
- Premium at $79.99 a year or $17.99 a month after a 14-day free trial for new users, who are charged unless they cancel before it ends
- Premium bank syncing that reaches over 13,000 banks and credit unions, plus paycheck planning that schedules spending around paydays, spending reports, and live group coaching
- One budget a couple can share, with one Premium subscription covering both
Pros
- Free version never expires
- Premium’s $79.99 a year costs less than YNAB’s $109
- Premium warns when your planned debt payments won’t meet your debt-free date and suggests new amounts
- Annual plan refundable within 30 days of a charge when bought on EveryDollar’s site
Cons
- No bank syncing in the free version, so you type in every purchase
- Every imported transaction assigned to a budget line by hand
- Monthly billing at $17.99 comes to $215.88 a year, $135.89 more than paying annually
- Built mainly for checking and savings, with balances from only a handful of investment accounts
- Upgrade ads in the free version that only Premium removes
Baby Steps followers and couples willing to log their own purchases get a full zero-based budget for free, while Premium’s $79.99 a year suits budgeters who would rather review imported transactions than type them in. Investors who want their portfolio in the same app, or anyone who wants transactions sorted automatically, should choose Monarch Money, which does both for $99.99 a year.
Learn more about EveryDollar or see how it compares to the best budgeting apps.
EveryDollar
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