Budgeting sounds simple until you try to stick to it. A good app takes away most of the hard work: it shows where your money actually goes, reminds you about bills, and helps you set money aside before the month runs away from you. The catch is that a lot of older “best app” lists are out of date — well-known names like Pocketbook and MoneyBrilliant have shut down, so some apps you will see recommended elsewhere no longer exist at all.
Every app below is free to start, still working, and usable with local banks or accounts. Prices and features were checked on 30 October 2026 and can change, so it is worth a quick look at the app’s own site before you sign up. If you want free guidance without downloading anything first, the government’s MoneySmart toolkit is a solid place to start.
How we picked these apps
To make this list, an app had to meet three tests: it must have a genuinely usable free version (not just a short trial), it must work for everyday banking here rather than only overseas banks, and it must still be live and supported in 2026. Apps that only work as a paid subscription did not make the cut.
1. Frollo
Best for: automatic bank syncing through open banking.
Frollo is a free money management app with no subscription fees. It links your accounts through the Consumer Data Right, the regulated open banking system, so you do not hand over your banking password. Once linked, it sorts transactions into categories automatically, tracks your spending across every account in one place, and lets you set budgets and savings goals. It also tracks recurring bills, so rent, streaming and energy payments do not catch you by surprise, and it can show your overall net worth.
Cost: free. Available on: iOS and Android.
2. WeMoney
Best for: budgeting plus a free credit score.
WeMoney links your accounts through open banking and adds something most budgeting apps do not: free monthly credit score updates from Equifax and Experian. The free version covers budgeting, bill tracking and net worth, and it flags forgotten subscriptions and recurring payments. If you want more, WeMoney Pro adds daily credit file monitoring, unlimited custom categories and a desktop version for $9.99 a month after a free first week.
Cost: free, with a paid Pro tier. Available on: iOS and Android.
3. PocketSmith
Best for: forecasting where your balance is headed.
PocketSmith stands out for its calendar view of your money: it projects your bank balance weeks and months ahead based on your scheduled bills and income, so you can see a shortfall coming before it happens. Its free plan covers 2 accounts, 12 budgets and a 6-month projection, and paid plans add automatic bank feeds for more accounts and longer forecasts. It connects with banks around the world, which is handy if you still hold an account overseas.
Cost: free plan, with paid plans available. Available on: iOS, Android and web.
4. Goodbudget
Best for: envelope budgeting, especially with a partner.
Goodbudget brings the old envelope method to your phone. You split your income into virtual envelopes for rent, groceries, transport and savings, and each purchase comes out of its envelope — when an envelope is empty, you stop spending in that category. The free plan includes 10 regular envelopes and 10 annual envelopes, one account and syncing across two devices, and you can share a budget with a partner. Transactions are entered by hand on the free plan; the paid plan adds bank syncing and unlimited envelopes for $10 a month, or about $80 a year when billed annually.
Cost: free plan, with a paid plan available. Available on: iOS, Android and web.
5. Up
Best for: budgeting built into your bank account.
Up is a free digital bank account with budgeting built in, rather than an app that sits on top of your existing bank. Its Savers let you split money into named sub-accounts for goals like a holiday or a car, and its tools help automate bill payments and track spending. The trade-off is simple: the budgeting only works with Up accounts, so it suits you if you are happy to do your everyday banking with Up, not if you want one app to pull together several different banks.
Cost: free to join. Available on: iOS and Android.
6. MoneySmart
Best for: free guidance with no sign-up and nothing to sell you.
MoneySmart is run by the government, not a private company, so there is no account to create and no product being pushed. It offers a budget planner, calculators and guides covering budgeting, debt, super and retirement planning. It is a toolkit rather than a tracking app — it will not sync with your bank — so it works best alongside one of the apps above, or on its own if you prefer to plan on paper or in a spreadsheet.
Cost: free. Available on: web.
7. Your own bank’s app
Best for: budgeting without sharing data with a third party.
If you would rather not link your accounts to another company at all, check the app you already have. Most major banks now build budgeting tools into their own apps — CommBank has Spend Tracker and Insights, and ANZ, NAB, Westpac and Bendigo all offer budget planners. You get automatic categorisation of your spending with that bank, with no extra download and no extra account, though it only sees the accounts you hold with that bank.
Cost: free with your existing account. Available on: iOS and Android.
Which free budgeting app should you pick?
If you want everything tracked automatically, start with Frollo or WeMoney — both are free, built for local banks, and sync through open banking. If you like planning ahead, PocketSmith’s forecast view is hard to beat. If automatic tracking feels like too much, or you budget as a couple, Goodbudget’s hands-on envelope method keeps things simple. And if you just want a plan without another app, MoneySmart or your own bank’s tools will do the job.
Whichever you choose, give it a full month before you judge it. A budget only starts to make sense once a whole pay cycle has passed through it, and the app that feels right after four weeks is the one you will actually keep using.
Is it safe to link your bank to a budgeting app?
Apps that use the Consumer Data Right, including Frollo and WeMoney, connect through a regulated system: you approve the connection through your bank’s own login screen, and the app can read your transaction data but cannot move your money or make payments for you. Be more careful with any app that asks you to type your banking password directly into it — that older method, known as screen scraping, hands over far more access than open banking does. If an app asks for your password rather than sending you to your bank to approve access, think twice before signing up.
This article is general information only, not financial advice. App features and prices change, so check the app’s own site for the latest details before you decide.
