There are tons of budgeting apps to choose from, and many offer similar features. What’s best for you depends on your money management style and preferences, but Rocket Money is a good place to start.

9.4

Rocket Money

as

• AFFORDABLE

• easy to use

• savings goals

• credit score and net worth tracking

• bill negotiation and cancellation services

don’t like it

• free version limited

• There are no playoff planning features in debt

• no investment tools

• fee for bill negotiation

Formerly known as Truebill, Rocket Money won CNET’s 2024 Editors’ Choice award for the best budgeting app because it’s easy to use, affordable and has all the features the average budgeter needs (plus extra benefits like cancellation of subscription and bill negotiation). It has a free and a premium version, and the premium version’s price tag of $6 to $12 per month puts it on the lower end of the price spectrum for top budgeting apps.

Is Rocket Money right for you? Read on to find out.

How does Rocket Money work?

Rocket Money’s budgeting app links your bank accounts to track your income and spending. It can automatically sort your transactions into specific categories, like groceries or housing, to take out some of the leg work. budgeting. You can also edit individual transactions and create rules for sorting future transactions.

Rocket Money lets you set spending goals and shows you how much you’ve spent so far in each category. You can adjust your budget at any time to account for unexpected expenses.

The free version of Rocket Money is limited but provides basic budgeting functions such as expense tracking which may be sufficient for some users. The paid version, which costs $6 to $12 per month, offers advanced features such as custom budget categories, automatic storage and credit reports and net worth tracking.

What do we like?

• Cheap price: Rocket Money Premium costs $6 to $12 per month. It’s up to you how much you pay, and you’ll enjoy the same features regardless of the amount you choose.
• Easy to use: Rocket Money’s mobile app and online platform are both intuitive to use. The information is presented in a clean, easy to understand way that tells you what you need to know without overwhelming you.
• More announcements: You can choose to receive a wide variety of notifications to stay on top of your finances, from bill increases and bank fee alerts to identity theft and credit score alerts.
• Savings goals: Rocket Money Premium offers a Smart Savings account to create put money easier. You can set savings goals and schedule regular automatic transfers to this account. Smart Savings accounts are held by an FDIC-insured partner bank, so your money is safe up to $250,000 per account holder.
• Credit score and net worth tracking: Rocket Money Premium offers credit score viewing and credit report and net worth trackers. (The free version offers credit score viewing only.)
• Bill negotiation: Rocket Money also offers a bill negotiation service that is available to both free and paid users. Rocket contacts your service providers — like your cell phone or internet provider — to try to lower your bill. You’ll pay a fee if they succeed, but it may be worth it to you if you don’t want to deal with customer service representatives.

What we don’t like

• The free version is limited: You can probably get away with using the free version of Rocket Money, but it’s pretty barebones. If you want features like the usual budget categories, you need to pay for the premium membership.
• No loan repayment plan: Some budgeting apps, like PocketGuard, provide a loan repayment plan to help you reduce your debt load. Rocket is not. You can link your credit card accounts to monitor your balances, but that’s about it.
• No investment tools: You can connect your investment accounts to Rocket Money and view your balances, but if you want help with investment planning, you’re better off with an app like Empower, which provides tools to check and adjust your strategy.
• Traditional budgeting method: Rocket Money uses a basic budgeting method: You set your budget categories and spending goals up front, and you can tweak them every month. This strategy may not work for everyone. If you want a more detailed approach to your budget or need help controlling your spending, you may be better served by zero-based budgeting apps like EveryDollar and YNAB or through the Goodbudget envelope method.
• Bill negotiation fee: If Rocket Money’s fee negotiation service is successful, you’ll pay them 30% to 60% of your savings in the first year (you choose your percentage). You can contact your service providers yourself and save this cost.

Is Rocket Money safe?

Yes, the Rocket Money app is generally safe. It uses 256-bit encryption — the same encryption used by many banks — and works with payment network Plaid to link to your accounts rather than storing your login information. That said, your financial data may still be at risk if your phone is lost or stolen, so you need to know how to remotely wipe your phone in this event.

Who is the best fit for Rocket Money?

Rocket Money offers all the essentials you need to create and maintain a budget. It’s accessible to a wide range of budgeters, easy to use, and the premium subscription is affordable.

Because of this, we found Rocket Money a solid replacement for Mintthe popular budgeting app that disappeared in March 2024.

Alternatives to Rocket Money app

Rocket Money offers something for everyone, but it’s not the only budgeting app on the market. You can explore your options by checking out our best budgeting apps roundup.

Finally crush your budgeting goals with Rocket Money.

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