13 Best Budgeting Apps for College Students

Saving money doesn't have to be painful โ€” Here are 13 of the best budgeting apps to help you save money automatically.

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Everyone wants to save money and budget better, but now you can do it twice as fast with the best budgeting apps for college students.

We'll keep it simple.

Here are the best budgeting apps that can give you a hand so you can speed up the budgeting and saving process.

Just remember, managing your money doesn't have to be painful โ€” in fact, it's almost fun with these free budgeting and saving apps.

Best Budgeting Apps for College Students

Maybe youโ€™ve exhausted all financial resources on the web. Youโ€™ve cut back on spending.ย And now you need to take the next step. Here are budgeting apps to help you save money โ€” for today or tomorrow.

1. Acorns

Like Digit, Acorns offers a mobile and web app. It too functions by saving small amounts of money automatically, this time by rounding up your purchases on a linked account or card and by investing the difference in your Acorns account. The service recently launched โ€œAcorns Laterโ€ โ€” a full-featured retirement account that that's perfect for anybody without an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

2. You Need a Budget

It's got an on-the-nose name, but maybe straightforwardness is exactly what you want in a financial app.ย You Need a Budgetย has long been a favorite because it makes it easy to account for all your spending, prioritize your expenses, understand basic and advanced budgeting techniques and save easily for unforeseen emergencies โ€” or just a rainy day.

3. MoneyLion

The free MoneyLion app styles itself as a jack of all trades. It's a platform for managing your current finances, investing and keeping track of your credit score โ€” all while you save money and plan for the future. A free account gets you saving and borrowing tips, while a MoneyLion Plus account opens up the app's suite of investment tools.

4. Credit Sesame

If your credit, or lack thereof, has been on your mind, you might findย Credit Sesameย as a jack of all trades for credit monitoring and even free identity theft protection. The result is an app that delivers helpful and timely advice, as well as alerts to help you keep your money safe.

5. Credit Karma

Sometimes, saving money for the future or a major purchase requires a little personal finance triage first. If that's the case, theย Credit Karmaย app is a good starting point for anybody who wants to find out where they stand credit-wise and get some practical tips for improving it, saving money on ordinary expenses while you do so.

6. Swagbucks

If you're looking for a way to browse for cool deals, search for specific items, conduct paid surveys and generally earn a little bit back on all the shopping research you'd be doing anyway,ย Swagbucks is for you. After you link a PayPal account, most of your activity on the app โ€” from doing product searches to providing marketing feedback โ€” helps you earn points toward cash rewards.

7. Fundrise

Fundrise is a low-cost investment platform for web and mobile that's specifically designed for real estate investors. And it's not just an app, either โ€” it's a professional investment guidance service. Professionals look at thousands of real estate opportunities across the country and help you diversify your portfolio and keep an eye on site progress at your investment properties, all at the same time.

8. MyPoints

MyPointsย is another app that gets you paid just for answering simple questions about your purchasing habits. Your first survey should take about three minutes and will earn you 10 points in the process. After that, you can earn additional points and other rewards by playing games, watching videos and clipping coupons.

9. Robinhood

In underprepared hands, a stock trading app is a money-loser rather than a money-saver. Robinhood offers free stock and bond trading and an intuitive interface, so it's a smart way to play the market while saving the money you'd otherwise lose to commissions.

10. Upside

Shopping local can put you back in touch with your community and help you uncover hidden gems. But you still want to get the best deals, which is why Upside is so helpful. The app maintains a local focus and points you toward discounts in your local area on the products youโ€™d be buying anyway, like groceries and gas.

11. Ibotta

You can probably file this one under โ€œsounds too good to be true, but isn't.โ€ Ibotta is an app that works with 250 major retailers, including big-box stores, to help you get some money back, retroactively, on purchases you already make regularly. Some users report savings of up to $25 in their first month without changing their shopping habits.

12. Poshmark

You can think of theย Poshmark app a little like a high-end thrift store. It's a mobile-first peer-to-peer digital marketplace where people can buy, swap and sell clothing, footwear and fashion accessories by sought-after and luxury brands, sometimes for 70 percent off the โ€œrack price.โ€ For items where counterfeiting is a worry, Poshmark offers authenticity checks for purchases more than $500.

13. Rakuten

Rakutenย functions a little like an outlet store for 2,500 Internet retailers. By making Rakuten your โ€œshopping portal,โ€ either through the web app or a browser extension, you have access to thousands of great deals โ€” up to 40 percent off โ€” on almost anything you can imagine, straight from your retailers of choice. You can also get cash back on your purchases.

Best Budgeting Apps for College Students Summary

Many of these budgeting and money-savingย apps for college students offer help to let you build up savings over time.

In fact, these saving apps help change your mindset about money and provide valuable ongoing lessons about financial wellness that can keep you out of debt and on the road to saving more money for today and tomorrow.

Your financial independence completely depends on how you feel about your life. If you don't feel motivated then you need to change something in your life. Your most of life will be utilized in working so better you have something in hand which you passionate about. The life is a roller coaster ride so there will be good days and bad days. To enjoy financial independence, you should have planned for both the situation. The money will play a big role in securing your future. Your focus should be balancing the money and passion equally to live the movement at the fullest.

Leave your thoughts below. Share with me how you manage your financial goal and what is financial independence to you?

Good luck!

Brian Meiggs
Brian Meiggs
Brian Meiggs helps you discover clever ways to pay off student loans, make extra money, save money, be resourceful and stay curious. With over 10 years of experience in the financial industry, Brian has developed a reputation for his in-depth knowledge and practical approach to personal finance. He holds a bachelor's degree in Finance and has been recognized by several industry organizations for his contributions to the field. Brian is passionate about educating people about personal finance and has been featured in several national media outlets, including Insider, AOL, Discover, and Yahoo! Finance. With his unique perspective and proven track record, Brian Meiggs is a trusted voice in the world of personal finance.
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Many of the financial independence apps offer help to let you build up savings over time. In fact, these saving apps help change your mindset about money and provide valuable ongoing lessons about financial wellness that can keep you out of debt and on the road to saving more money for today and tomorrow.13 Best Budgeting Apps for College Students