All of us are working to earn money that can be used to buy various items and to overall support your wellbeing but, sometimes we are not wise enough to manage them which is why in modern days budgeting apps like Everydollar Vs YNAB can be very helpful. These apps are very similar and they are very ideal to teach us to be more planned and wise in spending. If you are also wondering which will fit your preference the most, go check what they can offer below.
In this article, we are going to give you information about:
- Do You Need a Budgeting App
- What are Everydollar and YNAB
- Are Everydollar and YNAB Expensive
- How to Start with Everydollar and YNAB
- Are Everydollar and YNAB Easy to Use
- What else Everydollar and YNAB can offer
- Everydollar Vs YNAB
Contents
Budgeting App
Money promised comfort and this is why we are working almost everyday and spend most of our time dealing with various different tasks which often get stressful at certain times. The money we earn from these jobs is then used to buy groceries, paying mortgage, utilities, entertainment, our kid’s school, the list goes on. The more complex our spending is, the more difficult it is to manage them and if not carefully budgeted, we can overspend them or not be able to pay some bills.
In the past money savers are often dealing with spreadsheet or a huge book to list down and planned everything in one place and let’s be honest, it was effective as you can get strict with the planning but, in modern day, this method seems outdated and not as convenient anymore in an era where you can do almost everything from the cell phone. This is also what many companies offer to you when it comes to budgeting or planning nowadays.
Budgeting apps, as the name suggests is an app that will help you do budgeting itself right from your smartphone or from a web browser depending on the service. These apps in general will track your spending or ask you to allocate an amount for each spending category so at the end of the month we can understand our spending better as all are compiled by the app. In general they are making you more aware of what you are using the money for.
Function wise however, it can vary among the apps themselves since many are pure budgeting while some can do more by also offering a feature to help you save more and managing investment matches with your current goal such as Clarity Money Vs Personal Capital. The best option should be the one that fits in your lifestyle or personal preference since not all of us have the same exact type of spending and how we want to record it.
However, among all those necessary features and functions, we advise to look for the one with better categorizing features. Categorizing is important in budgeting as it separates your spending types which help you see better at the end of the month about which need to be reduced or our actual spending habit. Many apps let you customize and even put tags on these categories but some may also lock and only give you fixed spending types that may not match with your real needs.
About Everydollar and YNAB
If you find it difficult to track your expenses and currently have a goal either long or short term, these apps may be helpful to solve your problem and make you achieve those plans with a proper money management. When you browse through the app store on your smartphone we are sure there are so many of them with the same claim but in our opinion it is best to go for well-known names especially if you will be linking accounts there.
For those who never use a similar app or just want to try whether they are effective or not, it is best to look for the one that has a free trial or a free version that you can get used to first. Among those many budgeting apps, if you are struggling to keep a strict money management system, a zero-based budgeting app like Everydollar and YNAB will be the most ideal. This type of system stresses on each dollar to have its own purpose so you can be more aware when spending and using them.
In short, you will need to allocate the income for every need based on the category and at the end of the month it needs to be zero. Everydollar is one of the most popular budgeting apps by the financial guru Dave Ramsey who is known for his no credit-card decision. This has no connection to the app but if you are looking for a way to manage the monthly income and expense in an easy to use app then this one is probably for you.
On the other hand, YNAB or You Need a Budget was started by a CPA named Jess Mecham to help him and his wife facing financial struggle and this app works for them which is also proven to work for many people as well. This is also zero-based budgeting like Everydollar but more similar to the traditional envelope method without the inconvenience of paying almost everything in cash. Overall both of them are going to be helpful to make sure we are not overspending and wiser in spending the income.
Everydollar and YNAB Price
Since we are talking about how to manage income and expenses, the first thing you may want to know is probably whether these apps are free or not and for this question, you actually can use them for free especially with Everydollar because the free app can be used as long as you want and there is no limitation unless they change it in the future. For YNAB, unfortunately this app is not fully free yet to use in an unlimited time.
They do have a free trial but it can only last for 34 days and if you want to continuously use it we have to pay $89.99 for a year plan or $6.99 per month. This is not very expensive but some may still be reluctant to spend such an amount. For Everydollar, while you can use it for free, there are various upgraded functions on the paid versions which is offered at $99 a year or you can try it for free up to 15 days.
Starting With Everydollar and YNAB
Moving further, let’s see how to start with Everydollar and YNAB because you will have to prepare a few things first. You have to sign up for their service and we also have to provide various information but if you are using the free trial or free version, there is no need to include a credit card in this step. The difference between Everydollar free and Plus or its paid version is you can link accounts on the paid version so it can simplify your data input.
YNAB will ask for your accounts but for those who are not comfortable sharing their bank information, there is an option to unlink it. The first step on both apps are very similar which is entering your income and deciding a budget for every category you will be spending on and while they have preset categories, worry not as you can always customize it anytime.
Everydollar and YNAB Ease of Use
As for the app itself, Everydollar is not optimized with browsers so we recommend using the app instead but YNAB does well whether from a compact device app or from your computer browser as long as they are updated. What’s very different here is the appearance of the app itself but in our opinion YNAB is optimized for a wider view such as tablet as this app requires rooms like spreadsheets to display its information especially when you look at their monthly budget window.
In comparison we do think you will need more time to get used to YNAB because the app and menu or functions itself requires learning curves. The menu and terms they are using can get quite confusing for first time users as to what they are representing hence you may want to read or watch their guide while using the app. Everydollar app on the other hand, is very simple, it shows just enough information to not clog your view and looks clean as well.
What we love the most is entering the spending on each category because this will be instantly subtracted from the respective category. These apps have different way of telling you how much is spent in each one of them and Everydollar have this small blue line below the category which looks like a regular margin but is not, it is showing the amount you have spent while the latter uses color coding; green when there is still some left, orange when underfunded, and red when overspent.
Everydollar and YNAB Additional Features
The last part we want to mention is their additional features and functions that may be useful for you and starting with Everydollar, your account here will be connected to 7 Baby Steps which goal is to help you build wealth or get out of debt. The first step is saving $1k for an emergency fund or unexpected events. In YNAB there is a new feature called Join Forces that lets you and your partner have responsibility together in reaching the same goal.
Everydollar vs YNAB
In general Everydollar and YNAB are very much similar to each other since they have the same approach and the same idea to help you manage income and wiser in spending them by setting a budget for every spending category. The prominent difference in our opinion is the app layout itself as YNAB can be a little bit complicated yet, it works seamlessly on browsers or apps unlike Everydollar which is focusing on the app. Another difference is you can use Everydollar for free as long as you want while customer service is much better in YNAB.
| Everydollar | YNAB |
|---|---|
| - Mobile app optimized | - Better on Web |
| - Simpler UI | - Not very user friendly |
| - Free & Paid version | - Trial & paid version |
| - More expensive | - Slightly more affordable |
Conclusion
There are both pros and cons in these budgeting apps so it highly depends on which sits better in your lifestyle. Personally we recommend to try their free or trial version to see how they work for you and whether you are comfortable using them.