Most money saving apps fall into two groups, and mixing them up is why people download five and keep none. Some cut what you are already paying every month. Others give you a bit back on spending you were going to do anyway.
The first group is where the real money is. Canceling one forgotten subscription beats a year of scanning receipts. The second group is worth having, but treat it as a bonus rather than a plan.
Here are the six worth your phone storage, split by what they actually do.
Start with the number, not the app
You cannot cut what you have never actually looked at
Almost everyone underestimates two categories: food and subscriptions. Not by a little, either. The apps further down will claw back a percentage of what you spend, but none of them tells you what you are spending in the first place, and that is the number that decides everything else.
Monarch pulls your accounts, cards and loans into one dashboard and categorizes the spending automatically. Give it two weeks and you will know exactly which category is quietly eating the budget. Then the apps below are worth setting up on top.
See where your money actually goes →Paid subscription with a free trial. If you do not open it in the first two weeks, it is not the tool for you, and the free apps below still work on their own.
Apps that cut what you already pay
These work on your fixed costs, which is the part of your budget you can change once and benefit from every month afterwards.
1. Rocket Money
Rocket Money connects to your accounts and lists every recurring charge in one place, which is usually an uncomfortable read. You can cancel subscriptions straight from the app rather than hunting for the account you set up three years ago, and it will attempt to negotiate some bills down on your behalf. The subscription tracking is free. The bill negotiation and a few extras sit behind a paid Premium tier.
See what you are actually subscribed to.
2. Monarch
Monarch pulls your accounts, cards, loans and investments into one dashboard so you can see where the money goes without a spreadsheet. It is the app to pick if the problem is not one bad subscription but a general fog about your finances. There is no permanent free tier, so treat the trial as the test: if you do not open it in the first two weeks, it is not the tool for you.
Try Monarch and see where your money actually goes.
Apps that pay you back on spending you cannot avoid
None of these will change your finances on their own. They are worth setting up because the money comes off purchases you were making regardless.
3. Upside
Claim an offer in the app before you fill up, pay as normal, then submit the receipt. Upside also covers groceries and restaurants, but fuel is where it earns its keep, because it is the one recurring cost most people cannot cut. Payouts go to PayPal or gift cards.
Check the fuel offers near you.
4. Rakuten
Start your online shopping through Rakuten and a percentage comes back to you. It covers a long list of well-known retailers, and the rate rises during promotional periods. Payments arrive by PayPal, though not immediately, so treat it as money you will see later rather than a discount at checkout.
See what your usual shops pay back.
5. Fetch
Photograph any receipt and Fetch finds the qualifying products itself. It partners with brands rather than shops, so it does not matter where you bought something, and there are no offers to activate first. That makes it the easiest app here to actually stick with. Points convert to gift cards.
Scan one receipt and see what it finds.
6. Swagbucks
Swagbucks bundles online cashback with surveys, offers and games. It is rarely the best at any one of those, but it partners with enough retailers that something usually applies to what you are already buying, and the extra earning routes give you something to fall back on.
Join free and see what your shops are paying.
How to actually make these work
Install the two in the first group properly, then pick one from the second. The common failure is downloading all six, using them enthusiastically for two weeks, and forgetting them. One bill you cancel is worth more than a hundred receipts you scan.
It also helps to know what you are aiming at. Our guides to lowering your bills, choosing a budgeting app and cutting the grocery bill go deeper on each. And if you want the cashback side in full, including the receipt scanners we left off this page, that is in our reward apps and cash back apps roundup.
