What is the best free budgeting app in the UK?

For automatic feeds, Emma's or Snoop's free tier. For budgeting without connecting a bank, The Income Tracker (CSV import, no login) or Goodbudget (manual envelopes). For Monzo customers, Trends is built in.

Which budgeting apps work without open banking?

The Income Tracker, Goodbudget and Spendee work fully without a bank connection on their free tiers. YNAB does too but is paid. Emma allows it only on paid tiers.

Is there a free alternative to YNAB in the UK?

The Income Tracker gives you the monthly picture for free without YNAB's full method. Goodbudget offers free envelope budgeting with limits.

Are Money Dashboard and Moneyhub still available?

No. Money Dashboard closed in October 2023 and Moneyhub's consumer app in July 2026.

The best free budgeting apps in the UK (2026)

By The Income Tracker · Updated 8 September 2026 · Facts checked 8 September 2026

The short answer

There is no single best. If you want automatic bank feeds, Emma's and Snoop's free tiers are the strongest, with paid upgrades waiting. If you want to budget without connecting a bank, the free options are The Income Tracker (CSV import, no login), Goodbudget (envelopes, manual) and Spendee (manual with paid sync). Monzo Trends is the best built-in option if you bank with Monzo. Everything below says what each one is bad at, including ours.

How we picked and what we checked

Every app here has a usable free tier in the UK as of September 2026. We checked the list price of paid tiers, whether the app needs an open banking connection to be useful, whether you can enter transactions by hand or import a file, and which platforms it runs on, against each company's own pricing and help pages. We make The Income Tracker, so read our entry with that in mind; we have tried to be as blunt about it as about the others.

At a glance

App	Free tier	Needs open banking?	Manual or CSV?	Best for
The Income Tracker	Everything free	No (opt-in only)	Yes: CSV, OFX, QIF, paste, manual	Private, no-login budgeting from bank CSVs
Monzo Trends	Included with a Monzo account	For other banks (one free)	No	Monzo customers who want it automatic
Emma	Free tier (2 bank connections)	Yes	Only on Pro (£9.99/mo) and Ultimate	Polished automatic budgeting with feeds
Snoop	Free core; Plus £5.99/mo	Yes, required for anything useful	Balance-only manual accounts on Plus; no CSV	Money-saving nudges from your feed
Goodbudget	Free (20 envelopes, 1 account, 1 year history)	No (US bank sync only)	Yes, including CSV, OFX and QFX import on the free plan	Envelope budgeting with no bank access
Spendee	Free (one manual wallet)	Only on Premium	Yes; file import via the web app	Cheap manual tracking with optional sync
Plum	Basic free; paid from £3.99/mo	Yes, required	No	Automatic saving and investing
HyperJar	No monthly fee (some transaction fees)	No	No (you load real money into jars)	Spending from jars with a card
Lumio	Free individual tier	Yes	Offline accounts on paid tiers; no CSV	Couples who want private and shared views
YNAB (paid, for comparison)	34-day trial, then about £99/yr	Optional	Yes, and file import	The full zero-based method

The apps, one by one

1. The Income Tracker That’s us

A month-by-month ledger fed by the CSV you download from your bank. Categories with merchant memory, recurring items, goals, an annual view, and data kept in your browser. Free with no tiers.

Good: No bank connection and no account needed; import a file or type entries.
Good: Free for everything, including CSV import, custom categories and export.
Good: Guides for exporting a CSV from 20 UK banks and card providers.
Not so good: No automatic daily feed: you export once a month yourself.
Not so good: Simpler than YNAB's method; no per-category envelope goals.
Not so good: The iOS app is still in development, so on a phone you install the web app.

Open The Income Tracker

2. Monzo Trends

Monzo's built-in budgeting view. Free with the account, categorises at the point of purchase, and one external bank or card can be connected free; unlimited connections and custom categories need a paid plan (Extra £3, Perks £9, Max £19 a month).

Good: Zero effort if Monzo is your main account.
Good: One free external connection covers many two-bank households.
Good: Good spending and balance views.
Not so good: Needs a Monzo current account.
Not so good: No CSV import or manual entry.
Not so good: Custom categories and more connections are paid.

Read the full Monzo Trends comparison

3. Emma

The most polished open-banking budgeting app in the UK, with strong subscription detection and analytics. The free tier connects two accounts; Plus is £4.99, Pro £9.99 and Ultimate £14.99 a month, with roughly 30% off paid yearly.

Good: Excellent interface and subscription tracking.
Good: Household budgeting controls.
Good: Web app for paying customers.
Not so good: Free tier capped at two connections.
Not so good: Manual accounts and CSV import locked behind Pro.
Not so good: Persistent upselling.

Read the full Emma comparison

4. Snoop

Connect your accounts and Snoop generates prompts: a bill that went up, a cheaper deal, a subscription to review. The core is free; Snoop Plus (£5.99 a month or £47.99 a year) adds custom categories, manual accounts and export.

Good: Genuinely useful nudges.
Good: Free core with 50-plus UK banks supported.
Good: Good at spotting rising bills.
Not so good: Near-useless without a connected account, by Snoop's own description.
Not so good: No web app and no CSV import.
Not so good: Custom categories and export are paid.

Read the full Snoop comparison

5. Goodbudget

A classic envelope budgeting app that is manual by design. The free plan allows 20 envelopes and one account; the paid plan is listed in US dollars ($10 a month or $80 a year) with UK App Store prices that vary, so check before paying.

Good: True envelope method with zero bank access.
Good: Web, iOS and Android, shared across devices.
Good: File import on the free plan.
Not so good: No UK bank sync at all, even paid.
Not so good: Dated interface.
Not so good: Free plan limited to one account.

6. Spendee

A manual-first tracker with shared wallets and multi-currency support. The free plan gives one cash wallet; Plus and Premium are priced in US dollars (about $1.99 and $5.99 a month, £5.99 for Premium on the UK App Store), and bank sync is Premium-only.

Good: Inexpensive.
Good: Shared wallets for couples or households.
Good: Receipt scanning and multi-currency.
Not so good: File import is web-only and only into manual wallets.
Not so good: Free plan limited to a single wallet.
Not so good: UK pricing is opaque.

7. Plum

More a saving and investing app than a budget. Plum reads your bank through open banking, skims money into pots by rules, and offers ISAs and investments. Plus, Boost and Max are £3.99, £7.99 and £14.99 a month.

Good: Saving happens without you deciding each month.
Good: Pots, ISA and investing in one place.
Good: Spending analysis included.
Not so good: Not a budget you control; a feed you react to.
Not so good: No manual mode or CSV.
Not so good: Best features on paid tiers.

Read the full Plum comparison

8. HyperJar

A prepaid account with a Mastercard and spending jars. There is no monthly fee; the physical card is a one-off £4.99 and there are limits on free loads and transfers before per-transaction fees apply. It does not read your other accounts.

Good: Jar budgeting with a real card, no monthly fee.
Good: No FX fees abroad.
Good: Free kids' cards.
Not so good: It is an account you fund, not a tracker of your existing accounts.
Not so good: E-money, not FSCS-protected.
Not so good: No ATM withdrawals; fees beyond the free allowances.

9. Lumio

Built for couples: private spaces plus a shared one. The free individual tier allows unlimited connections with three months of history; Pro is £3 a month for one person or £4.49 for a couple, paid yearly cheaper.

Good: Shared-and-private model suits couples.
Good: Free tier with unlimited connections.
Good: Net worth tracking.
Not so good: Three-month history on free.
Not so good: Offline accounts paywalled; no CSV import.
Not so good: No web app.

10. YNAB (paid, for comparison)

Not free, but it is the benchmark people compare free apps against. Manual entry and file import are first-class, it works with or without a bank link, and it teaches a rigorous method. About £12.99 a month or £99 a year on the UK App Store.

Good: The best implementation of zero-based budgeting.
Good: Works fully without a bank connection.
Good: Web plus mobile, shareable with up to six people.
Not so good: One of the most expensive.
Not so good: Billed in US dollars on the website.
Not so good: A real learning curve.

Read the full YNAB (paid, for comparison) comparison

Budgeting without connecting a bank: your real options

Fully manual and free: The Income Tracker (CSV import plus manual entry), Goodbudget (manual, file import on the free plan) and Spendee (manual wallets; sync is paid). Paid but excellent: YNAB. Possible but paywalled: Emma (Pro tier) and Lumio (offline accounts on paid tiers). Not possible: Plum, Snoop in any useful form, Cleo and Monzo Trends, all of which depend on a feed.

Apps that have closed

Money Dashboard shut down on 31 October 2023 and Moneyhub's consumer app was sunsetted on 31 July 2026. Mint never operated in the UK and closed in March 2024. If you are searching for any of them, the alternative pages explain what happened and what to use instead.

The Income TrackerTrack it free. No account, no bank login.

Open the tracker →

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free budgeting app in the UK?: For automatic feeds, Emma's or Snoop's free tier. For budgeting without connecting a bank, The Income Tracker (CSV import, no login) or Goodbudget (manual envelopes). For Monzo customers, Trends is built in.
Which budgeting apps work without open banking?: The Income Tracker, Goodbudget and Spendee work fully without a bank connection on their free tiers. YNAB does too but is paid. Emma allows it only on paid tiers.
Is there a free alternative to YNAB in the UK?: The Income Tracker gives you the monthly picture for free without YNAB's full method. Goodbudget offers free envelope budgeting with limits.
Are Money Dashboard and Moneyhub still available?: No. Money Dashboard closed in October 2023 and Moneyhub's consumer app in July 2026.

Sources and checking

Facts on this page were last checked on 8 September 2026 against:

Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.

Budget app, no open bankingPrivate by design A free YNAB alternative for the UKYNAB's clarity without the fee Bank CSV import guidesExport from any UK bank Is it safe to upload your bank statement to a budgeting app?What to check before you upload anything