PocketGuard App Evaluate for 2025

PocketGuard is a finances app that could possibly exchange your trusty spreadsheet. You’ll be able to hyperlink monetary accounts, set spending classes and add or tag recurring payments.

We downloaded and examined the iOS app and web-based model of PocketGuard to study concerning the options and determine if it’s value it.

PocketGuard is a money-management platform with over one million members. The free model allows you to do budgeting fundamentals, akin to:

• Hyperlink and sync two monetary accounts. 

• Create one money account to manually replicate earnings or a financial institution steadiness.

• Add and observe recurring payments.

• Create a restricted variety of spending classes.

PocketGuard Plus is the paid model that lifts limits on financial institution connections, money accounts and spending classes, plus provides premium options, akin to monetary purpose setting, debt-payoff planning, subscription monitoring and extra.

PocketGuard’s declare to fame is to prominently show how a lot cash stays after you’ve accounted for all of your month-to-month bills. The characteristic is named “Leftover,” and it’s the quantity you’ll see on the prime of your dashboard within the app or on the internet model.

Free model: You’ll be able to enroll and use PocketGuard without cost straight away, however you will not have entry to premium options. Additionally, you may be restricted to simply two finances classes, which can be a deal breaker for some.

Paid model: You’ll be able to raise the restrictions and entry all options with PocketGuard Plus for $74.99 per 12 months or $12.99 per thirty days.

Free trial: You can begin with a free 7-day trial to check out the app.

Lifetime membership: Throughout our testing of the PocketGuard app on an iPhone, we famous a lifetime membership buy choice — that isn’t listed on the web site — of $149.99. We additionally obtained a suggestion, on a number of events, to purchase lifetime entry to PocketGuard Plus for a reduced payment of $79.99 whereas utilizing the app. It’s a worthy deal when you think about 10 years of the annual subscription quantities to $749.90.

A finances app is just pretty much as good as the data you place in. You’ll need to observe recurring payments, set spending classes and monitor transactions to get the very best outcomes.

You’ll be able to automate the method by linking your checking, financial savings and bank card accounts within the accounts part of PocketGuard. The corporate companions with Finicity, Plaid and Apple Pockets to securely pull your monetary knowledge, in response to its web site. Linking accounts permits your steadiness and transaction knowledge to circulation in and show mechanically within the app, which makes it simpler for the software to detect earnings and recurring payments.

Alternatively, you may create a money account to manually add and replace your financial institution steadiness after which log transactions as you make them. You’ll want PocketGuard Plus to hyperlink a number of financial institution accounts and/or create a number of money accounts.

Add payments: The app will mechanically establish recurring payments in case you have your exterior accounts linked, or you may add them manually within the “plan” part of the app or desktop website.

Set budgets: You can even use the “plan” part to set spending classes and limits for variable bills, referred to as “budgets” within the app. The free model of PocketGuard limits you to simply two finances classes. The app will show spending in opposition to every finances class as you make transactions.

Have a look at what’s leftover: With all of your deliberate spending accounted for, the app shows the projected leftover steadiness (estimated earnings much less payments and spending towards finances classes) at a look so that you’ll know the place you stand and may make changes as needed.

Particular options that help you set customized financial savings objectives and design debt payoff plans are solely accessible to Plus customers.

Monetary objectives is perhaps helpful should you’re saving for one thing like a automobile. Within the “objectives” part, you may enter a goal quantity, outline how a lot you’ll contribute every month and observe progress over time.

Debt payoff may also help you prioritize and visualize paying off loans, utilizing the favored debt avalanche or debt snowball methods. When you arrange a plan that features your mortgage steadiness, annual proportion charge and month-to-month goal, the app will enable you to set up your individual payoff schedule and make room for it in your finances.

Subscription monitoring is one other premium characteristic, which the app does by analyzing your financial institution and bank card transactions. PocketGuard gives cancellation directions you may observe for undesirable subscriptions it identifies, however it doesn’t do the canceling for you.

• The free model of PocketGuard serves as beginning place for brand spanking new budgeters.

• Utilizing fundamental options, like recurring payments and finances classes, can set up good cash habits.

• Customers prepared to pay for Plus and hyperlink a number of accounts can automate the budgeting course of.

• For devoted customers, the lifetime membership is extra reasonably priced than paying month-to-month or yearly.

• The essential model of PocketGuard is bare-bones.

• The restrict on finances classes within the free model makes a spreadsheet — with limitless traces — a worthy various.

Reddit is a web-based discussion board the place customers share their ideas in “threads” on varied subjects. The favored website consists of loads of dialogue on monetary topics like budgeting, so we sifted by way of Reddit boards to get a pulse verify on how customers really feel about finances apps. Folks submit anonymously, so we can not verify their particular person experiences or circumstances.

Reddit feedback present combined ranges of satisfaction with PocketGuard. Some posts point out customers worth the choice to make use of the essential model of the app without cost in addition to the choice to buy lifetime entry as a substitute for an ongoing subscription. There are additionally nods to PocketGuard’s fundamental transaction monitoring and categorization capabilities. Alternatively, there are posts that point out customers have been pissed off with sluggish growth and delayed characteristic releases.