Where Tech Meets Your Business Goals: Making a Budget App with Minimum Hassle

Personal finance applications have been in high demand for a while, and global market change has only increased peoples’ awareness of their financial habits and the urge to apply budget apps on a daily basis. This has made them a great product idea for innovators who seek robust services for making a budget app fast with minimum hassle and maximum results. 

In order to create a budget app and successfully launch it, you should have a thorough understanding of all commercial and technical aspects. Fireart has long had the right expertise in creating a budget app, so you’re on the right path to learn high-quality financial product design and development for business without hassle. Let’s learn what financial apps are, how to create a budget app, the different types of budgeting apps you can choose, the must-have features, etc., to help skyrocket your next product idea.

What is a Personal Finance App?

A personal financial app is a solution that can help you keep tabs on your spending, saving, investing, and bill-paying activities while keeping you informed of changes to your credit score and much more. You can connect personal finance applications to your financial institutions to see where money from your bank account is being spent. 

Personal budgeting apps generally aid users in managing their expenditures and savings. From a business perspective, the market for budget apps was valued at USD 212.48 million back in 2022. It is now anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.48%, totaling USD 292.64 million in 2028.

As the market has expanded, you may find finance apps catering to specific requirements of various groups, from those dealing with economic instability keeping track of their savings and investment performance to groups like couples, families, or friends who split expenses, among others. Building a finance app might be a great investment now more than ever.

Types of budgeting apps

To make a budget app targeted at those potential prospects, it helps to query the different app types possible. It can be anything based on your target audience’s pains. Here are some of the most run-of-the-mill budgeting tools examples to consider:

1.Banking mobile tools

This category includes a wide choice of apps. Choose the right one for your business: 

• Banking Systems
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 
• Anti-Money Laundering (AML) 
• Business Intelligence (BI) 
• Electronic Payment Systems
• Electronic Wallets
• Loan Origination

• Fraud Detection apps, etc.

Customers can use these to track their spending and create budgets so they can manage their money more efficiently. Smart banking technology enables banks to provide customers with specialized guidance and services, such as low-interest credit cards and investment opportunities and so much more.

Feel free to take a look at Fireart’s vision for a new design concept of the neobank mobile app that captures the essence of modern banking as a great example of a modern budget app:

Fireart introduces their latest creation in mobile banking – a cutting-edge app design, revolutionizing how we manage our finances, and an exceptional neobank website page design, representing a new era in online banking.

2.Mobile Invoicing apps

Mobile invoicing apps cover more than just invoices. These can be used to deliver estimates and to ask for online approval from your clients before starting any following work. These apps help to increase the number of jobs you can book and help to grow your firm while keeping your essential procedures simple and automated. Also, you can implement these tools to track, control, and record your financial documents like money transfer invoices, bills, etc.

Here is a concept of the invoicing mobile app that we recently worked on: 

3.Investment tools

This category includes average budgeting apps for various use cases: investments, mortgages, loans, real estate, etc. They may display, group and optimize your spending into separate categories and come with a convenient dashboard containing all of your bank accounts displayed together. Some smart programs even sift through your expenses, provide less expensive options, and keep track of your saving targets. 

Inveto – Investing platform is an online service that allows individuals to buy and sell various financial instruments. This platform provides users with a simple and user-friendly interface to help manage their investments, track performance and conduct research.

4.Lending tools

Different bilateral credit products that private or governmental banking institutions and corporations provide are referred to as lending products: credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, etc. Savy is a cross-platform mobile app that helps users invest or borrow money easily. Newly designed and released by the Fireart UX/UI team: 

The company offers personal loans at lower interest rates for those who want to borrow and a responsible assessment of loan risks for those who want to receive a guaranteed return.

5.Donation apps

Of course, there are plenty of non-commercial, governmental, charity, crowdfunding, or other more specific budget app projects to consider when creating your own budget app. They also need secure and trustworthy solutions such as a safe payment gateway for processing donations using various payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, bank transfer, etc, simple interfaces for managing and tracking individual donations via their user profiles, and so on.

Here is a WIP screen from our recent project regarding donating and supporting other people developed by Fireart:

Why do so many people use budget apps?

Making a budget and actually following it are two very different things To maintain a spending plan can frequently be very difficult.

According to a National Payroll Week survey, 34% of Americans think it would be challenging to meet their financial obligations if their salary was delayed by a week. If you’re prepared to end the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck then using budget software is one choice you might consider.

Personal Financial Management (PFM) usage and digital banking growth both continue to develop in 2023. For a while now, innovative approaches to simplifying financial management have been a particularly profitable area of financial products.

Thus, build a budget app and you will target nearly every average user of the personal finance market and corporate finance sector depending on the app type you choose – be it a B2B mobile platform, peer-to-peer portal, or an individual budgeting app. 

Luckily, both personal and corporate users have many reasons to use budget apps to optimize their time, raise or manage funds, and save for their future goals. In the past month, 73% of smartphone users have already used an app to manage their finances.

People are dependent on budget tools to stay on top of their budgets, which is a new way of living for many in the current financial reality. Here’s a checklist of things your potential app users may do with a budget tool:

• Ensure that they are ready for the foreseeable future’s predictable costs, such as dwelling expenses, mortgage, and taxes.
• Prepare for additional expenses like holidays or purchasing school supplies.
• Save for financial objectives like car purchases and weddings.
• Determine how much of their weekly or monthly budget is left after each purchase and how it varies, thereby keeping track of their spending on a daily basis.
• Observe bill due dates.
• Store invoices and bills after payment.
• Share living expenses with spouses or roommates and beyond.

Numerous budgeting programs will maintain track of money in the long run, allowing the monitoring of both general financial progress and progress toward particular goals. For instance, most programs will allow users to set savings objectives. The finest budgeting apps also enable users to have complete control over finances by helping them fully understand income and expenses and balance them accordingly.

Check out this list of mobile app onboarding designs created by Fireart for your inspiration.

Top 5 Budget Apps to Inspire

Aside from the most popular budget app types  considered for design, you may also search for the top marketplace budget app leaders to be inspired by their success. These top budgeting applications are generally accessible, sync with your bank accounts, and have excellent user reviews: 

Mint: Budget & Track Bills

Mint allows users to discover a new way to manage their money with the Mint budgeting app, helping them,achieve financial goals with personalized information and customizable budgets. You can use Mint as a subscription manager and track your spending—all for free, as well as review your monthly bills, create budgets, increase savings, and build stronger financial habits. Check out their UX/UI design:

Cost:

Free

Unique features:

Shows income, expenses, savings goals, credit score, investments, net worth

Links to accounts:

Yes, bank and credit cards

Availability:

Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android)

Security features:

Verisign scanning, multi-factor authentication, and Touch ID mobile access.

Acorns: Save & Invest

Acorns helps you invest and save money for the future. With over 20 million downloads and over $15 billion invested in customers since launch, they are the go-to app for investing and saving money. You can get started in minutes and immediately give your money a chance to grow. The app is available on the Apple Store. Check out their UX/UI design:

Cost:

There are two levels of Acorns membership, and each has a set monthly fee: $3 monthly for personal use. You have access to Checking Later and Invest Individual Plus: $5 monthly.

Unique features:

$0 minimum deposit to open an account, customizes users’ portfolios around financial goals, timeline, and risk tolerance, automatically rebalances portfolio, ESG investing, and access to educational articles and videos to learn about investing.

Links to accounts:

Yes, direct deposit, mobile check deposit, a debit card, and fee-free withdrawal from over 55,000 Allpoint ATMs around the world.

Availability:

Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android)

Security features: 

Two-factor authentication, Encryption, PIN and biometric login

You Need a Budget (YNAB)

This one is one of the best apps for serious budgeters. YNAB is a simple budgeting method and app that has helped millions change how they think about money. Indeed, the company implores prospective users to ‘Stop arguing about finances, stop doing mental math to figure out if you can afford something, and start taking control of your finances’ –. Check out their UX/UI design:

Cost:

34-day free trial, then $84 per year or $11.99 per month (students who provide proof of enrolment get 12 months free)

Unique features:

Users may allocate every dollar they earn to something (known as the zero-based budgeting system, where no dollar is unaccounted for) instead of using traditional budgeting buckets. Every dollar is assigned a “job,” whether it goestoward savings, bills or investments, etc.

Links to accounts:

Yes, bank and credit cards

Availability:

Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android

Security features:

Encrypted data, accredited data centers, third-party audits, and more.

PocketGuard: Money & Budgeting

PocketGuard is a free budgeting app for people who want to stay on top of their money. Personal finance is made easy with smart algorithms, meaning budgeting with PocketGuard is so easy you won’t have to spend your entire life doing the math. They take care of all the routine tasks, such as tracking expenses and monitoring accounts, so you can fully focus on your cash management operations. Check out their UX/UI, they designed it in the business dark colors:

Cost:

Free basic budgeting app; $34.99 per year to upgrade to the premium version, PocketGuard Plus

Availability:

Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android

Unique features:

Taking into account your estimated income, upcoming expenses, and savings goals, the ‘In My Pocket’ feature uses an algorithm to show how much you have available for everyday spending.

Links to accounts:

Yes, bank and credit cards

Security features:

Major bank-level encryption, PIN codes, and biometrics like Touch ID and Face ID

Goodbudget: Budget & Finance

Goodbudget (formerly EEBA, Easy Envelope Budget Aid) is a money manager and expense tracker for home budgeting. This personal financial manager is a virtual update to your grandma’s envelope system – a proactive budget planner that will help you stay on top of your bills and finances—designed for easy real-time tracking. Check out their design:

Cost:

Free of charge with the free plan. A paid plan is available. It costs $8 per month or $70 annually to subscribe to the paid version 

Availability:

SaaS/Web/CloudMobile, AndroidMobile, iOS 

Unique features:

• Transaction History
• Tax Reports
• Spend Tracker
• Financial Dashboard
• Expense Groups
• Budgeting
• Bills Management
• Payment Gateway
• Reports
• Alerts
• Multi-Currency

Links to accounts:

Yes, bank and credit cards

Security features:

Bank-grade encryption in a secure data center.

How Budget Apps Make Money?

What’s the most interesting about budget apps like Mint and similar is their monetization model, right?  If the use of Mint is free, the point is, how does the free app make money? If you create an app like those from the top budget app list, make sure to come up with an ingenious method of making money. Here are a few examples:

Subscriptions

By using this monetization technique, all of your app’s functions will require a monthly cost from your consumers.

Freemium

A minimal set of personal finance software functions are available for free using this popular monetization strategy, but additional functionality can be purchased.

Paid app

This monetization strategy entails acquiring your app just once and giving consumers access to every function.

In-app ads

The main goal of this monetization strategy is to generate revenue by charging consumers for third-party advertisements based on their past transactions. The advertisement might be in a banner, a native ad, a full-screen ad, or a video. Additionally, customers can pay to stop seeing adverts.

Referral fees

When users purchase the financial products your app advertises, you profit. For instance, Mint provides goods and services such as credit cards, insurance, loans, and many others. The app is compensated for referring users each time they follow Mint’s recommendations. That’s why it’s free because it is monetized through referrals.

Finance data sales

We mean selling aggregated financial data. You can make money by collecting financial data on consumer patterns and selling it to other parties for advertising, market research, and marketing initiatives. This tactic is used by several apps enlisted earlier, including Mint.

Credit monitoring service

Again, Mint provides free basic credit reporting. However, for $16.99 a month, it also offers consumers access to the premium reporting tool Mint Credit Monitor. Have a try.

What are Must-Have Features for a Budget App?

How to pick the right set of core features? The complete set of an app’s features is always tightly based on its target market, the issues it seeks to solve, and its USP. Despite their specialty, there are several elements that we can discover in the majority of personal financial products. Depending on their complexity from a user and technological standpoint, we can classify them as core or advanced.

Now that you’ve looked through app types, the best examples, and monetization options, it’s time to find out their most must-have features out of the core app features list. To figure out how to make a budget app that meets your business demands, look for adding the most necessary features there. 

Registration and onboarding

This feature provides a simple signup process that only asks for the user’s email, password, personal information, and bank account information. Additionally, your application must provide a user-friendly onboarding experience to guarantee that users can benefit from it immediately. We achieve it by adding excellent UX/UI for mobile app onboarding design.

User Profile

You must have a user profile for your budget app experience to be personalized. Give your clients the ability to change and add information to their profiles, such as their name, profile photo, and preferred currency.

Authentication

Your budgeting app must have a secure passcode or biometric authentication option to safeguard private financial data. It ensures that only authorized users may use the app and maintains user data privacy.

Links to accounts

Users should be able to trace their transactions with your budgeting app simply. Linking to their payment systems, bank accounts or credit cards will allow it to be smooth. Besides, they can keep track of their spending and develop better financial habits thanks to detailed transaction records. Your budget app should facilitate tracking and managing all accounts in one location for users who have several bank accounts or credit cards.

Expenses Categorization

Sorting out user expenses should be encouraged. It is essential to offer pre-defined and bespoke categories suited to their needs, such as those for groceries, vacations, entertainment, etc. You could also include category-based filtering and search.

Budgeting

The core of budget software is its set of budgeting features. Setting spending restrictions, distributing funds to other categories, and monitoring financial progress in real time are all made possible by them. It’s also good to display users’ budgets in charts or graphs.

Goal Setting

For long-term planning, setting financial goals is essential. Users should be able to specify and monitor their goals using your budget software, whether they are vacation planning or debt repayment. Indicators of progress and reminders can also be offered to help users stay focused on their goals.

Budget forecasting and analytics

To assist users in understanding their future financial paths, your budget app should offer forecasting tools and analytics. By providing insights based on an analysis of income and spending trends, you may help your clients make wise financial decisions.

Reporting

Users can create thorough financial reports using reporting capabilities, including revenue statements, cost summaries, and savings breakdowns. That’s why another essential feature that you shouldn’t skip is this one, for sure.

Notifications

Finally, the users of your personal finance app should receive notifications regarding a variety of issues. Experiencing financial progress or approaching debt payments are a few examples of such urgent signals.

How to create your own budget app

Now that you are aware of all of the must-have features and monetization options, you may follow a step-by-step development guide.

Define your app’s purpose and goals

Of course, there’s no way without a goal. Determine the specific purpose of your future budget app. What financial challenges will it address, and which user pains will it kill? You need to set clear and smart goals for your app, such as helping users save money, track expenses, make effective investments, or achieve specific financial targets in a set period of time etc. When it’s all clear, you may pass over to a thorough market and audience research.

Conduct market research and define your target audience

It’s wonderful that you have decided on the app type and carry on with the project. It’s important to specify your target market now in order to comprehend the problems and problem-related tasks of your users there. After getting to know your average user, you can only establish the feature set and create an efficient marketing strategy. Conduct market research to understand your target audience’s needs and preferences and identify your competitors. Analyze their strengths and weaknesses. 

Enlist requirements

Make a list of the requirements for size, quantity of features, functionality, your team and other factors. Ranging the features in terms of relevance comes after the set of features has been determined. Using this method, you may decide which features are most important to have in the app. We advise you to be as specific as you can when describing the needs. Your future team will find it simpler and clearer to create a finance app as a result.

Choose a tech stack

Choosing the tools and technologies you’ll need to implement this solution will depend on the features you’ve opted to include in your personal finance app. Developers have the option of using Swift or Objective-C for IOS applications. The team’s tech stack might comprise Java or Kotlin for an Android app. These include the Flutter and React Native development frameworks, which can be used to construct a cross-platform personal finance application.

Decide whether your app will be web-based, mobile (iOS, Android), or cross-platform.

Hire a team

Keep in mind that developing your perfect app will demand technical expertise and in-depth knowledge of the market you’re entering. Therefore, you must hire experts to create a profitable financial product. We recommend the Fireart team due to their expertise, agile methodology, fast communication and open-minded staff. Depending on your project size and complexity, the team may consist of:

• a PM
• UX/UI designer
• A minimum of two (or more, depending on the project’s complexity and deadlines) mobile developers
• a minimum of two backend engineers 
• QA engineers, or beyond.

You may engage experts at a much cheaper cost by outsourcing your app development. You can hire outside developers to create an app from scratch or only to back up your company’s resources temporarily. The choice is yours.

Design and verify your product prototype

Design and approve your app architecture with the team. Create a detailed concept of your app, including its core features and functionalities. A team can get the most verified customer learning possible with the least amount of work by creating a minimum viable product (MVP). The product having the highest ROI and deprived of high risk, technically speaking, is what you need on early start for a faster time to market in the end.

Implement the best monetization strategy

What revenue sources will your financial application use? Consider a monetization plan based on the preferences of your target user base and the advantages of your software. Feel free to go back to the section on how apps like Mint or similar generate income and revise what you want. You can create a unique strategy or mix other app monetization techniques to create your ideal one.

Create UX/UI 

Financial services require UI/UX designs that are well-structured, aesthetically pleasing, and user-friendly. We advise blending minimalism with appealing components, using straightforward language, and avoiding overburdening users with superfluous UX. Add functional and captivating images or animations to replace the long block of text with visuals to improve usability.

Code the app

For this stage, we typically assign two dedicated front-end and back-end developers because qualified specialists and expertise are needed to integrate all the elements of the finance app appropriately throughout development. Following approval of the project scope, the developers start gradually coding the financial application’s functionality using the selected tech stack.

Test it

To ensure that risks are promptly mitigated, include testers in the core development cycle. We use manual and automated testing to examine your finance app’s functional and non-functional components. Testers find defects early in the software development cycle, whereas automated testing helps get quick feedback on the product and increases test coverage afterward.

Launch your app

Finally, launch your financial application in production as soon as all the information is confirmed. To address product discrepancies, fix bugs, and continue updating, apply follow-up application support. Our team also helps with backup and maintenance.

Promote it

Remember to advertise your app on social media, via paid advertisements, and other channels. Additionally, be sure to deploy your product in accordance with Apple Store or Google Play recommendations to avoid publishing complications when you first market them.

 How much does it cost to build a budget app?

A financial app development may cost between $35,000 to $75000 to design a simple personal finance app with core features like budgeting, expense tracking, and bill payment. If money is tight, start with a simple app with only the necessities. Remember that each project is unique and should be estimated individually, considering many factors. It may be cheaper or even more expensive as a result. You may start with the inquiry from the team from the very beginning of your journey and make sure you can afford your app from A to Z. 

Also, feel free to explore the following related topics with us:

How to create a shopping app

New Fintech Startup ideas to launch your business

How to make a medical app

How to build a money lending app in 2023

5 Benefits of React JS for your Startup

Fireart experience in building personal finance apps

You will have a mature development process and a highly qualified staff to do all important work on schedule if you collaborate with an experienced team like Fireart. Doing so may eliminate the hassle of creation and management while ensuring that the solution complies with your company’s objectives, financial industry regulations, etc. With us you will learn how to create a high-quality, high-quality financial appof high quality excellent functionality with minimum risks. 

Fireart offers our clients the latest technology, methods, tools, and practices so they may develop the ideal concept. We provide development support from creating a distinctive value proposition all the way through deployment and post-release support. It goes without saying that you may rely on our team’s proficiency in business and technology. They’ve come up and created so many app type concepts for our clients so far and gained an impeccable reputation in the niche, which is rare. Take advantage. Check out one of our latest app design cases, a diabetes control app case on our website, or find more successful projects on our Dribbble page. Also, pick your time to schedule a call with our fintech app development expert to jump on your budget project production asap.  

FAQs

Is it a good idea to make a budget app?

The finest budgeting apps enable your users to have complete control over their finances by assisting in understanding income, taxes, and other expenses. Your users change their financial habits and the urge to apply budget apps on a daily basis arises. So, starting your app and monetizing it’s a great idea. 

How to make a financial app that works cross-platform?

The differences across platforms must be taken into account while developing cross-platform mobile apps. Hire experienced developers who consider the variations in hardware, software, and user experience on each platform to ensure the program performs consistently across all platforms.

How to earn money by creating a personal finance app?

Go and check out the monetization options described above and pick the best one for your app type. Choose between subscription, freemium, paid apps, applying in-app ads or referrals, etc.