EveryDollar App Review [2024]: Is Dave Ramsey’s Budgeting App Worth It?

Key takeaways

• EveryDollar is a budgeting app designed for use with Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, though it’s not required.
• While the basic version is free, EveryDollar Premium costs $17.99 monthly or $79.99 annually alone or $59.99 (3 months) to $129.99 (12 months) as part of Ramsey+.
• EveryDollar doesn’t have a great system to track credit card spending, but it’s possible with a few roundabout approaches.
• You’ll allocate funds each month based on your expected income rather than what you actually have in your bank, making it easy to overspend.
• The app is generally very easy to use when starting your budget, but it lacks more advanced features that help when you run into budgeting problems.

What is EveryDollar?

Pricing	Basic: Free Premium: $17.99/mo or $79.99/yr Ramsey+: $59.99 for 3 months, $99.99 for 6 months, or $129.99 for 12 months
Free features	Set due dates for bills Live customer support Share your budget with others Manually enter transactions Create savings goals and sinking funds Use unlimited customizable budget categories
Premium features	Paycheck planning Calculate net worth Custom budget reports Group financial coaching Goal planning and setting Set bill due date reminders Connect your bank account Spending insights and trends Export transactions into Excel Automatic transaction entering Live Q&As with financial coaches
Ratings	Apple App store: 4.7 out of 5 stars Google Play store: 3.8 out of 5 stars

EveryDollar is a budgeting app designed by Dave Ramsey’s company, Ramsey Solutions. Dave Ramsey is a media personality and radio talk show host who also sells Financial Peace University courses often marketed through church groups.

EveryDollar is designed to pair up with Financial Peace University’s main teachings known as the “7 Baby Steps.” These steps guide you through creating an emergency fund to build your wealth using strict rules, such as never using credit cards again and tithing 10% of your income to a church. You don’t necessarily need to follow the Baby Steps to use EveryDollar, but you’ll find frequent references to them in the app’s support documents.

You can download the free version or opt for a 14-day trial of one of the paid subscription options. EveryDollar Premium is where you’ll find most of the really helpful budgeting features, such as linking your bank account so the app automatically records your transactions.

Even so, I found that the app wasn’t flexible enough to handle the financial realities of everyday life. It offers no good way to handle credit card spending, for example, and you budget your monthly income before you actually receive your paycheck. The latter can be a big problem if you don’t get paid like clockwork or you run into any paycheck snags with your employer.

Who is EveryDollar best for?

If you want an ultra-simple approach to budgeting, EveryDollar is a strong option. It works best if you're a follower of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, but you don’t necessarily need to follow the program in order to use the app. You’ll just get more from it if you do.

EveryDollar is also best if you find it tough to get ahead financially and save money. It uses a zero-based budgeting approach, which means that you assign all of your money to a spending category. That prevents you from spending rent money on entertainment, for example, as long as you’re diligent about checking in with your budget regularly throughout the month.

I’ve used several budgeting apps in the past, and I’ve found a simple approach like this is helpful when you’re just starting out. Sometimes, it’s hard to know where to begin, and EveryDollar offers an easy entry into budgeting.

Should you get the free or premium version?

If you’re new to budgeting or using the app, I recommend starting with the free version. This can give you a feel for whether you’d like to invest more time learning the system after you create a budget.

If you like it, I recommend signing up for EveryDollar Premium — either separately or through Ramsey+ — since you’ll get better features like being able to link your bank account to automatically import transactions. Small tricks like this can help make budgeting more sustainable. Besides, there’s a 14-day free trial, so you won’t pay anything to start.

Who should skip this app?

EveryDollar isn’t right for everyone. For starters, the Dave Ramsey ecosystem is very anti-credit card. While you can keep using credit cards if you want, don’t expect much support from the EveryDollar community. The app’s help files only mention a couple of roundabout ways to use credit cards in passing, such as by listing your card as a debt that you add to each month or recording each individual transaction as if you were spending cash.

I also recommend other options if you’re not into the Financial Peace University universe. Again, you don’t need to be a convert to use the app, but given that all of the budgeting advice is geared towards Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps, you may not find as much relevant guidance as you build toward financial independence.

Finally, if you earn an irregular income or just want a more holistic budgeting system, I recommend another budgeting app. The underlying principle for EveryDollar is planning for your future income, which isn’t that helpful if your earnings vary a lot each month.

If you don’t earn a regular income, the support files say to budget your money based on your lowest typical paycheck. But if that doesn’t pan out, you'll run into a big problem because you might have already spent dollars that you thought you had. A better way to budget is by planning based on the income you have now, not what it theoretically could be in the future.

My experience with EveryDollar’s features

Here are some particular points I noticed when I tried out the EveryDollar app.

Allocating your money

Entering numbers in the EveryDollar app is easy. On the main budget tab, all I had to do was tap a number to change it.

This is one of the major dangers of the app, though. It asks you to allocate your income for the month, whether you’ve received your paycheck yet or not. It doesn’t ask anything about how much you actually have in your bank account right now, which is the really important bit.

In the above example, it looks like I have $3,000 this month, which I can allocate to each budget category. Sure, I may be getting $3,000 this month, but what if I only have $50 in my bank account today? If my mortgage payment were due, I’d be in trouble.

EveryDollar has a paycheck planning feature for paid subscribers, but it isn’t too helpful here for basic users. It recommends that you create a priority list of budget categories. When your paycheck does arrive, you can allocate money first to pay for food and then for your rent/mortgage, etc. — all the way down to things like insurance and clothing.

That sounds great in theory, but real life doesn’t work like that. Rent is often due on the first of the month, which doesn’t leave you any money for food if you also need to pay for electric and auto insurance at that time. It’s this kind of paycheck-to-paycheck scenario that EveryDollar assumes you’ve already worked past, and that’s not a safe thing to assume for everyone.

Adjusting your budget

A key part of a good budget app is being able to fix problems that come up, especially when you overspend. It’s a natural thing for everyone to do — some of us more than others. Unfortunately, I found it rather tough to see if I even had an overspending issue in the app, let alone fix it.

This is due to the way EveryDollar is organized with a three-tab system. You allocate your monthly income on the “Planned” tab and see how much you’ve actually spent on the “Spent” tab. The “Remaining” tab tells you how much you have left to spend in each category for the month. If you’ve done everything correctly, you should see a green “It’s an EveryDollar Budget!” notification at the top of each tab.

Here’s what each tab looked like when I intentionally added a transaction that put me way over budget for my mortgage payment, such as if I were catching up on overdue bills.

Unfortunately, that green “It’s an EveryDollar Budget!” text appeared even when I added transactions that would far overshoot my entire budget. The only way to find the overspending issue was to scroll down through my budget and look for red icons (and good luck if you’re red-green color blind). The app didn’t give me any other warning or notification that I was in danger, and that’s a huge red flag.

To fix the overspending, I would need to go back to the “Planned” tab, manually remove some of the allocated money from one category, and then add it to the one I overspent on. For example, if I spent $3,250 extra on my mortgage, I could lower the amount allocated to my savings by $3,250 and then add those extra funds to the amount set aside for my mortgage. That’s a clunky process, and other budgeting apps like YNAB offer more streamlined approaches that let you fix such issues with a simple one-click drop-down menu.

How to get the most out of this app

If you decide that EveryDollar is worth taking for a spin, follow these quick tips to ensure the app actually does help you.

• Prioritize getting out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle: This app works best if you start each month with a full month’s income available to allocate. If not, you’ll have to pay extra-close attention so you don’t allocate funds that you don’t actually have yet.
• Pay for the premium subscription: If you’ve tried the free version and you like it, consider paying for EveryDollar Premium so you can link your bank account and use other budgeting tools.
• Check that it works with your bank: A common complaint on EveryDollar app reviews is that it doesn’t always link up with your bank accounts. If you pay for the upgrade, check this first since you only have a 30-day refund window if your bank doesn’t connect.

What EveryDollar can improve

Here are some weaknesses to be aware of with EveryDollar.

• Syncing with banks: A major problem that many users have flagged is the app’s glitchiness when syncing bank accounts. It won’t sync with all banks, and even if it does now, many customers have noted that it stops working when banks update their security protocols. That would be a huge bummer if you’ve committed to the system, and support reps don’t seem to be helpful in fixing the situation compared to other budgeting apps.
• Budget money you actually have: EveryDollar helps you plan for the money you’re theoretically getting in the future via your paychecks, not necessarily the money you have right now. The app doesn’t even have a good way to enter your starting bank account balance. Budgeting the money you already have is generally a more sound approach.
• Less clunky navigation: You can’t simply swipe to view a new month like with other apps. To see how your category balances build up over time, you’ll need to tap twice to view a new month, tap on the “Remaining” tab, and then scroll down to the category you’re interested in. By then, I had forgotten the original number I was comparing.
• More real-life support: The app assumes that you don’t use credit cards, you’re not living paycheck-to-paycheck, and you don’t ever overspend. If you search for “overspending” in the help files, all you’ll find is an upsell for the paycheck planning feature available with EveryDollar Premium. That comes off as dismissive towards people who don’t fit that mold and can’t (or don’t) want to pay extra for the app.
• Longer free trial: You only have 14 days to try the paid version for free, and that’s not long enough to go through a full monthly cycle. If you lead a busy life with work and your family, that short trial leaves you little time to sit down and sync your bank account to see if the app is even going to work for you.
• Tracking debt and investment accounts: EveryDollar doesn’t automatically track dollars that you owe for your debts or money you’re saving in some investment accounts. That’s odd, especially since viewing your savings and watching your debt level shrink over time is a major budgeting motivator for many people. Being able to view all of your accounts when budgeting can also help you manage your money better.

Other budgeting apps to consider

If you’re intrigued by EveryDollar, I recommend testing out at least one or two of some other best budgeting apps first. That way, you’ll be more likely to find something you’ll stick with in the long run, whether it’s EveryDollar or not. Let’s look at two popular alternatives that also use a zero-based budgeting approach.

YNAB

You Need a Budget (YNAB) offers a longer 34-day free trial but is slightly more expensive than EveryDollar Premium with a yearly subscription ($109 vs. $79.99). It has a reputation for being more difficult to learn for newbies. However, that’s because it offers far more features and functionality than EveryDollar, such as automatically categorizing purchases to reduce your work.

I prefer having something more customizable to how I actually spend my money, even if it requires more of an upfront investment to learn. Once you learn YNAB’s strategies (and the live support is excellent), it’s a much less clunky system to use than EveryDollar and has fewer friction points.

In fact, YNAB is the only budgeting program I’ve consistently stuck with, and it has helped carry my husband and me through saving up to buy a home and a brand-new car in cash.

Read our full YNAB review.

Qube Money

If you’re a serial overspender, look into the Qube Money budgeting system. It’s actually a separate bank account that you apply for and pair up with the Qube app and debit card. You allocate the money in your bank account into “Qubes” (i.e., budget categories).

Before you can spend any money with your debit card, you must physically open the app and tap on the relevant Qube to make those funds available to spend. Otherwise, the purchase won’t go through. While it’s a stricter system, many people find it helpful for everyday spending.

You can get the free Qube Money Lite plan, which supports three Qubes and a digital debit card. Qube Money Premium ($12 monthly or $108 annually) and Qube Money Family ($19 monthly or $180 annually) are paid plans that support unlimited Qubes, physical debit cards, and multiple users.

FAQs

Bottom line

EveryDollar is one of the simplest budgeting apps out there. However, you’ll pay for that simplicity in other ways — literally and figuratively. To get the most from the app, you’ll need to pay for a subscription.

EveryDollar Premium offers many additional features and support, but even so, they’re generally very simplified tools that work within the existing framework of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. There’s not a lot of room for other financial management styles there, and if that’s something that would help you stay successful in the long run, I recommend trying another budgeting app.