Rocket Money Review [2024]: Can It Actually Save You Money?

MANAGE MONEY - SAVE MONEY
Rocket Money offers opportunities to cancel unwanted subscriptions, lower bills, and put your savings on autopilot.
Updated March 5, 2024
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Rocket Money (formerly known as Truebill) is a legit financial management app owned by Rocket Companies. Rocket Money could help you save money through budgeting, lowering your bills, canceling subscriptions, and more. It’s one of the best apps available for helping people save money in different ways, so its cost (starting at $4 per month) could be well worth it.

There’s also a free version available, but you miss out on Rocket Money Premium features such as automatic savings accounts and assisted subscription cancellation. Dig into the details of our Rocket Money review to see a breakdown of the app’s features and user experience.

Quick Summary

Lower your monthly bills and track spending in this all-in-one finance app.

  • Reduce your phone, internet, and utility bills
  • Track and categorize your expenses so you can achieve your savings goals
  • Save an average of up to $720 a year
In this Rocket Money review

Key takeaways

  • Rocket Money is a budgeting tool that offers both free and premium services. Premium plans begin at $4 a month, billed annually.
  • Rocket Money provides an overview of your finances and spending by tracking your account transactions.
  • The app includes a bill negotiation feature in its premium version that might help you save money. It charges a success fee of 30% to 60% of the saved amount for its bill negotiation services.
  • Rocket Money connects to your financial institutions to automatically update your spending. It uses bank-level encryption to keep your private data safe.

Rocket Money: Is it worth it?

Pros
  • Makes it easy to see all your spending and recurring bills in one place
  • Has an easy-to-use monthly budget tracker
  • Connects all your bank accounts, credit cards, and investment accounts for an overview of your finances
  • Uses bank-level encryption to keep your data safe
  • Offers a bill negotiation feature
Cons
  • Some features require a premium subscription that begins at $4 a month
  • Charges at least 30% of the savings it negotiates off your bill

Our verdict: We rank Rocket Money as one of the best budgeting apps because we find its features for managing your finances quite useful. The app has a clean and easy-to-use interface and makes it easy to get a comprehensive picture of your financial situation. However, the cost of its premium services may not be for everyone.

What is Rocket Money?

Rocket Money is a financial management app that’s part of the Rocket Companies fintech platform. The app was formerly known as Truebill until Truebill was acquired by Rocket Companies in December 2021. Truebill’s name changed to Rocket Money in August 2022.

Rocket Money’s primary goal is to help you learn how to manage your money. The app has many features to help with this, such as making it easier to cancel unwanted subscriptions, automating your savings, and negotiating your bills.

To date, Rocket Money has helped more than 3 million members save more than $245 million. This includes helping people cancel over $155 million worth of unwanted subscriptions. The Rocket Money app is available on the App Store, Google Play, and through web browsers.

Tip
Rocket Money has an excellent 4.6 out of 5 score on Trustpilot with more than 3,900 reviews.

Rocket Money overview

Service Rocket Money
Visit site Learn more
Price$0 to $12 per month
Free features
  • Financial monitoring
  • Credit score checks
  • Account alerts
  • Two budgeting categories
  • Bill negotiation
Premium features
  • Assisted subscription cancellations
  • Unlimited budgeting categories
  • Smart savings
  • Net worth
  • Overdraft and late fee refunds
  • Access to chat with experts
  • Credit reports
  • Real-time account sync

How to use Rocket Money

Rocket Money has seven primary features available to its users. Here's how each of these features on Rocket Money works.

1. Manage your subscriptions

Rocket Money makes it easier to track your subscriptions by bringing them together for you on one screen. This could help you recognize subscriptions you’re no longer using but are still being charged for.

Rocket Money can even help you cancel unwanted subscriptions if you subscribe to the Premium plan. This could save you time and hassle from having to figure it out yourself.

2. Track your spending

You can see a full breakdown of your finances in the Rocket Money app. This includes seeing how much money you’ve earned and how much you’ve spent each month in a side-by-side comparison.

You can also see your top spending categories and receive insights about how to adjust your spending habits and increase your savings. Rocket Money can also notify you with real-time alerts about upcoming charges and if your account balance gets low. These alerts about your account balance could help you avoid overdrafts and late fees.

3. Negotiate your bills

The bill negotiation feature automatically scans your bills to help find you opportunities to save money. This could include negotiating a cell phone or cable bill with your provider so you could possibly save money, save time, and avoid the hassle of negotiating with customer service or sales representatives yourself.

Rocket Money can also walk you through how to get refunds on overdraft and late fees, as well as show you the best options for affordable car insurance.

Keep in mind that bill negotiation doesn’t cost any money unless the negotiation is successful. If it’s successful, Rocket Money takes a 40% cut of your savings.

4. View your net worth

Rocket Money provides a comprehensive view of your financial health by tracking all your cash, investments, assets, and debts to calculate your net worth.

You can add assets such as your house, car, or cash money. By tracking these assets, Rocket Money’s net worth feature allows you to monitor the direction of your financial health over time.

The net worth feature is designed to be user-friendly and versatile. You can easily add any additional assets that have monetary value, such as a sneaker collection, trading cards, art, and more. The feature automatically updates the value of certain assets, such as a house or a car, but might not update the value of other assets.

5. Automate your savings

Rocket Money offers “smart savings” accounts insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. These accounts can automatically take money from your linked bank account to put toward your savings goals. This feature is helpful for automating your savings process, and it’s an efficient way to build up savings without really thinking about it.

You have full control over editing, pausing, withdrawing from, or closing your account whenever you want. Rocket Money can help you analyze your accounts and let you know when might be the best time to save money, which can take some of the guesswork out of the process.

6. Track and understand your credit score

Rocket Money offers complete access to your credit report and history and can alert you to changes that impact your credit score. The app can also offer insights about potential changes to help you learn more about credit score calculations and how credit history works.

7. Set a budget

Rocket Money analyzes your transactions and lets you know how much money you have available to spend each month. The app can also provide a spending breakdown with historical spending patterns to give you insight into areas where you might want to set budgeting goals.

You can set “budget categories” for how much money you want to spend each month on certain expenses such as “entertainment,” “dining & drinks,” or “auto & transport.” You can also create custom categories, but you’re limited to a maximum of two budgeting categories without the Premium plan.

To help stay on top of your budget, set real-time alerts with Rocket Money to be notified so that you don’t overspend on a budgeting goal.

Visit Rocket Money

Who is Rocket Money best for?

Rocket Money is best for people who want to save money. The app can be helpful if you’re not sure how to get started and want to learn how to budget effectively. Rocket Money is also a good choice if you want to make your existing financial plan more efficient with the app’s premium auto features, such as automatic savings and assisted subscription cancellation.

The free version of Rocket Money is best if you don’t want to pay a monthly fee and only want access to these features:

  • Financial monitoring
  • Credit score
  • Account alerts
  • Two budgeting categories
  • Bill negotiation

The free version might be fine on its own if you just need a simplified budgeting app for tracking your spending or learning how to set up a budget.

The Premium plan — which costs between $4 to $12 per month (you choose how much you want to pay within this range) — offers several additional features:

  • Assisted cancellations
  • Unlimited budgeting categories
  • Smart savings
  • Net worth
  • Overdraft and late fee refunds
  • Access to chat with experts
  • Credit reports
  • Real-time account sync

You’ll likely save more time and money with the Premium version than with the free version. This is because Rocket Money experts can handle subscription cancellations for you and get overdraft and late fees refunded. The Premium plan can also automate your savings goals and create as many budgeting categories as you’d like, which gives you more control over your budget.

Keep in mind that it could make sense to combine existing financial strategies within the Rocket Money app. For example, if you use a credit card for budgeting, simply connect your credit card online account with Rocket Money to see all your expenses in one place.

Tip
Rocket Money takes a 40% cut of your savings if the negotiation is successful.

How much can you save with Rocket Money?

Rocket Money could save you hundreds of dollars per year, but it depends on your situation. Let’s dig into the details of a few example scenarios that highlight Rocket Money features.

1. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions

Let’s say you spend $78 per month on various subscriptions:

  • Streaming apps: $50 per month
  • Fitness app: $10 per month
  • Meditation app: $6 per month
  • Some plant identification app you forgot you signed up for: $12 per month

Rocket Money lists all your subscriptions, including the plant identification app you didn’t realize you were still paying for. Now you can cancel that subscription and save $144 per year. That’s enough for a new pair of AirPods, or a significant boost to a vacation fund.

2. Automate your savings

Let’s say you want to visit Costa Rica next year. To prepare for this dream trip, you plan to put some money into savings to help cover travel expenses. You think saving $1,200 in a year is a reasonable goal that will at least cover your flights and probably more.

You can use a Rocket Money smart savings account to automatically put money toward savings goals in two simple steps:

  1. Choose your savings goal.
  2. Set your savings frequency.

In this scenario, $1,200 would be your savings goal. Your frequency is up to you, but you know you have a year to hit your goal, so putting $100 per month into your savings could work. But you might prefer $50 every two weeks, or $25 each week.

Money is automatically transferred according to your preferences from a linked checking account into a smart savings account. Because everything is automatic, it’s easier for you to focus on everyday expenses while you progress toward your savings goals over time.

3. Get real-time alerts

Let’s say you watch streaming content from several different streaming services. You typically cancel a service after you’ve watched the latest content that’s been released.

It’s a smart plan that makes sense. After all, why continue paying money for a subscription you aren’t using anymore? But the more you juggle streaming services, the harder it is to keep track of what you’re paying for.

You can use Rocket Money to cancel subscriptions you no longer want. As added security to help track your spending, including subscriptions, you can also take advantage of real-time alerts to know about upcoming charges.

If you know you canceled Netflix recently, but you get an alert about a $19.99 (the Netflix Premium plan is $19.99 at the time of writing) Netflix charge, you’ll know something is wrong. Maybe the plan wasn’t actually canceled or you happened to be paying for two plans at the same time.

Either way, that’s around $240 per year you could be saving in this scenario.

How to get started with Rocket Money

1. Download the Rocket Money app on the App Store for iOS devices or Google Play for Android devices.

Screenshot of Rocket Money's listing in the App Store

2. Create a Rocket account by selecting “Get Started” and providing your full name, email address, and password.

Screenshot of Rocket Money's Get Started screen

3. Tell Rocket Money more about yourself and your financial goals.

Screenshot of Rocket Money's Tell us about yourself page

4. Link at least one checking account to continue.

Screenshot of Rocket Money's account connection screen where you can link your bank account or credit card

5. Use Plaid to connect to your financial institution(s).

Screenshot of Rocket Money's screen disclaiming that it uses Plaid to connect your accounts

6. Select how much you want to pay per month for Rocket Money from $0 or $4 to $12. (Note that selecting $0 prevents access to Premium plan features.)

Screenshot of Rocket Money's plan selection screen where you can choose a subscription price

7. Start using Rocket Money.

Screenshot of Rocket Money's Recurring screen where it shows you upcoming bills

Tip
You can use Rocket Money through a web browser by creating a Rocket account and logging into your account on the Rocket Money website. No apps required.

Other money apps to consider

Rocket Money isn’t the only personal finance app out there. Check out some of its competitors.

Trim

Trim is likely the most similar finance app to Rocket Money if you compare their available features. Trim has bill negotiation, can cancel your unwanted subscriptions, and can lower certain bills.

Trim users are estimated to save an average of $620. But Trim doesn’t have a mobile app.

Read our Trim review to learn more.

Simplifi

Simplifi is a finance app that focuses on keeping your spending, budgeting, and savings goals on track. This includes being able to see all your finances in one place and receive insights and alerts to help you achieve your goals.

Check out our Simplifi review for more details.

Oportun

Oportun is a finance app that focuses on taking the stress out of your budgeting, saving, and investing goals. It does this by letting you know how much money you have left to spend in real time and automating some of your finances. This includes calculating how much money you need for bills and putting aside money for savings.

Read our Oportun review for more information.

Rocket Money vs. other money management apps

Service Rocket Money Trim Simplifi Oportun
Visit site Learn more Learn more Learn more Learn more
Price per month $0 or $4 to $12 $0 $2.99 (billed annually) $5
App or desktop App and desktop Desktop App and desktop App and desktop
Free features
  • Financial monitoring
  • Credit score
  • Account alerts
  • Two budgeting categories
  • Bill negotiation
  • Financial monitoring
  • Account alerts
  • Bank negotiation
  • Medical bill negotiation
  • Subscription cancellation
  • Automatic savings
  • Car insurance comparison
  • Liabilities calculator
None None
Premium features
  • Assisted cancellations
  • Unlimited budgeting categories
  • Smart savings
  • Net worth
  • Overdraft and late fee refunds
  • Chat with experts
  • Credit reports
  • Real-time account sync
  • Bill negotiation
  • Financial monitoring
  • Account alerts
  • Savings goals
  • Budgeting plans
  • Investment tracking
  • Budgeting
  • Saving
  • Investing

Rocket Money FAQ

Is Rocket Money the same as Truebill?

Yes, Rocket Money is the same as Truebill — it just has a different name now. Truebill was acquired by Rocket Companies in December 2021 and its name was changed to Rocket Money in August 2022.

Rocket Money’s features and functionality are the same as Truebill’s, but existing Truebill members were prompted to transition their Truebill accounts to Rocket accounts.

Is Rocket Money safe to use?

Yes, Rocket Money is safe to use. Rocket Money stores your data using bank-level 256-bit-encryption and uses Plaid’s services to securely connect your Rocket account to more than 15,000 U.S. financial institutions.

All Rocket Money servers are hosted using Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is also used by organizations such as the Department of Defense and NASA.

Is Rocket Money FDIC-insured?

Yes, Rocket Money smart savings accounts are FDIC-insured through NBKC and bank partners of Synapse. These accounts offer you opportunities to automatically put money into savings at your preferred intervals. The standard FDIC insurance coverage limit is typically $250,000 per owner per savings account.

Rocket Money review: bottom line

Rocket Money (formerly known as Truebill) is one of the best apps out there for organizing your finances and tracking your spending. Rocket Money can help you:

  • Manage your subscriptions
  • Save money
  • Learn about your spending habits
  • Track and understand your credit score
  • Negotiate your bills
  • Learn how to budget

Rocket Money is technically free, but features such as smart savings and late fee refunds require a Premium subscription that costs between $4 to $12 per month. If Rocket Money doesn’t seem like the right fit for you, check out our list of recommended budgeting apps.

Rocket Money Benefits

  • Helps to find and cancel subscriptions
  • Slash your monthly phone, cable, and internet bills
  • Save an average of up to $720 a year

Author Details

Ben Walker, CEPF, CFEI® Ben Walker, CEPF, CFEI®, is a Senior Credit Cards Writer at FinanceBuzz. For over a decade, he's leveraged credit card points and miles to travel the world. His expertise extends to other areas of personal finance — including loans, insurance, investing, and real estate — and you can find his insights on The Washington Post, Debt.com, Yahoo! Finance, and Fox Business.

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