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PocketGuard is a budget app that may be able to replace your trusty spreadsheet. You can link financial accounts, set spending categories and add or tag recurring bills.
We downloaded and tested the iOS app and web-based version of PocketGuard to learn about the features and figure out if it’s worth it.
What is PocketGuard?
PocketGuard is a money-management platform with over a million members. The free version lets you do budgeting basics, such as:
- Link and sync two financial accounts.
- Create one cash account to manually reflect income or a bank balance.
- Add and track recurring bills.
- Customize how transactions are categorized.
- Create a limited number of spending categories.
PocketGuard Plus is the paid version that lifts limits on bank connections, cash accounts and spending categories. It adds premium features, such as financial goal setting, debt-payoff planning and subscription tracking as well.
PocketGuard’s claim to fame is to prominently display how much money remains after you’ve accounted for all your monthly expenses. The feature is called “Leftover,” and it’s the number you’ll see at the top of your dashboard in the app or on the web version.
How much does PocketGuard cost?
Free version: You can sign up and use PocketGuard for free right away, but you won't have access to premium features. Also, you'll be limited to just two budget categories, which may be a deal breaker for some.
Paid version: You can lift the restrictions and access all features with PocketGuard Plus for $74.99 per year or $12.99 per month.
Free trial: You can start with a free seven-day trial to test the app.
Lifetime membership: During our testing of the PocketGuard app on an iPhone, we noted a lifetime membership purchase option — that isn’t listed on the website — of $149.99. We also received an offer, on multiple occasions, to buy lifetime access to PocketGuard Plus for a discounted fee of $79.99 while using the app. It’s a worthy deal when you consider 10 years of the annual subscription amounts to $749.90.
How does PocketGuard work?
A budget app is only as good as the information you put in. You’ll want to track recurring bills, set spending categories and monitor transactions to get the best results.
Link your financial accounts or enter the information manually
You can automate the process by linking your checking, savings and credit card accounts in the accounts section of PocketGuard. The company partners with Finicity, Plaid and Apple Wallet to securely pull your financial data, according to its website. Linking accounts allows your balance and transaction data to flow in and display automatically in the app, which makes it easier for the tool to detect income and recurring bills.
Alternatively, you can create a cash account to manually add and update your bank balance and then log transactions as you make them. You’ll need PocketGuard Plus to link multiple bank accounts and/or create multiple cash accounts.
Add your recurring bills and budget categories to forecast expenses
The next step is to add recurring bills and create budget categories to account for both fixed and variable expenses.
Add bills: The app will automatically identify recurring bills if you have your external accounts linked, or you can add them manually in the “plan” section.
Set budgets: You can also use the “plan” section to set spending categories and limits for variable expenses, called “budgets" in the app. The free version of PocketGuard limits you to just two budget categories. The app will display spending against each budget category as you make transactions.
Look at what’s leftover: With all your planned spending accounted for, the app displays the projected leftover balance (estimated income less bills and spending toward budget categories) at a glance so you’ll know where you stand and can make adjustments as necessary.
Bulk-categorize transactions: Something not showing right? Instead of editing each transaction one by one, you can create custom rules that automatically update the merchant name, account, amount or category — and those rules apply to past, current and future transactions. Free users can create up to five custom rules, while Plus users get unlimited rules.
Plus users can set savings goals and plan for debt payoff
Special features that allow you to set personalized savings goals and design debt payoff plans are only available to Plus users.
Financial goals might be handy if you’re saving for something like a car. In the “goals” section, you can enter a target amount, define how much you’ll contribute each month and track progress over time.
Debt payoff can help you prioritize and visualize paying off loans, using the popular debt avalanche or debt snowball strategies. Once you set up a plan that includes your loan balance, annual percentage rate and monthly target, the app will help you establish your own payoff schedule and make room for it in your budget.
Subscription tracking is another premium feature, which the app does by analyzing your bank and credit card transactions. PocketGuard provides cancellation instructions you can follow for unwanted subscriptions it identifies, but it doesn’t do the canceling for you.
Pros and cons of PocketGuard
Pros
- The free version of PocketGuard is a good starting place for new budgeters.
- Using basic features, like recurring bills and budget categories, can establish good money habits.
- Users willing to pay for Plus and link multiple accounts can automate the budgeting process.
- For dedicated users, the lifetime membership is more affordable than paying monthly or annually.
Cons
- The basic version of PocketGuard is bare-bones.
- The limit on budget categories in the free version makes a spreadsheet — with unlimited lines — a worthy alternative.
What do Reddit users say about PocketGuard?
We sifted through Reddit forums to get a pulse check on how users feel about budget apps. People post anonymously, so we cannot confirm their individual experiences or circumstances.
Reddit comments show mixed levels of satisfaction with PocketGuard. Some posts indicate users value the option to use the basic version of the app for free as well as the option to purchase lifetime access as an alternative to an ongoing subscription. There are also nods to PocketGuard’s basic transaction tracking and categorization capabilities. On the other hand, there are posts that indicate users have been frustrated with slow development and delayed feature releases.
Is PocketGuard worth it?
PocketGuard is good enough for us to recommend giving the basic version a try. If you like it, you can test drive the full-featured app with the free trial.
YNAB and EveryDollar are also worth considering for serious budgeters. Honeydue and Empower Personal Dashboard are other options — each with unique features — that made our best budget apps list.
Alternatively, you can build your own custom budget with a free template. What’s most important is finding a tool that works for you.
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