EveryDollar Review: Financial Whiz Dave Ramsey’s Budgeting App

Dave Ramsey has been a force in personal finance for decades. Ramsey worked his way out of significant debt in the 1980s and turned his life around, becoming an acclaimed author and radio host. The Dave Ramsey Show still airs from 2 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and Ramsey’s website is one of the most popular personal finance sites in the world.

With success in so many ventures, it’s no wonder that Ramsey is moving into apps. Earlier this year Ramsey launched EveryDollar (for iOS and Android), an app built to help anyone budget and save money easily.

What is EveryDollar?

There are tons of budgeting and saving apps out there, but few have the backing of a persona like Dave Ramsey. EveryDollar, in many ways, is the culmination of Ramsey’s career, tying all his personal finance advice into one, easy to use app.

“Show your money who’s in charge with the budgeting app you’ll actually use—EveryDollar!,” the description on the App Store says.

EveryDollar is free to use but offers a paid premium option as well. All users get access to the app’s budgeting and expense tracking tools and can use the app to connect with financial experts. You can create custom monthly budgets and easily keep an eye on your spending habits through the app, making it a convenient way to budget for people who struggle with it.

The biggest perk of EveryDollar Plus, the premium version of the app that costs $129 per year, is that you can link your bank account and credit cards to automatically track transactions. Free users get access to almost everything the app has to offer, but have to input expenses manually.

How Does EveryDollar Work?

The philosophy that EveryDollar is built on is zero-based budgeting. According to Ramsey’s blog, “with a zero-based budget, you have to make sure your expenses match your income during the month. That way you’re giving every dollar that’s coming in a job to do.” Hence, the name “EveryDollar” makes sense, as the goal is to put each dollar you earn into a specific financial category.

That doesn’t mean you should spend all of your income every month, though. You can earmark dollars for savings, and that would count as a category within a zero-based budget. The goal is to add subtract all of your expenses, savings, investments, etc, from your income and end up with $0 remaining.

The app helps you break down your expenses into categories and plan your spending, but it’s not terribly convenient if you plan to use a different budgeting strategy.

Is EveryDollar Worth It?

Since almost every feature of the app is free to use, it’s worth a download for anyone looking for a new approach to budgeting. You can use the free version of the app and see if it works for you before committing to the plus version. The app also has great reviews, with a 4.8-star rating in the App Store and a 4.3 Google Play rating.

The Bottom Line

Dave Ramsey’s budgeting app has a lot to like and should be very useful for people struggling with their budget. However, zero-based budgeting doesn’t work for everyone, and thus the EveryDollar app won’t be perfect for everyone either.

Luckily, there are tons of other budgeting apps like Rocket Money and Mint, so even if EveryDollar isn’t for you, there’s definitely a budgeting app out there that you can make work!

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