In this post, I highlight some of the best personal finance apps and tools in Canada and a few paid ones that are highly recommended.
Personal finances have become easier to manage with the technological advances now available at our fingertips.
With all the budgeting and investment apps accessible using our iPhone and Android smartphones, one can say that personal finances are now even more “personal” than ever before.
Best Personal Finance Apps and Tools
Here’s a quick summary of the financial apps you should have on your smartphone:
- Best Budget App: YNAB
- Best Money Management Apps: Questrade and Justwealth
- Best Cash Back Apps: KOHO
- Best Money Saving Apps: Rakuten
- Best Credit Score App: Borrowell
- Best Tool for Estate Planning: Willful
- Best Savings Account App: EQ Bank
- Best Life Insurance Tool: PolicyMe
- Best Spare Change Investing App: Moka
- Best Net Worth Tracker: Wealthica
Best Budgeting App for iPhone and Android Devices
1. You Need a Budget
You Need a Budget (YNAB) is the best budgeting app in Canada. It costs $11.99 monthly or $84 per year (fees in USD). You can try it out for free for 34 days.
The YNAB app utilizes your main rules:
- Give every dollar a job. You decide how to spend each dollar in your account beforehand and implement the plan.
- Embrace your true expenses. You account for large future expenses by breaking them into manageable chunks and planning ahead.
- Roll with the punches. Stay flexible with budget surprises and find ways to accommodate overspending in any category.
- Age your money. You will learn to only spend money that is at least 30 days old, so you are always ahead of the curve.
It is forward-looking and simplifies the budgeting process. It also has a money-back guarantee and works great on iPhones and Android.
If you are looking for a comprehensive budgeting tool, YNAB is a great choice.
Get the YNAB App (34 day free trial).
Best Money Management Apps in Canada
The best money management apps make it easy to control how your money is invested. You also save on fees with zero-commission trades and low-cost ETF portfolios.
2. Questrade
- Available in Canada (one of the best personal finance apps).
Questrade is the discount broker of choice for self-directed investors in Canada. Its mobile app is highly intuitive, and some of the benefits of investing with Questrade are:
- No inactivity fees
- Zero-commission stock and ETF trades
- Easily buy mutual funds, bonds, GICs, stocks, options, and alternative assets
- Access to real-time market data and advanced trading tools
- CIPF protection and private insurance
- Reputable brokerage platform
If you prefer to go the automated investing route, Questrade also offers a Robo-advisor platform, Questwealth. Here, portfolio managers manage everything on your behalf at a low cost.
Join Questrade ($50 credit with $250+ deposit).
3. Justwealth
- Available in Canada.
Justwealth is a top-notch online investment services firm, aka Robo-advisor. It offers everyday investors access to globally diversified and customized investment portfolios at a lower cost than traditional mutual funds.
It offers additional benefits, including:
- Automatic deposits
- High-interest savings account
- Automatic portfolio rebalancing
- Dividend re-investing
- State-of-the-art security
Read my Justwealth review.
Join Justwealth ($50 to $500 bonus).
Best Cash Back App for Cash Spending
It’s one thing to earn cash back when you make your purchase with a credit card, but if you are spending cash, it’s another thing altogether.
4. KOHO Prepaid Mastercard
- Available in Canada.
KOHO is a reloadable prepaid Mastercard that rewards you for spending cash.
Earn 1% cash back on groceries and transportation purchases with the basic KOHO package and up to 5% unlimited cash back at partner retailers. In addition to cash back, the KOHO app offers free budgeting capabilities, and users can earn savings interest on their balance.
New KOHO users get a $40 bonus when they sign up using the link below and make their first purchase (use our CASHBACK referral code).
5. Neo Money Mastercard
- Available in Canada.
The Neo Money card and app from Neo Financial are among the best cash back apps available to Canadians. It offers cash back on all purchases.
When you pay using the card at Neo partner retailers (over 10,000 stores), you earn up to 3% cash back. For your first purchases at these stores, the cash back rate is as high as 15%.
In addition, you earn 0.10% interest on your Neo Money account balance, making this a good cash-back and savings app.
Best Money Saving Apps in Canada
These grocery and shopping apps give you cash back when making everyday in-store or online purchases.
Even better, they are all free and available on iOS and Android.
6. Rakuten
Formerly known as Ebates, Rakuten is the most popular cash back app/website in Canada and the United States.
With over 3,000 brands and retailers on the platform, earning cash back with Rakuten is very easy.
To ensure I remember to activate available offers when I shop online, I have installed their Chrome Brower Extension so it pops up when I’m about to make a purchase. I also use their mobile app.
You can cash out your earnings using PayPal or a cheque in the mail.
New Rakuten users get up to a $30 bonus after completing their first purchase via the Rakuten website or app.
When you sign up using the links above, you receive a $30 bonus after completing your first online purchase of $30 or more. Read my full Rakuten review.
7. Caddle
Caddle is another Canadian grocery cash back app.
In addition to cash back offers, Caddle also pays you to take short surveys and watch video ads.
Similar to Checkout 51, this app sends out new offers every week. If you shop for an offer, you can upload your receipt to get the cash back.
Best Personal Finance Apps and Tools
From free credit score checks and credit monitoring apps to an app that rewards you for paying your bills, these apps are a must-have.
8. Borrowell
- Available in Canada and has over 2 million users.
Borrowell offers free monthly credit score updates and credit reports to its users. The credit score they provide is the Equifax score.
I use the monthly updates to monitor my credit file for identity theft or fraud. Read my Borrowell review.
9. Willful (Create a Legal Will Online)
Willful is Canada’s premier provider of legal online wills. The process takes about 20 minutes and saves you up to $850 compared to visiting a lawyer.
Willful is available in multiple provinces, including Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and British Columbia.
Get your will online here and get a 15% discount, or read my detailed Willful review.
10. EQ Bank
EQ Bank offers one of the best high-interest savings accounts in Canada, and its app is also highly rated.
Given the super-low rates that the big banks are paying (as low as 0.01%) when you save, EQ Bank’s non-promotional high savings rate is a breath of fresh air.
Read this EQ Bank Savings Plus review for more details about its service offerings.
11. PolicyMe
- Available in Canada.
Life insurance can be expensive, so some people don’t consider buying it. That said, life insurance is essential, particularly when family members depend on you financially.
Use PolicyMe to quickly find some of Canada’s lowest life insurance premiums based on your specific needs. The online process takes only a few minutes.
12. Credit Karma
- Available in Canada and the United States.
Credit Karma is another free online resource for monthly credit scores and reports. The credit score is from TransUnion and may be slightly different from your Equifax score, so I use both Borrowell and Credit Karma to compare.
Credit Karma is available on iOS. Read my Credit Karma review for more details.
Best Spare Change Investing App
Small sums of money contributed regularly and invested over time can significantly impact your retirement savings in a good way.
13. Moka
- Available in Canada.
If you find it challenging to set aside a specific sum of money every month for investing, Moka has got you covered.
The Moka app automatically rounds up your purchases and invests the difference. You choose how much to invest (i.e. whether to round up to the nearest $1, $5, or $10), and the app takes care of the rest.
To use Moka, simply sign up and download the app ($5 bonus), link your bank account, and watch your investments grow.
Moka costs $3.99 per month, and you can invest in a non-registered or registered account (i.e. TFSA or RRSP), earn cash back, and enjoy other perks.
Best Tools for Tracking Your Net Worth
These financial resources show all your money in one place and make it easy to see your updated net worth on your smartphone.
14. Wealthica
Wealthica is Canada’s answer to Personal Capital in the United States.
It is a net worth tracking tool that connects to more than 60 Canadian financial institutions and investment platforms. Data from your account is synced daily, and signing up is free.
Wealthica currently tracks over $24 billion in assets.
Personal Capital (Bonus)
Available in the United States. If you are a Canadian living in the U.S., this tool is one of the best for tracking your finances.
Personal Capital is the ultimate net worth tracking tool available on iOS and Android.
The app offers the following:
- Link all your accounts for free – IRAs, 401k’s, mortgages, loans, checking and savings
- Analyze your investments and find avoidable hidden fees
- Set saving goals
- Net worth calculator
- Retirement planning
Personal Capital has over 3 million users.
Related: Best Budgeting Apps in Canada.
Great recommendations, I can certainly vouch for Mint which has been good at tracking my budget. Keep up the good work. Another I would have added in was a website called Referral Codes as I feel It has been the most convenient in sending my coupons and referral schemes to friends and family. Have you heard of it?
Great list. The only one I’d completely disagree with is Ratehub. Compared to better mortgage comparison sites like Ratespy, Ratehub almost never has the lowest rates. I hear that they won’t allow more competitive brokers to advertise on their site and undercut their in-house broker, Canwise. For that reason, and because Ratehub shows far fewer rates than other sites, I believe it is mainly a front to advertise Canwise.