Zeta Review: A Budgeting App for Couples
Although many budgeting apps focus on single users, Zeta helps couples stay on top of their finances together. If you and your partner are looking for a way to seamlessly merge your finances for better money management, Zeta could be worth considering.
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These days, you don’t need to balance your checkbook or stash envelopes of cash to track your spending. The best budgeting apps make it easy to always know where your money is going. If you’re looking for a budgeting app for couples, Zeta is definitely worthy of consideration.
As a shared budget app, Zeta helps couples gain a big-picture view of their individual and joint finances in one place. The app connects to both individual and joint accounts — you choose which accounts you want to share — and provides monthly insights into your overall spending, net worth, and ways to improve your finances.
Whether you and your partner are already on the same page financially or you need a little help to manage your finances together, Zeta could be the answer to your couples budget questions. Here’s what you need to know.
In this review:
- Is Zeta the Best Budgeting App for Couples?
- What Can You Do with Zeta?
- How Much Does Zeta Cost?
- The Downsides of Zeta
- Zeta Alternatives
Is Zeta the Best Budgeting App for Couples?
When it comes to budgeting, there are some great apps available for a range of individual needs. The major ones like Mint and Personal Capital are designed with one account in mind, but what about couples who spend money together but have multiple (both separate and joint) accounts? That’s where Zeta comes in.
Zeta is a couples finance app that lets you link multiple accounts to one easy-to-use money management tool. It’s a great way for you and your partner to talk about your finances, share expenses, and manage a household budget.
This budgeting app is helpful for couples with separate finances who share expenses, but it can also be used by couples at any stage in their relationship, such as engaged couples who are starting to merge their finances and married couples who are looking to set financial goals and track their progress.
Zeta makes it easy to monitor purchases from multiple accounts and see what you and your partner are spending money on. It helps open lines of communication regarding finances and makes budgeting for couples a breeze.
What Can You Do with Zeta?
The Zeta budgeting app for couples lets you see where your money is going via an array of useful features, like the ability to split transactions between two people — whether that’s groceries, a meal out, or movie tickets from date night.
It also lets you manage shared household bills. Do you pay for the internet and your partner covers electricity? Zeta keeps tabs on when these bills are due and sends you reminders to pay them. You can also confirm payment has been made and send each other your portion of the bill in question.
In addition to giving you the option to set up custom categories and keep notes on specific transactions, the app also has a feature for setting financial goals for the future, whether that’s saving for retirement or planning for a large joint purchase.
The important part to mention about this shared budgeting app is that you are 100% in control of what you share with your partner. Maybe you run your own business and don’t want your partner seeing those transactions, or you’re buying them a gift and want to keep it a surprise. Whatever the reason, Zeta gives you the choice of what to share and when. Plus, there’s even a breakup button in case you decide to stop sharing your finances altogether.
How Much Does Zeta Cost?
As one of the best budget apps for couples, Zeta is completely free. In the future, the company plans to charge for optional premium services, but the main functions will remain free.
The Downsides of Zeta
As with any newer app, Zeta users have previously reported bugs and other common issues. The good news is any kinks are generally resolved quickly, and reviews show the company is quick to make ongoing improvements, such as introducing alerts and tasks and making it easier for users to provide feedback to developers.
Zeta Alternatives
Zeta isn’t the only personal finance software tailored for couples. There are several other apps you may want to consider researching or trying out.
Honeydue
Honeydue is very similar to Zeta in that you can link your accounts and track purchases with your partner. It offers most of the same capabilities, but unlike Zeta, it does not offer a desktop version.
Goodbudget
Goodbudget is another couples budgeting app based on the envelope system. You establish a budget for different categories (aka envelopes) and track how much you are spending in each. It’s a slightly different way to monitor your finances, but one that may be helpful to some couples.
Dollarbird
Dollarbird offers a slightly different take on budgeting for couples. It’s a personal finance app that lets you track your money by adding events to a calendar. Share your calendar with your partner, and you both can gain insight into where your money is going.
Bottom Line
Zeta is a powerful couples budgeting tool thanks to its ability to link multiple bank accounts to one app. Couples can then easily track expenses, see who owes who, and split bills. It takes money management — a topic of discussion that can often be fraught with tension — and makes it interactive, informative, and convenient.