I Tried PocketGuard: Here's My Honest Review
Review
Updated
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My favorite thing about budgeting apps is being able to see my full financial picture at once. I want to see the money coming in, the money going out -- and the money left over.
PocketGuard does all of this and more, giving you a great overview of your accounts and expenses, as well as tracking upcoming bills, and how much money you have in your (digital) pockets at any given time.
PocketGuard is a budgeting app that syncs with your bank and credit accounts to help you manage your finances. You can view all of your accounts in one place, and PocketGuard can automatically update your total income and latest transactions.
If you're prone to overspending, the "In My Pocket" feature may help. It uses estimates of your income and expenses to offer an instant look at how much money you should be safe to spend. And you can take a deeper look with simple spending reports using your most recent transactions.
Once you set up a PocketGuard account (and pay for Plus to unlock the useful features), you'll link your accounts, including bank accounts and credit cards. This allows PocketGuard to import your transactions automatically.
From here, you can organize and categorize your transactions. Add custom tags, set bill frequencies, and set up your savings goals.
With everything categorized, PocketGuard's In My Pocket algorithm can use your bills, income, expenses, and savings goals to show you how much money is left over -- as well as how long it needs to last. This lets you see at a quick glance of your app whether you have pocket money -- or empty pockets.
The best way to use PocketGuard is to link all of your financial accounts so that PocketGuard can import your transactions automatically. You can connect everything from checking accounts to loans and brokerage accounts.
PocketGuard says it can link to more than 18,000 financial institutions. It partners with well-known data aggregators Finicity and Plaid.
Linking your accounts is about a thousand times faster than manually entering every transaction every time. However, if you prefer this route and/or don't want to connect your accounts, you can do it manually, which is a nice option.
It's much easier to set informed savings goals when you can see all of your income and expenses in one place. This helps get rid of a lot of the guesswork and estimations about your monthly bills and spending habits.
Even better, you can set your savings goals inside the app so that they become part of your regular budget. PocketGuard can help you figure out how much you need to contribute each month to reach your goals, and it will also incorporate those contributions into your In My Pocket numbers so you aren't accidentally spending your savings contributions for the month.
The "In My Pocket" feature is what PocketGuard calls its "jewel." It uses a proprietary algorithm to analyze your bills, income, expenses, and savings goal contributions to show you what is in your "pocket" -- i.e., what should be safe to spend -- at any given time.
If you've ever overdrafted your checking because you forgot an expense was upcoming, this feature could be very useful for you. (Personally, I would take this feature with the proverbial grain of salt; just because the algorithm says you can spend that money doesn't necessarily mean you should.)
Make sure you're getting the best account for you by comparing savings rates and promotions. Here are some of our favorite high-yield savings accounts to consider.
| Account | APY | Promotion | Next Steps |
|---|---|---|---|
Open Account for SoFi Checking and Savings
On SoFi's Secure Website.
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor |
up to 3.80%²
Rate info
You can earn the maximum APY by having Direct Deposit (no minimum amount required) or by making $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits every 30 days. See SoFi Checking and Savings rate sheet at: https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.
Min. to earn: $0
|
New customers can earn up to a $300 bonus with qualifying direct deposits!¹
|
Open Account for SoFi Checking and Savings
On SoFi's Secure Website. |
Open Account for CIT Platinum Savings
On CIT's Secure Website.
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor |
4.10% APY for balances of $5,000 or more
Rate info
4.10% APY for balances of $5,000 or more; otherwise, 0.25% APY
Min. to earn: $100 to open account, $5,000+ for max APY
|
Earn a bonus of at least $225 after a one-time deposit of $25,000+.
Transfer a one-time deposit of $25,000-$49,999.99 for a bonus of $225. Transfer a one-time deposit of $50,000+ for a bonus of $300. Account must be opened with code PS2025 while this promotion lasts, and funded within 30 days. Bonus will be fulfilled within 60 days from the funding date. There is no period of time where the customer will be required to maintain the funds. Account must be open when bonus is credited. One bonus per account and primary customer. Bonus will be credited into the Platinum Savings Account that fulfills the funding requirement. Funding can be deposited all at once or incrementally.
|
Open Account for CIT Platinum Savings
On CIT's Secure Website. |
Open Account for American Express® High Yield Savings
On American Express's Secure Website.
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor |
3.70%
Rate info
3.70% annual percentage yield as of April 10, 2025. Terms apply.
Min. to earn: $0
|
N/A
|
Open Account for American Express® High Yield Savings
On American Express's Secure Website. |
SoFi disclosure:
¹ New and existing Checking and Savings members who have not previously enrolled in Direct Deposit with SoFi are eligible to earn a cash bonus of either $50 (with at least $1,000 total Direct Deposits received during the Direct Deposit Bonus Period) OR $300 (with at least $5,000 total Direct Deposits received during the Direct Deposit Bonus Period). Cash bonus will be based on the total amount of Direct Deposit. Direct Deposit Promotion begins on 12/7/2023 and will be available through 1/31/26. See full bonus and annual percentage yield (APY) terms at sofi.com/banking#1.
² SoFi members who enroll in SoFi Plus with Direct Deposit or by paying the SoFi Plus Subscription Fee every 30 days or with $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits during the 30-Day Evaluation Period can earn 3.80% annual percentage yield (APY) on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. There is no minimum Direct Deposit amount required to qualify for the stated interest rate. Members without either SoFi Plus or Qualifying Deposits, during the 30-Day Evaluation Period will earn 1.00% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Only SoFi Plus members are eligible for other SoFi Plus benefits. Interest rates are variable and subject to change at any time. These rates are current as of 1/24/25. There is no minimum balance requirement. Additional information can be found at http://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet. See the SoFi Plus Terms and Conditions at https://www.sofi.com/terms-of-use/#plus.
³ We do not charge any account, service or maintenance fees for SoFi Checking and Savings. We do charge a transaction fee to process each outgoing wire transfer. SoFi does not charge a fee for incoming wire transfers, however the sending bank may charge a fee. Our fee policy is subject to change at any time. See the SoFi Checking & Savings Fee Sheet for details at sofi.com/legal/banking-fees/.
⁴ SoFi Bank is a member FDIC and does not provide more than $250,000 of FDIC insurance per depositor per legal category of account ownership, as described in the FDIC’s regulations.
Any additional FDIC insurance is provided by the SoFi Insured Deposit Program. Deposits may be insured up to $3M through participation in the program. See full terms at SoFi.com/banking/fdic/sidpterms. See list of participating banks at SoFi.com/banking/fdic/participatingbanks.
⁵ We’ve partnered with Allpoint to provide you with ATM access at any of the 55,000+ ATMs within the Allpoint network. You will not be charged a fee when using an in-network ATM, however, third-party fees incurred when using out-of-network ATMs are not subject to reimbursement. SoFi’s ATM policies are subject to change at our discretion at any time.
⁶ Early access to direct deposit funds is based on the timing in which we receive notice of impending payment from the Federal Reserve, which is typically up to two days before the scheduled payment date, but may vary.
⁷ Overdraft Coverage is limited to $50 on debit card purchases only and is an account benefit available to customers with direct deposits of $1,000 or more during the current 30-day Evaluation Period as determined by SoFi Bank, N.A. The 30-Day Evaluation Period refers to the “Start Date” and “End Date” set forth on the APY Details page of your account, which comprises a period of 30 calendar days (the“30-Day Evaluation Period”). You can access the APY Details page at any time by logging into your SoFi account on the SoFi mobile app or SoFi website and selecting either (i) Banking > Savings > Current APY or (ii) Banking > Checking > Current APY. Members with a prior history of non-repayment of negative balances are ineligible for Overdraft Coverage.
Although PocketGuard does technically have a free version you can explore, it has so many limitations to it that it's barely more than a meager demo of the real product.
Want to add more than one account? Upgrade. Want to set savings goals? Upgrade. Want to set up a debt payoff plan? Upgrade.
Oh, and the Plus ads are a bit much, too. A third of the main Overview page on my tablet was a slideshow-style ad for premium services.
Even if you pay for the extra features, even those features have limits, particularly when it comes to data analysis. You can see a few basic pie and bar charts on grouping expenses by category or merchant, and some simple reports. But that's about it.
For an app that brings together all of my financial data in one place, I really want to be able to play with that data and analyze it every which way. This app is not the app for that.
On the plus side, you can export your transaction history via CSV file -- provided you have a Plus subscription -- so you could potentially plug that data into a spreadsheet and manipulate it on your own.
As far as I can tell, there are no free trials for the PocketGuard Plus subscription, so if you want to try out the premium features, you're going to have to pay for it. And this isn't a cheap app -- at least, not anymore.
My research shows there have been a ton of changes to the pricing for PocketGuard over the last year, and the result is that the app now costs double what it did just 10 months ago.
That being said, once I signed up for an account, I was offered a discount on my first month. But that still means giving out your credit card info and paying to test the advanced features.
You can use the free version of PocketGuard for no cost, but you'll be sacrificing most of the app's features. If you want to upgrade to PocketGuard Plus, you have three options:
From what I've seen from users, PocketGuard has been doing a lot of price testing over the past year and you may or more not see all prices or products. (I only found the lifetime option listed in the mobile app, it was nowhere in the browser.)
Online opinions on PocketGuard aren't extensive, but what's there are a bit mixed. I found a few users who are mostly happy, and a few others who report finding the platform buggy and the customer service lacking.
You can access PocketGuard via a browser, but I found it worked better through the mobile app (the website was slow and buggy in some browsers). The interface itself is clean and easy to navigate, though the upgrade ads are annoying if you are using the free version.
PocketGuard app overview. Image source: PocketGuard, captured by author.
PocketGuard Transactions tab. Image source: PocketGuard, captured by author.
Yes, PocketGuard is generally considered to be safe to use. It partners with Finicity and Plaid to link your financial accounts. All three companies say they use advanced encryption and digital security protections.
If you want an app with more data tools: Monarch Money is a very comprehensive budgeting and money management app that lets you connect not just bank and credit card accounts, but investment accounts, loans, and other assets as well. It also offers robust data analysis tools and graphs to take deeper dives into your finances.
2025 Award Winner
If you want an app that budgets and tracks credit: Rocket Money offers a more holistic approach to personal finance with tools that go beyond basic budgeting. This includes credit monitoring, as well as helping you find -- and cancel -- unwanted subscriptions.
2025 Award Winner
Not itself, no. But PocketGuard works with a company called Billshark to offer bill negotiation service. There is a fee for this service.
The free version of PocketGuard is very barebones and does not offer much utility. If you like the app and want to use it, it may be worth subscribing. The app is costly, however, so it may be a good idea to try it for a month before committing to a full year or lifetime subscription.
Yes, PocketGuard still offers a lifetime subscription. However, the option isn't available until after you create a free account.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. Motley Fool Money does not cover all offers on the market. Motley Fool Money is 100% owned and operated by The Motley Fool. Our knowledgeable team of personal finance editors and analysts are employed by The Motley Fool and held to the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands. Terms may apply to offers listed on this page.
