Rocket Money Review: Budgeting, Subscriptions and Savings in One App

If you want to turbo charge your savings but don’t want to get bogged down by the details, we may have the budgeting app for you. Rocket Money (formerly Truebill) is a personal finance app designed to help users manage spending, cut unnecessary subscriptions and save automatically. It can even negotiate your bills for you, although it takes a cut of the savings.

Rocket Money is all about weeding out what you may be wasting money on unnecessarily: Think subscriptions and recurring charges. Its automated features can save you money and time spent haggling over bills. The company says it’s saved users more than $2.5 billion since it was founded in 2016.

We’ll check out the features, pricing and safety for the app in our Rocket Money review. Then we’ll get into the pros and cons of Rocket Money and see how it stacks up against other budgeting apps like Cleo and YNAB.

What Is Rocket Money and How Does It Work?

Rocket Money is a personal finance app that links to your bank accounts, credit cards and investment accounts to help you track spending, manage subscriptions and build savings.

When you download the app, you’ll be taken to a dashboard, which offers a clean, simple display of your accounts, upcoming bills, recent transactions and other insights. If you pay for the premium service (which is heavily advertised in-app), you can also have Rocket Money do the heavy lifting of canceling subscriptions and services for you.

Rocket Money was formerly known as Truebill, a personal finance app that was acquired by Rocket Companies in December 2021.

Key Features of Rocket Money

There are plenty of helpful features you’ll get with the Rocket Money app, although most are only available with a “premium” paid subscription:

• Automatic subscription tracking: Detects recurring charges by analyzing transactions from your bank and credit card accounts. With the premium version, you can view them in the “Recurring” tab and cancel with one tap.
• Smart budgeting tools: Tracks spending and creates categories that quickly show where your money goes.
• Bill negotiation: Rocket Money’s team can negotiate lower bills for internet, phone or cable. The service is included with a paid subscription. If you’re using the free version, you pay a fee that’s based on how much they saved for you.
• Smart savings: With the premium version, you can use Rocket Money’s financial goals feature to set up automated transfers into a savings account.
• Net worth tracker: Premium feature that gives you a high-level view of your finances by tracking your assets vs. debts.
• Credit score monitoring: Premium feature that gives you access to your credit report and alerts you of events that could impact your score.

More from The Penny Hoarder: 

• Want to Save More Money? Try a No-Spend Challenge
• How to Calculate Your Net Worth
• What Is an Emergency Fund and How to Start One

How Much Does It Cost?

Rocket Money has a free version, and it lets you pick how much you’ll pay, from $6 to $12 a month, for its premium version. Why would you ever choose more than the minimum when every user gets the same features? The company says it’s to let you decide how much value you’re getting from the service.

The premium version includes all the basic features as well as the following:

• Smart savings
• Net worth tracker
• Credit score monitoring
• Custom budget categories
• Canceling subscriptions on your behalf

You can use a free version of Rocket Money that includes account linking, balance alerts, subscription management and spend tracking. Rocket Money offers a free seven-day trial of its paid version, so you can see for yourself if you think it’s worth it. 

The bill negotiation feature is a separate charge that you pay on a per-bill basis. The fee is typically 35% to 60% of your first-year savings. While the service does save you the hassle of negotiating, we’d recommend reaching out to the provider yourself to avoid paying the extra fee, especially since some “savings” Rocket Money negotiates are promotional deals that may expire.

Pros and Cons of Rocket Money

Who Should Use Rocket Money?

If you’re new to budgeting and not sure where to start, Rocket Money is a good starting point. It’s easy to use and is helpful for automatically tracking expenses. The premium version is good for busy people and those who may forget about recurring bills and subscriptions, since you can pay them to negotiate your bills and cancel subscriptions.

If you’re more of a Type A budgeter who likes to track the details of every transaction, Rocket Money may not be a great fit for you. 

Is It Safe and Legit?

Rocket Money uses bank-level encryption and secure third-party integrations (via Plaid). The app has read-only access to financial accounts, meaning it can’t move money from one account to another without your approval. 

Rocket Money is owned by Rocket Companies, Inc., a publicly traded company. According to the company, more than 10 millions people use the app, and it has strong reviews in the Apple Store and on Google Play.

Rocket Money vs. Other Budgeting Apps

Rocket Money’s strength is its automation and budgeting features but isn’t great for personal engagement. In contrast, Cleo focuses on engaging users and YNAB offers full control for detail-oriented budgets.

Bottom Line: Is Rocket Money Worth It?

Rocket Money is a good choice if you want to monitor your finances with minimal effort, and its premium version offers even more automation features for saving. However, it’s best for casual budgeters and those new to budgeting.

We’d recommend trying the free service for a few weeks before you use the 7-day free trial so you can compare and decide if the premium version is valuable enough for your needs and budgeting style.

FAQs About Rocket Money