6 Best Apps to Pay Off Debt Faster (2026)

Trying to make the most of apps pay off debt? You are in the right place. Below we break it down in plain English, with practical tips you can actually use.

Key Takeaways

• Share This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, advisory, or brokerage services.
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• Our team, led by R.J.

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This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, advisory, or brokerage services. We may earn compensation from some links on this page. Learn more.

Our team, led by R.J. Weiss, CFP®, evaluated dozens of debt payoff apps based on our personal experiences, affordability, user experience, app store ratings, and effectiveness in helping users pay off debt successfully. After extensive research, we’ve selected our top picks for various categories:

• Best for keeping track of debt: Debt Payoff Planner
• Best for budgeting: YNAB
• Best for debt consolidation: Bright Money
• Best for automating debt payments: Qapital
• Best for free cash advances: Earnin
• Best for improving your credit score: Credit Karma

Note that the rating and review data contained in this article was collected on July 15, 2024. We update this data periodically throughout the year.

Best for Keeping Track of Debt: Debt Payoff Planner

• Cost: Free, or $2 per month for the Pro version.
• Availability: Web, Android and iOS.
• Google Play rating: 4.5/5 with ‎3,819 reviews.
• iOS App Store rating: 4.7/5 with 5,470 reviews.

Debt Payoff Planner provides a simple setup and review system to give you a comprehensive look at your debts and repayment journey. You can use it to see your obligations from every angle, including how much progress you’ve made toward becoming debt-free and how different payback strategies may speed up that process.

The app is broken up into four intertwined sections: debts, strategy, payoff plan and tracking. It collects information about your debts , including balances, APRs, minimum payments due and payoff progress , and uses that information to feed the other three sections. 

You pick a strategy for your payoff plan (research shows the debt snowball method will give you the highest chance of success), and the Debt Payment Planner will show you how it impacts the time you’ll be paying on any or all of your debts.

As you make payments, you’ll enter them into the tracking section, which will also update your estimated payoff and debt-free dates.

You can track information about the money you owe either by individual debt or collectively. 

Debt Payoff Planner also presents this graphically, with charts showing total debt balance by type, individual debt balance and payoff timelines.

Bottom line: Use Debt Payoff Planner if you need help keeping track of your credit and loan accounts, as well as when (and how much) to pay them. You can also check out our debt-payoff guide to learn about science-backed strategies for getting out of debt fast.

Best for Budgeting: YNAB

• Cost: $9.08/month if you pay $109 upfront once a year or $14.99 if paid monthly.
• Availability: Web, Android and iOS. 
• Google Play rating: 4.7/5 with 19,893 reviews.
• iOS App Store rating: 4.8/5 with ‎52,770 reviews.

You Need a Budget, or YNAB, lets you you reduce expenses by asking you to give every dollar a job.

That means you assign every dollar to a category in your spending plan. Creating this plan is an excellent first step to reducing expenses because it forces you to think through where your money needs to go. This process is bound to make it clear where you’re overspending.

YNAB’s income vs. expense reports are another excellent way to examine your spending and trim the fat.

Along with these reports, YNAB creates visualizations of how your expenses balance out each month, enabling you to see at a glance where you’re spending the most money. This is another way the app puts what you’re spending front and center so you can determine what needs to be cut or whether you have monthly bills that need to be renegotiated.

Bottom line: YNAB’s rule-based approach, expense tracking, and reporting features can help you better understand and control your spending, making it an excellent choice if you need to reduce expenses and free up more money for debt repayment.

Not sure if YNAB is right for you? Take this quis to find out. MONEY MANAGEMENT Free Quiz: What Budgeting Method Is Best For You? Read More

Best for Debt Consolidation: Bright Money

• Cost: $8.08 per month billed annually ($97 upfront), or $14.99 if paid monthly.
• Availability: Android and iOS.
• Google Play rating: 4.7/5 with 68,385 reviews.
• iOS App Store rating: 4.8/5 with‎ 134,572 reviews. 

Bright Money offers a low-interest line of credit to consolidate your credit card debts , and you can get it regardless of your credit score. It then uses automation to transfer small amounts of money into your account every few days to ensure you make your payments on time.

Bright Money’s low-interest line of credit can potentially save you money over time by consolidating high-interest credit card debt into a lower-interest loan. In the example below, we’ll use Bright Money’s sample APR of 9.95% (though actual rates range from 9% to 29.99%, depending on factors like your credit score and income), with a maximum credit line of $10,000 and a five-year repayment period. Note that Bright Money’s APR is variable and will adjust with changes to the prime rate.

Now, let’s compare this with a typical high-interest credit card debt scenario:

Credit Card BalanceMinimum PaymentAPRTotal PaidCredit Card #1$5,000$10023.99%$8,766.64Credit Card #2$5,000$10020.99%$8,143.53Total Paid:$16,910.17

With Bright Money, these high-interest cards are converted into a single loan. Here’s what paying those credit cards back could look like:

Loan AmountMinimum PaymentAPRTotal Paid$10,000$2009.95%$12,492.45

While you would save $4,417 in the example above, be mindful that a debt consolidation loan has its risks. It’s not uncommon for those who take on a debt consolidation loan to build up more credit card debt after the fact. When that happens, they’re left with both the personal loan and the high-interest credit card debt to pay off.

Bright Money also offers debt payment automation, using its MoneyScience algorithm to make payments based on your income, spending, upcoming bills, and other factors. This tool is available without taking out a debt consolidation loan. It moves small, manageable amounts of cash to your Bright Money Stash account, and then uses those funds to ensure you make your payments on time.

When I tested the Bright Money App, here’s an example of the financial goals sequence it provided. The app prioritized debt repayment using the debt avalanche method, starting with the highest-interest credit cards

Bright Money leverages the debt avalanche method by default to pay back your credit cards, but you can change the order if you want to use the debt snowball method instead.

Bottom line: Use Bright Money for a lower overall interest rate on your credit cards and to ensure on-time payment. Learn more in our Bright Mone

Final Thoughts

The bottom line: a little research on apps pay off debt goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.

Originally published at thewaystowealth.com.