Setting Up Your Account
Getting into BetterBudgets takes a few minutes. The longer part is gathering your numbers, so it's worth knowing what you'll need before you start.
Creating an account
You need an account to use BetterBudgets — the app opens on the login screen until you're signed in, and your budgets are saved to your account rather than to the device.
On the login screen, tap Create Account next to New here?, then enter your First Name, Last Name, Email, and a Password. Passwords need at least 8 characters, including an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a number, and a special character.
Already have an account? Tap Login and sign in with your email and password. If you've forgotten your password, tap Forgot? on the login screen.
Your profile
Signing up with email takes you to Your Profile to finish setup. You'll add:
- ›A profile photo (optional) and a username
- ›A phone number
- ›Your Country and State
- ›A few basics — Gender, Age range, Education, Occupation, and whether you carry Debt (and which Debt types)
Tap Complete Setup when you're done. You can change your name, photo, username, phone, country, and state later from Settings → Edit Profile.
Choosing a plan
Right after setup, the app shows the plan screen. You can subscribe to Thrive there, or tap Not now to carry on with the free plan — Free doesn't expire, so there's no pressure to decide on day one. See Free vs. Thrive.
Either way, you land in the Guided Walkthrough next.
What to gather first
The Builder asks for real numbers, and the plan it produces is only as good as what you feed it. Before you start, it helps to have:
- ›Your pay — how much each paycheck is, how often you're paid, and the date of your next payday
- ›Your current savings — the balance you're starting from
- ›Your housing costs — rent or mortgage, plus the fixed bills that come with it
- ›Your other expenses — groceries, gas, and the rest
- ›Your debts — for each one, the balance, the interest rate, the payment, and when it's due
The debt numbers are the ones people don't have memorized. Pulling up your loan and card statements before you sit down will save you from stopping halfway through.
You don't need to be precise on everything. Rough figures for variable costs like groceries are fine — you can revise any input later and rebuild. What matters most is that debt balances and interest rates are accurate, because those drive the payoff math.
Setting your region
BetterBudgets supports 36 countries. The Country you pick in your profile sets the currency amounts are shown in and the pay-frequency options you'll see. The Paycheck and Mortgage calculators also ask for a location, because they use country and regional tax figures.
See Region & Currency for the full list and what region affects.
Where to go next
Two paths from here:
- ›The Guided Walkthrough — the app's built-in setup, which takes you through each section one screen at a time. It starts automatically after sign-up, and you can rerun it any time from Settings → Walkthrough.
- ›Creating Your First Budget — a straight walkthrough of the Builder if you'd rather just get on with it.