Finding the right finance tool can take some time and effort. In fact, you might be someone who always feels like every budget app and finance tool lacks a crucial element. Then, you can’t miss our Lunch Money review!
Lunch Money stands out from the crowd. As a web-first platform, Lunch Money was made for money dates and budget deep dives. The developers heard people’s concerns about other fintech tools and worked to address them (hello, crypto!). Read on to learn more about Lunch Money to see if it might be right for you!
What is Lunch Money?
Lunch Money bills itself as a delightfully simple finance and budget tool made for the modern-day user.
There are four main aspects of lunch money:
- Get a big-picture view of your finances
- Identify surface spending habits
- Simplify your finances
- Improve your financial awareness
To start to see a big-picture view of your finances, you can use Lunch Money’s net worth calculator. The Stats & Trends feature will allow you to see your spending habits. Plus, you can also use the Analytics Query Tool.
The Analytics Query analyzes your finances and spending habits. You can view your data in a variety of ways to make it more meaningful to you. Filter your spending habits by date or category. Then, display the results as pie charts, line graphs, or in tabular form.
You can use Lunch Money to build a budget. To get started, pick from one of over 20 categories. Then, you can add and customize your own categories to tailor your budget to your needs. Lunch Money will also recognize your recurring expenses and keep tabs on those for you as well.
Are you looking to share your finances? The Collaboration features allows you to give others access to your budget for no extra cost.
Lunch Money Review: Best Features

With Lunch Money, you get so much bang for your buck. Let’s take a closer look at some of the features that set this finance platform apart from others.
Simple Interface
The simple data displays on Lunch Money are a top selling point. We really love the Stats and Trends tab. Once your data is synced, Lunch Money gets to work. They identify patterns in your spending habits, offering insights and visualizations you can display in different ways.
Do you find bar graphs easier to understand? Are you interested in seeing how many pieces of the pie (chart) your budget takes up? Would a simple table make the most sense? You decide how the data is displayed and Lunch Money does the rest!
Global Appeal
Lunch Money is a multi-currency budgeting app. Are you a digital nomad? Do you spend in different currencies? You will appreciate the global appeal of Lunch Money!
Lunch Money tracks your spending in virtually any currency you use–there are 90 supported currencies! Then, it will add all your expenses up in your designated primary currency. Talk about simplifying your finances!
Good for Couples
Even if you don’t combine all of your finances, you need to manage your money with your partner. So why do so many platforms make it virtually impossible to do so? That’s not the case with Lunch Money!
Lunch Money has a Collaboration feature that allows you to share your budget and finances with other users, whether it’s a partner or a team. The best part? There’s no additional cost for the Collaboration option!
Crypto Support
There’s no denying that cryptocurrency is here to stay. While it may not fit in everyone’s portfolio, more and more people are exploring crypto.
Lunch Money is the first website to combine personal finances with a crypto portfolio tracker. Cryptocurrency factors into your net worth, allowing you to see how your crypto portfolio impacts your finances over time.
Currently, Lunch Money supports cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets including:
- Coinbase
- Coinbase Pro
- Binance
- Kraken
- Ethereum
Excellent Customer Service
Lunch Money shines when it comes to customer service. The Lunch Money Knowledge base is so comprehensive that many of your questions are answered preemptively. You can sort through broad categories like Getting Started, Migrating from Mint, and FAQ.
Additionally, you can use the Ask or Search bar. This feature will summarize an answer quickly and give you additional references to consult.
Whether you are a paid subscriber or part of the trial, you can also access the Lunch Money Discord community. There, you can connect with other users, troubleshoot, and even discuss feature requests and ideas.
If you still have other questions, you can connect with live support by sending an email to [email protected].
Lunch Money Review: Things to Consider
We love so many different things about Lunch Money. Before you sign up, though, there are a few things you want to consider:
(Sort of) Newly Developed
For some people, adopting the newest fintech is part of the fun. However, if you are someone who looks for a time-tested tool before trying it out, you might be nervous about Lunch Money.
It’s true that the platform hasn’t gotten the hype it deserves until recently. But Lunch Money was actually launched by a solopreneur in 2019. While it may seem like it hasn’t been around very long, five years is positively ancient in some technology circles!
Cost
Probably the biggest thing to consider about Lunch Money is the fact that the app isn’t going to make our list of best free budget apps. There is a cost to use. Customers can pay $10 per month or sign up for an annual subscription.
The subscription is based on a sliding scale where you choose what you pay. Starting at just $50 per year, you get access to the following:
- All product features
- Access to the Discord community
- Access to the beta testing community
Customers who pay $100 or more help Lunch Money stay sustainable and ad-free. If you pay $150 per year, you get a Lunch Money swag box.
You should note that Lunch Money comes with a 30-day free trial. That’s one of the longest trial periods around. Plus, you don’t need to enter your credit card information to sign up. That way, users can test it out for a month truly risk free!
Lunch Money Competitors
Hopefully, our Lunch Money review revealed that there is a lot to love about Lunch Money. Still, there are some competitors that you might also want to check out.
Simplifi
Simplifi is a strong contender for a low-cost budget tool. Created by the makers of Quicken, Simplifi helps users streamline their finances. Are you looking for a tool that creates a budget quickly? Simplifi is it! It will help with transaction management and planned spending.
It also offers mobile access, which Lunch Money does not. For budgeting on the go, Simplifi might one-up Lunch Money.
Currently, their annual subscription costs less than $50 a year. Additionally, Simplifi is known to run frequent sales. While it’s not free, it’s certainly very affordable.
Learn more about Simplifi here in our detailed review!
Monarch
Monarch is another strong Lunch Money competitor. Users can get a full picture of their financial help, with the ability to set long-term goals and monitor their overall financial health.
Do you manage your money jointly? Couples and families use Monarch easily to share data and track their finances together. In fact, Monarch is also becoming increasingly popular with financial professionals who also use the tool with their clients.
Read our review of Monarch Money here.
YNAB
We’d be remiss to write a budget tool review and not include YNAB. The truth is that every budget tool is always going to have to compete with this juggernaut of the finance world.
YNAB will help you give every dollar a job and identify your true expenses. Additionally, you can analyze the age of your money and keep an eye on overspending.
YNAB has a cult of followers who swear the tool is life changing. However, some people steer clear because of the cost and the fact that there is a steep learning curve. YNAB doesn’t look or feel like any other budget tool by design. They want you to change the way you view your money. As a result, some people get scared off. However, hundreds of thousands of other people are genuinely obsessed with this tool (their subreddit community has almost 200,000 people in it).
Learn more about why people love YNAB here!
Final Thoughts on Lunch Money Review
The Lunch Money interface is clean and easy to use, making this a great tool for your money dates and budget sessions.
While it may be lesser known on the fintech scene now, we bet it won't be long before tens of thousands of people are talking about Lunch Money as their go-to budgeting solution.
What stands out in our Lunch Money review? What’s your favorite budget tool?
Please let us know in the comments below.
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