Note: Money Dashboard is now closed. We are leaving this review up for historical purposes. Read more here.

Money Dashboard is a leading personal finance budgeting app in the UK—but are they the best? We think Money Dashboard should be a prime candidate for you to consider if you're trying to get a better handle on your household finances. Here's why.

• Money Dashboard Review: What we really think
  • Customer Ratings and Reviews
• What is Money Dashboard?
  • Main Features
  • Spending Categories
  • Is Money Dashboard safe?
  • Which banks does Money Dashboard support?
• Money Dashboard vs. Competitors

Money Dashboard Review: What We Really Think

Money Dashboard is a platform that organises your bank accounts, subscriptions, bills, savings goals and budgets in one place, to show you exactly how much money you have until your next payday. It stands out from other budgeting apps in the UK marketplace for a number of reasons.

For starters, if you'd prefer a company with a relatively long track record in the personal budgeting space for peace of mind, Money Dashboard is a good bet. They've been around since 2010 so they have a solid history of trying to help regular people manage their budgets.

A few years ago Money Dashboard has raised a significant amount of money, which they're using for product development. Money Dashboard raised £4.6 million pounds in 2019, consisting of an additional investment from Calculus Capital and over £3.6 million raised in a highly successful crowd funding campaign. They only set out to raise £1.5 million, but over 3,300 investors poured in 245% of the initial goal!

This cash means Money Dashboard has ample funds at their disposal to keep innovating to ensure their app has cutting edge features—and ensure the security and safety of your data. And they are putting that money to good use; they' rolled out a new app called Neon which had some early adapters complaining due to Neon missing a few features compared to the older app (called Classic), but it seems like the company has been working flat out to address these concerns and bring Neon up to full strength.

In part, Money Dashboard rolled out Neon to new customers when they did (not waiting for it to be 'perfect') to avoid these customers having to switch over to the new app later on. Makes sense if you ask us. But it does mean that customer ratings on sites like Trustpilot have suffered from complaints made in the early Neon days. For example, we noticed a 1-star review complaining they couldn't delete custom categories after you've created them—a feature that is now available.

There are certainly perks to the new Neon app such as newer technology that allows for faster development and scalability. Plus Neon takes less work for users to set up and maintain. If users are any indication, Money Dashboard has reported that 'user retention on Neon is already better than our Classic version'. They say 'Neon is absolutely a work in progress and there is still lots of functionality to be added' but it seems they worked hard to make this happen and now the app is going full steam ahead.

So overall, we'd say the company has the resources to make great things happen and it seems like they are focused on continually improving the app and giving their customers the product they want. Don't just take our word for it though, Money Dashboard has been named UK's Best Personal Finance App 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 at The British Bank Awards.

But more importantly, do customers think Money Dashboard is any good? A few customer reviews throw up a red flag or two, but as we've said these complaints may not be an issue for new users. Let's dig into real customer ratings and reviews next.

Money Dashboard Customer Reviews

Money Dashboard has earned 2.5 out of 5 stars at Trustpilot, but this rating is based on quite a small number of customers (169 reviews at the time of writing) so we wouldn't say it's super reliable. We would like to see a higher proportion of Money Dashboard customers leaving reviews at Trustpilot; this could provide a more insightful glimpse into what customers really think of their experience.

While Money Dashboard has plenty of 5-star ratings (close to half of the ratings gave Money Dashboard an "Excellent" score), there are many lower ratings, too. Regarding the customer complaints, it seems that many of the poor reviews are related to two primary issues, neither of which should be a factor for new account holders.

First, the recent upgrade from the older app ('Classic') to the new app (called 'Neon') caused some issues for a portion of older customers who had spent a long time customising their accounts. Account holders who were set up with the Classic app lost some of this customisation when they transitioned into Neon, such as custom categories not transferring over. There were also some complaints about missing features not yet available on Neon.

Second, in line with FCA directives Money Dashboard transitioned to Open Banking earlier in the year; unfortunately not all of the banks were ready in time so some customer's bank connections were lost. Money Dashboard has been working to re-establish these connections as the banks make them available, and now all of the major banks and providers are supported.

In our opinion, new potential customers shouldn't be too fussed by these complaints, as they shouldn't have the same experience; that is, new customers won't have any of these Classic-Neon upgrade or switch-to-Open-Banking connectivity issues that drove most of the negative reviews. We have included a few of these negative reviews below for full accuracy; just keep in mind that by and large the bad ratings reflect switchover problems from earlier in the year that shouldn't have any bearing on your experience as a new user now. At any rate, let's see what some real customers have to say about Money Dashboard:

"Very disappointed to see the negative reviews here, wonder if they relate to the legacy version. I signed up for the latest version Neon and have been very pleasantly surprised how good it is for a free product. Couldn't connect two of my bank accounts, contacted MD support who supplied a detailed error message that the bank was returning. This helped me resolve the issue quickly. The product just works, giving us an amazing insight into our finances with the minimum of effort. There's a whole list of features I'd like to see added, but I suspect they'll appear in the course of time. Reassuring that the company is based in the UK, Edinburgh, and is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority."

"Love the App. Much better than some I have recently tried..."

"Has been great getting my finances in order and giving me a way to plan."

"Finally an app where you can see all your accounts at the same place. I have tried Yolt in the past but trust me, Money Dashboard is much better."

"I found the new app to be fast and intuitive, hooking up with my bank accounts through open-banking seamlessly & giving a fantastic oversight of my current financial position, with many new features & views to absorb. In my experience there are always associated glitches, bugs and gremlins with the introduction of ambitious significantly complex applications like this. Having read some of the reviews I can see the need for some improvements in areas such as tagging and categorisation, and they are happening. Steve Tygar has assured me that the Money Dashboard Team are working tirelessly to ensure that this continues to be the best financial management app available. His track record and that of Money Dashboard speaks for itself, providing an easy to use product, free of charge, accessible from multiple devices, to 100's of thousands of mainly very satisfied users."

"I loved Money Dashboard Classic, but I can't say the same about the new Neon version! ... I had to set up all my categories and budgets again, when I'd spent ages getting them exactly how they worked for me..."

"Since the change over to open banking I currently have only one bank supported..."

And a sample of reviews from the app store:

"The only app of its kind able to give me an accurate overview. I had been previously using Emma which I still think is a good app but as I have a joint credit card it can be hard to keep track of my spending. Although the process is still quite manual, being able to have the option to either exclude or delete transactions is a really useful tool. You can also edit the names of transactions and add your own categories at no extra charge unlike with Emma. Money Dashboard seem to be constantly updating the app with new features as it already seems to have a lot more than when I first looked at it a year ago and it wasn’t quite right for me then."

"Iterates fast and gets visibly better. I was an initial Classic user, and while the new MoneyDashboard app started off with less features, I was impressed at the speed with which the team was able to improve the experience and feature set in a few short months! I get the approach, it’s a bit like having a single button on an iPhone as opposed to several on other phones. Intuitivity and simplicity vs flexibility and complexity. It does 95% of the things I want from a money management tool, and it does it with a few clicks from me. I’m sure 4% more will come in the next few months, and the final 1% will always be different for everyone. Overall recommend."

"... I am nothing to do with the company but I will sing there praises on customer support and feedback, willing to engage to understand what the users want and help if you need it too. I did on setting up one account and it was resolved within hours..."

"I received email saying that the old app would no longer be updated so I thought I had better download this. It’s new so you can’t expect it to be perfect, but if you are used to the old one, it’s pointless."

And we have to say that Money Dashboard seems to take customer complaints on Trustpilot and the App store seriously. They write a thoughtful response that specifically addresses the customer's concerns (and not the generic "We're sorry to hear that you experienced a problem, please email our customer care team" response you get from a lot of companies!).

When they have messed up (e.g., if there is a glitch with a feature) they admit it, explain what happened and give an estimated roll-out time for the issue to be fixed. We really like this transparency and communication with customers.

Let's now take a look at the Money Dashboard platform and see how they compare to alternatives in the market.

How Money Dashboard Works

Money Dashboard is a personal finance tool that aggregates all your financial accounts (i.e., online current accounts, savings accounts and credit cards) into one place. How does this help you? It enables you to see all your spending and cash in one place, to help you understand your spending habits and track your budget. It also lets you see how much cash you really have altogether across all your accounts at any given moment, and if you'll have enough to last until payday.

To understand how much you're really spending—that is, what you're buying and where—transactions are grouped into categories like 'eating out', 'groceries' and 'electricity’. Most common transactions are tagged and categorised automatically, but where Money Dashboard can't figure out what category a certain type of spending belongs to, users have the flexibility to customise the tags.

Main Features

As you'd expect, Money Dashboard enables you to view balances and transactions at linked accounts as well as some other desirable features on a personal budgeting app such as categorising and viewing your spending, setting budgets for different categories of spend, displaying how much cash you'll have left to spend after bills are paid, and more. Here's a quick description of Money Dashboard's main features:

Money Dashboard Spending Categories

Money Dashboard automatically categorises the money you spend into 14 different buckets so you can see where your money goes. Users also have the option to add their own custom categories if they want to break up the automatic categories or track one form of spending in particular (e.g., coffee shops). Here are the 14 automatic categories and what they include:

How do I sign up with Money Dashboard?

First you'll need to create an account, which you can either do online via the Money Dashboard web app or by installing the mobile app from the App Store or Google Play.

During the sign-up process you'll be presented with a list of major UK bank account providers. When you select your bank(s) Money Dashboard will tell you what details are required to connect your account(s). If you have multiple bank accounts but only want to start with one for testing purposes, you can add more accounts at a later date through the ‘Accounts’ screen when logged in.

Why Money Dashboard is so useful

By aggregating accounts in one place, users can glean valuable insights about their spending habits—and this is the first step towards managing a household budget. So if you want to spend less, save more and generally have a better understanding of where your hard-earned money goes, a tool like Money Dashboard can provide invaluable support—it saves you from having to manually aggregate your accounts with Excel or pen and paper each month.

Is Money Dashboard Safe?

Wondering if you can trust Money Dashboard—that is, is Money Dashboard secure? Let's look at the behind-the-scenes tech and the regulations Money Dashboard has to abide by.

For starters, in terms of regulation Money Dashboard is regulated by the FCA. If fact, every UK provider that uses Open Banking to offer products and services must be regulated by the FCA.

Money Dashboard uses Open Banking to get your banking and spending data in order to show you insights about your personal finances and help you manage your budget. This means that the log in process to connect your accounts is handled by your bank so you don't have to worry about sharing your login details; then the bank grants access via an API. The biggest banks and building societies are enrolled on the Open Banking Directory, and others are in the process of enrolling.

What is Open Banking?

Open Banking is a secure way to give providers like Money Dashboard access to your financial information—and by doing so, these providers can offer tailored advice for you based on how you use your account. It was set up by the Competition and Markets Authority for the UK Government.

The idea behind Open Banking is to enhance competition and help consumers access suitable products at cheaper prices. In part, Open Banking came about because older, larger banks weren't working hard enough for their customers; meanwhile smaller, newer banks found it difficult to expand into the market.

How to Contact Money Dashboard Support

If you need help with your account or something isn't working, contact their help desk by submitting a new ticket here. If the issue is simply that you're getting an error when linking up an account, Money Dashboard advises first waiting a few minutes then trying again. If that doesn't solve the problem then get in touch. They can help sort out:

We've noticed that Money Dashboard also responds to complaints left on review sites like Trustpilot.

Money Dashboard Supported Banks

Money Dashboard works with all of the major UK banks, and they're working to expand the offering. If you don't see your bank or provider here, you can email a 'New Provider Request' to Money Dashboard using this email address: support (at) moneydashboard.com.

What Money Dashboard could improve

After scouring the customer reviews, we've come up with a list of features that existing customers are looking for with Money Dashboard. Hopefully in the future the app will include this expanded functionality:

What's the Value of Money Dashboard?

Money Dashboard is a private company, so it's hard to say. But in 2019 Money Dashboard raised money through a crowdfunding effort at CrowdCube, which reported a pre-money valuation of just over £21 million. (A pre-money value does not include external funding or the latest round of funding.)

Remarkably, Money Dashboard was only looking to raise £1.5 million—they reached this target in a mere 45 minutes, finishing the round with £3.6 million from over 3,300 crowd funders. Additional investment from Calculus Capital and Scottish Investment Bank brought the total raised to £4.6m.

Money Dashboard generated over £970k in annual revenue in 2018/19, with an EBITDA of -£958,966.

Other FAQs

Money Dashboard Alternatives UK

Money Dashboard vs Yolt

Yolt is a relative newcomer to the space, having launched in 2017. Owned by ING, Yolt is also free to use. Yolt is only available via the app; there is no web interface. And the user interface seems a bit less robust (e.g., graphs) but Yolt has a payment feature called Yolt Pay that lets users transfer money to other people using Open Banking APIs. (Both Neon and Yolt support transferring money between your own connected accounts.)

Money Dashboard vs Emma

While Emma is also a highly-regarded budgeting app, the full version is not free. Users need to upgrade to the paid version, Emma Pro, for access to features like custom categories, exports to Excel and creating manual accounts to track cash or accounts that are not part of Open Banking. Emma Pro costs £4.99 a month (approx £60 a year if you pay monthly, although 6-month and 12-month plans are slightly cheaper.) Emma has recently expanded into the US and Canada.