Apps like Cleo

Best Alternatives & Competitors of Cleo!

Nowadays, most people wonder why their pockets are easily emptied.

That’s because of the never-ending ads we see everywhere, tempting us to buy things we want but we don’t even need.

That’s why managing our finances has become an essential part of our lives today.

One app that helps you in terms of budgeting and controlling your impulsive spending is Cleo.

But other than Cleo, there are several management apps that you can pick and choose from depending on your preference.

A lot of apps similar to Cleo control your spending behavior in the best way possible by taking different approaches.

Financial management applications such as CashApp, NudgeGlobal, Peak Money, Mint, Moneylion, Stash, Sofi, and Plum, are just some of the many popular alternatives to Cleo.

These apps offer different budgeting methods, cash back rewards, the ability to send money, and many more options.

But before diving into the mentioned apps, let’s talk about Cleo first.

This way, you will have an idea of the specification and basis, giving you a clearer standard on the other similar management apps.

What is Cleo?

One of the most popular budgeting apps that saves you from overspending is Cleo.

You don’t need to worry if you’re an iOS or Android user because this money-saving app is readily available to both Apple and Android users.

As a matter of fact, an octopus is an inspiration for the name Cleo.

This is to symbolize how its tentacles reach all of your spending patterns and turn them into thriftier habits.

A free version works perfectly fine as a standalone app, but if you wish to have all of the premium services available, you can gladly do so by paying $5 per month.

A chatbot named “Cleo” (of course) is one of the cool features of the app.

Just like Siri, Cleo has some kind of a bubbly and friendly personality.

Having said that, chatbot Cleo lets you talk about your financial life and lets you interact with it, creating a soft space between you and this sassy financial guardian angel that monitors your credit and debit card habits while making sassy comments along the way.

Budget

The Cleo app has this “roast” mode feature.

This means that those users who overspend and go beyond their budget get roasted.

This includes GIF-flaming and shaming, but also getting harsh reprimanding and warning.

Managing your finances is simplifying and specifying your big goals to create a smaller and clearer one.

These micro-goals make it easier for you to manage and also easier for the app to send you advice and updates based on the smaller stepping stones to slowly reach the bigger ones.

Save

The chat zones of Cleo are utilized to give users saving hacks.

These hacks, coming from a large base, are specifically chosen by the background AI based on the detected spending habits of the user.

There’s also an option for those who are really persistent in controlling their overspending patterns.

There’s a swear-jar trigger mode featured by Cleo where it roasts and shames the crap out of you when you overstep or are close to overstepping your proposed budget.

Moreover, Cleo also has cashback incentives built into their system.

This feature is a very good technique that encourages its users to save more by providing them with rewards in return for their good habits.

Another one of its great features is that the budgeting app also has coaches who monitor if the user has complied with his or her spending rule and also gives them saving hacks and tips to make their saving habits healthier and more efficient.

Build Credit

On the good chance that you happen to be a premium member of Cleo, you can borrow money with no interest.

This app features a system where members can borrow money and repay the loan back between three to twenty-eight days.

The borrowers are then eligible for another loan after they have paid the first one.

For those who are wondering, the loans you make in Cleo don’t affect the credit rating and will not be reported to credit bureaus.

This short-term method for borrowing allows the said app to unlock another axis and learn more about each of its member’s spending habits.

This also gives Cleo an avenue to provide their users with better advice to aid more improvement in the future.

Blog

Cleo also features a blog, which is very helpful in terms of educating and informing its users about financial management and financial health maintenance.

There is a huge range of various themes you can find on Cleo’s blog.

Topics like credit management, budgeting, lifestyle, budgeting, spending, saving, just to name a few, are available for its members to read.

The site keeps those writers who manage to relay and preserve Cleo’s tone- direct and relevant.

One of Cleo’s blogs is named Money Diaries.

This blog features finance experiences that can be really relatable to other users’ experiences as well.

This is one way for the app to engage its users and also gives a member a basis to reflect and relate on their spending behavior.

Here’s the Best Alternatives & Competitors of Cleo!

There are a lot of other financial management apps that have made their way to the budgeting space.

If you’re interested to know more about these apps and you want to weigh them down based on your preference, worry not!

We are going to give you an extensive list of other leading money management apps and rate their functionality in relation to Cleo.

It is important to base the rating based on the app’s features and stated objectives since they are cool in their own way, and none of them are striving to be Cleo’s mirror.

1. MoneyLion

MoneyLion looks for consumers that have savings of more or less than two-thousand dollars in savings.

These low-saving customers are their target financial consumers and are also the majority of their members.

MoneyLion uses an analytical system to help its users by optimizing their credit scores and boosting their savings.

For some context about this company, MoneyLion was led by a Wall Street veteran together with its team of financial and tech specialists who established the site as what it is today.

MoneyLion makes money by allowing its members to borrow money from them.

In addition to that, the app also has built premium services that users can subscribe to; they pay an amount per month in order to avail of the extra services.

Financial advice, investment services, and lending are some of the many services offered by MoneyLion.

In addition to that, the said budgeting app also has a system where spending patterns and behavior are detected and analyzed.

This allows MoneyLion to give financial advice tailored accurately to its users.

As a way to reward its good members, the app also has credit programs that include enhancing your credit score, giving reward points when you link your bank account, and offering you points based on the savings you have made.

Cleo Matchup

In comparison to Cleo, MoneyLion is a more extensive app because it is not only intended for users to enhance their savings, it is also more like a wealth management app in general.

If Cleo has a more sassy and friendly tone, MoneyLion has a more serious and detached tone in terms of personal assistance, an option for a more professional style.

If Cleo gives its users a feeling of starting up, MoneyLion feels more like a repackaged tool that is institutional and accessible in the digital space.

2. Dosh

If you are primarily looking for a cashback app, Dosh is the one for you.

This app attends to your personal financial management by setting its main focus on giving the users a discount for the items they want to buy.

This cashback app is already associated with a lot of online retailers that offer a return of the consumer’s money as cashback rewards if they wish to shop at any of Dosh’s participating retail shops and stores.

Dosh is a free app where discounts in the form of cashback are given to in-store or online purchases.

Consumers can activate the online rewards by clicking through the links provided in the app.

On the other hand, offline in-store rewards require users to link a debit card since it’s already automated.

Cleo Matchup

Cleo touches a much wider renege in terms of the services and the number of tools and functionality it provides.

Cleo also has a wide avenue for creating and improving your financial health management.

Close is more intrusive than Dosh in terms of how its app is designed and how its system works.

Depending on your preference for cash hand-holding, Dosh being less intrusive might be a hit or a pass for you.

Also, Dosh sets a more neutral tone to its users in comparison to Cleo’s harsh, irreverent roasts.

3. Nudge-Global

Nudge is a website application. This means that those who are not iOS or Android users can still have access to the app.

Nudge-Global is more like a platform because its interests are mainly focused on integrating with third-party organizations.

This platform is similar to Cleo in terms of really pushing their users to be responsible with their spending behavior by monitoring them and establishing a sense of control.

The users are asked to choose what financial direction they want to take, making financial guidance more personalized and objective-based.

Nudge-global also offers many tools and features to help users in terms of saving and budgeting.

Cleo Matchup

In comparison to Cleo, Nudge is promptly based on events.

This is a good thing for those who wish to prepare a budget for future events like holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, and more.

In Cleo, these liquidity needs are included in the explicit financial management program.

4. Mint

If you want to know what budgeting app is a close competitor of Cleo, Mint is the one up there for sure.

In terms of serious and personal financial management, this app contains powerful tools that are efficient but are also simple and well-utilized by the users.

With Mint, members are allowed to manage their net worth and check their credit scores by linking their financial accounts.

To make it sweeter, the app’s services and powerful features are free because the revenue model of Mint is ad-based.

Because of this, Mint has received good reviews from its users and has also won several awards.

Cleo Matchup

Mint is the best competitor of Cleo.

This app has a powerful set of tools and features that are highly efficient and useful to its users.

In comparison to Cleo, Mint has a wider range of options for savings and investment, and alerts are focused on a much wider goal and not only targeting the user’s spending habits and behavior.

5. Peak Money

Peak Money is a free app that is available on both Play Store and App Store.

This money-saving app contains a system that is focused on the behavioral cycle of its members, including spending cycles, spending patterns, saving behavior, and many more.

As with most of the apps on this list, Peak Money encourages you to save more.

Cleo Matchup

Peak Money’s main goal is based on the fact that saving is the main goal of financial management.

And although they have fewer tools and services compared to Cleo, they succeeded in that aspect.

However, payday loans provided in Peak Money may offset or weaken their savings culture development.

Both Cleo and Peka Money use psychological analysis to help create financial outcomes.

Cleo’s nagging octopus is most likely to be annoying to you.

All is based on your preference.

6. Plum

Let’s start this introduction with a little history of Plum.

This app came into existence when two Cypriot pals in the UK challenged each other in terms of who saves more than the other.

The geekier and probably lazier of the two, Alex, then created an algorithm that is now known as Plum today.

Plum is the budgeting app that allows you to know the amount you can and must save. In this way, you can adjust your spending habits accordingly.

Plum is already linked to most of the major banks in the UK, analyzing and calculating how much resources you can invest or save in a week based on the transactions you’ve made.

Cleo Matchup

In comparison to Cleo, Plum is much more focused on savings in terms of managing finances.

However, it neglects the fact that some spending habits need a little more effort to disrupt than just automated calculations.

Some savers need more motivation and a little nagging, you know.

Also, Plum sets its focus on goal-setting and transaction management, and, unlike Cleo, Plum does not analyze clients’ behavior.

7. Sofi

Sofi is another financial management app that covers a wide range of services.

This includes an avenue from planning to saving and retirement investing.

Sofi tailors its users’ financial plans by utilizing flexible borrowing tools and credit enhancement features.

Cleo Matchup

Compared to Cleo, which provides loans from its own bank book, Sofi associates and links to third-party banks and accounts.

This allows Sofi to give users a wide option of credit choices available.

8. Stash

Stash is a type of money management app that allows users to link the app into their investment accounts, creating long-term benefits from its member’s current savings.

Stash accounts are linked to accounts provided by the Green Dot Banks.

There are no monthly service fees, requires minimum balances, or even overdraft fees.

There are also early-access options and automatic transfers available in the app.

Clee Matchup

Cleo and Stash are more like a head and tail of the spectrum in terms of the investment chain.

Stash’s main focus is to provide a wide range of options for long-term savings by providing automated investment programs, while Cleo sets its focus on starting the process through its behavioral analysis and savings-generated nudges.

Customers often mix Stash with Cleo in order to fully manage their finances with a wide variation and different types of set goals and objectives.

It’s like having the best of both worlds and making better use out of it.