Frollo named Australia’s best money management app of 2021

Whether out of necessity or choice, most Australians have their savings, loans, investments and superannuation spread across different institutions. But with so many accounts and figures to keep track of, maintaining an overall financial picture isn’t the easiest task.

Enter money management apps. Built for smartphones and consumers who like being able to budget and manage their money on the go, the emergence of these apps has provided one solution to the problem of disjointed finances.

There’s no shortage of budgeting and finance apps on the market though, which is why Mozo’s expert judges have compared a host of apps in order to name Australia’s best money management app of 2021 as part of the recently released Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Bank Accounts and Savings.

Mobile apps that are available on both iOS and Android systems and offer data connections to Australian banks were considered for the award, with each assessed on factors such as cost and functionality.

More specifically, the judges looked at the availability and effectiveness of a range of features including:

• Transaction categorisation: Are transactions automatically categorised in the app and what kind of control do users have when it comes to creating new categories.

• Budgeting: Can users establish and control their own budgets in the app and how well does it visualise and help users assess their budgets. 

• Security: Does the app come with security measures such as two-factor authentication.

• Alerts: Can the app alert you when your bills are due, or when you hit specific milestones.

• Institutions: How many of the 20 largest banks in Australia can app users sync accounts from.

So, with all that in mind, which app actually came out on top? The winner of the best Money Management App Award for 2021 was fintech Frollo for the Frollo consumer app!

Established in 2016, Frollo’s free app not only gives users the ability to sync their accounts from a variety of different institutions in the one place, it also provides a range of tools and insights to help them track and manage their money.

Mozo Senior Research Analyst and Awards Judge, Mitch Pollard, said that while Frollo’s app features were among the best on offer, its unique open banking functionality - via Consumer Data Right (CDR) - helped it stand out.

“Frollo has made some great improvements over the past year which, by themselves, make the app a very competitive proposition,” he said. “But given that they’ve also started integrating CDR, and with such a good user experience too, it’s made the app really stand out.”

“For users the benefit of CDR is that instead of having to hand over your banking password and username, you can instead authorise Frollo as a third party provider through your own bank for a fixed period of time. That means transaction data will be able to appear near-instantly in the Frollo app.”

The uptake of apps like Frollo may be set to increase even more though.

According to Pollard, the rollout of open banking measures like CDR which expand the ability for Australians to share their financial data, along with improvements to other features, could make money management apps a mainstay in the phones of those wanting that extra bit of flexibility.

“The reality is that a lot of people keep their money in different places - especially those who are chasing competitive deals on various banking and finance products. So it’s not unusual to have multiple bank accounts or savings accounts with separate banks, for instance.”

“Trying to coalesce that data is hard though, which is why apps like Frollo let users sync up their various accounts. Essentially they provide an alternative for Australians who don’t want to be locked into a financial ecosystem with one bank or provider, but do want that same easily accessible overview.”

RELATED: Winners announced in the 2021 Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Savings and Bank Accounts

Interested in seeing all of our recent winners? For a full rundown of the 2021 Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Bank Accounts and Savings, including a copy of the methodology report, check out the link.