Emma App Review: A Feature-Packed Budgeting App. But Not Everyone Is Happy

Managing your money and budget these days is harder than ever, and it’s not just rent, groceries or mortgage payments. Most users now have multiple bank accounts, credit cards, investments including crypto and stocks, and a higher number of subscriptions than ever before thanks to the rise of streaming services, health apps, ai tools and general evolution of business models.

This is exactly how Emma App positions itself, as a modern money and budgeting app, designed to show everything in one clear, beautifully designed dashboard.
It is packed with features such as subscription management, budgeting, networth tracking, cashback spending, sending money to your friends, and even tracking your investments such as stocks or crypto.

Despite this broad ambition and feature-set, Emma App has a dark side and is definitely not loved by all. Is this superapp everything it’s hyped up to be? 

In this Emma app review, we will take a deep, unbiased look at how the app works, the features, what makes it stand out, where it falls short, and whether it deserves a place among the best budgeting apps available today.

Let’s break it all down.

What Is Emma App?

Emma app is a money management app founded by two Italian entrepreneurs: Edoardo Moreni and Antonio Marino in 2017 while studying in the UK, the famous teddy bear logo was to symbolise the concept of “your best financial friend”.

Emma app helps you see where your money is going by automatically tracking spending, subscriptions, bills, and investments across multiple accounts. Think of it as a modern money dashboard designed for people who want clarity and control without relying on spreadsheets.

Emma is built by Emma Technologies Ltd, is regulated in the UK, and uses open banking to securely connect your financial life. It’s especially popular in the UK and EU, with more limited support in the US.

At its core, Emma helps users:

• Track spending and budget by category
  
  

• Detect and track recurring subscription payments
  
  

• Monitor balances across various bank accounts, and credit cards.
  
  

• Get alerts when spending changes or bills increase
  
  

• Understand their overall financial position and networth
  
  

• Send money to their friends or easily split bills between different members

Emma also goes beyond basic budgeting or subscription tracking by offering crypto tracking, stock tracking, savings, cashback rewards and shopping(UK-only), rent reporting, and even business-focused tools.

Emma at a Glance

How the Emma Budgeting App Works

The Emma budgeting app works by securely connecting to your financial accounts and running quietly in the background. Once set up, it automatically pulls in transactions, keeps your balances up to date, and updates your budget in near real time, without requiring manual input or upkeep.

Emma connects to accounts using open banking in the UK and EU, and Plaid or Yodlee in the US These connections are read-only, meaning Emma can see your data but cannot move money.

Automatic Tracking & Categorisation

After accounts are connected, Emma automatically:

• Imports transactions from linked bank accounts and credit cards
  
  

• Groups spending into budget categories
  
  

• Detects recurring payments and subscriptions

You can manually edit categories or add tags if something is misclassified, but day-to-day use requires very little upkeep. As new transactions come in, Emma continuously refreshes your budget and transactions, giving you an up-to-date view of your spending without needing to log anything yourself.

You can also connect your crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, and more to monitor your crypto investments and directly invest into fractional shares right inside the app.

Key Features That Make Emma Stand Out

1. Subscription Tracking That Actually Feels Useful

Emma automatically scans transactions across connected bank accounts and credit cards to identify recurring payments. Once detected, subscriptions are grouped into a dedicated view that shows:

• Active subscriptions across all accounts
  
  

• Monthly and annual costs
  
  

• Price changes or unusual increases. There are alerts for this.

This makes it much easier to spot forgotten services and understand how recurring payments affect your monthly budget.

Emma does not cancel subscriptions on your behalf, which some users find limiting compared to US based apps like Rocket Money and Hiatus. Although Emma excels in visibility. By placing subscriptions directly alongside everyday spending, Emma helps users see patterns in where their money is going, which is often the first step to spending less.

Important: Subscription detection accuracy can vary depending on merchant naming, and cancellation is not supported, tracking only.

2. Budgeting Built for Real Life (Not Perfection)

Budgeting in Emma is designed to feel flexible rather than punitive. Users can set budgets weekly or monthly, then adjust them as spending habits change.

Key budgeting tools include:

• Category-based budgets
  
  

• Custom categories (paid tiers)
  
  

• Budgeting rules that automatically classify transactions (Emma Pro)

Emma doesn’t believe in locking users into strict limits, but rather encourages awareness. You can overspend a category without being “punished,” which makes it easier to track your budget without the stress that turns many people away from budgeting altogether.

This works especially well for users who want to budget effectively while still living a realistic lifestyle.

3. Multi-Account Visibility in One App

One of Emma’s strongest features is how it brings everything together under the one roof.

The app supports:

• General accounts and savings accounts
  
  

• Credit cards
  
  

• Investment accounts supported by Emma
  
  

• Crypto wallets (optional)

By aggregating multiple accounts, Emma creates a unified money dashboard that shows balances, spending, and trends in one place. For users juggling multiple accounts, this reduces friction and helps maintain a clearer picture of their overall financial position and networth.

4. Net Worth & Investment Tracking

On higher-tier plans, Emma adds net worth tracking, allowing users to see how assets and liabilities change over time.

This includes:

• Net worth history
  
  

• Stocks and ETFs
  
  

• Crypto balances

While these tools aren’t as advanced as dedicated investing platforms, they work well as a high-level overview. For users who want to invest or save with Emma while keeping everything in one app, the feature adds decent context to everyday budgeting.

5. Smart Alerts & Fraud Detection

Emma uses real-time alerts to keep users informed without needing to constantly open the app.

Alerts cover:

• Overspending in budget categories
  
  

• New or changed subscriptions
  
  

• Large or unusual transactions
  
  

• Potential fraud (Emma Plus)

These notifications help users stay proactive rather than reactive with their finance, especially when managing multiple accounts.

6. Shopping With Cashback Rewards (UK Only)

For UK users on higher tiers, Emma offers cashback rewards when shopping through supported retailers.

While not a replacement for dedicated cashback apps, it’s a useful bonus for users already active in the Emma ecosystem and helps offset the app cost for some subscribers.

7. Savings Account & Money Goals (Premium Users)

Emma offers an in-app savings account for premium users which is covered by FSCS, with a few options depending on the plan. It allows users to set money aside, track savings goals, and see how saving fits into their overall budget.

The feature is best used alongside Emma’s budgeting tools rather than as a replacement for dedicated savings apps. Its main value is keeping savings visible and connected to day-to-day spending.

8. Pay People & Split Bills

Emma supports peer-to-peer payments and bill splitting, making it easier to divide shared expenses with friends or housemates. This feature is especially useful for users who want everything, spending, budgeting, and shared costs, inside one app.

Emma groups are useful for sharing expenses with your group of friends while on holidays.

9. Credit Boosting Through Rent Reporting

Emma also offers rent reporting, allowing users to report on-time rent payments to help improve their credit profile. This is particularly valuable for renters who want their regular payments to count toward building credit history.

Emma Pricing & Plans: How Much Does Emma App Cost?

Free Plan (Free to Use)

• Connect up to 2 bank accounts

• Basic budgeting
  Subscription detection

• Manual tagging

• Low % savings account 

• Invest in fractional stocks

A solid basic experience, but limited and users report constant upsell pop ups. 

Emma Plus – £4.99/month

• Connect up to 4 bank logins 

• Fraud detection

• Rental reporting to boost credit score

• Medium % savings. Protected up to £120,000 by the FSCS

• Lowered investing fees

• Offline accounts

• Custom categories

Emma Pro – £9.99/month

• Unlimited Bank logins 

• Split bills & payments

• Data export

• Budgeting rules

• Advanced category control

Emma Ultimate – £14.99/month

• Net worth tracking

• Cashback through Emma (UK-only)

• Separate spaces for joint or multi accounts 

• Business accounts

• Unlimited bank transfers

• Lowest fees and highest savings rate

Many users report frequent prompts to upgrade to Emma, even after subscribing to lower tiers, one of the most common complaints in Emma reviews.

Is the Emma Budgeting App Safe?

Yes, Emma is safe. Is Emma budgeting app safe? Seems to be a common concern, but it’s common across most apps that connect to banking data.

Emma:

• Uses read-only open banking

• Is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

• Is registered in the UK

• Does not store banking credentials

• Is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme - FSCS (for regulated services like savings)

In short: money is protected, and the app uses bank-grade security.

Pros & Cons

The Dark Side of Emma, and What Users Are Saying

This is where things get more controversial. While Emma is widely praised for its design and features, negative experiences tend to surface loudly in user forums and reviews. One contact of mine ran into this issue personally and was posting negative sentiment on all his social media accounts. 

The two main criticisms that come up repeatedly are aggressive in-app ads and upsells, and issues around free trials, billing clarity, and cancellation. Some users report being charged for annual plans when they expected monthly billing, or being billed again after assuming their subscription was cancelled, often paired with frustrating or lacking customer support experiences.

This is something that users feel strongly about as they feel trapped and betrayed.

Examples shared by users include:

“I had the dreaded ‘charged me for a year when I thought I was paying for a month’ thing people complain about.”

“They charged me for another year after deleting the app and never notified me.”

That said, Emma still holds strong ratings on the Apple App Store (4.7), with consistent praise for its UX and multi-account visibility. On Reddit and finance blogs, sentiment is more mixed, users love the design, but often mention notification overload, upsells, and occasional subscription detection issues.

You’ll often see comments like: “I absolutely love this app, but the ads are annoying.”

Who Should Use Emma? (Best For)

Emma is best for:

• UK & EU users

• People who want a modern budgeting app with strong UX and design

• Users managing multiple accounts and subscriptions. It is also quite friendly to business oriented users or freelancers

• People that are okay paying monthly to unlock deeper features

Who Should NOT Use Emma

You may want to skip Emma if:

• You want automatic subscription cancellation

• You dislike constant upgrade prompts and interruptions

• You’re based primarily in the US or outside or UK/EU

• You prefer minimal, single-purpose apps

Emma App vs its Alternatives

Emma sits among a growing group of budgeting and subscription-focused finance apps. Prominently in the UK especially. While it offers one of the broadest feature sets, other tools may suit users with more specific needs.

• Moneyhub: A strong UK alternative focused on long-term financial insights and forecasting. It offers fewer upsells than Emma, but a more utilitarian interface and less emphasis on subscription tracking.
  
  

• Orbit Money: An upcoming Money app more focused on tackling subscriptions and recurring spending. Orbit plans to offer strong AI-powered features and is better if your main goal is tracking subscriptions without the noise of a full budgeting app.
  
  

• Rocket Money: Popular in the US for subscription tracking and bill negotiation. It offers stronger automation than Emma, but has no UK and EU support.
  
  

• Plum: More savings-driven than Emma. Plum focuses on automating money aside and investing, rather than giving a full overview of spending and subscriptions.

Read our deeper article breakdown comparing the best subscription tracking apps in 2025 for more potential alternatives to managing your subscriptions.

Final Verdict: Our Unbiased Review Summary

We believe that Emma is a powerful, feature-rich budgeting app that excels at helping users see their full financial picture in one place. The design is among the best in the sector, the feature set is broad, and the UK/EU banking support is excellent.

However, Emma’s biggest weakness is its aggressive monetization strategy which has hurt its reputation by prioritising profits over customer satisfaction.
Frequent upsells, locked features, and constant prompts can disrupt an otherwise smooth experience. And their sneaky tactics with free trials and annual subscriptions has left some bad taste in user’s mouths.

It also lacks some automation features offered by competitors. And some of the features can be found in traditional fintech apps without paying the monthly price-tag.

But If you value design, visibility, and flexibility, you’re based in the UK and don’t mind paying, Emma is a solid app.

Want to try it yourself?

You can download the app directly from the official site

FAQs About Emma App

Is the Emma app free?

Yes, the Emma budgeting app is free, but advanced features require paid plans.

Is Emma safe to use with my bank?

Yes. Emma uses open banking and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Can Emma cancel subscriptions for me?

No. Emma tracks subscriptions but does not cancel them. Apps like Rocket Money, Hiatus or Trim in the US are better alternatives for Subscription cancellation. 

Does Emma work in the US?

Yes, but with limited bank integrations compared to the UK and EU.

Is Emma good for budgeting beginners?

Absolutely. The app works well for beginners thanks to automation, intuitive features and clean design.

Is Emma worth paying for?

If you’re a business users or you want deeper insights and customization, Emma Pro or Emma Ultimate can be worth it, but expect frequent upsell prompts even at the lower membership tiers.

Is the free version of the Emma app worth it?

The free version is useful for basic spending and subscription tracking across up to two bank accounts. However, most advanced budgeting and reporting features require a paid plan, and users should expect frequent upgrade prompts.

Learn more about what features make a great subscription tracker that's right for you

What crypto exchanges are supported by Emma?

Emma supports tracking for some major crypto exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitfinex and Bitstamp. It supports tracking for most major crypto coins. Crypto tracking works best as a high-level overview rather than a full crypto management tool.

Is the Emma app available in Australia?

Emma is not officially supported in Australia. While the app may be downloadable, bank integrations and key features are unlikely to work properly.