Best Budgeting Apps for Long-Term Travelers

I've learned two truths about nomad finances: currency conversion fees hide everywhere, and a simple spreadsheet falls apart by week three. I road-tested a dozen budgeting apps over a 10-month loop (Tallinn → Seoul → Buenos Aires → Oaxaca → Lisbon) and narrowed the toolkit to four apps that play nicely together. Here's how I use them—and when each one fails.

Photo: Unsplash / Melissa Walker Horn

My Baseline Criteria

I judged each app on:

1. Multi-currency support — can it handle euros for rent, pesos for tacos, and USD for SaaS?
2. Offline resilience — does it let me log purchases on airplanes or on a Peruvian collectivo with no signal?
3. Collaboration — can I split costs with travel partners without wanting to scream?
4. Exportability — I need clean CSVs for my accountant every quarter.

The Core Stack

1. YNAB (You Need A Budget)

I resisted the cult for years; now I’m a convert. YNAB’s “every dollar has a job” mindset is perfect for long stays. I set categories for each city (e.g., “Lisbon Monthly: rent, groceries, transit”) and fund them upfront.

How I use it:

• Assign inflows by currency. My remote contract pays in USD, so I log the deposit in a USD account. When I transfer to a euro account, I record an internal transfer noting the exact exchange rate.
• Schedule goals for big purchases—like a new camera—so I’m not blindsided mid-trip.
• Reconcile weekly using bank feeds via Plaid (works for U.S./EU banks; for others I import QIF files).

Where it struggles:

• No built-in currency conversion. I manually convert using the rate my bank charged and record the fee as “Bank Fees.”
• Subscription is $99/year, worth it for me but steep if you’re on a shoestring.

2. TravelSpend

Great for shorthand daily logging and shared trips.

How I use it:

• Log quick expenses with emojis (“🍜 ramen – ¥1,200”). The app handles exchange conversions automatically.
• Invite travel buddies to join a shared trip so bill splits are transparent. You can export totals and settle up in whatever currency you prefer.
• Track “cash withdrawals” separately so I remember to record ATM fees.

Pro tip: Export monthly CSVs and stash them in Notion alongside receipts.

3. Revolut + Pocketsmith

Revolut doubles as a multi-currency wallet. Pocketsmith ingests the data and visualizes trends.

• I keep sub-accounts in Revolut for EUR, GBP, AUD, and ARS. Instant exchange saves me from awful ATM rates.
• Pocketsmith connects via API, categorizes transactions, and forecasts cash flow 90 days ahead. Handy when I want to know if I can swing a coworking membership and a Patagonia flight in the same month.

4. Monarch Money

Monarch replaced Mint for me. It aggregates accounts from the U.S. and Europe, handles manual assets (crypto wallets, physical cash), and lets me share read-only dashboards with my partner.

• The mobile app’s “cash flow” view helps me see at a glance whether I’m bleeding money in cafés.
• I set up alerts if discretionary categories exceed thresholds (e.g., “Dining Out > $400/month”).

Supplementary Tools

• Xe Currency for up-to-date rates.
• Receipts by Wave to photograph receipts for tax-deductible expenses.
• Splitwise for travel with friends who refuse to leave iOS.
• Notion finance hub with tabs for annual goals, recurring subscriptions, and tax obligations by country.

Sample Monthly Workflow

Week 1: Import bank feeds into YNAB, categorize rent, groceries. Log every cash purchase in TravelSpend; sync with friends splitting rental car.

Week 2: Snapshot Revolut balances, ensure enough in local currency for upcoming bills. Tag business-related expenses (coworking, gear) for tax deduction.

Week 3: Review Pocketsmith forecast; adjust travel plans if cash reserves dip. Export TravelSpend CSV, archive in Notion.

Week 4: Generate Monarch report for my accountant (income vs. expenses). Move leftovers from “Lisbon Groceries” into “Future Travel Fund.”

Case Study: Six Weeks in Seoul

• Accommodation: ₩1,050,000 for an officetel via Airbnb—logged in YNAB under “Seoul Rent.”
• Transport: T-money reloads recorded instantly in TravelSpend; conversions displayed in USD.
• Coworking: ₩220,000 membership flagged as tax-deductible; Wave stored the receipt.
• Unexpected: Hospital co-pay of ₩85,000. I pulled from the “Health Buffer” fund YNAB forced me to create months prior.
• Takeaway: Spending ran 12% lower than forecast thanks to generous café Wi-Fi. Transferring leftover won back to USD cost me $5.40 in fees, recorded appropriately.

Tips to Keep Sanity Intact

• Automate conversions. I built a Siri Shortcut called “Log Cash Spend” that asks for amount + currency, hits exchangerate.host for the current rate, and logs the USD equivalent into Notion.
• Batch receipts. Every Sunday, photograph paper receipts and upload to a Dropbox “2025-Q3 Travel Receipts” folder. Label by city.
• Track subscription creep. I use the app “Bobby” to log all recurring charges. Before starting a new trip, I cancel anything I haven’t used in 60 days.
• Use alerts for ATM withdrawals. Revolut lets you enable push notifications for transactions. That real-time ping reminds me to log exchange fees immediately.

When to Simplify

If this stack feels heavy, start with TravelSpend + Revolut. Once you settle into a rhythm, graduate to YNAB or Monarch for deeper planning. The key is consistency: I spend 15 minutes every morning logging the previous day’s expenses while my coffee brews. It’s boring, but so is running out of cash in Tokyo because you forgot about an annual insurance payment.

Final Thoughts

Budgeting as a long-term traveler isn’t about depriving yourself; it’s about buying freedom. When you know where every peso, euro, and baht goes, you can splurge on that cooking class in Oaxaca or upgrade to a hotel with proper soundproofing during a big client launch. The apps above—used together—give you clarity without burying you in spreadsheets.