These differ far more in method than in price. Picking on price alone is the usual reason people abandon one after six weeks.
A budgeting app tracks where money went. If you already know roughly where it goes and the problem is that too little is left over, tracking will confirm what you know and charge you for the privilege. The step you just finished has already done that arithmetic against what households your size actually spend.
An app earns its price when spending genuinely surprises you month to month, when two people need to see the same picture, or when a specific method (envelopes, zero-based) is the thing that makes you stick with it.
A spreadsheet is free and works.So does your bank’s own categorization, which most people have never turned on. Try the free option before the paid one: an app abandoned in March still bills you in December.
Cheapest first over a full year. A subscription price is the same for everyone, so unlike a loan rate it can be ranked honestly. Both figures are shown because both are how people decide: where a company sells an annual plan and a monthly one, the two will not multiply out, because the annual plan is the discount. Where it sells only one, the other figure is that price converted. Prices are read from each company’s own page on the date shown, and a free tier, where one exists, is noted next to the app.
Use the trial, and use it properly. Connect every account and run one full month. An app that only sees your checking account gives you a false picture, and that is the usual reason a trial feels underwhelming.
Annual is cheaper, monthly is safer. Most of these charge appreciably more month-to-month, but paying monthly for the first few months costs less than a year of something you stop opening.
Check what happens to your data. These connect to your bank through an aggregator. Look at how to disconnect and delete before you connect, not after.
See what households your size spend by category with spending benchmarks, which is free and needs no account.