About Cleo
I’ve tried a dozen budgeting apps that felt like a chore, but Cleo is different. It’s a free personal finance app built around a sassy AI chatbot that talks to you about your money in plain English. Instead of just staring at charts, I found myself actually checking in with Cleo daily, almost like texting a friend who happens to know my bank balance. It’s built by Cleo AI, and it feels less like a sterile financial tool and more like a helpful, slightly cheeky companion for your wallet.
Features & Highlights
The core feature is, of course, the AI chatbot. You can ask it things like “Can I afford takeout tonight?” or “How much did I spend on coffee this month?” and it answers instantly, pulling data from your linked accounts. I used the “Roast” mode once—where Cleo ruthlessly critiques your spending—and it was both hilarious and sobering. Beyond the chat, it auto-categorizes your transactions. I discovered I was spending way more on “entertainment” apps than I realized. The budgeting tools are simple: you set an amount for a category like “Eating Out,” and Cleo nudges you when you’re close to the limit. There’s also a “Cash” feature that lets you stash away small amounts automatically, which I found painless for building a mini emergency fund.
User Experience
The first time I opened Cleo, it asked to link my bank. I was nervous, but the process used Plaid, which I recognized from other apps. Once connected, the magic happened in the chat. On a Tuesday, I typed, “What’s my budget looking like for groceries?” and it instantly replied with my remaining balance and a snarky comment about my weekend supermarket splurge. The interface is mostly just the chat window and a few simple tabs for budgets and savings goals. I never had to hunt for anything. The tone is the real winner; when I saved $100 in a week, Cleo celebrated with me using GIFs. It turned a dry financial review into a moment I actually looked forward to.
Pricing
The core app is completely free. You get the chatbot, basic budgeting, spending tracking, and the automated savings “Cash” feature. They offer a paid tier called Cleo Plus (around $5.99/month) which unlocks higher cashback rewards on the savings stash, larger “Cash” advances (up to $100), and more personalized insights. For my needs, the free version has been more than enough. The Plus features feel geared toward someone who wants to use Cleo as a primary tool for micro-advances or maximize their tiny savings interest. For casual money awareness, free Cleo is genuinely powerful.
Updates & Support
I’ve had the app for about six months, and I see small updates every few weeks. These aren’t massive overhauls but tweaks to the chatbot’s personality, new response types, or UI polish. It feels actively maintained. I had one issue where a transaction didn’t categorize correctly. I messaged support through the app, and while it took about 36 hours to get a human reply, they were helpful and fixed the categorization rule for me. They also have a decent help section within the app, written in the same casual tone as the chatbot.
Security & Privacy
You download Cleo from the official App Store or Google Play. To work, it needs to connect to your bank via Plaid, a trusted third-party service used by Venmo and many others. Your login credentials are not stored by Cleo. They use bank-level encryption and read-only access, meaning the app can’t move your money, only see it. The privacy policy is clear that they analyze your spending data to provide insights, which is the whole point. I didn’t notice any intrusive ads in the free version, just occasional prompts for the Plus subscription. For me, the trade-off of sharing transaction data for this level of personalized, easy help is worth it, but it’s the main consideration before signing up.
