About Penny Grid
Penny Grid is an independent personal-finance publication run by three people — June, Theo, and Wren. We test AI budgeting apps with our own money for at least two weeks each, score them on a five-part rubric, and publish reviews nobody has paid for. This page explains who we are and exactly how we test.
How a paper notebook became a website
Penny Grid started in March 2023 as an actual notebook — a dotted Leuchtturm that June Calloway kept on her kitchen table in Montpelier, Vermont. Every Sunday she drew a grid: income down one side, spending across the top, and a penny taped into the square for each day the budget held. Friends photographed the pages. One friend photocopied them for her sister. The sister asked why this was not a website.
By late 2024 the notebook had become a small site, and by 2026 it had become our full-time answer to a simple question: which money apps are actually worth a busy person's trust? The name stayed. Every article we publish still begins as pencil on dotted paper, and the little terracotta penny in our logo is the same one from the first notebook's cover.
We write for people who find most money advice either too loud or too thin. Our promise is calm: real testing, real numbers, and reviews that tell you who should skip a product as clearly as who should try it.
The team
June Calloway
Founder & editor
June started Penny Grid in a paper notebook in 2023 and still drafts every review by hand first. She budgets with envelopes and a spreadsheet older than her dog, and she writes our in-depth reviews, including the fezelo review.
Theo Marchetti
Staff writer, apps & tools
Theo covers budgeting software and has stress-tested more than 40 money apps since 2021. He drinks too much espresso, reconciles his accounts every Sunday night, and wrote our fezelo vs velmato head-to-head.
Wren Okafor
Research & fact-checking
Wren runs the testing spreadsheet and fact-checks every claim before publication. She is the reason our score tables add up, and she keeps the glossary honest.
How we test: the five-part rubric
Every app we review goes through the same hands-on process, and every score in our best AI budgeting apps ranking comes from this rubric. Testing takes a minimum of 14 days per app; our lead picks get 30.
1. Setup and bank linking (20%). We connect real checking, savings, and credit accounts and time how long it takes to get a working budget. If linking fails twice, we say so.
2. Automation accuracy (25%). We run at least 150 real transactions through each app and count how many the AI categorizes correctly on the first pass. This is the most heavily weighted score because it is where AI apps should earn their keep.
3. Coaching quality (20%). We judge the app's nudges, alerts, and savings suggestions the way a friend would: were they timely, specific, and kind, or vague and naggy?
4. Price transparency (15%). We record the true monthly cost, what is locked behind paywalls, and whether canceling takes one click or a phone call. Free apps like fezelo score full marks here only if the free tier is genuinely useful.
5. Data practices (20%). We read the privacy policy end to end, check whether data is sold or shared with advertisers, and test the export button. Your money data should leave when you leave.
How we keep the lights on
Penny Grid earns money in one way: when a reader signs up for an app through certain outbound links, the app's maker may pay us a small referral commission. It costs you nothing, and it never changes a score. We rank first and add links second — several apps in our rankings, including our current number one, are free to use.
No brand has ever seen a review before publication, sponsored a placement, or bought a spot in a list. If that ever changes, this page will change first, in writing, before a single link goes live. You can read the full promise on our privacy and editorial integrity page.