Brigit App Review [2025]: Can It Help You Avoid Overdrafts and Improve Your Finances?

What is Brigit?

Brigit is a personal finance app that offers money management tools, including account monitoring, budgeting features, cash advances, credit insights, finance tips, and more. It offers a free version with a scaled-down set of features primarily focused on saving you money, and paid versions that unlock more tools and services. The paid versions, for instance, include access to Brigit Instant Cash, a paycheck advance service.

The company was founded in 2017 by Zuben Matthews and Hamel Kothari. It's headquartered in New York City and has more than nine million users. Brigit claims that the average member saves $450 per year and that it has saved its members over $1 billion in fees. 

The Brigit app is legitimate and well-rated, and it's probably best known for its paycheck advances, helping you avoid overdraft fees, and automated budgeting analysis tools designed to help you find opportunities to save.

Brigit pricing

Brigit offers three versions: its free version, Brigit Plus, and Brigit Premium. You don't have to pay to use Brigit, but the paid plans might be worth it if you need access to the app's premium features.

Get up to $250 when You Need It

4.6

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Brigit Benefits

• Get a cash advance up to $250
• Find full or part-time jobs to increase your income
• Track your spending and earning trends over time
• Start building your credit

4.6

FinanceBuzz writers and editors score products and companies on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence our ratings.

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How does Brigit work?

Finance Helper

Brigit's Finance Helper analyzes your bank account history and provides practical information on your past, current, and future deposits and spending. This data can help you create a budget and offer insights into potential overdraft situations in the future. 

Earn & Save

This dashboard includes side hustle opportunities and exclusive offers to help you increase your income and save on your everyday spending. It offers both side gigs for quick cash and full-time job boards if you're looking to advance your career. Not a lot of budgeting apps come with a feature like this, and we appreciate that  Brigit goes above and beyond to help you make more money (not just save more).

Instant Cash paycheck advances

Eligible Brigit users can borrow up to $250 instantly based on their account history to help pay bills or avoid bank overdrafts. Brigit provides these short-term loans at no interest and without any hidden fees or tipping (which are optional with many paycheck advance apps). Paycheck advance apps, which can also be called cash advance apps, offer quick access to funds by letting you tap into your next paycheck and repay it the next time you get paid.

Although these loans don't require a credit check or affect your credit score, you must have a certain Brigit score to be eligible — usually 40 or more. Brigit assigns you a score from 0 to 100 based on your account activity, and it looks at your banking, spending, and earnings to calculate it. Brigit is a little less transparent about its requirements than other paycheck advance apps, which often tell you exactly how much money you need to earn each month to qualify, but we'll note that it seems to take a more holistic approach to determining your eligibility than just looking at your paycheck.

If you need extra time to repay a loan, Brigit offers flexible repayment options without charging a fee.

To qualify for Instant Cash, your linked checking account should meet the following criteria:

• It's your primary checking account that you use regularly.
• It's been open for at least 60 days.
• Its balance is greater than $0.
• You have at least three recurring deposits from the same employer or deposit source.

ATM deposits, paper checks, cash transfers, and paychecks with irregular pay schedules don't count toward these requirements (this is not unusual, but it can be unfortunate for freelancers).

Auto Advances

This feature works in the background to help you avoid overdraft fees, and it's basically an Instant Cash advance you don't have to ask for. If the Brigit app finds, after analyzing your account, that you're about to overdraw your balance, it'll automatically send you funds to cover you. To be eligible, you have to qualify for Instant Cash. You can turn this feature off.

Credit Protect & Secure

Brigit's Credit Protect & Secure feature monitors your VantageScore 3.0 from TransUnion and updates your score every 30 days. It shares the factors that are affecting your score and allows you to download and print your TransUnion credit report whenever you need it. You can also use the score simulator to predict how your score would change based on certain behaviors. Plus, you'll receive $1 million in identity theft insurance to repair and restore your credit if your identity is stolen.

Brigit Credit Builder

Brigit's Credit Builder is a unique financial product that helps people build credit while simultaneously growing their savings, starting with just $1 per month. The service works by opening a credit builder installment loan on your behalf and depositing the funds into a secured FDIC-insured account at Coastal Community Bank. You can't access the loan money, only your monthly "payments." Each month, you contribute your chosen amount (which goes into your accessible savings), and Brigit reports this activity to all three major credit bureaus as loan payments, building crucial payment history that comprises 35% of your credit score.

The loan requires no credit approval or credit check and offers instant approval regardless of your credit. Your monthly contributions are reported as on-time payments to Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, while simultaneously building an emergency fund you can withdraw anytime through the app. At the end of your term, the loan shows as "paid in full" on your credit report, and you keep all the money you've saved along the way—making it essentially a forced savings plan that doubles as a credit-building tool.

This is somewhat similar to Self credit-builder loans.

Who is Brigit best for?

U.S. residents 18 years and older can create an account with Brigit, and it's available in all 50 states. Although you can use some of Brigit's features without a bank account, an active bank account is required to use Finance Helper, and recurring deposits to Brigit are one of the requirements to qualify for Instant Cash.

This app is best for consumers with an eligible checking account who have trouble avoiding bank overdraft fees. Although you need to upgrade to Brigit Plus with a monthly membership fee of $9.99 to gain access to its premium features, this monthly fee is less than the cost of an overdraft fee. In fact, with non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees averaging over $33 per item, if you can avoid four or more overdraft charges a year, you'll come out ahead when subscribing to Brigit's premium features.

Brigit reviews from customers

Brigit is a popular personal finance app among those who use it. It has a 4.8 rating in the Apple App Store out of 380,000 reviews, and 4.7 stars out of 270,000 customer reviews on Google Play. App users compliment how Brigit has helped them pay for utilities, groceries, and more without affecting their credit or causing them to get further into credit card debt.

Although the app store reviews are overwhelmingly positive, complaints on Trustpilot and Better Business Bureau tend to center around trying to cancel the premium version of its service. Responses from Brigit indicate that it is not willing or able to refund previous monthly charges and cannot cancel your service if you have an outstanding loan with them.

Brigit alternatives

If you're not sold on giving Brigit a try, competing apps from Chime®¹ <p class="">Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A.; Members FDIC.&nbsp;<br></p> , EarnIn, and Rocket Money offer many of the same features.

Chime

Chime provides fee-free overdrafts up to $200 for eligible members,² <p>SpotMe® for Credit Builder is an optional, no interest/no fee overdraft line of credit tied to the Secured Deposit Account; SpotMe on Debit is an optional, no fee service attached to your Chime Checking Account (individually or collectively, “SpotMe”). Eligibility for SpotMe requires $200 or more in qualifying direct deposits to your Chime Checking Account each month. Qualifying members will be allowed to overdraw their Chime Checking Account and/or their Secured Deposit Account up to $20 in total, but may be later eligible for a higher combined limit of up to $200 or more based on member’s Chime account history, direct deposit frequency and amount, spending activity and other risk-based factors. Your SpotMe Limit will be displayed to you within the Chime mobile app. You will receive notice of any changes to your SpotMe Limit. Your SpotMe Limit may change at any time, at Chime or its banking partners’ discretion. Although there are no overdraft fees, there may be out-of-network or third party fees associated with ATM transactions or OTC cash withdrawal fees at retailers. SpotMe won't cover non card transactions, including ACH transfers, Pay Anyone transfers, or Chime Checkbook transactions. <a href="https://www.chime.com/policies/">SpotMe on Credit Builder Terms and Conditions</a>.</p> paychecks deposits up to two days early with direct deposit,³ <p> Early access to direct deposit funds depends on the timing of the submission of the payment file from the payer. We generally make these funds available on the day the payment file is received, which may be up to 2 days earlier than the scheduled payment date.</p> access to over 50,000 fee-free ATMs,⁴ <p>Out-of-network ATM withdrawal and over the counter advance fees may apply except at MoneyPass ATMs in a 7-Eleven, or any Allpoint or Visa Plus Alliance ATM.</p> and a high-yield savings account.⁵ <p class="">Chime Checking Account is required to be eligible for a Savings Account.<br></p>  Keep in mind that you must have a Chime® Checking Account in order to be eligible for a Chime Savings Account. Learn more in our

Visit Chime | Chime review

EarnIn

EarnIn⁶ <p>EarnIn is not a bank. Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors. Available in select states. Terms and restrictions apply. Visit <a href="https://www.earnin.com/">EarnIn.com</a> for full details</p>  gives eligible users access to up to $150 per day, with a max of $750 between paydays. Get your money in minutes - starting at just $3.99 per transfer to your bank.⁷ <p>Lightning Speed is an optional service that allows you to expedite the transfer of funds for a fee. Depending on the product, the fee may be charged by EarnIn or its banking partner. See the <a href="https://www.earnin.com/privacyandterms/terms-of-service/fees">LS Fee table</a> for details.</p>  

Visit EarnIn | Read our EarnIn review.

Rocket Money

Rocket Money provides a breakdown of your finances, tracks your credit score, and identifies bills that can be eliminated or negotiated down to save money each month. 

Visit Rocket Money | Read our Rocket Money review.

FAQs

Bottom line

Brigit is a powerful personal finance app that analyzes your income and expenses to offer guidance and tips to improve your money situation. Although it offers a free version, the most powerful features are reserved for its premium members who pay $9.99 per month. Premium members receive credit monitoring, identity theft insurance, and the ability to receive instant deposits to cover expenses and avoid overdraft fees.

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4.6

FinanceBuzz writers and editors score products and companies on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence our ratings.

Get a cash advance up to $250

Free version of the app

Doesn't charge interest