Cleo Review (2026)
Cleo is a chat-based money app: you ask an AI assistant about your spending, and it shows what you have left to spend after bills. Its paid plans ($5.99 to $14.99 a month) mostly sell cash advances, credit tools and savings, not deeper budgeting. In March 2025 Cleo agreed to pay $17 million to settle FTC charges that it misled people about those advances.
By Wealthy Pot Editorial · Facts checked October 18, 2026
Facts checked October 18, 2026 against Cleo's own pricing, help and policy pages (13 sources, listed below). We re-check prices about once a month. We do not earn a commission from Cleo.
Cleo at a glance
| Free plan | Yes: AI chat and basic budgeting [2] |
|---|---|
| Plus | $5.99 a month, or $44.99 a year [3] |
| Pro | $8.99 a month; no annual option [3] |
| Builder | $14.99 a month; annual option discontinued [3] |
| Cash advance | $20 to $250 on Plus and Pro ($20 to $100 for first-time users); up to $500 on Builder [1] |
| Express fee | $4.49 to $14.99 for same-day; standard is free and takes 3 to 4 days [2] |
| Savings | 2.75% APY on Pro and Builder (variable, as of April 6, 2026), through Thread Bank [1] |
| Platforms | iPhone and Android; US and UK [1] |
| Bank connections | Plaid, read-only; 3 months of history by default [4] |
| Budgeting method | "Left to Spend" after income and bills [6] |
| Ads | Third-party ads, offers and surveys in the app (privacy policy) [10] |
| Support | In-app chat and email; Cleo says replies can take up to 7 days [11] |
App-store ratings (as of June 2026): App Store 4.7★ from 235k ratings; Google Play 4.5★ from 132k ratings. Store ratings mix many app versions and are not our verdict.
What Cleo costs
| Plan | Paying monthly, 1 year | Annual plan, 1 year | 3 years (cheapest way) | Annual plan saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | - | $0 | - |
| Plus | $71.88 | $44.99 | $134.97 | $26.89 (37%) |
| Pro | $107.88 | - | $323.64 | - |
| Builder | $179.88 | - | $539.64 | - |
Our arithmetic from the listed prices, before sales tax, assuming today's prices hold; subscriptions can renew at a different rate. Prices are Cleo's US prices. A cash advance costs nothing extra if you wait 3 to 4 days, but same-day delivery adds an express fee of $4.49 to $14.99 per advance. Builder's top advance of $500 requires at least $750 a month in direct deposits.
How Cleo works
You link your bank through Plaid and chat with Cleo about your money: how much you spent on takeout, which bills are coming, whether you can afford something. The Plan screen shows what you have Left to Spend this month after past and upcoming income and bills. A fully automatic safe-to-spend feature, Autopilot, is waitlist only.
A hypothetical month: you are paid $2,400 and have $1,500 in bills. Cleo shows about $900 left to spend, and each card purchase reduces it. If you ask Cleo why the number dropped, it can point to the transactions behind it.
The paid plans are mostly about short-term credit and banking. Plus and Pro add an Equifax credit score, Debt Reset (a payoff plan) and cash advances of $20 to $250. Pro and Builder add a savings account at 2.75% APY. Builder adds the Cleo Card, a credit-building card from WebBank, and advances up to $500.
Pros
- Free plan with an AI chat that answers spending questions
- Left to Spend accounts for bills that have not hit yet
- Plus is cheap at $44.99 a year if you pay annually
- Read-only bank link through Plaid; Cleo says it never stores bank details
Cons
- Paid plans center on cash advances and credit, not budgeting
- Same-day advances carry a $4.49 to $14.99 fee
- Third-party ads and surveys appear in the app
- Settled FTC charges for $17 million in 2025
- Support replies can take up to 7 days
Who Cleo fits, and who should skip it
A good fit if
- You would rather ask questions about your spending in chat than read charts.
- You want a free view of what is left after bills each month.
- You understand the fees and want a small advance more than a budget, knowing a direct-deposit requirement applies to the largest ones.
Look elsewhere if
- You want a real budget: YNAB or the free EveryDollar plan every dollar.
- You want one simple "safe to spend" number from a budgeting-first app: PocketGuard is built around it.
- You do not want ads or offers in a money app: Monarch Money shows no ads.
Limitations to know
- Business accounts cannot be linked, and foreign banks outside the UK are not supported; not every Plaid bank works with cash advances. [5]
- Cleo links 3 months of transaction history by default. [4]
- Cleo's help center lists locking the app and adding a password among the things Cleo cannot do. [9]
- Autopilot, the automatic safe-to-spend feature, is waitlist only. [7]
Cleo compared with alternatives
| App | Price | Free plan | Bank sync | Platforms | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleo | Free; Plus $5.99/mo ($44.99/yr) / Pro $8.99 / Builder $14.99 per mo | Yes | Yes (Plaid, read-only) | iOS, Android | AI chat |
| PocketGuard | $12.99/mo · $74.99/yr · $149.99 lifetime (7-day trial; no free plan listed) | No | Yes (Plaid, Finicity, Salt Edge) | iOS, Android, Web | "Leftover" safe-to-spend |
| EveryDollar | Free (manual); Premium $17.99/mo · $79.99/yr | Yes | Premium only (Plaid, Mastercard) | iOS, Android, Web | Zero-based |
| Rocket Money | Free tier; Premium pay-what-you-want (typically $7–$14/mo); Premium+ $15/mo | Yes | Yes (Plaid; US banks only) | iOS, Android, Web | Flexible + subscription tracking |
| YNAB | $14.99/mo · $109/yr (34-day trial; free 365-day trial for college students) | No | Yes (Plaid, MX) | iOS, Android, Web | Zero-based envelope |
- Pick PocketGuard if you want a budgeting app built around one "left to spend" number.
- Pick EveryDollar if you want a free, plain zero-based budget with no credit upsells.
- Pick Rocket Money if you mostly want to find and cancel subscriptions and lower bills.
- Pick YNAB if you want to stop needing cash advances by planning every dollar ahead.
Security and privacy
- Bank access runs through Plaid and is read-only. Cleo says it never stores your bank details and that transaction history is encrypted with personal details removed. [8]
- The privacy policy says Cleo may share data with advertising and analytics providers, and that the app includes a third-party SDK (BitBurst) that shows surveys and third-party ads or offers. US residents in some states can opt out of targeted advertising and sale. [10]
- In March 2025 the FTC said Cleo's ads promised hundreds of dollars in instant advances, but almost no one got the advertised amounts, faster advances cost extra, and some people were charged after asking to cancel. Cleo agreed to pay $17 million to settle. [12]
- On October 8, 2026 the FTC said it is returning more than $15.8 million to 2,124,796 Cleo customers who paid for eligible instant cash advances, by PayPal from October 27, 2026. Payments must be redeemed within 30 days. [13]
Recent changes
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | The FTC began returning more than $15.8 million to 2,124,796 Cleo customers. [13] |
| Apr 2026 | Savings APY set at 2.75%, effective April 6, 2026. [1] |
| Mar 2025 | Cleo AI agreed to pay $17 million to settle FTC charges over its cash-advance claims. [12] |
Cleo FAQ
Is Cleo free?
There is a free version with AI chat and basic budgeting. Plus costs $5.99 a month or $44.99 a year, Pro $8.99 a month and Builder $14.99 a month.
How much can I borrow with a Cleo cash advance?
$20 to $250 on Plus and Pro, with first-time users limited to $20 to $100. Builder offers up to $500 if you direct deposit at least $750 a month. Same-day delivery costs $4.49 to $14.99.
What was the Cleo FTC settlement?
In March 2025 Cleo AI agreed to pay $17 million after the FTC alleged it misled people about how much they could borrow and how fast. The FTC began sending refunds in October 2026.
How do I get my Cleo FTC refund?
The FTC said eligible customers would get an email by October 26, 2026 and PayPal payments from October 27, 2026. Each payment must be redeemed within 30 days.
Does Cleo show ads?
Yes. Its privacy policy says app users may see market research surveys and third-party ads or offers.
How we researched this review
We did not get paid or receive a free account for this page. We read Cleo's own pricing page, help center, security and privacy pages and app-store listing on October 18, 2026, quoted each fact from those pages, and link every one below. We did not run a long-term hands-on test, so we do not score the app; where a point rests on what the company says rather than something we can check, we attribute it to Cleo. Cost figures are our own arithmetic. We re-check prices and plans about once a month and log changes in the table above.
Sources
- Cleo, Pricing, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, What do I get with a Cleo Plus subscription?, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, Does Cleo offer annual subscription options?, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, Can Cleo see my whole transaction history?, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, What banks does Cleo support?, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, Where has Budget gone?, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, What is Autopilot?, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, How secure is Cleo?, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, What can't Cleo do?, checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo, Privacy policy (last reviewed August 2026), checked October 18, 2026.
- Cleo Help, How do I contact Cleo customer support?, checked October 18, 2026.
- FTC, Cash advance company Cleo AI agrees to pay $17 million (March 27, 2025), checked October 18, 2026.
- FTC, FTC returns more than $15.8 million to consumers misled by Cleo AI (October 8, 2026), checked October 18, 2026.
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