Comparison

Privacy.com vs SpendFriend

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Privacy.com

Safeguard your online transactions by creating virtual payment cards. Protect your actual financial details from compromised cards, unexpected charges, and recurring subscription fees. Enjoy enhanced security and control over your spending with customizable limits and real-time monitoring.

Highlights
  • Create virtual payment cards
  • Merchant-locked cards
  • One-time-use cards
  • Customizable spending limits
  • Real-time transaction monitoring
  • Pause/unpause/close cards
Features
Read full description

Stop exposing your credit or debit card information and protect your online payments with Privacy. Join over 250,000 users who have saved millions of dollars by using Privacy to block unwanted charges from compromised cards, overcharging, hidden fees, and forgotten subscriptions. Getting started with Privacy is simple: create your account, verify your information, securely link your bank account or debit card, and request your first virtual card. Start shopping and enjoy the added layer of protection Privacy provides to protect you from payment card theft and fraud. Benefits: - Shield your true financial information: Our Privacy Cards mask your debit card or bank account number to help protect you from card theft and fraud. Pay with greater privacy and security anytime, anywhere on desktop or on mobile. - Create merchant-locked and one-time-use cards: Our cards automatically "lock" to the first merchant they are used at, so if the merchant is ever breached, the card number can never be used anywhere else. You can also create one-time-use cards that automatically close after a single transaction. - Take complete control over your spending: Set customizable spending limits to prevent overcharging and block hidden fees—perfect for managing subscriptions and recurring expenses. If a transaction goes over the limit, we will automatically decline it. - Leverage real-time transaction monitoring: Receive notifications any time a Privacy Card is used. Easily pause, unpause, and close Privacy Cards any time with just one push of a button. Privacy’s core product is free to use on domestic transactions, because, like other card companies, we collect transaction fees from merchants. Privacy Cards can be used at most merchants that accept credit and debit cards. The security of our users’ personal information and data is critical to everything that we do at Privacy. You can review our security policies at https://privacy.com/security. Read about us in Forbes, Wirecutter, and The Wall Street Journal! For support, questions, or more information, please contact us at support@privacy.com.

About

SpendFriend

Track your spending in real-time to avoid checkout surprises. Use voice input to quickly log purchases and monitor your budget, ensuring you know your available funds before you pay.

Highlights
  • Speech-to-text expense logging
  • Real-time spending tracking
  • Budget setting and monitoring
  • Available funds display
  • Avoid checkout surprises
Features
Read full description

Ever wished you knew how much you were spending *before* you got to the checkout at the store?? I for sure have! And I got fed up with being surprised by the price at the register, so I built this app: SpendFriend. As you walk through the store, with the Speech to Text feature, you can simply say the item you are purchasing and the cost and it all gets entered for you! I hope you enjoy this feature as much as I have. It will help you set your budget and know how much you are spending and how much is available. Due to strange tax laws around what type of food is/is-not taxable, it doesn't always get it *exactly* right, but the main goal here is to never be surprised by how much that checkout total is going to be again. I hope you enjoy the app and are more informed about how much you are paying *before* you get to checkout! :) NOTE: This app is NOT intended to get you a perfect, or exact number of how much you are going to pay, but it should be very close. I'm always working on improving it's accuracy and always strive to get it as close as possible to that final number. Also, if you'd like to try it out for free, minus all the cool features of an iOS app, check out the original version at https://groceryfriend.app

Screenshots

Privacy.com4 screens
SpendFriend4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Privacy.com at Free against SpendFriend's $7.99. Privacy.com also leads on ratings volume (7.2K vs 1). SpendFriend's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and iOS requirement (12.4 vs 15.1). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Privacy.com is free to download; SpendFriend costs $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SpendFriend holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Privacy.com has 7.2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Privacy.com ships an update every 4 weeks, SpendFriend every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Privacy.com versus SpendFriend: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPrivacy.comSpendFriend
PriceFree — better$7.99
Rating4.5 (7.2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews39.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7.2K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.112.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPay With Privacy, Inc.Joshua Friend

Customer experience

Privacy.com

All ratings7,157 ratings
Positive88.6%
Neutral1.3%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews177 reviews
Positive39.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative57.1%

SpendFriend

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Privacy.com

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Half of the time I cannot open the app after it was closed as FaceID is broken and disables keyboard entry
  • Automatically pausing cards set up for annual payments
  • Transactions being authorized multiple times on one-time use cards
  • App crashing issues
  • Compatibility issues with newer debit cards

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to search transactions by dollar amount
  • Option to hide closed cards
  • Ability to preload cards for budgeting
  • Option to set cards back to no limit
  • Landscape mode support
Show 1 more
  • Browser extension

SpendFriend

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Privacy.com

No in-app purchases

None

SpendFriend

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Privacy.com free?
Privacy.com is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SpendFriend free?
SpendFriend costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Privacy.com or SpendFriend?
SpendFriend is rated higher. Privacy.com averages 4.5 out of 5 from 7.2K ratings, while SpendFriend averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Privacy.com or SpendFriend have ads?
Neither Privacy.com nor SpendFriend shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Privacy.com or SpendFriend?
Privacy.com ships an update every 4 weeks, and SpendFriend every 3 weeks. Most recently, Privacy.com was updated on October 29, 2026 and SpendFriend on October 2, 2026.

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