Comparison

CostDiary vs PennyDay

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

Head to head
About

CostDiary

Track daily expenses and record life events with text and stickers. Visualize spending with charts, manage budgets, and secure your data with password protection and iCloud backup. Supports multiple accounts and currencies.

Highlights
  • Daily expense tracking
  • Diary/journal with stickers
  • Spending visualization (charts)
  • Budget management
  • Multi-account and multi-currency support
  • iCloud data backup
  • Password protection
Features
Read full description

CostDiary is not only a daily spending tracker but also a diary app. You can easily track your daily expenses and record your daily life with text and stickers. # DIARY/JOURNAL * Ability to insert stickers and icons into diary * Ability to adjust text color and text size and background color. * Ability to pick background image for your diary # ACCOUNTING * Multi-account support. * Multi-currency support. * Visualize your spendings via line chart and pie chart. * Budget management. * Ability to adjust text styles, themes, icons and colors. * Ability to add a memo, photo or location for each transaction. * Backup data via iCloud. No worry about data loss. * Password protection. * Support creating recurring transactions. Terms of Use: https://DiaryForest.com/terms-of-use/

About

PennyDay

Manage your finances with a calendar-based budget planner and expense tracker. Visualize cash flow by day, track multiple accounts, and gain insights into spending trends. Personalize categories with emojis for a more intuitive financial overview.

Highlights
  • Calendar budgeting
  • Expense tracking
  • Multi-account support
  • Emoji category customization
  • Insights and reports
  • Privacy features
Features
Read full description

Track expenses in seconds and see your money day by day. PennyDay combines fast manual entry, a clear budget calendar, and useful spending insights—without linking a bank account. TRACK MONEY IN SECONDS • Record expenses, income, and transfers with a focused quick-add flow • Organize cash, bank, and credit card accounts in one place • Create categories that match the way you spend • Review and filter your complete transaction history SEE WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES • Read daily income and expenses directly from the calendar • Follow monthly cash flow, spending trends, and summaries • Compare category and account breakdowns • Spot recurring costs and understand your spending patterns PLAN WITHOUT THE COMPLEXITY • Set category budgets and keep an eye on progress • Schedule recurring entries for regular bills and income • Turn on reminders so logging stays part of your routine • Manage multiple manual accounts without bank connections PRIVATE AND IN YOUR CONTROL • Your financial records stay on your device by default • Protect the app with a passcode and Face ID where available • Create local snapshot backups and restore them when you choose • When iCloud is available, manual backup also saves an iCloud snapshot • Backup is user-controlled and is not real-time device sync PENNYDAY PRO Upgrade to remove ads and unlock unlimited recurring entries, additional category and tag budgets, rolling Analysis ranges, CSV export, automatic iCloud snapshot backup with longer retention, and additional photo attachments. PennyDay is built for people who want a fast, private way to understand everyday money without the setup and complexity of connected finance apps. Questions or feedback? Contact urcashfixer@gmail.com Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

CostDiary4 screens
PennyDay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PennyDay at 3.7 against CostDiary's 3.0. PennyDay also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and monetization model (ad-supported vs freemium). CostDiary's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, review sentiment and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. CostDiary sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and PennyDay sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PennyDay holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PennyDay has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of CostDiary's written reviews are positive against 73% of PennyDay's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CostDiary ships an update every 3 weeks, PennyDay weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
CostDiary versus PennyDay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCostDiaryPennyDay
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (1 ratings)3.7 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.4% of reviews72.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings17 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size108 MB76 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJiunJiue LiouEFFENDY EKA SAPUTRA

Customer experience

CostDiary

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive68.4%
Neutral14.0%
Negative17.5%

PennyDay

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral4.5%
Negative22.7%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

CostDiary

Subscriptions2
  • PRO plan (Monthly)14 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • PRO plan (Yearly)14 Days trial$7.991 Year
3 purchases

PennyDay

Subscriptions3
  • PennyDay Pro$1.991 Month
  • PennyDay Pro$3.993 Months
  • PennyDay Pro$11.991 Year

Questions

Is CostDiary free?
CostDiary is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PennyDay free?
PennyDay is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, CostDiary or PennyDay?
PennyDay is rated higher. CostDiary averages 3.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while PennyDay averages 3.7 from 7 ratings.
Do CostDiary or PennyDay have ads?
PennyDay shows ads; CostDiary does not.
Which is updated more often, CostDiary or PennyDay?
CostDiary ships an update every 3 weeks, and PennyDay weekly. Most recently, CostDiary was updated on October 5, 2026 and PennyDay on October 17, 2026.

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