CostDiary vs PennyDay
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Daily expense tracking
- Diary/journal with stickers
- Spending visualization (charts)
- Budget management
- Multi-account and multi-currency support
- iCloud data backup
- Password protection
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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/
PennyDay
Quickly log expenses and income to visualize your daily spending and cash flow. This app offers a clear budget calendar and insights into your financial habits without requiring bank account linking. Manage multiple accounts and set budgets for better financial control.
- Fast expense and income logging
- Clear budget calendar view
- Spending insights and cash flow analysis
- Manual account management
- Category and budget setting
- Recurring entry scheduling (Pro)
- Passcode and Face ID protection
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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 (Pro) • 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 recurring entries with reminders, unlimited category budgets, tag budgets, rolling Analysis ranges (last 6 and 12 months), automatic iCloud snapshot backup with longer retention, unlimited photo attachments, premium themes, and Home customization. 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
Verdict
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 ratings volume (7 vs 1). CostDiary's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
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.
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.
CostDiary ships an update every 3 weeks, PennyDay weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CostDiary | PennyDay |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (1 ratings) | 3.7 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.4% of reviews | 72.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 108 MB | 77 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | JiunJiue Liou | EFFENDY EKA SAPUTRA |
Customer experience
CostDiary
PennyDay
In-app purchases
CostDiary
- PRO plan (Monthly)14 Days trial$0.991 Month
- PRO plan (Yearly)14 Days trial$7.991 Year
PennyDay
- PennyDay Pro$1.991 Month
- PennyDay Pro$3.993 Months
- PennyDay Pro7 Days trial$11.991 Year









