PhonePe vs Smart Plus.
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PhonePe
This app facilitates secure digital payments, including UPI transfers, mobile and utility bill recharges, and online/offline purchases. It also offers investment options in mutual funds and insurance policies.
- BHIM UPI money transfers
- Mobile and DTH recharges
- Utility bill payments
- Online and offline QR code payments
- Mutual fund investments
- Insurance policy purchases
- Gift card purchases
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PhonePe is a payments app that allows you to use BHIM UPI, your credit card and debit card or wallet to recharge your mobile phone, pay all your utility bills and to make instant payments at your favourite offline and online stores. You can also invest in mutual funds and buy insurance plans on PhonePe. Get Car & Bike Insurance on our app. Link your bank account on PhonePe and transfer money with BHIM UPI instantly! The PhonePe app is safe and secure, meets all your payment, investment, mutual funds, insurance and banking needs, and is much better than Internet banking. Things you can do on PhonePe (Phonepay) App: Money Transfer, UPI Payment, Bank Transfer - Money Transfer with BHIM UPI - Manage Multiple Bank Accounts – Check Account Balance, Save Beneficiaries across multiple bank accounts like SBI, HDFC, ICICI & 140+ banks. Make Online Payments - Make online payment on various shopping sites like Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra etc. - Pay for online food orders from Zomato, Swiggy etc. - Pay for online grocery orders from Bigbasket, Grofers etc. - Pay online for travel booking from Makemytrip, Goibibo etc. Make Offline Payments - Scan and Pay via QR Code at local stores like kirana, food, medicines etc. Buy or Renew Insurance Policies with PhonePe Insurance App Health & Term Life Insurance - Compare and buy Health & Term life Insurance with monthly premiums - Coverage for individuals, senior citizens and families Car & Two Wheeler Insurance - Browse and get India’s most popular bike and car insurance - Buy/renew your car and bike Insurance in less than 10 minutes Other Insurance - Personal Accident Insurance: Insure yourself against accidents & disablement - Travel Insurance: Get international travel insurance for business and leisure trips - Shop Insurance: Insure your shop against fire, theft, natural calamities, and burglaries. Mutual Funds App and Investments App - Liquid Funds: Get higher returns than savings bank - Tax-Saving Funds: save up to Rs. 46,800 in tax & grow your investment - Super Funds: Achieve financial goals with expert help on our app - Equity Funds: High growth products curated as per risk appetite - Debt Funds: Get stable returns for investments without any lock-in period - Hybrid Funds: Get a balance of growth and stability - Buy or Sell 24K Pure Gold: Assured 24K purity, build gold savings on our app Recharge Mobile, DTH - Prepaid Mobile Recharge, DTH - Recharge for Airtel, Jio, Vi, BSNL and MTNL prepaid mobile numbers - Recharge DTH set-top boxes for TataPlay, Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct, Dish TV and D2H providers. Bill Payment - Pay Credit Card Bills - Pay Landline Bills - Pay Electricity Bills - Pay Water Bills - Pay Gas Bills - Pay Broadband Bills Buy PhonePe Gift Cards - Buy a PhonePe Gift Card for easy payments across 1 lakh+ leading offline and online outlets and across the PhonePe app. Manage your refunds - Manage and track refunds from your favorite shopping websites on PhonePe. For more details, Visit our website at https://www.phonepe.com/ Permissions for App and reasons SMS: to verify Phone number for registration Location: a requirement by NPCI for UPI transactions Contacts: for phone numbers to send money to and numbers to recharge Camera: to scan QR code Storage: to store scanned QR code Accounts: to pre-populate email ID while signing up Call: to detect single vs dual sim and let user choose Microphone: to carry out KYC video verification
Smart Plus.
Buy and sell stocks with real-time quotes and updates. This finance app allows trading in equity, commodity, currency, and futures & options, with convenient online fund transfers. Access expert research and analysis on the go.
- Real-time stock quotes
- Equity, Commodity, Currency, F&O trading
- Online fund transfers
- Expert research and analysis
- Mobile trading on the go
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Smart Plus is an app from STEEL CITY for buying and selling of stocks. STEEL CITY brings the stock market to your mobile phone through this easy-to-use app, with lots of interesting add-ons and convenient features that you will absolutely love. You will get addicted before you know it! * Get Real-Time Stock Quotes and Updates * Trade and track in Equity, Commodity, Currency, and F&O Transfer funds online STEEL CITY Smart Plus app is a unique online trading application, which offers stockbroking services with the added benefits of expert research and analysis. This app brings all the benefits of STEEL CITY to your mobile phone so you can trade conveniently on the go, anytime. Steel City Securities Ltd. SEBI Registration No. : INZ000223538 Member Codes: NSE: 08061 | BSE: 456 | MCX: 56645 | NCDEX: 01293 | MSEI: 14500
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: PhonePe at every 5 days against Smart Plus.'s every 3 months. PhonePe also leads on ratings volume (176K vs 2). Smart Plus.'s advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Smart Plus. holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PhonePe has 176K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
PhonePe ships an update every 5 days, Smart Plus. every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PhonePe | Smart Plus. |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (176K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 176K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.1 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 355 MB | 92 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PHONEPE PRIVATE LIMITED | Steel City Securities Limited |
Customer experience
PhonePe
Smart Plus.
Bugs and requests
PhonePe
Reported bugs
5 issues- Unable to link bank accounts or cards
- Verification issues with non-Indian phone numbers
- Transactions getting stuck or not completing
- Wallet balance not updating correctly
- App crashes or freezes during use
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for international phone numbers
- Improve transaction history and record-keeping
- Provide more transparency on payment status
- Enhance security measures for NRI accounts
- Streamline the account verification process
Smart Plus.
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
PhonePe
No in-app purchases
Smart Plus.
No in-app purchases
