Comparison

Expense Manager vs Costbook

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

Head to head
About

Expense Manager

This personal finance app helps you track and manage your expenses and income. It offers tools to understand spending habits, set budgets, and view financial progress through charts and reports. Organize transactions with folders and categories for better financial control.

Highlights
  • Expense and income tracking
  • Monthly budget setting
  • Organize expenses with folders
  • Graphical spending reports
  • Export to CSV and PDF
  • Passcode lock for security
  • Customizable themes
Features
Read full description

Penny is a personal expense tracker app that let you track and control your money. Track your expense and income Understand where you spend your money Set and keep eye on your monthly budget Easy and Innovative Features: - Simple, attractive and easy to understand user interface - Track your spendings quickly and easily - Set budget to achieve your goal - Overview of current progress of your spendings - Create folders to organise expenses - Easy and Quick to add, edit and delete your transactions - Assign category to transactions - Sort by date, amount spent, name and category - Smart search using date range, amount range and word - Filter expenses on monthly, weekly, daily and yearly basis - Switch between budget view and available balance view Themes - Set your app theme with variety of different colours - Add different colours to folders - Graphical presentation as Donut and Bar view Settings - Set reminder to notify to add expenses so that you can not miss any transactions - Set date format to appear in app - Change app language of your choice - Passcode lock to secure your data Reports - Charts to track your spendings - Category grouping of expenses - See the percentage share of category Exports - Export reports as .csv and .pdf - Share expenses with your friends and colleagues using email, messages, notes, WhatsApp & etc - Upload to iCloud drive, Google drive, Dropbox and more Available in English, Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, German, Japanese, Korean and Turkish.

About

Costbook

Easily track personal expenses, set budgets, and manage shared costs. Scan receipts with AI to automate data entry and visualize spending patterns with insightful charts. Collaborate on group expenses and see who owes whom.

Highlights
  • Expense logging in any currency
  • Budget setting per list
  • AI receipt scanning
  • Shared expense tracking
  • Spending charts by category
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • Apple Watch app
Features
Read full description

Costbook is a simple, good-looking expense tracker. Log what you spend in seconds, set budgets and see where your money goes: your monthly spending, a trip, a wedding or any project. When costs are shared, invite others to a list and Costbook works out who owes whom. Friends join for free. TRACK YOUR SPENDING • Add an expense in seconds, in any currency • Separate lists for every budget: monthly spending, trips, events, projects • Set a budget for each list and see what's left • Charts by category, payment method and person • Search every expense across all your lists SCAN INSTEAD OF TYPING • Scan a receipt or bill and let AI fill in the amount, merchant, category and date • Keep receipt photos with every expense SHARE WHEN YOU NEED TO • Invite others with a link or QR code; they join for free • See who owes whom at a glance and record payments • Get notified when someone adds an expense WHEREVER YOU ARE • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, Live Activities • Apple Watch app for quick entries • iPhone and iPad, light and dark mode • App lock with Face ID or passcode • 34 languages • No ads COSTBOOK PLUS Free: up to 5 expense lists, scanning, and joining shared lists. Costbook Plus adds unlimited lists, sharing your own lists, sync across devices, map view, PDF/CSV export, printing, app lock and custom app icons. Choose a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time Lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel them in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.jupiteryazilim.com/costbook/privacy

Screenshots

Expense Manager4 screens
Costbook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Costbook at 100% against Expense Manager's 50%. Costbook also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.8) and update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). Expense Manager's advantage is iOS requirement (9.3 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, ads 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. Expense Manager sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Costbook sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Costbook holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Expense Manager's written reviews are positive against 100% of Costbook's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Expense Manager ships an update fortnightly, Costbook every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Expense Manager versus Costbook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExpense ManagerCostbook
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (4 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4 — better2
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS9.3 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB48 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJanhavi WaghMesut Altuncu

Customer experience

Expense Manager

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

Costbook

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Expense Manager

One-time1
  • Upgrade to Pro$1.99
3 purchases

Costbook

Subscriptions2
  • Costbook Plus (Monthly)7 Days trial$1.491 Month
  • Costbook Plus (Yearly)7 Days trial$12.491 Year
One-time1
  • Costbook Plus (Lifetime)$29.99

Questions

Is Expense Manager free?
Expense Manager is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Costbook free?
Costbook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Expense Manager or Costbook?
Costbook is rated higher. Expense Manager averages 3.8 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Costbook averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Expense Manager or Costbook have ads?
Neither Expense Manager nor Costbook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Expense Manager or Costbook?
Expense Manager ships an update fortnightly, and Costbook every 2 days. Most recently, Expense Manager was updated on November 6, 2026 and Costbook on November 10, 2026.

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