Comparison

Emma vs Go Budget

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

Head to head
About

Emma

Consolidate all your financial accounts in one app to track spending, manage subscriptions, set budgets, and receive alerts. Offers bank-level security with SSL encryption and biometric authentication for peace of mind.

Highlights
  • All accounts in one place
  • Subscription tracking
  • Budget setting
  • Spending analysis
  • Overdraft alerts
  • Bank-level security
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Meet Emma, your financial super app ● All your accounts in one place ● Find and track your subscriptions ● Set budgets ● Weekly reports ● Analyze your spending & expenses ● Daily balance notifications ● Overdraft alerts BANK LEVEL SECURITY Worried about sharing your data? We hear you. ● Emma uses SSL 256-bit encryption - the same security protocol that banks use - to ensure that your sensitive, personal information is fully encrypted and securely stored. ● Emma uses biometric security authentication for an added level of protection. CUSTOMER REVIEWS “This app is amazing! I used to manually track my expenses using a notepad or a spreadsheet but always used to make mistakes and never found time to update it. This fixes all my budgeting issues and saves me so much time as well as money!” Sarah “I love the fact that I can do everything within this one app. I mainly use it for tracking my expenses but have also started using it to instantly send/receive payments which makes things super easy. Also, the money I’ve saved from using this app is used to invest in my favorite companies using the investment feature!” Mike OUR MISSION We believe everyone deserves a financial advocate to help with money management and budgeting. Someone who watches our back no matter who we are and where we come from. We provide a great experience, which relies on a basic principle - caring about our customers’ financial well being. This is who we are and what we stand for. We have received amazing feedback from the finance community and have been featured in Forbes, Financial Times, Politico, The Sunday Times and CITY A.M. MORE FEATURES? GO PLUS, PRO OR ULTIMATE We have 3 subscription upgrades available in Emma to power charge your finances. Here’s what is available in each subscription upgrade: Emma Plus True Balance - preemptively see the balance of your bank account after your subscriptions are removed Fraud Detection - find out whether your personal details have been part of a known data breach Bill Reminders - get reminded about your upcoming bills so you never miss a payment Cashback - get cashback from your favorite brands Emma Pro All the features in Emma Plus Custom categories - so you can customize your finances to your heart's content Rename transactions - for easier reference Export data - to understand your finances on excel Create Offline Accounts - to manage your cash expenses and any accounts you can’t link to Emma Create Smart Rules - to automate your Offline Accounts. Look, no hands! Split your transactions - into multiple categories for more flexibility Legendary Pro Icon - because you are a Pro Emma Ultimate All the features in Emma Plus & Pro Spaces - group together different accounts to see separated analytics and budgets Ultimate Icon - so you can show them who's boss ----------------------------------- If you choose to purchase Emma Plus, Emma Pro or Emma Ultimate, payment will be charged to your iTunes account, and your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Subscriptions are managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Apple ID. Emma subscription prices start at $4.99 CAD/USD/month with 1-month and 12-month packages available. Prices are subject to change without notice. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the active subscription period. If you don’t choose to purchase Emma Plus, Emma or Emma Ultimate, you can simply continue using Emma for free. Emma Technologies LTD is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 for the provision of payment services. Reference no. 794952 Company Registration Number: 10578464. Terms and Conditions: https://emma-app.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://emma-app.com/privacy

About

Go Budget

Plan your spending with envelope-style categories and track bills. Share budgets with family and sync across devices with an optional subscription. Designed for simple, manual budget tracking.

Highlights
  • Envelope-style spending categories
  • Bill reminders and tracking
  • Budget sharing with family
  • Seamless sync across devices
  • Monthly, weekly, and bi-weekly budgeting
  • Manual progress tracking
Features
Read full description

Go Budget will be shut down July 1, 2026. Please export your data before that date! --- Use Go Budget to plan your budget and take control of your finances. - Create envelope-style spending categories and track purchases painlessly - Get reminders for recurring bills and track when they are paid - Add Go Budget+ to share a budget with a partner or your whole family Go Budget is designed around two goals: 1. Take the normally unpleasant experience of managing a budget and make it simple and easy to stay on top of. 2. Provide a seamless sync experience for families and others who need to share a budget. The Go Budget app is fully featured and allows you to track income, bills, daily spending, and saving goals right from your phone with a simple, modern interface. You can subscribe to Go Budget+ to: - Share and sync budgets with others - we'll automatically keep your budgets in sync - Backup budgets online securely - Access from any device To restore an existing Go Budget+ subscription, sign into the Go Budget account used when subscribing to Go Budget+. -- Go Budget embraces the philosophy that the best way to manage your budget is the old school way - by setting budgeting goals and manually tracking your progress. Go Budget makes this as simple as possible, and automates things that repeat like bills and regular income. Our budgeting method is strongly influenced by the envelope budget method, which has been battle-proven by millions of successful budgeters over the years. Go Budget makes things a bit simpler than putting money in physical envelopes, but the core principles are the same - start with your income and separate your money for bills, spending, and saving. Go Budget supports a variety of different budgeting time periods: - Monthly budgeting - Weekly budgeting - Semi-monthly budgeting - Bi-weekly budgeting This enables you to budget in the way that makes sense for you. The app also supports pretty much any type of income or bill schedule, so you can stay on top of things without having to enter them again and again every time they repeat. With Go Budget+, you can manage your household budget painlessly - every purchase and bill payment will be synced with all budget members automatically. Terms and conditions: https://gobudget.io/terms Privacy policy https://gobudget.io/privacy

Screenshots

Emma4 screens
Go Budget4 screens

Verdict

The call

Emma and Go Budget both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 93% of Go Budget's written reviews are positive against 38% of Emma's. Go Budget also leads on ads (none vs shown). Emma's advantage is ratings volume (1.4K vs 39) and chart position (#166 vs unranked). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Emma sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Go Budget sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Emma against 4.8 for Go Budget. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Emma has 1.4K ratings behind it against 39, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 38% of Emma's written reviews are positive against 93% of Go Budget's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Emma ships an update every 6 days, Go Budget every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Emma versus Go Budget: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEmmaGo Budget
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.4K ratings)4.8 (39 ratings) — better
Positive reviews38.3% of reviews92.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.4K — better39
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 9 days
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#166 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.1 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size161 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEmma Technologies LTD.Go Apps LLC

Customer experience

Emma

All ratings1,426 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral1.4%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews716 reviews
Positive38.3%
Neutral8.5%
Negative53.2%

Go Budget

All ratings38 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral2.6%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive92.9%
Neutral7.1%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Emma

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes or freezes frequently
  • Transactions not syncing properly or showing incorrect balances
  • Issues connecting to certain bank accounts
  • Recurring payments not being tracked accurately

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for more banks and financial institutions
  • Improve budgeting features with better categorization and goal-setting
  • Provide more customization options for categories and reporting
  • Integrate with investment accounts and track net worth
  • Offer a more affordable pricing model or free tier with core features

Go Budget

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Emma

Subscriptions8
  • Emma Plus Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Emma Pro Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Pro Subscription7 Days trial$9.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Emma Pro7 Days trial2 variants$9.991 Month
  • Emma Ultimate7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Emma Plus Yearly7 Days trial$41.991 Year
  • Emma Pro7 Days trial2 variants$83.991 Year
  • Subscription7 Days trial$83.991 Year
1 purchases

Go Budget

Subscriptions1
  • Go Budget+1 Month trial$1.991 Month

Questions

Is Emma free?
Emma is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Go Budget free?
Go Budget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Emma or Go Budget?
Go Budget is rated higher. Emma averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.4K ratings, while Go Budget averages 4.8 from 39 ratings.
Do Emma or Go Budget have ads?
Emma shows ads; Go Budget does not.
Which is updated more often, Emma or Go Budget?
Emma ships an update every 6 days, and Go Budget every 9 days. Most recently, Emma was updated on November 11, 2026 and Go Budget on November 3, 2026.

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