SMUD vs PG&E Toolkit
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SMUD
Manage your home electricity service with ease. View your bill, track usage, report outages, and make payments all from your device. Stay informed about your energy consumption and billing history.
- View bill history
- Make payments
- Track electricity usage
- Get outage information
- Report power outages
- Schedule auto bill pay
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The SMUD App offers our residential customers easy access to the things that are most important to you when it comes to home energy usage. We want your experience to be fast and simple, so once you sign in, you'll stay signed in on your device until you sign out, no matter how many times you visit. The first thing you'll see is a summary of your bill, electricity use, outage info and how to get in touch with us. Tap a tile to reveal the features: Bill - See your bill history - Make a payment - See your payment history - Schedule or cancel payments - Add or change payment methods - Schedule auto bill pay - Enroll in paperless billing Usage - See how much electricity you've used in this billing cycle - Check the current cost of your electricity use Outage - Get up-to-the minute outage info - Report a power outage See and do everything that's most important to you when it comes to your residential electricity service. Tap into energy with the SMUD App.
PG&E Toolkit
Monitor your electricity usage and compare costs across different PG&E rate schedules to find the best plan for your home. Ideal for EV and solar owners looking to reduce their energy bills.
- Monitor PG&E energy usage
- Compare PG&E rate schedules
- Find best rate plan
- View energy usage histories
- Generate usage charts and plots
- Supports EV and solar owners
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Are you on the lowest-cost PG&E rate for the way you actually use electricity? PG&E Toolkit - Pro compares what available rate plans would have cost based on your own usage, so you can spot potential savings. Now it keeps checking for you. Each month, automated monitoring analyzes your most recent 365 days of actual usage, calculates costs across active PG&E electricity rate schedules, and notifies you of the lowest-cost option. If another rate would have saved you money, see the estimated difference. If your current rate was already the lowest-cost option, get that confirmation too. You can also run a comparison whenever you want. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Compare rate costs side by side using your own usage history, including time-of-use and EV rate options. • Explore energy usage charts by day, month, year, last 365 days, lifetime, billing cycle, or a custom date range. • Review PG&E bills, billing periods, energy billed, rate schedules, and individual charges. • See energy received from the grid and energy delivered back—especially useful if you have solar. • Explore modeled EV rate and Powerwall scenarios. • Use the app on iPhone or iPad. Whether you charge an EV, have solar or battery storage, or simply want a clearer picture of your electricity costs, PG&E Toolkit - Pro helps you make sense of your usage and rate options. To get started, you need PG&E electric service and access to your PG&E online account. Rate comparisons show what different plans would have cost for past usage. Rate eligibility and future savings may vary. SUBSCRIPTION PG&E Real Meter Data Analyses is a monthly, auto-renewing subscription. The current price is shown before purchase. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm. The subscription renews monthly unless canceled. Manage or cancel it in your Apple Account subscription settings. Privacy Policy: https://ndilitechnologies.com/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://ndilitechnologies.com/termsofuse.html Ndili Technologies, Inc. is a PG&E-approved Share My Data (Green Button) vendor. Apart from that approval, Ndili Technologies is independent of and is not sponsored by PG&E.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: SMUD at 4.4 against PG&E Toolkit's 3.7. SMUD also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (929 vs 18). PG&E Toolkit's advantage is review sentiment (38% vs 23%). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. PG&E Toolkit sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per month. SMUD asks for nothing beyond the download.
SMUD holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SMUD has 929 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 23% of SMUD's written reviews are positive against 38% of PG&E Toolkit's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
SMUD ships an update every 2 months, PG&E Toolkit every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SMUD | PG&E Toolkit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (929 ratings) — better | 3.7 (18 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 22.8% of reviews | 37.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 929 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 134 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SMUD | Ndili Technologies, Inc. |
Customer experience
SMUD
PG&E Toolkit
Bugs and requests
SMUD
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes when accessing usage data
- Autopay feature not working as expected
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
3 requests- Dark mode option
- Customizable payment scheduling
- Improved push notification support
PG&E Toolkit
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
SMUD
No in-app purchases
PG&E Toolkit
- PG&E Real Meter Data Analyses14 Days trial$4.991 Month
Questions
Is SMUD free?
Is PG&E Toolkit free?
Which has better reviews, SMUD or PG&E Toolkit?
Do SMUD or PG&E Toolkit have ads?
Which is updated more often, SMUD or PG&E Toolkit?
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