Comparison

Budget App vs Marlo

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

Head to head
About

Budget App

Manage your monthly budget and track expenses with this intuitive app. Gain direct control over logged spending, set financial plans, and visualize your expenditures with charts to save money.

Highlights
  • Set monthly budgets
  • Log expenses by category
  • Visualize spending with pie charts
  • Real-time remaining balance
  • Editable and categorized expenses
  • One-time purchase for premium
Features
Read full description

Budget App is the simple, powerful way to budget, track your spending, and finally see where your money goes, no bank logins, no spreadsheets, no learning curve. Set a monthly budget and watch it update in real time as you spend. Log an expense in seconds, scan a receipt to capture it instantly, and organize everything with built-in or fully custom categories. FEATURES - Quick expense logging: add spending in just a couple of taps - Receipt scanning: snap a photo and capture the amount automatically - Custom categories: create your own with a name, icon, and color - Income tracking: log salary, freelance, and more to see your true cash flow - Monthly budgets: set a budget and see what's left at a glance - Recurring bills: schedule rent, subscriptions, and bills to log automatically, and skip any month you choose - Spending calendar: a color-coded heatmap of your daily spending - Savings goals: set goals and watch your progress grow - Insights & trends: clear charts and monthly comparisons that actually help - Category breakdown: see exactly what's eating your budget with pie charts - Multi-year history: review any month, any year, without confusion - iCloud sync: your budget stays up to date on all your devices - Face ID & Touch ID lock: keep your finances private - Home Screen widgets: check your budget without opening the app - Search & export: find any transaction and export your data anytime Whether you're paying off debt, building savings, or just tired of wondering where your paycheck went, Budget App gives you a clear, honest picture of your money, and makes it easy to keep it that way. Download Budget App and take control of your spending today. Terms of Use (EULA): https://sites.google.com/view/budgetapptermsandconditions/home

About

Marlo

This app calculates your 'safe to spend' amount by subtracting fixed costs, budgets, and savings from your income. It provides a clear, guilt-free number for discretionary spending, with budgeting and savings goal features. All data is stored locally for privacy.

Highlights
  • Calculates 'Safe to Spend' amount
  • Budget tracking by category
  • Savings goal setting and tracking
  • Recurring income and bill setup
  • Optional daily logging reminders
  • Private, on-device data storage
Features
Read full description

Know exactly what's safe to spend — before you spend it. Marlo does one honest calculation: your income, minus fixed costs, minus your budgets, minus what you're saving. What's left is your Safe to Spend — the money you can enjoy right now, guilt-free. No spreadsheets. No shame. Just a clear number. Most budgeting apps tell you what you spent. Marlo tells you what you can spend. That's the difference between anxiety and permission. SAFE TO SPEND, FRONT AND CENTER Open the app and the first thing you see is one big number: what's genuinely free to spend this month. It updates live as you log. Green means go. In the red? The app sits with you — it never scolds. BUDGETS THAT MAKE SENSE Give any category a monthly budget and watch a simple, colorful card fill up as you spend. Rent, groceries, coffee — see where you stand at a glance. SAVINGS JARS FOR THE THINGS YOU WANT Name a goal, give it a target, and add money whenever you can. Set a monthly amount and Marlo shows you the exact date you'll hit it. A trip, a home, a safety net — turn a dream into a plan. SET IT AND FORGET IT Add your paycheck and fixed bills once as recurring items. Your Safe to Spend works from day one — no re-entering the same numbers every month. A GENTLE DAILY NUDGE One optional reminder a day. Ten seconds to log keeps your number honest. That's the whole habit. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything lives on your device. No account, no sign-up, no cloud. Your money is nobody's business but yours. — FREE FOREVER — Logging is never capped. The free plan includes: • Unlimited transaction logging • Your live Safe to Spend • Recurring income & bills • 2 category budgets • 1 savings goal • Daily reminder — MARLO PRO — Upgrade when you want more room: • Stats: spending trends, month-over-month, kept-rate, weekly review, and your full category breakdown • Browse any past month • Unlimited category budgets • Unlimited savings goals • Create your own custom categories • Custom themes, colors & icons • Export all your transactions to CSV • Every future Pro feature Pro pricing: • Monthly plan • Annual plan (best value) Spend wisely, not blindly. Marlo is the calm, honest money app that shows you what's really yours to enjoy. — Subscription details: Marlo Pro is an auto-renewable subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions in your App Store account settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial, if offered, is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Privacy Policy: linked in-app (Settings › Legal) Terms of Use: linked in-app (Settings › Legal) Support: contact@theanicca.com Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Budget App4 screens
Marlo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Marlo at 5.0 against Budget App's 4.4. Marlo also leads on ads (none vs shown). Budget App's advantage is ratings volume (636 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Budget App sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Marlo sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Marlo holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Budget App has 636 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Budget App versus Marlo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBudget AppMarlo
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (636 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings636 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 6 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB17 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperWALABOK LLCAnicca LLC

Customer experience

Budget App

All ratings637 ratings
Positive85.4%
Neutral3.9%
Negative10.7%
Written reviews51 reviews
Positive51.0%
Neutral13.7%
Negative35.3%

Marlo

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Budget App

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • White screen display issue on app launch
  • Expenses not saving properly
  • Duplicate expense entries appearing
  • Expenses and labels getting mixed up/swapped
  • App force closing during deletion
Show 4 more
  • Deletion not working reliably
  • Calculation errors with small transaction counts
  • App crashes and freezes
  • Data not persisting after edits

Requested features

14 requests
  • Percentage display on pie chart categories
  • Custom expense category creation
  • Edit and delete expense functionality
  • Percentage labels for spending categories
  • Custom labels and personalized expense names
Show 9 more
  • Health category addition
  • Face ID app locking
  • Monthly recurring expense templates
  • Expense notes and descriptions
  • Calendar view showing daily expenses
  • Ad-free premium option
  • Sorting expenses in diagrams
  • Multiple monthly budgets
  • Bank account integration

Marlo

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Budget App

Subscriptions2
  • Budgetize Premium Weekly$2.997 Days
  • Budgetize Premium Yearly3 Days trial$16.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium Version$19.99
4 purchases

Marlo

Subscriptions3
  • Marlo Pro Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Marlo Pro Annual Intro$24.991 Year
  • Marlo Pro Annual$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Marlo Pro — Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Budget App free?
Budget App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Marlo free?
Marlo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Budget App or Marlo?
Marlo is rated higher. Budget App averages 4.4 out of 5 from 636 ratings, while Marlo averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Budget App or Marlo have ads?
Budget App shows ads; Marlo does not.
Which is updated more often, Budget App or Marlo?
Budget App ships an update every 6 weeks, and Marlo every 6 weeks. Most recently, Budget App was updated on October 24, 2026 and Marlo on October 25, 2026.

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