Comparison

Pennylane vs Lydia

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

Head to head
About

Pennylane

Manage your business finances, accounting, and banking in one integrated platform. Streamline invoicing, track expenses, analyze performance, and collaborate with your accountant.

Highlights
  • Integrated business account
  • Purchase and sales management
  • Performance analysis
  • Invoice management
  • Collaboration with accountants
  • Over 300 integrations
Features
Read full description

Pennylane is the tool that brings together your finances, your accounting, and your Business Account! Discover the all-in-one solution for your business that includes purchase and sales management tools, performance analysis, and a Pro Account 100% integrated with your accounting. Pennylane is PDP certified! Receive and send your invoices in the FacturX format even before the reform is applied. Over 180,000 French companies and 2,500 accounting firms have already joined Pennylane. What changes with Pennylane: - Manage your activity from a single space: the purchase and sales modules allow you a complete management of your activity. Quotes, invoices, subscriptions, sales reminders... manage all your finances in one place! - Make better decisions: Pennylane allows you to access all the data of your activity and analyze it from a single platform. - Collaborate more effectively with your accountant: keep your accounting up-to-date in real-time. Pennylane suggests reconciliations to carry out and actions to perform. - Over 300 integrations available: simplify the retrieval of your flows and the management of your activity by connecting to your business tools directly from Pennylane. Get the Pennylane Pro Account including: - Free cards and unlimited free transfers: Enjoy customizable virtual or physical Mastercard cards and pay easily via SEPA transfer. - French IBAN, secured funds: Entrust your funds to a secured institution approved by the Banque de France (ACPR). - Payment of supplier invoices: Settle up to 400 invoices in one click, reconciliation and lettering are automatic. - Simplified collection of receipts: No more hunting for receipts! Receive a mobile notification with every transaction made with the Business Account card. Included in the mobile app: - Business Account: Initiate transfers, manage your bank cards and receive a mobile notification with every transaction made with your Pennylane Business Account. - Invoice management: Upload your purchase invoices, expense reports and follow their validation - Categorization: Categorize all your transactions and expense reports at the right time, without delay - Customer billing management: Create your sales quotes and invoices and send them to your clients - Accounting requests: Collaborate with your team and your accountant via comments and notifications - Track your cash flow and other key indicators

About

Lydia

Easily send and receive money with just a phone number. Create shared money pots to collect funds quickly. This free service offers a simple alternative to traditional banking methods, prioritizing security and user privacy.

Highlights
  • Send and receive money via phone number
  • Create shareable money pots
  • Simple and handy interface
  • Secure banking standards
  • GDPR compliant
Read full description

Millions of French users open Lydia each month to send and receive money and collect funds with money pots. Simple and handy, this free app will make you forget about counting pocket change and fussing with wire transfers. Make a wire transfer with just a phone number. And start collecting money right away with a shareable money pot URL available in three clicks. Lydia is a French service developed in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Nantes by a passionate and independent team meeting the latest banking and computer security standards, respecting your privacy and complying with the GDPR.

Screenshots

Pennylane4 screens
Lydia4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Lydia at 5.0 against Pennylane's 4.6. Pennylane's advantage is ratings volume (35 vs 6). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lydia holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pennylane has 35 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Pennylane's written reviews are positive against 60% of Lydia's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on October 19, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Pennylane versus Lydia: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPennylaneLydia
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (35 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings35 — better6
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.416.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size151 MB235 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPennylaneLYDIA Solutions

Customer experience

Pennylane

All ratings35 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.6%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral17.5%
Negative15.8%

Lydia

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative36.0%

In-app purchases

None

Pennylane

No in-app purchases

None

Lydia

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pennylane free?
Pennylane is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lydia free?
Lydia is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pennylane or Lydia?
Lydia is rated higher. Pennylane averages 4.6 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while Lydia averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Pennylane or Lydia have ads?
Neither Pennylane nor Lydia shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pennylane or Lydia?
Pennylane ships an update weekly, and Lydia weekly. Most recently, Pennylane was updated on October 19, 2026 and Lydia on October 19, 2026.

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