Comparison

PayBack vs SpendFriend

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

Head to head
About

PayBack

This app helps you easily track and settle shared expenses after group trips. It calculates who owes whom and minimizes the number of transactions needed for everyone to settle up, ensuring friendships remain intact.

Highlights
  • Track shared expenses
  • Calculate debts automatically
  • Minimize settlement transactions
  • Ideal for group trips
  • User-friendly interface
Read full description

You go on a snowboarding trip with your mates and everybody pays for different things during the trip. You come home with a pile of receipts and you’re trying to work out how everyone can settle up (and stay friends). What do you do? Get PAYBACK for the iPhone, the ultimate shared expense calculator. Just enter the list of expenses and who they’re shared between and PAYBACK automatically calculates how you can settle your debts. What’s more, PAYBACK’s unique algorithm automatically minimizes the number of transactions needed to settle your debts. IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS AND YOU GO ON TRIPS, AND YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR FRIENDS, THEN YOU NEED PAYBACK! Make sure to send bug reports and enhancement requests to support@ipaybackapp.com!

About

SpendFriend

Track your spending in real-time to avoid checkout surprises. Use voice input to quickly log purchases and monitor your budget, ensuring you know your available funds before you pay.

Highlights
  • Speech-to-text expense logging
  • Real-time spending tracking
  • Budget setting and monitoring
  • Available funds display
  • Avoid checkout surprises
Features
Read full description

Ever wished you knew how much you were spending *before* you got to the checkout at the store?? I for sure have! And I got fed up with being surprised by the price at the register, so I built this app: SpendFriend. As you walk through the store, with the Speech to Text feature, you can simply say the item you are purchasing and the cost and it all gets entered for you! I hope you enjoy this feature as much as I have. It will help you set your budget and know how much you are spending and how much is available. Due to strange tax laws around what type of food is/is-not taxable, it doesn't always get it *exactly* right, but the main goal here is to never be surprised by how much that checkout total is going to be again. I hope you enjoy the app and are more informed about how much you are paying *before* you get to checkout! :) NOTE: This app is NOT intended to get you a perfect, or exact number of how much you are going to pay, but it should be very close. I'm always working on improving it's accuracy and always strive to get it as close as possible to that final number. Also, if you'd like to try it out for free, minus all the cool features of an iOS app, check out the original version at https://groceryfriend.app

Screenshots

PayBack4 screens
SpendFriend4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PayBack at Free against SpendFriend's $7.99. PayBack also leads on ratings volume (5 vs 1). SpendFriend's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

PayBack is free to download; SpendFriend costs $7.99 up front. PayBack sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. SpendFriend asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SpendFriend holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PayBack has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PayBack ships an update monthly, SpendFriend every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PayBack versus SpendFriend: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPayBackSpendFriend
PriceFree — better$7.99
Rating4.8 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS13.012.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAndrew CunninghamJoshua Friend

Customer experience

PayBack

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews41 reviews
Positive82.9%
Neutral4.9%
Negative12.2%

SpendFriend

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

In-app purchases

1 purchases

PayBack

One-time1
  • Remove Banner Ads$0.99
None

SpendFriend

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PayBack free?
PayBack is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SpendFriend free?
SpendFriend costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PayBack or SpendFriend?
SpendFriend is rated higher. PayBack averages 4.8 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while SpendFriend averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do PayBack or SpendFriend have ads?
Neither PayBack nor SpendFriend shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PayBack or SpendFriend?
PayBack ships an update monthly, and SpendFriend every 3 weeks. Most recently, PayBack was updated on September 9, 2026 and SpendFriend on September 14, 2026.

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