Comparison

HomeBudget with Sync vs PocketGuard・Budget Planner App

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

Head to head
About

HomeBudget with Sync

Track expenses, income, bills, and account balances with integrated budgeting and analysis tools. Features family sync for household collaboration and cross-platform availability.

Highlights
  • Expense and income tracking
  • Bill management with reminders
  • Account balance tracking
  • Budgeting and category analysis
  • Family sync for multiple devices
  • Receipt photo attachment
  • Multi-currency support
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Now available in mobile [iPhone/iPad] and desktop versions [Mac OS, Windows], including instant data sync between mobile/desktop versions. (Separate purchase required for each OS platform). A lite version of HomeBudget is available under the free applications category. Give it a try. Contact support@anishu.com, if you need help. We have no way of contacting you if you post an issue as a review. -- HomeBudget is an integrated expense tracker designed to help you track your expenses, income, bills-due and account balances. It offers support for budgeting, and allows analysis of your expenses and income, including charts and graphs. Two key differentiating features of HomeBudget are: 1. Integrated set of features. The features within HomeBudget are well integrated such that a bill can become an expense (when you pay for it) and also adjust the account balance at the same time. 2. Family sync. HomeBudget includes Family Sync, an advanced feature that allows a group of devices within the household to exchange expense and income information, and work together within a single budget. Once setup, the devices sync with each other automatically over the air. Family Sync works across all features including Bills and Accounts. Please refer to the Family Sync Quick Start guide at http://www.anishu.com for information on configuring Family Sync. KEY FEATURES: Expenses: - Create/Edit/Delete expenses and recurring expenses - Browse expense entries by month, by category/date with the ability to drill-down - Optionally associate an account and payee with an expense - Attach photo images of receipts; drag and resize images on screen - Support for multiple currencies and automatic exchange rate conversion - Search expense entries Income: - Create/Edit/Delete income and recurring income - Optionally associate an account with the income Bills - Create/Edit/Delete bills and recurring bills - Support for Payees, and track payments by Payee. - Make payment on bills either an as expense or as a transfer (to avoid double accounting your expenses) - Calendar and list view of Bills - Bill reminders Categories and Budget - Create/Edit/Delete expense categories and sub-categories - Set a budget, and track expenses at the category/sub-category level. - Associate icons with the categories and reorder category display order - Budget rollover - Classify expenses into fixed, variable and discretionary and compute your disposable income Accounts - Support for Accounts such as Checking, Savings, Credit, Debit, Cash, etc. - Associate your expense and income entries with your accounts and accurately track account balances. - View transactions, and do transfer between accounts. - Ability to choose a different base currency for each account Reports - Trend chart for Expense, Budget and Income for the last 6 months - Pie/Bar charts for expense break-down (Available in the Expenses screen). - Export data/reports by email or via WiFi Family Sync - Automatically sync multiple devices (iPhone, iPad, iTouch) in the household and see the same numbers on all devices over 3G and WiFi - Work within the same budget with other members of the household Other - Backup/Restore complete application data, including all receipts - Ability to upload your own list of category icons - Large numeric keypad for expense/income amount entry - HomeBudget follows the locale/region setting on your device and shows date and currency symbols appropriate for your region Visit http://www.anishu.com to see more screenshots, and to download the user guide (PDF, 42 pages).

About

PocketGuard・Budget Planner App

This app simplifies personal finance by automatically tracking expenses and bills. It helps you understand your disposable income, analyze spending habits, and manage subscriptions to save money. Set financial goals and create debt-payoff plans with smart algorithms.

Highlights
  • Automatic expense tracking
  • Bill and subscription monitoring
  • Disposable income calculation
  • Spending habit analysis
  • Financial goal setting
  • Debt-payoff plan creation
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

PocketGuard is a budgeting app for people who want to be on top of their money. Personal finance is made simple by smart algorithms, which means budgeting with PocketGuard is so easy that you don't have to spend your entire life crunching numbers. We take care of all the routines like expense tracking and bill monitoring so you can clearly focus on money management operations. Always know what's in your pocket! A budget is a difference between income and expenses. If it's positive - you're doing well. In any other case, the budget is unbalanced and needs attention. This is where the "Leftover" feature takes action. How much disposable income do you have after paying your bills, saving for your goals, and setting aside enough money for needs and wants? The PocketGuard budgeting app does those calculations for you! Always know the actual safe-to-spend amount so you can fit your monthly budget. Comprehensive analytics! Budget and expense tracking are just a part of the story. If you wanna do money management the right way you need to learn from the data you track. PocketGuard's budgeting app provides you with various reports to let you see personal finances from different angles. Learn about your spending habits, make necessary adjustments, and optimize your monthly budget. Bill tracker and subscription manager! You can use PocketGuard as a bill organizer. Once you connect bank accounts the app starts working as a finance tracker. All your bills and subscriptions will be identified automatically and included in your monthly budget. The bill organizer will help you never miss the due date again. PocketGuard bill organizer gives you an easy way to negotiate better rates with your provider. So you can optimize your budget by cutting costs on services you use. PocketGuard subscription manager will help you to find subscriptions you might have forgotten about. This is another money management trick - stop paying for services you no longer need. Set and reach your financial goals! Goals are a key concept of budgeting. As was mentioned before, expense tracking is just a part of the story. Personal finance is made of goals. Let's say you want to spend less on shopping or save more for vacation. These are financial goals. The PocketGuard budget app gives you all the necessary tools to set them properly. Set up your debt-payoff plan! Nobody's perfect and almost anyone has debt to pay off. The question is: do you have a plan? Connect all your credit and loan accounts and we'll show you the way to a debt-free future. Our smart algorithm calculates the most profitable debt repayment strategy so you'll save hundreds or even thousands by paying less in interest! BANK-LEVEL SECURITY We use the same 256-bit SSL encryption as all major banks to ensure your sensitive information is safe and sound. The PocketGuard app also uses PIN codes and biometrics, like Touch ID & Face ID, as an additional security layer. PocketGuard connects to U.S. and Canadian financial institutions only. PocketGuard Plus subscription lengths and prices: Monthly - $12.99* / month Annual - $74.99* / year Prices are in U.S. dollars, may vary in countries other than the U.S., and are subject to change without notice. If you choose to purchase PocketGuard Plus, payment will be charged to your iTunes account. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited if you purchase a different subscription plan. Privacy Policy: https://pocketguard.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://pocketguard.com/terms/

Screenshots

HomeBudget with Sync4 screens
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PocketGuard・Budget Planner App at Free against HomeBudget with Sync's $4.99. PocketGuard・Budget Planner App also leads on ratings volume (7.7K vs 1.3K). HomeBudget with Sync's advantage is review sentiment (77% vs 39%) and in-app purchases (none vs 14). On rating, update cadence, chart position 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

PocketGuard・Budget Planner App is free to download; HomeBudget with Sync costs $4.99 up front. PocketGuard・Budget Planner App sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. HomeBudget with Sync asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for HomeBudget with Sync against 4.6 for PocketGuard・Budget Planner App. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PocketGuard・Budget Planner App has 7.7K ratings behind it against 1.3K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of HomeBudget with Sync's written reviews are positive against 39% of PocketGuard・Budget Planner App's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HomeBudget with Sync ships an update fortnightly, PocketGuard・Budget Planner App every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
HomeBudget with Sync versus PocketGuard・Budget Planner App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHomeBudget with SyncPocketGuard・Budget Planner App
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (1.3K ratings)4.6 (7.7K ratings)
Positive reviews77.2% of reviews — better38.7% of reviews
Number of ratings1.3K7.7K — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#33 — better#90
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB163 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAnishu, Inc.PocketGuard, Inc.

Customer experience

HomeBudget with Sync

All ratings1,255 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral3.0%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews473 reviews
Positive77.2%
Neutral7.6%
Negative15.2%

PocketGuard・Budget Planner App

All ratings7,670 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral3.6%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews341 reviews
Positive38.7%
Neutral11.7%
Negative49.6%

User reviews

HomeBudget with Sync

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 💰 Helps manage finances
  • 🔍 Detailed expense tracking
  • 🔒 Secure data storage
  • 🔄 Syncs across devices

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Sync issues between devices
  • 🕰️ Recurring transactions limited to 2 years
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding/editing past transactions
  • 🔧 Lack of updates and new features
  • 💸 Paid app with limited free version

PocketGuard・Budget Planner App

From 7.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Efficient app that helps track spending
  • 👍 Customizable budgeting categories
  • 🚀 Real-time transaction updates
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Helpful for getting finances under control

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Recurring issues with bank account syncing
  • 🔒 Security concerns with 2FA/MFA requirements
  • 🚫 Lack of support for certain banks/credit cards
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🐛 Buggy app performance and frequent crashes

Bugs and requests

HomeBudget with Sync

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Balance calculation errors
  • Recurring transactions not working as expected
  • Crashes after iOS updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to move expenses between categories
  • Automatic currency conversion
  • Customizable dashboards and reports
  • Integration with banking/financial accounts
  • Dark mode support

PocketGuard・Budget Planner App

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inconsistent transaction syncing and labeling
  • Inability to delete or manage connected accounts
  • Budgeting data disappearing or not updating properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to carry over unspent budget to next month
  • More advanced reporting and analytics
  • Light/dark mode theme options
  • Improved transaction categorization and learning
  • Support for multiple users/family budgeting

In-app purchases

None

HomeBudget with Sync

No in-app purchases

11 purchases

PocketGuard・Budget Planner App

Subscriptions10
  • Weekly offer with 7 day trial7 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • PocketGuard Plus3 variants$4.991 Month
  • Monthly subscription$4.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • PocketGuard Plus7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Monthly subscription$7.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscriptions7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription$12.991 Month
  • PocketGuard Plus7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • PocketGuard Plus$34.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$74.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Membership$79.99

Questions

Is HomeBudget with Sync free?
HomeBudget with Sync costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PocketGuard・Budget Planner App free?
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, HomeBudget with Sync or PocketGuard・Budget Planner App?
HomeBudget with Sync and PocketGuard・Budget Planner App are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1.3K and 7.7K ratings respectively.
Do HomeBudget with Sync or PocketGuard・Budget Planner App have ads?
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App shows ads; HomeBudget with Sync does not.
Which is updated more often, HomeBudget with Sync or PocketGuard・Budget Planner App?
HomeBudget with Sync ships an update fortnightly, and PocketGuard・Budget Planner App every 3 weeks. Most recently, HomeBudget with Sync was updated on September 23, 2026 and PocketGuard・Budget Planner App on September 23, 2026.
Which is more popular, HomeBudget with Sync or PocketGuard・Budget Planner App?
HomeBudget with Sync currently peaks at #33 in the App Store charts, and PocketGuard・Budget Planner App at #90. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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