Economy vs Budgets Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Economy
This app provides a comprehensive snapshot of the US economy, offering the latest key economic indicators and historical data. It includes tens of thousands of indicators for the US, all 50 states, major metro areas, and over 100 other countries. Visualize trends across various timeframes, presidencies, and recessions.
- Key US economic indicators (GDP, Employment, Housing)
- Historical data tracking (months, years, decades)
- Data for 50 US states and metro areas
- Indicators for over 100 countries
- Graphs across presidencies and recessions
- Powerful search engine for 45,000 indicators
- Data-value transformations for charting
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***** Featured in iTunes "STAFF FAVORITES" section and also #1 Finance app for several weeks in 2009 ***** ***** Featured on cover and chapter-5 of Wiley Publishing's book on Incredible iPhone Apps ***** This app gives you a snapshot of the US economy by providing the latest key economic indicators and tracking the history of these indicators across the past few months, years and decades. The app includes around 45,000 economic indicators. The primary focus is on US economic indicators (including detailed data on all 50 states and for major metro areas). It also includes some economic indicators for more than a 100 other countries (e.g. UK, Canada, Australia, India, Singapore, China, Mexico, Estonia, Kenya, Nepal, Brazil etc.) Macworld review for the V1 version of the app http://www.macworld.com/article/142855/2009/09/economicnewsapps.html says "tough to do better than Cascade Software’s Economy app" "The app is a one-stop shop ....... economists and financial analysts love to parse" "it’s a handy resource to have available in the palm of your hand." --- Features: 1. Latest values of key (curated) US economic indicators (GDP, Employment, Housing, Manufacturing, Inflation, Trade Deficit, weekly updates of Canadian,Mexican currency exchange rates , M2 Money stock, etc.) published by the US Federal Reserve. 2. Share economic graphs through social media, email, SMS, printouts etc. 3. Graphs to track economic indicators across many different time ranges (e.g. 1 year, 3 years, ...,40 years etc.) 4. Graphs that track the values of economic indicators across Democratic and Republican presidencies and across Recession periods over the past several decades. 5. Around 45,000 economic indicators (mostly for the US, but also for more than a 100 other countries) 6. A powerful search engine that makes it easy to use partial (or full) keywords to search through the 45,000 economic indicators provided by the app. 7. All indicators updated soon after the govt numbers are published. (Most indicators updated monthly, others quarterly, annually, daily or weekly) 8. Help/Descriptions for many economic indicators. 9. Data-value transformations (graphs can be charted on interesting y-axis transformations (e.g. continuously compounded annual rate of change, natural log, change from previous year etc.) 10. The app requires internet connectivity, but previously downloaded/viewed (saved) data can be viewed in offline mode without an internet connection. Are you curious about the economy? Gauge the current state of the US economy with the latest economic indicators, Review historical data for patterns across recessions and patterns across Republican and Democratic presidencies Do you want to win arguments when discussing the economy or make speculative predictions about the economy based on patterns from the past? This app will help you with all of that and more. ---- Please contact us through our website (http://CascadeSoft.net) or blog for questions, comments or suggestions. The app is optimised for multiple iPhone and iPod Touch devices and it has been tested on devices ranging from an iPhone 4 device (running iOS 5.1.1) to an iPhone 7 Plus device (running iOS 10.1) Download the app to see why it was the #1 ranked paid app in the Finance category of the app store (for weeks in summer, 2009) and why it was featured on the cover of Wiley Publishing's book on Incredible iPhone apps.
Budgets Pro
This app helps you manage your money by creating custom budgets and tracking your spending against them. It provides instant feedback on how much you have left to spend and allows you to view your purchase history. You can also export your data for further analysis.
- Create custom budgets (monthly, weekly, custom periods)
- Track spending against budgets
- View remaining budget amounts
- Monitor purchase history
- Export purchases as CSV
- Secure passcode entry
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"Money well spent" - appadvice.com Where does the money go? Create your Budgets and keep to them - Buy 'Budgets - Expense Tracker' ! 'Budgets - Expense Tracker' logs your purchases against your budgets so you can see how much you have spent. Your budgets can be monthly, weekly, or any other time period you like. ◆ Know instantly how much you've got left to spend in your budget ◆ Keep track of your spending so you Don't Overspend. You can set up as many Budgets as you need and monitor your spending over any time period. √ See how much of your Budgets you have left to spend with the Coin Tubes Display! √ Budgets can be monthly, weekly, or any time period you define √ You can carry over unused Budget Amounts to the next time period √ View your Purchase History √ E-Mail your Purchases as a CSV file attachment from within the App ; CSV files work with most spreadsheet software √ Includes Secure Passcode Entry System to keep your budget data private ◆ This app is part of the MoneyBudgie Finance Tracking Bundle. - All 4 Apps work together to help you get in control of your finances. For example, you can use budgets planned with the Home Budget Plan app in this app, whilst purchases logged in this app affect your bank account balances tracked by Spending Log, etc. Buy 'Budgets - Expense Tracker', create your Budget and keep to it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Budgets Pro at none against Economy's 1. Budgets Pro also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). Economy's advantage is ratings volume (160 vs 10) and price ($2.99 vs $4.99). On rating, review sentiment, ads and chart position 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
Economy costs $2.99 and Budgets Pro $4.99 up front. Economy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Budgets Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Economy against 4.5 for Budgets Pro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Economy has 160 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Economy's written reviews are positive against 92% of Budgets Pro's.
Economy ships an update every 6 months, Budgets Pro every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Economy | Budgets Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (160 ratings) — better | 4.5 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.9% of reviews | 91.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 160 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #116 — better | #185 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cascade Software Corporation | MoneyBudgie |
Customer experience
Economy
Budgets Pro
Bugs and requests
Economy
Reported bugs
8 issues- App won't open
- App crashes
- App crashing on iPad
- App no longer functioning
- App is buggy
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- App is outdated
- App recently hacked, displaying incorrect currency
- Offline mode gives error message
Requested features
111 requests- Fix crashes and make the app open
- Provide refunds for non-functioning apps
- Update the app to current versions
- Add more historical data
- Add more recent data
Show 106 moreShow fewer
- Improve user-friendliness for sorting and navigation
- Include a calendar for upcoming report releases
- Show expectations for each report
- Faster app updates
- Clearer definitions and descriptions for economic metrics
- Display current percentages alongside changes
- Allow for more data variation and comparison
- Fix currency display issues
- Include more historical data for specific indices
- Add more beige book information
- Include a chart for margin debt of equities
- Add a view by House of Representatives
- Improve graph aesthetics
- Increase data depth and breadth
- Add more data points for specific sectors like housing
- Include a scale on the y-axis of graphs
- Add an email button for sharing data
- Include summary and breakdown data of Federal spending
- Add data on Federal debt to GDP
- Incorporate features for business applications and MBA students
- Add a way to sort on upcoming indicators
- Provide information on upcoming publications (month/week/day)
- Address shortcomings in GDP reporting
- Include average yearly home price/value adjusted for inflation
- Add local and state-level economic information
- Incorporate worldwide economic data
- Improve graph tweaking and customization
- Allow offline access to previously downloaded data
- Add more data for the housing sector
- Display actual numbers on the left scale of graphs
- Allow selection of specific year ranges for analysis
- Label vertical axes on graphs for clarity
- Enable auto-rotation of graphs
- Allow simultaneous display of two graphs
- Display graphs with different scales effectively
- Show imports and exports on the same graph
- Include data on US trade with specific regions like China or Asia
- Add more indicators such as Consumer Spending and Consumer Confidence
- Add local and state information
- Add worldwide data
- Improve graphs
- Add more data
- Add features for business applications and MBA students
- Add a way to sort on upcoming indicators
- Provide information on upcoming publications (month/week/day)
- Address shortcomings in GDP reporting
- Include average yearly home price/value adjusted for inflation
- Add local and state-level economic information
- Incorporate worldwide economic data
- Improve graph aesthetics
- Allow offline access to previously downloaded data
- Add more data for the housing sector
- Display actual numbers on the left scale of graphs
- Allow selection of specific year ranges for analysis
- Label vertical axes on graphs for clarity
- Enable auto-rotation of graphs
- Allow simultaneous display of two graphs
- Display graphs with different scales effectively
- Show imports and exports on the same graph
- Include data on US trade with specific regions like China or Asia
- Add more indicators such as Consumer Spending and Consumer Confidence
- Add local and state information
- Add worldwide data
- Improve graphs
- Add more data
- Add features for business applications and MBA students
- Add a way to sort on upcoming indicators
- Provide information on upcoming publications (month/week/day)
- Address shortcomings in GDP reporting
- Include average yearly home price/value adjusted for inflation
- Add local and state-level economic information
- Incorporate worldwide economic data
- Improve graph aesthetics
- Allow offline access to previously downloaded data
- Add more data for the housing sector
- Display actual numbers on the left scale of graphs
- Allow selection of specific year ranges for analysis
- Label vertical axes on graphs for clarity
- Enable auto-rotation of graphs
- Allow simultaneous display of two graphs
- Display graphs with different scales effectively
- Show imports and exports on the same graph
- Include data on US trade with specific regions like China or Asia
- Add more indicators such as Consumer Spending and Consumer Confidence
- Add local and state information
- Add worldwide data
- Improve graphs
- Add more data
- Add features for business applications and MBA students
- Add a way to sort on upcoming indicators
- Provide information on upcoming publications (month/week/day)
- Address shortcomings in GDP reporting
- Include average yearly home price/value adjusted for inflation
- Add local and state-level economic information
- Incorporate worldwide economic data
- Improve graph aesthetics
- Allow offline access to previously downloaded data
- Add more data for the housing sector
- Display actual numbers on the left scale of graphs
- Allow selection of specific year ranges for analysis
- Label vertical axes on graphs for clarity
- Enable auto-rotation of graphs
- Allow simultaneous display of two graphs
- Display graphs with different scales effectively
- Show imports and exports on the same graph
- Include data on US trade with specific regions like China or Asia
Budgets Pro
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Economy
- V6 Upgrade for Early Adopters$1.99
Budgets Pro
No in-app purchases









