Comparison

Amex vs Lake

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

Head to head
About

Amex

Manage your American Express account securely from anywhere. Track spending, view rewards, pay your bill, and discover personalized offers. Enjoy quick, safe access with biometric login and instant alerts for added peace of mind.

Highlights
  • Secure account management
  • Track spending and rewards
  • Pay bills and manage balance
  • Card activation and Apple Pay setup
  • Freeze/unfreeze credit card
  • Real-time alerts and notifications
  • Discover personalized offers
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The official American Express App for iPhone allows you to access your Account from anywhere. Track spending & rewards, find offers, review your balance, pay your bill and enjoy features only available in the Amex App. Touch ID and Face ID login (on supported devices), gives you quick, safe and secure access. Make the most of your Membership with the speed, security and convenience of the mobile Amex® App. SECURE ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT • Enhanced activation experience for you to confirm new Cards and setup your Account. • Activate your Credit Card for Apple Pay in the Amex App, then simply unlock, tap and pay. • Freeze and unfreeze your Credit Card instantly at any time. STAY ON TOP OF YOUR SPENDING • Check your American Express Account balance, pending transactions and sort charges by amount and date. • Go paperless with access to past PDF statements. • Turn on AutoPay to pay your Amex bill automatically from your bank account each month. • Check your spending power. Enter an amount for an expected purchase and you’ll see if it’ll be approved. Approval based on account status at the time of request • Filter transactions to see spending and subtotals for each card on your account. For Basic Card Members Only. PROTECTION WITH REAL-TIME ALERTS • Turn on purchase alerts to be notified when your Credit Card is charged. • Receive instant fraud alerts if suspicious activity is detected. • Never miss a payment with payment due reminders. • Manage all your notifications in the Amex Account tab. EXPLORE REWARDS AND BENEFITS • View your Rewards balance and find ways to use Membership Rewards® points* - from gift cards to credits on your statement. • Use points to cover your eligible charges via a credit on your Account. * • See personalized recommendations for other ways to use points. • Refer a friend and earn rewards when friends and family get an American Express Card through your referral. For eligible Card Members only. AMEX OFFERS * • Discover offers from places you shop, dine, travel and more. • Explore a map of nearby offers. • Get Amex Offers notifications direct to your device. MEMBERSHIP SCREEN* •Benefits apply only to applicable products. AWARD-WINNING SERVICE • We’re here to chat 24/7. Start a chat with us in seconds and revisit conversations any time in the app. We’d love to hear from you! Stay in touch with us using our social media pages: Twitter: @AmericanExpress Facebook: facebook.com/AmericanExpressUS/ Instagram: @americanexpress Send & Split® enhances the way you send money and split purchases with other Venmo and PayPal users, all in the American Express app.* Now you can pay friends with more flexibility and without the standard Venmo or PayPal credit card fee§. You can also seamlessly split your Amex purchases with others and get paid back directly to your Card as a statement credit. Best Part? You’ll be the one to earn the rewards for the purchase you split. Enrollment Requirement. Terms Apply. § PayPal may charge a fee when sending to non-US recipients. The American Express® App and app features are available only for eligible Card accounts in the United States. American Express® prepaid Cards and Cards issued by non-America Express issuers are not eligible. To log in, Card Members must have an American Express user ID and password or create one in the app. Apple, the Apple logo, iPad, and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco in the U.S. and other countries and is used under license. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. *To see the full Terms and Conditions, copy and paste the following link into your browser and scroll to the bottom of the page: https://amex.co/AmexApp-Terms For J.D. Power 2024 & 2025 award information, visit jdpower.com/awards.

About

Lake

Features
Read full description

Lake is an automatic spending tracker for the places you keep going. If you have tried tracking or budgeting and found it hard to keep up, start with the spending already in your history. Connect a supported institution through Plaid to see eligible usual places and what a visit usually costs, based on recent transactions. When a place matches a spending limit, see the limit left and how many similar visits fit. Review your monthly budgets and set visit goals that start when you choose. Each new goal has its own monthly period and countdown. Results wait until Lake can verify the spending history for that period. Earned points unlock optional customizations. Free includes up to five usual places on Home, monthly budgets, and two new goals per calendar month, with up to two ongoing goals. New goals that are met earn 50 points on Free or 100 with Premium, based on your plan when the result is verified. Lake Premium adds your full list of eligible usual places, favorite-place pinning, unlimited goals, monthly reports, Insights and five additional app icon colors. Both plans use the same earned-customization catalog. Choose optional nearby reminders for places you save, or a weekly check-in. Nearby reminders need location permission and depend on iOS delivery. Weekly check-ins do not need location. Choose light or dark appearance to make Lake comfortable to read. Available subscription plans, prices and renewal terms appear in the app before purchase. Restore purchases and manage Apple subscriptions from Membership. A Lake account and a supported linked institution are needed for your personal spending view. Available history and figures depend on the data your institution provides. Privacy policy: https://www.lakefin.net/privacy Terms of service: https://www.lakefin.net/terms App license (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support: https://www.lakefin.net/feedback

Screenshots

Amex4 screens
Lake4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Amex at none against Lake's 2. Amex also leads on chart position (#25 vs unranked). Lake's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Lake sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Amex asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Amex versus Lake: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAmexLake
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (4.4M ratings) — better—
Positive reviews63.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4.4M — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#25 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.217.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size525 MB20 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperAmerican ExpressLake Financial

Bugs and requests

Amex

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Scrolling glitches in the mobile app
  • Inconsistent display of account balances
  • Inability to view high-yield savings accounts

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved rewards tracking and redemption
  • Integrated dispute submission and status tracking
  • Automatic offer activation based on transactions
  • Better account balance and payment information
  • Seamless integration between mobile app and website

Lake

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Amex

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Lake

Subscriptions2
  • Lake Spending - Monthly Premium$9.991 Month
  • Lake Spending - Annual Premium$79.991 Year

Questions

Is Amex free?
Amex is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lake free?
Lake is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Amex or Lake have ads?
Amex shows ads; Lake does not.

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