Comparison

Expense Tool vs Spend Pulse

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

Head to head
About

Expense Tool

Track personal and shared expenses with detailed logging, receipt attachments, and location mapping. Generate summaries and balances for group spending, and export your data in various formats.

Highlights
  • Define custom expense sets
  • Attach receipts, photos, and locations
  • Fast data capture with autocompletion
  • Expense summaries and balances
  • Export data (HTML, Text, CSV)
  • Map integration
  • Passcode lock
Features
Read full description

Organize your own and shared expenses. Do you and your partner want to log how much you're spending for your household and merge the expenses entered on your individual devices? Are you on holidays with friends and want to know how much you are spending? If you are sharing your expenses, do you need a tool to document your balances and debts to one another? Are you sharing a holiday or a household with others and would you like everyone to log their own expenses into one common list, each on their own device? Do you want to know how much you're spending for your hobby, on your business trip, or any other expenses? Use Expense Tool, create an expense set and start entering your data. Your expenses can be listed, shown on a map, exported (by email or to a file) and printed. Expense Sets can be synced across your own devices via iCloud, shared with other people, or transferred directly from device to device. If more than one person is part of an expense set, you get a summary showing the total of all individual expenses and the balance of the shared expenses. Features: • Define Expense Sets with custom settings • Add expenses and optionally attach receipts, photos and locations • Fast data capture: Select with autocompletion what you've already entered • List your expenses: all, by month, by week or within a custom timeframe • Expense list sections: by person, by expense caption • Summary and Balance of shared expenses • Overview of all expense sets • iCloud Synchronization — enable per Expense Set • iCloud Sharing — share an Expense Set with others • Export your data: email, PDF, or save to a file (CSV with receipts and photos, bundled as a .zip) • Receipts: Document Scanner (iOS only) • Printing • Data Exchange between iPhone, iPad and Mac • Geocoding and map integration • Backup and Import • Passcode Lock (iOS only) • iPhone, iPad, Mac • Languages: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms and Conditions: https://www.jo-tools.ch/expense-tool/terms_and_conditions.html Privacy Policy: https://www.jo-tools.ch/expense-tool/privacy_policy.html Support / FAQ: https://www.jo-tools.ch/expense-tool/

About

Spend Pulse

Features
Read full description

Your money, in real time. Spend Pulse is the privacy-first money tracker for people who want real clarity — not another app begging for your bank password. No linking. No data selling. Just a fast, beautiful way to see exactly where your money goes. NO BANK LINKING — EVER Your security is guaranteed because we never touch your bank. Nothing to re-authenticate every week, nothing to leak. You log what matters in seconds, and your data stays yours. WHY MANUAL TRACKING WINS Automation makes you passive. Spend Pulse makes you aware. Logging with our quick-entry keypad — or scanning a receipt — builds a mindful-spending habit that auto-import apps can't teach. KEY FEATURES Fast, focused entry A dedicated amount keypad, smart category and merchant suggestions, and one-tap income or expense logging. Receipt scanning built in Snap a receipt and let on-device text recognition pull the amount, merchant, and date automatically — then search your receipts later. Insights that actually explain A clean analytics hub with Overview, Spending, Income, and Assets — cash-flow trends, top categories and merchants, budget health, income sources, net worth, and debt payoff, all with clear value labels. AI Analyst Get a holistic read on your income, spending, debt, and savings — in plain language, not just charts. Prefer to go fully manual? Turn it off anytime in Settings. Made for couples & households Track shared bills without merging bank accounts. Instant sync across devices, see who paid for what, and keep personal spending private within a shared group. Budgets that match your payday Don't get paid on the 1st? Set your budget cycle to reset on your actual payday, so your numbers match real life. Everything in one place Accounts, monthly budgets, custom categories, recurring bills, one-time and recurring income, debt payoff, and savings/investment goals — plus Financial Goals like an emergency fund, net-worth target, and debt-free date. Travel ready Built-in multi-currency support so you can spend abroad and track at home. Privacy Mode Blur every amount with one tap for glances in public. Native iOS design Full dark mode, fluid animations, and haptics that feel right at home on iPhone. OUR PRIVACY PROMISE We access no banks. We sell no data. We're funded by people like you — not advertisers. Take back control of your financial life. Download Spend Pulse and start your 1-Month Free Trial. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Expense Tool4 screens
Spend Pulse4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Expense Tool at 4 against Spend Pulse's 2. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Expense Tool sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 3 months and Spend Pulse sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Expense Tool versus Spend Pulse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExpense ToolSpend Pulse
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.5 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJuerg OtterROHAN ROY

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Expense Tool

Subscriptions4
  • Plus Quarterly$0.993 Months
  • Pro Quarterly14 Days trial$1.993 Months
  • Plus Yearly$2.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro Yearly14 Days trial$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro (Lifetime)$19.99
2 purchases

Spend Pulse

Subscriptions2
  • SpendPulse Pro Monthly1 Month trial$4.991 Month
  • SpendPulse Pro Yearly1 Month trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Expense Tool free?
Expense Tool is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Spend Pulse free?
Spend Pulse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Expense Tool or Spend Pulse have ads?
Neither Expense Tool nor Spend Pulse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Expense Tool or Spend Pulse?
Expense Tool ships an update every 3 weeks, and Spend Pulse every 3 weeks. Most recently, Expense Tool was updated on October 13, 2026 and Spend Pulse on October 16, 2026.

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