Paycheck Lite vs Phoenix Time & Expense
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Paycheck Lite
Easily calculate your net paycheck from gross pay or hourly wages, including overtime. This app estimates federal and state payroll taxes, deductions, and take-home pay. It's useful for budgeting, comparing pay across different states, and emailing pay details.
- Gross pay to net pay calculation
- Hourly wage calculation with overtime
- Federal and state tax estimation
- Deduction allowances consideration
- Compare net pay across states
- Email pay details
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Paycheck Lite computes your payroll check from a Gross payroll amount or calculates Hourly Wages, that may include overtime and double time. Paycheck Lite calculates net paycheck amount and applicable federal and state payroll taxes, such as federal withholding tax, social security, medicare, state withholding, state unemployment and state disability (where applicable). Paycheck Lite is an ideal tool for anyone looking to estimate net pay (take-home amount after taxes) in the state of employment. Use Paycheck Lite to calculate payroll check on a go and to compare net paychecks in 50 different states and US territories, especially if considering employment in a different state or a possible relocation. Paycheck details can be emailed to employee, employer, payroll service provider, spouse or anyone else. Use Paycheck Lite to estimate your net paycheck amount and budget your spending accordingly. Paycheck Lite mobile payroll app considers federal and state deduction allowances, current year to date wages paid, and federal and state filing statuses - details that affect accuracy of calculation. For professional payroll app and paycheck calculation consider upgrading to paid Payrollguru app, which allows for multiple employees payroll profiles, pre-tax and post-tax deductions, and displays a pie chart distribution of a gross paycheck. Paycheck Lite is available for iPhone, iPod and iPad. Thank you for using Paycheck Lite! If you enjoy using the app please review it, otherwise please send us your comments, suggestions and bug reports to support@payrollguru.mobi.
Phoenix Time & Expense
Streamline your business's time and expense tracking with an automated solution. Designed for enterprises with complex needs, this app enhances operational efficiency.
- Automated time collection
- Expense tracking
- Enterprise-focused
- Increased business efficiency
- Complex time requirement support
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Phoenix is a modern approach to the Time and Expense collection process. Designed specifically for enterprises with complex time requirements, Phoenix is an automated solution that can be leveraged to increase business efficiency.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Phoenix Time & Expense at 3.8 against Paycheck Lite's 2.5. Phoenix Time & Expense also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 8 months). Paycheck Lite's advantage is review sentiment (17% vs 0%) and ratings volume (162 vs 15). On price, in-app purchases, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Phoenix Time & Expense holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paycheck Lite has 162 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 17% of Paycheck Lite's written reviews are positive against 0% of Phoenix Time & Expense's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Paycheck Lite ships an update every 8 months, Phoenix Time & Expense every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Paycheck Lite | Phoenix Time & Expense |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (162 ratings) | 3.8 (15 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 16.9% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 162 — better | 15 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Payrollguru, Inc. | Phoenix Technology Systems, Inc. |
Customer experience
Paycheck Lite
Phoenix Time & Expense
Bugs and requests
Paycheck Lite
Reported bugs
16 issues- Connection error
- New York state tax not deducted (shows zero)
- App does not work with iOS 15
- Paid upgrade does not work
- Calculate button won't open/freezes
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- App freezes randomly for days
- App stopped working suddenly
- Keyboard issues on iPhone X
- Cannot scroll states on iOS 11
- Cannot update state or filing status without paying
- Freezes when changing state
- Pop-up ads take control of phone/play loud music
- Ads prevent selecting claiming status
- Cannot scroll down on drop-down boxes in settings
- Numeric keys not appearing to input numbers
- Net pay calculation is annualized, not per pay period
Requested features
7 requests- Update app for iOS 14/15/16
- Add custom deductions
- Optimize for iPad
- Fix state tax deduction issues
- Improve ad experience (less intrusive, fix closing)
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Allow selection of 'Tax Exempt' filing status
- Fix annualized net pay display
Phoenix Time & Expense
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Paycheck Lite
No in-app purchases
Phoenix Time & Expense
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Paycheck Lite free?
Is Phoenix Time & Expense free?
Which has better reviews, Paycheck Lite or Phoenix Time & Expense?
Do Paycheck Lite or Phoenix Time & Expense have ads?
Which is updated more often, Paycheck Lite or Phoenix Time & Expense?
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