Comparison

Spending vs Checkbook Register & Ledger

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

Head to head
About

Spending

Easily track your daily and monthly expenses by category. This app helps you understand where your money goes, focusing on small, frequent purchases that can add up. Visualize your spending with graphs and manage multiple budgets for different needs.

Highlights
  • Track spending by category
  • View daily, weekly, and monthly expenditure
  • Spending breakdown graphs
  • Customizable categories
  • Multiple budget management
  • Daily spending limits
Features
Read full description

Ever wondered how a week before pay day your bank account and wallet seem pretty much empty? 'Spending' helps you quickly and easily track what you spend and where you spend it, so those pay day blues might become a thing of the past! Most people know when their utility bills or rental payments leave their account. The thing that makes people go overdrawn, or spend more than they realise, are the little payments; the coffee in a morning, the sandwich at lunch, or the drinks after work. Very quickly these payments mount up, and your wallet seems empty more often than it seems full! Unlike many budget management applications, Spending doesn't want to know which store you were at, which card or account you used, or a host of other things. All Spending wants to know is the category you think the payment relates to, and how much you spent. Using this information, it can tell you that all important information - how much you've spent today and so far this month, enabling you to keep a tighter grip on your financial outgoings. Spending has the following features… - Quickly track the amount you've spent on different categories of expenditure. - See at a glance your expenditure for today, the last 7 days, or the current month. - Graphs that show a breakdown of your spending by category, or date. - Create new categories, and change the order of existing ones. - Have several budgets, e.g. for trips abroad. You can override the currency used for a budget too. - Set a budget amount that applies to each month, but override it for specific months when you know you can spend more, or must spend less. - Quickly see how much money you have left for the current month, and how much you can spend each day.

About

Checkbook Register & Ledger

Track your income and expenses with this simple, ad-free app. Gain clarity on your spending habits, manage your household budget, and easily record transactions. It provides a clear overview of where your money goes, helping you make informed financial decisions.

Highlights
  • Record income and expenses
  • Track amounts easily
  • Memorize travel expenses
  • Keep a cash book
  • Budget mode overview
  • Quick transaction entry
Features
Read full description

Get more clarity about your money: Expenses shows you your monthly expenses clearly arranged. You can see at a glance where your money is going and increase your awareness of your income and expenses. Without ads because ads are annoying! Get the easiest financial overview and look forward to many more great features. You have an idea for the further development? Write to me and join the development of the simplest and clearest finance app! ‣ Record income and expenses of your household budget ‣ Count your money by easily tracking amounts ‣ Memorize travel expenses quickly and easily and get an overview ‣ Keep a cash book and replace paperwork ‣ Find out quickly when you spent how much money and on what A single tap takes you to the entry of your last expense. Enter the amount, assign a category and optionally enter a short note - done. Expenses helps you quickly capture all those little cash expenses that you might otherwise miss. In budget mode, you can see your remaining budget per year, month and category at a glance. Income and expenses are added up to your total budget and you can see early on whether you need to be a little more careful or can afford something great. Expenses is reduced to the essentials. No frills, no advertising. Finally, a simple, clear and concise expense and budget tracker.

Screenshots

Spending4 screens
Checkbook Register & Ledger4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Checkbook Register & Ledger at 4.8 against Spending's 3.6. Checkbook Register & Ledger also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 18 months) and ratings volume (134 vs 7). Spending's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 26) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.4). On price, ads and device support 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. Checkbook Register & Ledger sells 21 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Spending asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Checkbook Register & Ledger holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Checkbook Register & Ledger has 134 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Spending's written reviews are positive against 98% of Checkbook Register & Ledger's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spending ships an update every 18 months, Checkbook Register & Ledger every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Spending versus Checkbook Register & Ledger: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpendingCheckbook Register & Ledger
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (7 ratings)4.8 (134 ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews97.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7134 — better
Update frequencyEvery 18 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSteve HarrisTimo Stuebing

Customer experience

Spending

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%

Checkbook Register & Ledger

All ratings133 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews130 reviews
Positive97.7%
Neutral1.5%
Negative0.8%

In-app purchases

None

Spending

No in-app purchases

21 purchases

Checkbook Register & Ledger

Subscriptions10
  • Pro$4.991 Month
  • Pro$7.991 Month
  • Secret Discount for Pro$7.991 Year
Show 7 more
  • Pro$8.991 Month
  • Pro$9.991 Month
  • Secret Discount for Pro$12.991 Year
  • Secret Discount for Pro$17.991 Year
  • Pro7 Days trial2 variants$24.991 Year
  • Pro7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Pro7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time11
  • Pro (Lifetime)2 variantsFree
  • Pro (Lifetime)$4.99
  • Contribution level 1$5.99
Show 8 more
  • Pro (Lifetime)$7.99
  • Contribution level 2$8.99
  • Pro (Lifetime)$13.99
  • Contribution level 3$14.99
  • Contribution level 4$14.99
  • Contribution level 5$41.99
  • Pro (Lifetime)$69.99
  • Pro (Lifetime)$79.99

Questions

Is Spending free?
Spending is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Checkbook Register & Ledger free?
Checkbook Register & Ledger is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Spending or Checkbook Register & Ledger?
Checkbook Register & Ledger is rated higher. Spending averages 3.6 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while Checkbook Register & Ledger averages 4.8 from 134 ratings.
Do Spending or Checkbook Register & Ledger have ads?
Neither Spending nor Checkbook Register & Ledger shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spending or Checkbook Register & Ledger?
Spending ships an update every 18 months, and Checkbook Register & Ledger every 2 weeks. Most recently, Spending was updated on October 23, 2026 and Checkbook Register & Ledger on October 25, 2026.

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