Comparison

Balance Guide Lite vs Balance My Checkbook

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

Head to head
About

Balance Guide Lite

Easily manage your finances and plan your budget. This app helps you track your account balance, upcoming bills, and spending habits. It offers forecasting for future finances and allows for quick correction of your balance without needing to enter every transaction.

Highlights
  • Dark mode
  • Recurring transaction setup
  • Financial forecasting
  • Pie charts and graphs
  • Customizable categories
  • PIN security
Features
Read full description

HOW MUCH MONEY WILL YOU SAVE ? A guide to your account balance, simple to use and not aimed at accountants. Makes it easy to plan a budget and see the status of your account with upcoming bills and see where your money is going. With Balance Guide you can quickly setup your recurring bills and deposits and produce a forecast of your finances for the months ahead. Later, you don't have to worry about entering all your transactions from your bank statement with the added bonus that you can easily correct your balance at any time. FEATURES - Dark mode - NEW - Multiple Accounts, transfer between account (ONLY AVAILABLE ONCE UPGRADED) - Setup recurring transactions for forecasting - Forecast calendar (ONLY AVAILABLE ONCE UPGRADED) - Now includes optimisation for iPhone X, XR and XS Max. - Clear / light colour scheme - All accounts summary information (not available for iPhone 4s / ONLY AVAILABLE ONCE UPGRADED) - Pie charts / graphs to show your financial status - Backup / Restore with Dropbox (ONLY AVAILABLE ONCE UPGRADED) - Simple customisable of categories to group your transactions e.g. "Utility Bills" - Tutorial / walk through showing you how to get started - Help pages, if you need to read about functionality in more depth - Correct balance at any time, so you don't need to enter all your transactions - PIN security, to protect your information from prying eyes REVIEWS This App is so good! ***** Really easy to use, looked at loads of others, but this has all you need. Your income v outgoings and lets you know where you stand on a monthly basis! I will and do recommend! Great App. Excellent tool ! ***** I have been looking for a handy app to organise my finances for ages. This is simple to use & very helpful when planning ahead. Would highly recommend Checkout our Demo video - http://youtu.be/3NrxZE_yFag SUPPORT Balance Guide uses the default currency set on your device, so there’s no complicated setup / installation. If you need help there are several methods available. Firstly, the tutorial, which is a kind of walkthrough. There’s also helps pages, providing in depth information. How to ask questions and contact us - - Use the contact form via my website, I'm happy to help. - Follow the app on twitter http://twitter.com/BalanceGuideApp - Like the app on facebook https://www.facebook.com/balanceguideapp NOTE: I'm unable to respond to bug reports left in reviews. Each new version wipes out all old reviews so please take the time to leave a review for the new version. As it’s not possible to reply to reviews on the app store, please use the new feedback features to tell us what you think. You can also join our beta programme and gain access to new features early.

About

Balance My Checkbook

Easily track your income and expenses to maintain an accurate account balance. Features include auto-complete, recurring transactions, and data syncing for multiple users. Avoid overdrafts and stay on top of your finances with this intuitive check register.

Highlights
  • Auto-complete transactions
  • Schedule recurring transactions
  • Sync data between users and devices
  • Track cleared transactions
  • Export data and balance
  • Customizable transaction types
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Don’t let overdraft fees or pending transactions catch you by surprise - always know exactly what your account balance is with Balance My Checkbook! All you have to do is enter your expenses and income and let the app do the rest. Save Time: Auto complete transactions Powerful Search to find transactions instantly Easy scheduling for recurring transactions Stay Up To Date: Track which transactions have cleared Sync between other users and devices "Sync for 4 Users" is an auto-renewing monthly subscription more details below * Export your data and balance Easy to Use and Customizable: Get started in a minute Create your own transaction types Fast Support is just a tap away * The "Sync for 4 Users" subscription auto-renews monthly. The subscription includes a month of access to: • Data Sync • Store up to 10 years of transactions • Priority Support It also includes access to all premium features: • Unlimited Accounts • Recurring Transactions • Lock Screen • Transaction Search • Transaction Filter • Export Data • No Ads ** Terms and Conditions for Auto-renewing subscriptions • Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period • Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable Terms and Conditions for App: http://lingsdesigns.com/balancecheck/terms.html *** This version is ad supported but ads can be removed with an in app purchase.

Screenshots

Balance Guide Lite4 screens
Balance My Checkbook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Balance My Checkbook at 4.7 against Balance Guide Lite's 4.2. Balance My Checkbook also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (5.2K vs 12). Balance Guide Lite's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (88% vs 73%). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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. Balance Guide Lite sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Balance My Checkbook sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Balance My Checkbook holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Balance My Checkbook has 5.2K ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 88% of Balance Guide Lite's written reviews are positive against 73% of Balance My Checkbook's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Balance Guide Lite ships an update every 5 months, Balance My Checkbook every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Balance Guide Lite versus Balance My Checkbook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBalance Guide LiteBalance My Checkbook
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (12 ratings)4.7 (5.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.2% of reviews — better73.2% of reviews
Number of ratings125.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#102 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB23 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperMindwarp Consultancy LtdLingsDesigns

Customer experience

Balance Guide Lite

All ratings12 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral25.0%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive88.2%
Neutral11.8%
Negative0.0%

Balance My Checkbook

All ratings4,985 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral3.1%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews164 reviews
Positive73.2%
Neutral7.9%
Negative18.9%

Bugs and requests

Balance Guide Lite

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Balance My Checkbook

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Calendar not working properly after recent update
  • Recurring transactions not updating correctly
  • Incorrect balance displayed after deleting entries
  • App crashing when entering new transactions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to transfer funds between accounts in one step
  • Automatic backup and data recovery options
  • Landscape mode support for tablets
  • More flexible recurring transaction scheduling
  • Improved search and sorting functionality

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Balance Guide Lite

One-time1
  • No Ads, Multiple Accounts + Dropbox backup$2.99
5 purchases

Balance My Checkbook

Subscriptions5
  • Premium, 1 device14 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Premium with Backup, 1 device14 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Premium with Sync, 4 devices14 Days trial$4.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Premium with Backup, 1 device14 Days trial$22.991 Year
  • Premium with Sync, 4 devices14 Days trial$57.991 Year

Questions

Is Balance Guide Lite free?
Balance Guide Lite is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Balance My Checkbook free?
Balance My Checkbook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Balance Guide Lite or Balance My Checkbook?
Balance My Checkbook is rated higher. Balance Guide Lite averages 4.2 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while Balance My Checkbook averages 4.7 from 5.2K ratings.
Do Balance Guide Lite or Balance My Checkbook have ads?
Balance My Checkbook shows ads; Balance Guide Lite does not.
Which is updated more often, Balance Guide Lite or Balance My Checkbook?
Balance Guide Lite ships an update every 5 months, and Balance My Checkbook every 3 weeks. Most recently, Balance Guide Lite was updated on November 1, 2026 and Balance My Checkbook on November 6, 2026.

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