Comparison

Spending Tracker vs The Checkbook

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

Head to head
About

Spending Tracker

Easily track your expenses and income to gain control over your finances. Set budgets, view spending summaries, and generate reports with interactive charts. Take the first step towards saving money by understanding where your money goes.

Highlights
  • Simple and intuitive interface
  • Flexible time period tracking (Weekly, Monthly, Yearly)
  • Budget mode with carry-over
  • Summary view of spending progress
  • Log expenses and income
  • Editable spending and income categories
  • Interactive charts and reports
Features
Read full description

Spending Tracker is the easiest and most user friendly Personal Finance App in the store. And best of all, it's free! The simple fact is, by tracking your spending you will be able to stick to a budget and therefore SAVE MONEY. So give it a try and have instant control over your spending! *** Features *** ------------------ √ Simple and intuitive user interface - helps you track your spending quickly and easily √ Flexible Time Periods - choose to track Weekly, Monthly or Yearly √ Budget Mode - optionally set a fixed budget amount to help you meet your spending targets - carry over any remaining budget to the next period √ Summary View - overview of your current spending progress - time travel backwards and forwards in time - see your main areas of spending √ Log Expense and Income - easy and quick transaction entry - sort by date, name or amount - repeat transactions daily, weekly or monthly (Pro Upgrade required) - export transactions (Pro Upgrade required) √ Categories - editable spending and income categories - choose a quality icon for each category √ Reports - easy visualisation of where your money goes - beautiful and interactive charts - view spending grouped by category - see the history of your spending

About

The Checkbook

Manage your finances on the go with this transaction tracker. Easily record income and expenses, schedule upcoming bills, and reconcile with your bank statements for accurate balance tracking. Offers multiple accounts, customizable themes, and secure access.

Highlights
  • Real-time transaction tracking
  • Upcoming bill and deposit scheduling
  • Bank account reconciliation
  • Multiple account management
  • Customizable color themes
  • Transaction search and filtering
  • Recurring transaction setup
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Finance At Your Fingertips Track your financial transactions on-the-go in real time. Enter upcoming bill payments and deposits to see how your account balance will change. Reconcile each transaction against your bank account to balance your checkbook and ensure accuracy to the penny. * No ads. * Quick entry screen for new transactions to keep up with spending while you're on the move. * Create a new transaction in seconds with type ahead feature for common transactions. * Manage transactions in multiple accounts. * Customize color theme for each account. * Search for transactions. * Toggle visibility of reconciled transactions to see what hasn't cleared your bank account yet. * Set up recurring transactions. * Transfer money between accounts. * Basic reporting to view spending or income by category and daily spending. * Export transactions to CSV file. * Enable Face ID / Touch ID to secure access to your financial data. * Turn on iCloud Drive data storage to sync transactions across multiple devices. * Share every new transaction with a joint account owner via email or Shared Storage (subscription required) to keep app in sync for different users. Privacy Note: The developer does not collect any data from this app for the default local device or iCloud storage options. The developer only securely stores data for the Shared Storage option (subscription required) for the purpose of sharing and syncing the data with your invited users. See Privacy Policy for more details.

Screenshots

Spending Tracker4 screens
The Checkbook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Spending Tracker at Free against The Checkbook's $4.99. Spending Tracker also leads on review sentiment (95% vs 76%) and ratings volume (19K vs 970). The Checkbook's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On rating, in-app purchases 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

Spending Tracker is free to download; The Checkbook costs $4.99 up front. Spending Tracker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and The Checkbook sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Spending Tracker against 4.8 for The Checkbook. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spending Tracker has 19K ratings behind it against 970, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 95% of Spending Tracker's written reviews are positive against 76% of The Checkbook's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spending Tracker ships an update every 2 months, The Checkbook fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Spending Tracker versus The Checkbook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpending TrackerThe Checkbook
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.8 (19K ratings)4.8 (970 ratings)
Positive reviews94.6% of reviews — better75.9% of reviews
Number of ratings19K — better970
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank—#38 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.5 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMH Riley LtdFour One Four 213, LLC

Customer experience

Spending Tracker

All ratings19,361 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.9%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews2,902 reviews
Positive94.6%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.9%

The Checkbook

All ratings970 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral2.0%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews108 reviews
Positive75.9%
Neutral9.3%
Negative14.8%

User reviews

Spending Tracker

From 19K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 📊 Helpful reports and charts
  • 💰 One-time fee for premium features
  • 🔁 Recurring transactions
  • 🗂️ Multiple accounts and categories

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional syncing issues
  • 🔢 Lack of fortnightly budget option
  • 🗂️ Difficulty deleting unused categories
  • 💰 Paid upgrade required for some features
  • 📈 Limited budget tracking within categories

The Checkbook

From 970 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Easy to use
  • 🔍 Helps track finances
  • 📱 Convenient mobile app
  • 🧮 Simple check register
  • 🔒 Secure with Face ID

Room to improve

  • 🔢 Limited account name length
  • 🔍 Difficult to view past transactions
  • 🔢 No custom currency options
  • 🐛 Data loss issues
  • 🚫 No iPad-optimized layout

Bugs and requests

Spending Tracker

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Transactions sometimes entered in wrong order
  • Backup and restore functionality not always reliable

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to split transactions into multiple categories
  • Incorporate currency conversion and exchange rates
  • Allow family/shared account access and updates
  • Implement a 'Debt' category to track loan payments
  • Add option to take photos of receipts and attach to transactions

The Checkbook

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Data loss and sync issues
  • Incorrect transaction display
  • Recurring transactions not working as expected

Requested features

6 requests
  • 📊 Spending reports and analytics
  • 🔁 More recurring transaction options
  • 🖨️ Check printing capability
  • 🔀 Ability to split transactions
  • 🔄 Easier transaction editing/deletion
Show 1 more
  • 🔒 Backup and restore options

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Spending Tracker

One-time1
  • Pro Upgrade$2.99
2 purchases

The Checkbook

Subscriptions2
  • Shared Storage - Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Shared Storage - Annual7 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Spending Tracker free?
Spending Tracker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is The Checkbook free?
The Checkbook costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Spending Tracker or The Checkbook?
Spending Tracker and The Checkbook are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 19K and 970 ratings respectively.
Do Spending Tracker or The Checkbook have ads?
Spending Tracker shows ads; The Checkbook does not.
Which is updated more often, Spending Tracker or The Checkbook?
Spending Tracker ships an update every 2 months, and The Checkbook fortnightly. Most recently, Spending Tracker was updated on September 24, 2026 and The Checkbook on September 24, 2026.

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