Spending Tracker vs Balance My Checkbook
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
Read full descriptionHide 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
Balance My Checkbook
Easily track your checks and balance your checkbook digitally. This app replaces your paper register with a simple interface, eliminating the need for manual calculations and ensuring you never forget your records.
- Digital checkbook register
- Fast transaction entry
- Auto-complete transactions
- Schedule recurring transactions
- Track cleared transactions
- Transaction search and filtering
- Data export with balance
Read full descriptionHide full description
DO NOT BUY. This is a legacy version of the app. Please buy "Balance My Checkbook" instead. Now it's easier than ever to track your checks and balance your checkbook. Balance My Checkbook replaces your paper checkbook register with a simple and easy to use interface on your phone. Never forget your checkbook register or have to do math again! Features include - iPhone X ready - iOS 11 ready - Simple interface - Sync data with other users and devices *Coming soon* - Fast entry - Auto complete transactions - Schedule recurring transactions (weekly, biweekly, and monthly) - Track which transactions have cleared - Fast support is just one click away - Create your own transaction types - Lock screen - Transaction search - Filter transactions by cleared or uncleared status - Data export with balance - Account totals * The "Sync for 4 Users" purchase is a auto-renewing monthly subscription. The subscription includes a month of access to: • Data sync between devices/users • Store up to 10 years of transactions • Priority Support ** 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
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Spending Tracker at Free against Balance My Checkbook's $119.99. Spending Tracker also leads on ratings volume (20K vs 29) and review sentiment (95% vs 79%). Balance My Checkbook's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On rating, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Spending Tracker is free to download; Balance My Checkbook costs $119.99 up front. Spending Tracker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Balance My Checkbook sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Spending Tracker against 4.8 for Balance My Checkbook. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spending Tracker has 20K ratings behind it against 29, 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 79% of Balance My Checkbook's.
Spending Tracker ships an update every 2 months, Balance My Checkbook every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Spending Tracker | Balance My Checkbook |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $119.99 |
| Rating | 4.8 (20K ratings) — better | 4.8 (29 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 94.5% of reviews — better | 79.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 20K — better | 29 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #142 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MH Riley Ltd | LingsDesigns |
Customer experience
Spending Tracker
Balance My Checkbook
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
Balance My Checkbook
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Spending Tracker
- Pro Upgrade$2.99
Balance My Checkbook
- Sync for 4 Users$4.991 Month
Questions
Is Spending Tracker free?
Is Balance My Checkbook free?
Which has better reviews, Spending Tracker or Balance My Checkbook?
Do Spending Tracker or Balance My Checkbook have ads?
Which is updated more often, Spending Tracker or Balance My Checkbook?
Other comparisons















