Comparison

Spending Tracker vs Build a Budget

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

Build a Budget

Manually log income and expenses with customizable categories and recurring transaction scheduling. Automate tracking with Apple Shortcuts for a faster financial overview.

Highlights
  • Manual income and expense logging
  • Customizable categories
  • Recurring transaction scheduling
  • Apple Shortcuts automation
  • Quick transaction entry
Features
Read full description

Track Everything, Your Way Log income and expenses manually in seconds. Add an amount, pick a category, jot a quick note, and you're done. Mark transactions as recurring - weekly, monthly, every 3 weeks, whatever fits your life - and Build a Budget keeps track of the schedule for you. Highly customizable categories and schedules makes tracking your expenses easy. Build automations using Apple Shortcuts to make the process even faster.

Screenshots

Spending Tracker4 screens
Build a Budget4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Build a Budget at none against Spending Tracker's 1. Build a Budget also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). Spending Tracker's advantage is ratings volume (19K vs 1) and device support (5 vs 1). On price 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. Spending Tracker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Build a Budget asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Build a Budget holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spending Tracker has 19K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spending Tracker ships an update every 2 months, Build a Budget weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Spending Tracker versus Build a Budget: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpending TrackerBuild a Budget
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (19K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews94.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings19K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.5 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMH Riley LtdALEXANDER KALMAN DUNN

Customer experience

Spending Tracker

All ratings19,361 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.9%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews2,950 reviews
Positive94.5%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.9%

Build a Budget

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Build a Budget

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Spending Tracker

One-time1
  • Pro Upgrade$2.99
None

Build a Budget

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Spending Tracker free?
Spending Tracker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Build a Budget free?
Build a Budget is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Spending Tracker or Build a Budget?
Build a Budget is rated higher. Spending Tracker averages 4.8 out of 5 from 19K ratings, while Build a Budget averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Spending Tracker or Build a Budget have ads?
Spending Tracker shows ads; Build a Budget does not.
Which is updated more often, Spending Tracker or Build a Budget?
Spending Tracker ships an update every 2 months, and Build a Budget weekly. Most recently, Spending Tracker was updated on October 31, 2026 and Build a Budget on October 9, 2026.

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