Spending Tracker vs Build a Budget
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
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.
- Manual income and expense logging
- Customizable categories
- Recurring transaction scheduling
- Apple Shortcuts automation
- Quick transaction entry
Read full descriptionHide 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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Spending Tracker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Build a Budget asks for nothing beyond the download.
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.
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.
| Parameter | Spending Tracker | Build a Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (19K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 94.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 19K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 — better | 26.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MH Riley Ltd | ALEXANDER KALMAN DUNN |
Customer experience
Spending Tracker
Build a Budget
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
Spending Tracker
- Pro Upgrade$2.99
Build a Budget
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Spending Tracker free?
Is Build a Budget free?
Which has better reviews, Spending Tracker or Build a Budget?
Do Spending Tracker or Build a Budget have ads?
Which is updated more often, Spending Tracker or Build a Budget?
Other comparisons















