Expense Keep vs Envelope Budget
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Expense Keep
This app offers a simple and fast way to track expenses and income, helping users manage their finances and save money. It allows for organizing funds into separate accounts or spending envelopes, with features for recurring transactions and detailed monthly history.
- Track expenses and income
- Organize money into accounts/envelopes
- Set up recurring transactions
- View monthly history and cash flow
- Create custom expense categories
- Transfer money between accounts
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Expense Keep is the simplest and quickest way to track your expenses. It will save you money and improve your financial health. Expense Keep has been downloaded over 500,000 times and ranked top 5 Finance app in 33 countries. "This is exactly what I was looking for. It has cut my spending tremendously. Couldn't be happier with this app." "I have never rated an app before but I feel so strongly about this app that I knew I had to share with everyone how great it is!" "All I wanted was a sole app to track multiple accounts. This does it. I love it and have deleted all of my other expense tracking apps." "This app is the only budget app that I could find which works well with a zero-based budget." "This is the best budget envelope app available. So beautifully designed and simple to use. Includes recurring transactions and transfers between envelopes." "This app is awesome! Super easy to use without requiring so much personal info like other apps (Mint)." "Finally an expenses tracking app that don't force you to connect every single bank account you have. This app is for those, like me, that like to keep their info as private as possible." "This app is helping me feel in much more control of my finances." "This app is fantastic. Don't know how i ever managed without it." "Awesome app. Easy to use. Quick to set up and quick to input transactions." "Have tried a number of apps to track expenses, and this one has everything I've been looking for." Expense Keep is a personal finance app built to be fast and designed to be flexible yet simple to use. Organize your money into separate accounts and track your expenses and incomes. Accounts can be used to track your bank account balances or as "envelopes" for your different spending groups. FEATURES: Accounts + Add/Edit/Delete accounts. + Set starting balance. + Organize your money into separate accounts. + View current balance of each account. Expenses and Incomes + Add/Edit/Delete entries for expenses and incomes. + Create custom expense categories. + Assign expenses/incomes to an account. + Set a date and note for each entry. + Select a category for expenses. Transfers + Add/Edit/Delete transfers. + Transfer money from one account to another. + Helps you stay on budget when you overspend in one account. Recurring Entries + Add/Edit/Delete recurring entries that get automatically entered. + Setup recurring expenses/incomes/transfers for each account. + Set repeat cycles of daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly and more. + Set a start date and end date for recurring expenses. + Or set recurring expenses to be ongoing with no end date. Monthly History + View all entries for current month. + Go back and see previous months' entries. + Go to future months and add entries ahead of time. Cash Flow + See how much you earned/spent for the month. + Cash flow bar chart helps you spend less than you earn. Expense Chart + Pie chart shows your expenses broken down into categories. + See where all your money is going. + Filter pie chart to show only the accounts you select. Report + CSV export Security + Passcode lock feature More features coming soon! Have questions, requests, or feedback? Send them to info@expensekeep.com If you enjoy using Expense Keep or found the app useful, please consider leaving a review. It helps us a lot. Thank you!
Envelope Budget
Effortlessly manage your finances with an envelope budgeting system. Link accounts, track spending, and fund categories with ease. Gain clarity on your financial standing with insightful reports and a user-friendly interface.
- Envelope budgeting system
- Unlimited spending categories
- Track expenses, income, debt, and bills
- Automatic bank syncing via Plaid
- Net worth tracking
- Spending trend reports
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Kualia makes envelope budgeting effortless. Whether you're just getting started or switching from another app, you can set up your budget, link your accounts, and start tracking spending in minutes. Every dollar gets a purpose. Fund your categories with a single tap, review imported transactions with a swipe, and always know exactly where you stand financially. =============== What Users Are Saying "For those familiar with an envelope budget, or zero-based budget, this app really nails it. For a fraction of the price of competitors, it offers pretty much the same functionality, it's being actively developed, and the developers are super friendly and really prioritize user feedback." "I've spent a long time and numerous app downloads to find a budget app that meets all my needs and this is the one! This app is so easy to use and covers every single aspect that I am looking for." =============== Why Kualia? Budget With Confidence Built around the envelope method, Kualia turns budgeting from a chore into a daily habit you can actually keep up with. Create unlimited categories to organize your spending Set weekly, monthly, or yearly targets for each category Track expenses, income, debt, and recurring bills in one place Fund your entire budget with a single tap Bank Syncing Through Plaid Link your accounts and let transactions flow in automatically. Connect to thousands of financial institutions Review and categorize imported transactions one by one Enter transactions manually whenever you prefer Reports That Actually Help See the full picture of your finances without digging through spreadsheets. Track your net worth over time View monthly spending trends and top categories Reports classify transactions as inflows or outflows based on their net effect Spending breakdowns across savings, checking, and credit accounts Designed to Be Fast Kualia is built for speed. Budgeting a full list of categories, reviewing transactions, swiping through your day -- it all feels snappy and responsive. No lag, no waiting. Built by an Indie Developer Kualia is built and maintained by a solo developer who reads every piece of feedback. This isn't a faceless corporation. If you have a question, you'll hear back from the person who actually builds the app. =============== Subscription Kualia runs on a simple subscription with no ads, ever. 7-day free trial to explore everything No free tier with locked features. Everyone gets the full app. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the billing cycle. Any unused portion of the free trial is forfeited upon subscribing. Take control of your money with Kualia. Terms of Use: https://kualia.com/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://kualia.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Expense Keep at free with in-app purchases against Envelope Budget's subscription. Expense Keep also leads on ratings volume (1.7K vs 47). Envelope Budget's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 6 weeks) and rating (4.6 vs 4.4). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Expense Keep sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Envelope Budget sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Envelope Budget holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Expense Keep has 1.7K ratings behind it against 47, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Expense Keep's written reviews are positive against 90% of Envelope Budget's.
Expense Keep ships an update every 6 weeks, Envelope Budget every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Expense Keep | Envelope Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (1.7K ratings) | 4.6 (47 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.5% of reviews | 89.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.7K — better | 47 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tayson Nguyen | Kualia, Inc. |
Customer experience
Expense Keep
Envelope Budget
Bugs and requests
Expense Keep
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes on launch after recent update
- Dark mode functionality is broken
- Recurring expense dates not updating correctly
- Unable to export data or send feedback in-app
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for multiple currencies
- Implement a monthly budgeting feature
- Allow customization of expense categories
- Improve data export and reporting options
- Integrate cloud backup and cross-device sync
Envelope Budget
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Expense Keep
- Expense Keep Pro$19.99
Envelope Budget
- Kualia Pro Month7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Kualia Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
- Kualia Pro Year7 Days trial$79.991 Year
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- Kualia Pro Year$79.991 Year
- Kualia Pro Lifetime$199.99
Questions
Is Expense Keep free?
Is Envelope Budget free?
Which has better reviews, Expense Keep or Envelope Budget?
Do Expense Keep or Envelope Budget have ads?
Which is updated more often, Expense Keep or Envelope Budget?
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