Comparison

Expense Keep vs Trace

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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!

About

Trace

This app helps you manage your daily spending to achieve monthly financial goals. It offers a simple way to create budgets, track expenses, and understand your available spending money each day. Focus on today's habits to build effective personal finance.

Highlights
  • Daily spending tracking
  • Monthly financial goal setting
  • Simple budget creation
  • Expense and income tracking
  • Automatic transaction clearing
Features
Read full description

Trace helps you understand your money—not manage a budget. Instead of asking you to categorize every purchase or stay within spending limits, Trace automatically analyzes your financial activity and reveals the story behind your money. Securely connect your accounts to see income, spending, balances, recurring payments, and financial trends in one beautifully designed experience. Every transaction includes context, every trend has a comparison, and every month tells a clearer story. Built for professionals who value precision over spreadsheets and insights over notifications, Trace surfaces the information that actually matters. Features Financial Intelligence See where your money is going without creating budgets Compare spending month-over-month Understand what changed and why Identify meaningful financial trends automatically Complete Account Overview View all connected accounts in one place Monitor balances across institutions Track cash flow over time Secure bank connectivity powered by Plaid Transaction Transparency Rich transaction details on every purchase Merchant information and categorized spending Compare transactions against previous periods Instantly understand spending patterns Recurring Income & Expenses Automatically detect subscriptions and recurring payments Track recurring income Monitor upcoming financial commitments Spot changes in recurring charges Smart Notifications Stay informed about important account activity Receive meaningful financial insights—not noise Get notified when spending trends shift Surface unusual changes automatically Designed for Clarity Trace isn't about telling you to spend less. It's about giving you complete visibility into your finances so every dollar has context. Know where your money went. Understand what's changing. Make decisions with confidence. Please see below for our user agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Expense Keep4 screens
Trace4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Expense Keep at 1.7K against Trace's 18. Trace's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Expense Keep sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Trace sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 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 — 4.4 for Expense Keep against 4.4 for Trace. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Expense Keep has 1.7K ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of Expense Keep's written reviews are positive against 83% of Trace's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Expense Keep ships an update every 6 weeks, Trace every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Expense Keep versus Trace: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExpense KeepTrace
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (1.7K ratings)4.4 (18 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.5% of reviews83.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.7K — better18
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTayson NguyenStackchief LLC

Customer experience

Expense Keep

All ratings1,685 ratings
Positive87.7%
Neutral5.8%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews364 reviews
Positive77.5%
Neutral8.5%
Negative14.0%

Trace

All ratings18 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral5.6%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral5.6%
Negative11.1%

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

Trace

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Expense Keep

One-time1
  • Expense Keep Pro$19.99
2 purchases

Trace

Subscriptions2
  • Daily Budget Pro14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Trace - Money Tracking14 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Expense Keep free?
Expense Keep is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Trace free?
Trace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Expense Keep or Trace?
Trace is rated higher. Expense Keep averages 4.4 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Trace averages 4.4 from 18 ratings.
Do Expense Keep or Trace have ads?
Neither Expense Keep nor Trace shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Expense Keep or Trace?
Expense Keep ships an update every 6 weeks, and Trace every 2 weeks. Most recently, Expense Keep was updated on October 22, 2026 and Trace on October 26, 2026.

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