Expense Keep vs PocketGuard
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!
PocketGuard
This app simplifies personal finance by automatically tracking expenses and bills. It helps you understand your disposable income, analyze spending habits, and manage subscriptions to save money. Set financial goals and create debt-payoff plans with smart algorithms.
- Automatic expense tracking
- Bill and subscription monitoring
- Disposable income calculation
- Spending habit analysis
- Financial goal setting
- Debt-payoff plan creation
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PocketGuard is an award-winning Budget App, Spending Tracker & Money Manager trusted by 1.7M+ users. Plan your budget, track expenses, manage bills, and know what’s safe to spend. RECOGNIZED AMONG THE BEST BUDGET APPS OF 2026 • Forbes Advisor — Best for Managing Recurring Expenses • Kiplinger — Best for Debt Management • NerdWallet — Featured among The Best Budget Apps for 2026 • Experian & Investopedia — Featured among the Best Budgeting Apps of 2026 “PocketGuard is the best budgeting app for tracking spending. PocketGuard makes it easy for users to analyze their spending habits through custom reports and allows them to create a fully customized budget and a personalized debt payoff schedule.”— Forbes Always Know What's in Your Pocket • Track all your income and expenses • Safe-to-spend amount after bills, goals, and essentials • How much you can safely contribute, save, invest Budgeting Features • Custom categories • Budget limits • Overspending prevention • Rollover budgets • Spending Prediction Spending Pace — Predict Your Spending Spending Pace analyzes your spending habits to predict whether you’ll stay on budget before the month ends. Choose your budgeting method • Zero-based budgeting • Envelope budgeting • 50/30/20 budget rule • Build your own custom budgeting system. Smart Transaction Rules — Automatic Expense Categorization • Detect merchant names, keywords, amounts, categories, and accounts • Rename merchants, fix categories, and add hashtags for tracking • Apply rules to every new transaction Spending Insight & Monthly Budget Review • Visual spending reports • Categories, budgets, bills and merchant breakdowns • Month-to-month budget • Spending trend analysis Bills organizer and Subscription manager Connect your bank and PocketGuard automatically identifies bills, subscriptions, and recurring payments. • Never miss a due date • Spot and cancel forgotten subscriptions • Lower bills using a built-in bill negotiation service Build Your Debt-Payoff Plan PocketGuard builds a personalized debt payoff plan based on your balances and repayment strategy, helping you reduce interest costs, see your debt-free date, and track every payment along the way. Bank-Level Security Your data is protected with 256-bit SSL encryption, biometric login (Touch ID & Face ID), PIN codes, and industry-standard privacy practices. FAQ You need a budget to track every dollar? PocketGuard connects to your bank accounts via secure data connectors (Plaid, Finicity, Salt Edge, Apple Wallet), automatically categorizes transactions, identifies bills and subscriptions, and calculates leftover which you can contribute to any budgeting category or spend guilt-free, setup a goal, save or invest. Which budgeting methods are supported? PocketGuard is a category budgeting but the app lets you budget your way. Use zero-based budgeting, envelope budgeting, the 50/30/20 rule, or create your own custom budget — without being locked into one budgeting method. Who is PocketGuard best for? Anyone who wants to plan a budget, track spending, stop overspending, pay off debt, manage subscriptions or build savings. Is it safe to connect my bank? Yes. PocketGuard uses 256-bit SSL encryption, biometric login, PIN protection, and MFA. Your credentials are never stored — read-only access only. Which countries and banks are supported? PocketGuard Budget App connects to financial institutions in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Can I use PocketGuard without connecting to a bank? Yes. You can add transactions manually or manage cash accounts. PocketGuard Plus Subscription Start a 7-day free trial and choose a plan: Monthly — $12.99 Annual — $74.99. Prices may vary by region. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before renewal. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited once a subscription is purchased. Privacy Policy: https://pocketguard.com/privacy/. Terms of Use: https://pocketguard.com/terms/.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Expense Keep at 77% against PocketGuard's 39%. Expense Keep also leads on ads (none vs shown). PocketGuard's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.4) and chart position (#66 vs unranked). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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 PocketGuard sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PocketGuard holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.7K and 7.7K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 77% of Expense Keep's written reviews are positive against 39% of PocketGuard's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Expense Keep ships an update every 6 weeks, PocketGuard every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Expense Keep | PocketGuard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (1.7K ratings) | 4.6 (7.7K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.5% of reviews — better | 38.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.7K | 7.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #66 — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 167 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tayson Nguyen | PocketGuard, Inc. |
Customer experience
Expense Keep
PocketGuard
User reviews
Expense Keep
From 1.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💻 Simple and intuitive interface
- 📊 Helpful expense tracking and visualization
- 🔁 Recurring expense and income management
- 🧠 Useful for budgeting and financial awareness
- 💰 Good value for the paid version
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bugs and crashes after recent updates
- 🔒 Lack of cloud backup and data sync
- 📄 Limited export and reporting options
- 🔧 Inability to edit expense categories
- 💸 Some features locked behind paywall
PocketGuard
From 7.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Efficient app that helps track spending
- 👍 Customizable budgeting categories
- 🚀 Real-time transaction updates
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- 🚀 Helpful for getting finances under control
Room to improve
- 🐛 Recurring issues with bank account syncing
- 🔒 Security concerns with 2FA/MFA requirements
- 🚫 Lack of support for certain banks/credit cards
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🐛 Buggy app performance and frequent crashes
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
PocketGuard
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inconsistent transaction syncing and labeling
- Inability to delete or manage connected accounts
- Budgeting data disappearing or not updating properly
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to carry over unspent budget to next month
- More advanced reporting and analytics
- Light/dark mode theme options
- Improved transaction categorization and learning
- Support for multiple users/family budgeting
In-app purchases
Expense Keep
- Expense Keep Pro$19.99
PocketGuard
- Weekly offer with 7 day trial7 Days trial$2.997 Days
- PocketGuard Plus3 variants$4.991 Month
- Monthly subscription$4.991 Month
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Monthly subscription$7.991 Month
- Monthly Subscriptions7 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription$12.991 Month
- PocketGuard Plus$34.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$74.991 Year









