DhowCSD vs Chara
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DhowCSD
Manage your Central Bank of Kenya investment account directly from your mobile device. Participate in securities auctions, view results, and access portfolio statements. Initiate secondary market and pledge instructions securely and efficiently.
- Open and manage investment accounts
- Participate in securities auctions
- View auction results and payment details
- Access corporate actions
- View portfolio statements
- Initiate secondary market instructions
- Initiate pledge instructions
Read full descriptionHide full description
Welcome to CBK DhowCSD. You can now open and manage a CSD investment account at the Central Bank of Kenya allowing you to participate in securities auctions, view auction results and payment details, view upcoming corporate actions, access updated portfolio statements and initiate secondary market and pledge instructions via the app in a convenient, simple, efficient and secure manner.
Chara
Read full descriptionHide full description
Split expenses with roommates, partners, and friends without the awkward math. Chara is a private, open-source bill splitter that's free forever. No ads, no subscriptions, no paywalled features. Add an expense, pick who's in, and Chara handles the math. See who owes who at a glance. Settle up when you're ready. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Create groups for roommates, trips, couples, or one-off events • Split equally, unequally, by percentage, or by shares • Snap a receipt and pull out the line items automatically • Track balances per currency, with no sketchy auto-conversion • Settle up with a tap and keep a clean history • Get notified when someone adds an expense or pays you back PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No trackers. No ad SDKs. No third-party analytics. Your group's expenses are visible to your group, and nobody else. SELF-HOST IT Chara is open source. Run it on your own server if you want. The app talks to your server the same way it talks to ours. Keep accounts on multiple servers at once and see everything in one place. FREE, FOREVER The core app is free. No subscription. No paywalled features. Chara is what bill-splitting should have been all along.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Chara at every 3 days against DhowCSD's every 3 months. 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
DhowCSD ships an update every 3 months, Chara every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on June 11, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DhowCSD | Chara |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (7 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Central Bank of Kenya | Lucas Dow |
In-app purchases
DhowCSD
No in-app purchases
Chara
No in-app purchases









