Comparison

Expenso vs Waterfall

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

Head to head
About

Expenso

Features
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Expenso is a personal finance app that helps you understand your money and plan ahead, without a lot of setup or spreadsheets. It works fully offline with no account required, so your data stays on your device. Now with smart, on-device suggestions that learn from you โ€” logging is faster and your insights are sharper, all without your data ever leaving your phone. Whether you're trying to spend less, save more, or just stop wondering where the month went, Expenso keeps the whole picture in one place. TRACK YOUR SPENDING Log a purchase in a few seconds from any screen. As you type what you bought, Expenso suggests the category for you โ€” it learns from your own history and recognises common shops from the very first day, so most logs are just a tap to confirm (nothing is ever saved without you). Search your history by keyword, filter by category, and jump back to any past month. Buying something later this month? Add it with a future date and it counts toward your projected balance right away, then becomes a regular transaction on the day it happens. SMARTER, AND STILL PRIVATE Expenso includes on-device intelligence that learns only from your own history โ€” no account, no cloud, nothing shared. It suggests categories as you log, gives you an honest month-end forecast as a realistic range rather than a single number, and can quietly flag a category that's running unusually high for you. Every bit of it runs on your phone, offline. PLAN THE MONTH Set up your income, recurring bills, subscriptions, and savings in the Planner, and Expenso rolls it all into a projected month-end balance. You'll know where you'll land before the month is over, not after. Income is recorded month by month, so a raise or a lost income source never rewrites your past numbers. BUILD YOUR SAVINGS Set a target amount and a date, then log contributions as you go. Expenso tracks your progress and tells you plainly whether each goal is on track, needs attention, or at risk. A monthly check-in helps you keep the habit going, and skipping a month is fine when things are tight. WISHLIST Add the things you're thinking about buying with a price and a category. Expenso weighs your budget, your recent spending, and your savings commitments, then gives each item a straight answer: buy now, wait, or save first. CATEGORIES YOUR WAY Build your own spending categories with the icon and colour you want. Set a monthly budget for each one and watch the progress bars fill as you spend. FINANCIAL HEALTH SCORE A single score from 0 to 100, built from your savings rate, budget adherence, expense coverage, spending trend, and balance direction. It gives you an honest read on how you're doing and what to work on next. Tap the info icon to see exactly how it's calculated. MONTHLY INSIGHTS - Projected net balance, month by month - A realistic month-end forecast range, so you can see where you'll land - A heads-up when a category is running unusually high for you - Spending against budget for every category - Daily average spend - A six-month spending trend - A year-in-review summary each year MORE - Optional notifications for upcoming transactions, a weekly spending recap, wishlist alerts, unusual-spending alerts, and bill reminders - Dark and light themes - Any currency you like - Export your transactions as CSV - Full account control: change your password, sign out, or delete your account FREE TO USE Every feature in Expenso is free, and all of it works offline with no account. That means budgeting, transaction tracking, categories, planning, savings goals, insights, the health score, and notifications, at no cost. Optional Cloud Sync, to back up your data and keep it in sync across devices, is coming soon.

About

Waterfall

Features
Read full description

WATERFALL โ€” SEE WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES Budgeting shouldn't feel like homework. Waterfall shows your finances the way water flows โ€” income pours in from the top, expenses branch out below. One look and you instantly know where every dollar went. No charts to decode. No spreadsheets to maintain. Just a beautiful, flowing picture of your money. โ— WHY PEOPLE LOVE WATERFALL "Finally, a budget app I actually understand." โ€” That's what we hear most. Other apps give you pie charts and bar graphs. Waterfall gives you something better: clarity. โ†’ Income flows in from the TOP as a single stream โ†’ Expenses branch DOWNWARD like a waterfall โ†’ Thick branches = heavy spending โ†’ Thin branches = light spending โ†’ The pool at the bottom = your remaining savings It's budgeting you can feel, not just read. โ— RIDICULOUSLY FAST Adding an expense takes 2 seconds: 1. Tap + 2. Enter amount 3. Pick category That's it. No forms, no mandatory notes, no friction. We designed every pixel so your thumb does the work. โ— FEATURES YOU'LL ACTUALLY USE โ—† Waterfall Visualization Animated money flow with smooth transitions. Tap any branch to drill into transaction details. Watch your savings pool grow (or shrink) in real time. โ—† Recurring Bills & Income Rent, subscriptions, salary โ€” set them once to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. Waterfall adds them automatically so nothing slips through. โ—† Smart Calendar See your spending by day. Darker dots = bigger spending days. Tap any date to see exactly what you bought. โ—† Searchable History Find that one transaction from three weeks ago in seconds. No endless scrolling. โ—† Custom Categories Food, Transport, Bills, Shopping, Entertainment, Health โ€” all built in. Add your own with custom icons and colors. โ—† Monthly Comparison Swipe between months. See if you're spending more or less than last month. No complex reports needed. โ—† Daily Reminder An optional gentle evening nudge to log your day. Habits beat willpower. โ—† Speaks Your Language 50 languages and 100+ currencies. Waterfall works the way you do, wherever you are. โ— YOUR PRIVACY IS SACRED All data lives on YOUR device. No account required. No bank login. No cloud. We literally cannot see your financial data โ€” by design. โ— FREE FIRST, PREMIUM OPTIONAL Almost everything in Waterfall is free. Premium supports development and unlocks: โ€ข No ads โ€” ever โ€ข Unlimited custom categories โ€ข Export to PDF & Excel Flexible monthly or annual plans โ€” go annual and save 45%. โ— BUILT FOR REAL PEOPLE Waterfall isn't for accountants or finance nerds. It's for: โ€ข You, if you've tried budgeting and quit โ€ข You, if pie charts make your eyes glaze over โ€ข You, if you just want to know "where did my money go?" โ€ข You, if you need something that takes seconds, not minutes Download Waterfall and finally see where your money goes โ€” beautifully. SUBSCRIPTIONS This app offers auto-renewable subscriptions. - Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. - Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. - You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple ID account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Expenso4 screens
Waterfall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Expenso at none against Waterfall's shown. Expenso also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 5 months). Waterfall's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.6). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Expenso ships an update weekly, Waterfall every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
Expenso versus Waterfall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExpensoWaterfall
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly โ€” betterEvery 5 months
AdsNo โ€” betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS17.613.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size103 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSebastian SztruharHafid Zaini

In-app purchases

None

Expenso

No in-app purchases

None

Waterfall

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Expenso free?
Expenso is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Waterfall free?
Waterfall is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Expenso or Waterfall have ads?
Waterfall shows ads; Expenso does not.
Which is updated more often, Expenso or Waterfall?
Expenso ships an update weekly, and Waterfall every 5 months. Most recently, Expenso was updated on October 25, 2026 and Waterfall on October 31, 2026.

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