Envelope Budget App vs Truly Simple Envelopes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Envelope Budget App
This app helps you manage your finances by focusing on food expenses first. It offers a simple, private way to track spending, set budgets, and build healthy financial habits one category at a time.
- Focus on food expenses
- Private and local tracking
- Simple transaction entry
- Category budgeting
- Integrated tip calculator
- Bill splitter
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Tuck is for anyone who finds budgeting overwhelming. It is a simple way to see where your money actually goes. Give every part of your spending its own envelope: Groceries, Rent, Coffee, Savings. Set what each one holds, log transactions as you go, and keep your month on track one envelope at a time. No bank logins, no charts to decode, no noise. EMBRACE SIMPLICITY No sign-in and no bank linking. Completely private and local to your device. Add a transaction in seconds. Create envelopes, set budgets, allow negative balances, and roll unspent money into next month. Move budgeted money between envelopes, or cash between accounts, with a tap. A calm home screen that shows exactly what is left this month. SEE YOUR MONTH Calendar, insights, and spend-by-envelope reports. Home screen and lock screen widgets. Dark mode, your choice of currency, and a Face ID or Touch ID lock. Local backups every launch and CSV export. Your data is always yours. DO MORE WITH TUCK PLUS Unlimited accounts, envelopes, and transactions. iCloud sync across your devices, and partner sharing so two people keep one budget. Recurring bills and paychecks, with gentle reminders. Beautiful Monthly Journal, Year in Review, and Statement exports as PDFs. More color palettes to make Tuck yours. Tuck Plus is available monthly, yearly, or as a one-time lifetime purchase. Everything else stays free. TUCK PLUS SUBSCRIPTION Tuck Plus is available as an auto-renewing subscription: Monthly: $3.99 per month Yearly: $29.99 per year A one-time Lifetime purchase ($49.99) is also available and does not renew. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store account settings after purchase. Privacy Policy - https://lifesimulator.io/#privacypolicy Terms of Use - https://lifesimulator.io/#terms
Truly Simple Envelopes
This app offers a digital approach to the cash stuffing budgeting method. It allows users to manually allocate funds into custom digital envelopes for different spending categories, promoting mindful spending and financial peace of mind without bank linking.
- Digital cash stuffing method
- Manual transaction entry
- Customizable digital envelopes
- Main wallet for unallocated income
- iCloud syncing across Apple devices
- WCAG AA accessibility standards
- Subscription-free with optional one-time purchase
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Managing money is stressful, and modern budgeting apps usually make it worse. They connect to your bank, download hundreds of transactions you don't recognize, bombard you with confusing pie charts, and charge you a hefty monthly subscription for the privilege. Truly Simple Envelopes is the opposite. It’s a digital version of the classic "cash stuffing" envelope method, built to be visually calm, completely manual, and intentionally friction-free. It never links to your bank accounts or automatically pulls in data. Instead, it asks you to mindfully put money into digital envelopes, and manually subtract it when you spend. By stripping away the bloat and focusing entirely on how much money you have left for different priorities, it brings peace of mind back to your finances while helping you develop healthy and sustainable financial habits. The core app, including iCloud syncing between your devices, is entirely free. If you find it useful, a one-time, lifetime $4.99 fee unlocks unlimited envelopes. Features: • The Main Wallet: A central holding bucket for all unallocated income. Add your paycheck here, then distribute the cash to your categories. • Custom Envelopes: Create dedicated folders for Groceries, Rent, Vacation, etc. Customize them with tactile, earthy colors and native Apple icons. • iCloud Sync: Built natively for Apple devices. Your balances and transactions sync instantly and privately across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. • Accessible: Designed strictly to WCAG AA accessibility standards. Enjoy high-contrast text, large touch targets, and full support for Apple's Dynamic Type text scaling. • Complete Control: Swipe to delete a mistaken transaction, use the built-in Reconcile tool to clean up duplicate sync records, or hit the "Reset App Data" button to completely wipe your slate clean at any time. • Proudly Subscription-Free: We hate recurring billing as much as you do. Stick with the free version, or pay once and use the software forever. No ads, no trackers, no hidden fees.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Envelope Budget App at 30 against Truly Simple Envelopes's 1. Truly Simple Envelopes's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Envelope Budget App sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Truly Simple Envelopes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Truly Simple Envelopes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Envelope Budget App has 30 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Envelope Budget App ships an update every 10 days, Truly Simple Envelopes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Envelope Budget App | Truly Simple Envelopes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (30 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 30 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chimpanzee, LLC | Colin Wright |
In-app purchases
Envelope Budget App
- Tuck Monthly Subscription$1.991 Month
- Tuck Yearly Subscription$12.991 Year
- Tuck Plus Lifetime$19.99
Truly Simple Envelopes
- Unlock Pro$4.99
Questions
Is Envelope Budget App free?
Is Truly Simple Envelopes free?
Which has better reviews, Envelope Budget App or Truly Simple Envelopes?
Do Envelope Budget App or Truly Simple Envelopes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Envelope Budget App or Truly Simple Envelopes?
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