Comparison

FitBudget vs Monthly

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

Head to head
About

FitBudget

This app helps you manage your money with a privacy-focused, zero-based budgeting approach. Track expenses, set savings goals, and gain insights into your spending habits. It offers a free version for manual budgeting and a Pro version with advanced features.

Highlights
  • Zero-based budgeting
  • Private, on-device encryption
  • Clear expense tracking
  • Savings goals
  • Offline functionality
  • Bank linking (Pro)
  • Smart spending insights (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Tired of wondering where your money goes? FitBudget is a private budget planner and expense tracker built around zero-based budgeting. Plan your income, track spending, and give every dollar a job before it is gone. Budget manually with no account, no ads, and no cloud storage required. FitBudget is designed for people who want a simple, private way to manage money without handing over more personal data than necessary. PRIVACY-FIRST BUDGETING Your budget data stays encrypted on your device with AES-256. Manual budgeting works fully offline, so you can start planning without creating an account. Bank linking is optional with FitBudget Pro and is available through Plaid in the US and Canada. WHY CHOOSE FITBUDGET? • Zero-based budgeting: Plan every dollar intentionally with a clean setup for beginners and experienced budgeters. • Expense tracking: Create categories for housing, food, transportation, bills, debt, savings, and more. • Savings goals: Track debt payoff, vacations, emergency funds, or long-term savings with simple visual progress. • Private by design: Use the free manual budgeting tools without ads, accounts, or cloud storage. • Free forever basics: Start budgeting manually without a subscription. FITBUDGET PRO FitBudget Pro adds optional automation and insights for users who want faster tracking and deeper spending visibility. $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year with a 7-day free trial. • Bank linking via Plaid: Securely sync transactions and detect recurring payments in the US and Canada. • Smart insights: Understand spending patterns and improve habits using zero-based budgeting principles. • Recurring transaction tracking: Track bills and subscriptions to simplify planning. • Deeper analytics: View charts, trends, and category insights for better financial awareness. BUILT FOR SIMPLE, PRIVATE BUDGETING FitBudget was built by a Marine veteran dad who turned a budgeting notebook into an app to help people budget simply and securely. Start building better money habits today. NOTES The free version includes everything needed for manual budgeting. FitBudget Pro adds optional automation and insights. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled. Manage subscriptions in the App Store. Prices are in USD and may vary by region. Privacy Policy: https://fitfinancedad.com/fitbudget-privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://fitfinancedad.com/fitbudget-terms-of-service/

About

Monthly

This app helps you understand your real monthly budget by automatically accounting for fixed costs like rent and subscriptions. It provides clear statistics and payment reminders to help you manage your finances without manual entry.

Highlights
  • Automatic fixed cost calculation
  • Income and expense tracking
  • Payment reminders
  • Category-based spending statistics
  • CSV data export
  • Home screen widgets
Read full description

Monthly shows you how much money you have left after rent, subscriptions, and other fixed costs. Without having to log every cup of coffee. Simply enter your income, rent, utilities, insurance, and subscriptions. Monthly works out which payments fall within your budget month and shows you at a glance how much you have left to spend. FIXED COSTS WITHOUT THE MATH Whether one-time, monthly, quarterly, or annual, Monthly accounts for your expenses when they’re due. For longer intervals, simply set the exact month and day. YOUR BUDGET, YOUR SCHEDULE Choose when your budget month starts, for example on payday. Carry your monthly budget over to the next month and adjust it as needed. PAYMENT REMINDERS Set reminders for individual expenses to stay on top of important payment dates. CATEGORIES & STATISTICS Organize your expenses into categories like housing, transportation, or leisure. Colors, icons, and clear statistics help you see where your money goes. CSV EXPORT Export your income and expenses as a CSV file to use them outside of Monthly. YOUR BUDGET ON THE HOME SCREEN Keep an eye on your monthly budget with handy widgets, without opening the app. 100% PRIVATE & FREE No ads. No subscription fees. No tracking. Your data stays on your device, with no sign-up, servers, or cloud storage. Monthly is for anyone who wants to plan their finances realistically without keeping a detailed spending log.

Screenshots

FitBudget4 screens
Monthly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Monthly at none against FitBudget's 2. Monthly also leads on ratings volume (17 vs 5). FitBudget's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (100% vs 92%). On price, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. FitBudget sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Monthly asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

FitBudget holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of FitBudget's written reviews are positive against 92% of Monthly's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FitBudget ships an update weekly, Monthly every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
FitBudget versus Monthly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFitBudgetMonthly
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better4.6 (17 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better91.7% of reviews
Number of ratings517 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size78 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFitFinanceDad LLCArno Richter

Customer experience

FitBudget

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Monthly

All ratings17 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

FitBudget

Subscriptions2
  • FitBudget Pro Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • FitBudget Pro Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
None

Monthly

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is FitBudget free?
FitBudget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Monthly free?
Monthly is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, FitBudget or Monthly?
FitBudget is rated higher. FitBudget averages 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Monthly averages 4.6 from 17 ratings.
Do FitBudget or Monthly have ads?
Neither FitBudget nor Monthly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FitBudget or Monthly?
FitBudget ships an update weekly, and Monthly every 5 days. Most recently, FitBudget was updated on September 23, 2026 and Monthly on September 11, 2026.

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