Comparison

Boring Expenses vs zero

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

Head to head
About

Boring Expenses

This simple expense tracker focuses solely on your spending habits, offering a private and ad-free experience. Log expenses quickly with one-tap entry and visualize your trends with beautiful interactive charts. Your data is securely stored in your personal iCloud.

Highlights
  • One-tap expense entry
  • Interactive spending charts
  • Customizable categories with icons/colors
  • CSV data export
  • Offline functionality
  • Apple Watch app and widgets
Features
Read full description

Where does your money actually go? Boring Expenses shows you in seconds — a tiny, beautifully boring expense tracker that's 100% free, ad-free, private, and sign-up-free. Your data lives in your personal iCloud, end-to-end encrypted by Apple and invisible to us. JUST EXPENSES — NOTHING ELSE - No income tracking — total focus on spending - No multiple accounts — one number, the whole picture - No complicated budgets or category limits - No welcome screens or personal surveys - No bank connections — log each expense by hand, like a journal - No subscriptions, ads, trackers, or analytics - Apple-only — native look, feel, and animations WHY PEOPLE LOVE IT - Ready in the first second: no questionnaires, budget setup, paywalls, or registration - Truly free: no "premium" tiers, no nagging for donations - Private by design: expenses stay in encrypted iCloud, never shared - Works fully offline - Tiny and fast: opens instantly - No category caps: seeing your trends over weeks and months builds smarter habits on its own KEY FEATURES - One-tap expense entry: pick a category, type the amount — done - Beautiful interactive charts that update instantly — week, month, year - 100+ icons and colors to make categories your own - Quick filters by date and category - CSV export: pull your data into Excel or anywhere, anytime - Apple Watch app and Home Screen widgets - Full Dynamic Type and VoiceOver support - Light and dark themes with a true native iPhone feel START TODAY Download Boring Expenses and build smarter everyday spending habits — one tap at a time. Thanks for reading to the end — have a great day! Questions or ideas? Open Settings > Feedback to message the developer directly. Enjoying the app? A quick App Store review means the world.

About

zero

This app helps you track expenses and manage money owed without requiring an account or internet connection. It offers a clean interface for quick entry, custom categories, and visual reports to understand your spending. Your financial data remains private and is stored locally on your device.

Highlights
  • Offline expense tracking
  • No account required
  • Track money owed and lent
  • Customizable categories
  • Visual spending reports
  • Data export and import
  • Privacy-focused local storage
Features
Read full description

zero is an expense tracker that never goes online. No account, no server, no network access. Everything you type stays on your iPhone. WHAT YOU GET • Add an expense in two taps. Pick a category, type the amount, done. Type a title you have used before and the category is chosen for you. • See your month at a glance. Spent, left and today's total sit at the top of the Home screen, with a budget bar that shows how much room is left. • Money in. Record your salary and other income, then see what you received, what you spent and what you kept, side by side. • Refunds. Got money back? Add it to the original expense and it counts in the month it came back, not the month you spent it. • Debts. Keep track of who owes you and who you owe, per person or per account, with the totals up top. • Reports. A monthly breakdown by category, a daily spending calendar and a budget per category. • Sort and arrange. Sort a month by date, category, title or amount. Drag your categories into the order you want. ADD WITHOUT OPENING THE APP • Home Screen widget with your month's total, what is left, and your top categories as one-tap buttons. • Lock Screen and StandBy widgets. • Siri and Shortcuts: say or run "add an expense" and pick the amount. • Action Button and Control Center. • Press and hold the icon for Add expense, Money in or Add again. ALSO • Calculator in amount fields, so 120+45×2 becomes 210 (turn it on in Settings). • Light and dark appearance. • Pick your currency. • Works on iPad and in landscape. • Export a backup file or a CSV, and restore the backup on a new device. WHAT LEAVES YOUR DEVICE Nothing. zero makes no network requests, so it cannot send anything anywhere. No analytics, no crash reporting, no ads, no third-party SDKs. The only copies of your data are the backups you choose to export, and they go wherever you save them. Everything in zero today is free, and nothing you use today will move behind a paywall. Made in India. Questions or ideas? Settings has a feedback link.

Screenshots

Boring Expenses4 screens
zero4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Boring Expenses at 4.9 against zero's 3.8. Boring Expenses also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 67%). zero's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Boring Expenses holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Boring Expenses's written reviews are positive against 67% of zero's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Boring Expenses ships an update every 3 weeks, zero fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Boring Expenses versus zero: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBoring Expenseszero
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (10 ratings) — better3.8 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings10 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDmitry KulizhnikovLossless Protocols

Customer experience

Boring Expenses

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

zero

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

Boring Expenses

No in-app purchases

None

zero

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Boring Expenses free?
Boring Expenses is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is zero free?
zero is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Boring Expenses or zero?
Boring Expenses is rated higher. Boring Expenses averages 4.9 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while zero averages 3.8 from 4 ratings.
Do Boring Expenses or zero have ads?
Neither Boring Expenses nor zero shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Boring Expenses or zero?
Boring Expenses ships an update every 3 weeks, and zero fortnightly. Most recently, Boring Expenses was updated on November 12, 2026 and zero on November 15, 2026.

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