Keystone vs Shared Budget
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Keystone
This app streamlines group finances by simplifying expense tracking, budget planning, and payment management. It offers features like AI-powered receipt scanning, customizable approval workflows, and role-based permissions to bring clarity and control to shared financial activities.
- Hierarchical budgets
- Role-based permissions
- Customizable approval workflows
- Guest expense submissions
- Audit trail
- AI receipt scanning
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Tired of chasing receipts and managing reimbursement requests through messy spreadsheets and chat threads? Keystone brings clarity and control to your group's finances. Perfect for student clubs, project teams, small businesses, and even roommates, Keystone simplifies everything from budget planning to final payment. Stop managing finances and start leading. With Keystone, you can spend less time on paperwork and more time on what matters. Key Features: FLEXIBLE HIERARCHICAL BUDGETS: Create main budgets for your organization and allow leaders to create nested sub-categories for their specific committees or events. Track spending in real-time at every level to ensure you never go over budget. PRECISE, ROLE-BASED PERMISSIONS: Delegate with confidence by inviting members as Admins (full control), Reviewers (manage specific budgets), or Submitters (submit expenses). You can grant a Reviewer control over a single category, and they will automatically have the same permissions for all of its sub-categories. CUSTOMIZABLE APPROVAL WORKFLOWS: Design a clear approval chain that fits your team's structure. Automatically route an expense from a team member to their manager for a first look, then to the treasurer for final sign-off. Admins always retain the power to override decisions for ultimate control. FRICTIONLESS GUEST SUBMISSIONS: Need a reimbursement from a guest speaker or a one-time contractor? Send them a secure, shareable link to submit their expenses and receipts. No app download or account creation is required on their part. COMPLETE AUDIT TRAIL: Never wonder about the status of a payment again. A crucial, immutable history shows every approval, note, and status change for each expense, providing a vital tool for accountability. AI-POWERED RECEIPT SCANNING: Snap a photo of a receipt, and let Keystone's AI automatically extract line-item details and totals. This minimizes manual data entry and saves everyone time. Download Keystone today and bring sanity to your shared expenses!
Shared Budget
Manage household finances with a group. Track income, expenses, budgets, and debts with clear charts and recurring transaction features. Ideal for couples, roommates, or families.
- Shared group creation and member invitation
- Quick income and expense logging
- Category spending visualization
- Monthly budget envelopes
- Debt tracking
- Recurring transaction setup
- Shared task management
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Shared Budget is a simple money management app for people living together. Whether you are a couple, roommates, or a family, Shared Budget helps everyone stay aligned on income, spending, and monthly goals. What you can do: Create a shared group and invite members with a code Add income and expenses in seconds See category spending with clear charts Set monthly budget envelopes and track overspending Track who owes whom with debt records Create recurring transactions for bills and routine payments Manage shared tasks and monthly to-dos View group activity history for full transparency Why Shared Budget: Clean, mobile-first experience (no complex spreadsheets) Built for shared household finances Fast daily tracking with clear monthly visibility Premium unlocks unlimited transactions, envelopes, and members Start today and always know where your money goes. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Keystone at none against Shared Budget's 2. Keystone also leads on ratings volume (5 vs 1). Shared Budget's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 9 days). On price, rating, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. Shared Budget sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Keystone asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Keystone against 5.0 for Shared Budget. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Keystone has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Keystone ships an update every 9 days, Shared Budget every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Keystone | Shared Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (5 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alexander Jacob Frutkin | Ruby Game Studio LLC |
Customer experience
Keystone
Shared Budget
In-app purchases
Keystone
No in-app purchases
Shared Budget
- Shared Budget Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
- Shared Budget Premium$39.991 Year









