Comparison

Expense Tracker vs FortBudget

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

Head to head
About

Expense Tracker

Features
Read full description

ExpenseKit is an "Money Manager, Expense Tracker" and budget planner built to help you understand where your money goes, plan smarter budgets, and build better spending habits. Track daily expenses, manage income, monitor bills, organize activity-based spending, and use AI insights to turn your financial data into clear answers. TRACK EXPENSES & INCOME Log expenses and income in seconds. Add categories, notes, accounts, and tags to keep transactions organized. PLAN BETTER BUDGETS Create monthly or category budgets, view remaining money, and get alerts when spending moves close to your limit. AI SPENDING INSIGHTS Understand spending patterns, category trends, unusual expenses, saving opportunities, and financial health signals. BILLS & SUBSCRIPTIONS Schedule recurring payments for rent, EMI, utilities, subscriptions, salary, and other regular money movements. ACTIVITY SESSIONS Group expenses by trip, shopping, work, event, or daily activity and see what each money moment really costs. CHARTS & HEATMAPS Explore pie charts, bar charts, line charts, monthly comparisons, category trends, and spending heatmaps. ALL ACCOUNTS IN ONE PLACE Track cash, bank accounts, cards, wallets, and balances in one simple money manager. EXPORT & BACKUP Export records as CSV, XLSX, or PDF. Keep data safer with secure cloud backup. ExpenseKit helps you stop guessing where your money went. Track spending, plan budgets, manage bills, understand habits, and move closer to your savings goals. Download ExpenseKit and take control of your money today. Privacy Policy: https://expensekitapp.com/privacy/ Terms & Conditions: https://expensekitapp.com/terms/

About

FortBudget

A private budget tracker that gives you complete control over your financial data. Manually add transactions or import CSVs, with all data stored locally on your device. Offers zero-based budgeting and encrypted local backups.

Highlights
  • Private budget tracking
  • Manual transaction entry
  • CSV import and export
  • Zero-based monthly budgets
  • Encrypted local backups
  • No bank linking or sign-up
Features
Read full description

Give every dollar a plan you can see. Build a monthly envelope budget, record spending, and review your ledger without connecting a bank or creating an account. Add transactions by hand or import compatible UTF-8 CSV files. Your budget is encrypted and stored on your device. YOUR FIRST BUDGET MONTH IS FREE New customers get one account, their first budget plan, and plan versus actual for free through the end of the month they start in, and never less than 30 days. The Home and Budget tabs show how many free days are left. ONE PURCHASE. NO SUBSCRIPTION. When the free month ends, a one-time Lifetime Pro purchase keeps budgeting going: adding transactions, planning new budget months, and adding accounts. Apple shows the current price in your currency before you buy, and Restore Purchase is always available. Lifetime Pro also includes unlimited accounts, new crypto accounts, unlimited CSV rows per import, savings goals, a cash-flow calendar, twelve-month trends, balance history, and custom-date reports. ALWAYS FREE Even after the free month, without buying anything you can: - See and edit the transactions you already saved - Rename or archive categories, and archive accounts - Export your ledger to CSV - Save and restore passphrase-protected, encrypted backups - Delete your data, and lock the app with Face ID or your passcode ALREADY A FORTBUDGET CUSTOMER? If you downloaded FortBudget before version 1.1, you keep your original free features, including up to three active accounts. A previous Lifetime Pro purchase restores at no charge. YOUR BUDGET, IN YOUR HANDS - Plan spending by category with a zero-based monthly budget - Keep a clear record of income and expenses - Import compatible CSV transactions and export your ledger - Save passphrase-protected, encrypted local backups wherever you choose APPLE WATCH FortBudget for Apple Watch works with the iPhone app: - See what is available to spend and what is ready to assign - Check how much is left in each budget category - Add a quick expense: turn the Digital Crown for the amount, and the category you used last is already selected - Add the "Available to spend" complication to your watch face Expenses you add on the watch go to your iPhone ledger, and wait on the watch while your iPhone is out of reach. Only totals and category names reach the watch; your ledger stays on your iPhone. Adding expenses from the watch follows the same free-month and Lifetime Pro rules as the iPhone app. Keep your own numbers in front of you, with no bank connection or recurring subscription. Terms of Use: https://gusdigitalsolutions.com/fortbudget/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://gusdigitalsolutions.com/fortbudget/privacy/

Screenshots

Expense Tracker4 screens
FortBudget4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Expense Tracker at 15.0 against FortBudget's 17.0. 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Expense Tracker sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per 7 days and FortBudget sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Expense Tracker versus FortBudget: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExpense TrackerFortBudget
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size105 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRaj Dev BarmanGustavo Payano Vasquez

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Expense Tracker

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly Pro$1.497 Days
  • Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • ExpenseKit Premium Lifetime$89.99
1 purchases

FortBudget

One-time1
  • FortBudget Pro Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is Expense Tracker free?
Expense Tracker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is FortBudget free?
FortBudget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Expense Tracker or FortBudget have ads?
Neither Expense Tracker nor FortBudget shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Expense Tracker or FortBudget?
Expense Tracker ships an update every 2 months, and FortBudget every 2 months. Most recently, Expense Tracker was updated on October 25, 2026 and FortBudget on October 29, 2026.

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