Penko Expense Tracker vs TapExpense
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Penko Expense Tracker
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Take Control of Your Finances - Simple, Private, Ad-Free Penko is a powerful yet simple expense tracking app designed with your privacy in mind. No ads, no tracking, no cloud storage - just pure functionality to help you manage your money better. KEY FEATURES Smart Analysis - Visual charts and graphs to understand your spending patterns - Monthly and daily progress rings - Category-based spending breakdown - Compare current spending with previous months - Overview of this month against your income, what is left, and a 12-month forecast Flexible Expense Tracking - Quick expense entry with custom categories - 40+ currencies with exchange rates - Recurring expenses (daily, weekly, monthly, weekdays) - type how many times it repeats and the end date is worked out for you - One-time and recurring expense tracking - Detailed expense history with search and filtering - Optional daily reminder, only on days you have not logged anything Calendar View - Interactive monthly calendar - Daily expense visualization - Week-by-week spending history - Easy date navigation Categories and Organization - Create custom categories and subcategories - Visual category distribution charts - Detailed category analysis - Smart categorization with color coding Financial Planning - Set daily and monthly spending limits - Create financial goals and plans - Track progress towards your goals - Budget management tools - Project future savings with interest calculations Privacy First - All data stored locally on your device - No data collection or tracking - No account required - Backup & restore to a single file you control - no server involved - No advertisements Customization - Dark and light themes - Available in 10 languages - Customizable categories with colors - Flexible date ranges for analysis - Personalized budget limits Insights and Analytics - Monthly spending trends - Category comparison - Daily vs monthly averages - Visual progress indicators - Detailed expense reports WHY CHOOSE PENKO? - 100% Free: All features unlocked, no premium version - No Ads: Clean, distraction-free interface - Privacy Focused: Your data never leaves your device - No Internet Required: Works completely offline - Modern Design: Beautiful iOS-native interface PERFECT FOR: - Students managing budgets - Families tracking household expenses - Anyone wanting financial clarity - Privacy-conscious users - People who prefer offline apps SUPPORT THE DEVELOPER This app is completely free with no ads. If you find it useful, you can support development through optional in-app donations (buy me a coffee or tea). YOUR PRIVACY MATTERS Unlike other expense trackers, we don't collect any data. No analytics, no tracking, no cloud sync. Your financial information is yours alone, stored only on your device. FEEDBACK AND SUPPORT We're committed to making this the best expense tracker for you. Have suggestions or found a bug? Contact us - we listen to our users! Download now and start taking control of your finances today!
TapExpense
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TapExpense is the expense tracker built for people who just want to log a purchase and get on with their day โ no account, no sign-up, no ads, no network required. Every expense stays on your device, in a real local database, from the very first tap. LOG AN EXPENSE IN 5 SECONDS Tap the + button and the amount field is already focused with the keypad up. Type an amount, pick a category and payment method from single-tap chips, save โ done. Titles are optional; untitled expenses show their category. As you type, TapExpense suggests titles learned from your own history, and accepting one prefills the amount, category and payment method in a single tap โ every field stays editable if it guessed wrong. That runs entirely on-device: no AI service, no cloud model, no network call. It is a deterministic ranking of your own history by recency, frequency and time of day โ fast, predictable and private. YOUR DATA NEVER LEAVES YOUR DEVICE โข Fully functional offline โ always, everywhere, no exceptions โข No account, no sign-up, no email required โข No ad SDKs, no trackers, no analytics of any kind โข Optional Face ID / Touch ID lock with PIN fallback โข Optional blur for amounts in the app switcher โข Export to CSV or JSON any time, free โ your data is never held hostage SEE WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES The dashboard centers on one number: what you spent today, this week, this month, this year or all time, with a chart shaped to match. Tap a bar to filter the list to that period. Reports add a category breakdown, a payment-method breakdown, a six-period trend and month-over-month deltas that name your biggest mover. Every figure is computed on-device. FASTER THAN OPENING THE APP โข Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, including an interactive "log it again" widget that saves your most frequent expense in one tap, without launching the app โข Siri and Apple Shortcuts: "Log an expense in TapExpense", get your period total, open Quick Add, search expenses, or undo the last entry โข A guided Apple Wallet automation, so an Apple Pay tap can hand the merchant and amount straight to TapExpense MULTIPLE PROFILES Keep personal, business or shared spending in fully separate profiles, each with its own categories, payment methods, currency and learned suggestions. Switch in one tap. BACKUP AND RESTORE, ON YOUR TERMS Create an encrypted backup (AES-256-GCM) protected by your own passphrase, and preview exactly what a restore will change before anything is applied. Restores merge safely by ID, so you never lose data by mistake. Schedule automatic backups and optionally keep them in your own iCloud Drive โ TapExpense never sees your files. OPTIONAL NOTION SYNC Mirror your expenses into your own Notion database as you log them. Entirely opt-in, with zero effect on the app if you never turn it on. FREE VS. PRO Unlimited expenses, up to 20 categories, one profile, current-month reports, CSV/JSON export and full backup/restore are free โ permanently, with no trial period and no nagging. TapExpense Pro adds unlimited profiles, full history and every reporting period, advanced filters, every widget and automation, and Notion sync. Backup and export stay free either way โ that line never moves. No accounts. No ads. No trackers. Just a fast, private way to know exactly where your money goes. Terms of Use: https://tap-expense.com/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: TapExpense at none against Penko Expense Tracker's 8. TapExpense also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Penko Expense Tracker sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. TapExpense asks for nothing beyond the download.
Penko Expense Tracker ships an update every 5 months, TapExpense every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Penko Expense Tracker | TapExpense |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 9 days โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No โ better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod โ better |
| Requires iOS | 16.2 | 15.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | AKINALP FIDAN | Ashutosh Gupta |
In-app purchases
Penko Expense Tracker
- Water$0.29
- Tea$0.49
- Bagel$0.99
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- Coffee$1.49
- Wrap$2.99
- Burger$4.99
- Turkish Doner$8.99
- Surprise Me$14.99
TapExpense
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Penko Expense Tracker free?
Is TapExpense free?
Do Penko Expense Tracker or TapExpense have ads?
Which is updated more often, Penko Expense Tracker or TapExpense?
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