Comparison

Pockets vs Envelope Budgeting

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

Head to head
About

Pockets

Features
Read full description

Take control of your finances with Pockets, the app that helps you manage the money in your bank accounts. Pockets helps you manage the money in your bank accounts. Set savings goals and track your progress toward achieving them. A Pocket is a savings goal or budget. Add transactions to your Pockets to stay up to date. Create new accounts and pockets in seconds. By adding a quick transaction, you can quickly document all your expenses and income. Use home screen widgets to keep track of your most important pockets. Keep an eye on the statistics to analyze your cash flow. Synchronization with iCloud ensures that your data is stored securely and encrypted and is immediately available on all your devices. Get started now and get your finances under control!

About

Envelope Budgeting

Features
Read full description

Fundkeep is envelope budgeting โ€” the zero-based method โ€” for iPhone, iPad and Mac. You decide what every dollar is for before you spend it, and the board tells you what is actually left. Bought once. There is no subscription, no account to create, and no bank login. GIVE EVERY DOLLAR A JOB Money arrives, you assign it to envelopes, and each envelope shows what remains. Overspend one and the app says so plainly, then carries the rest forward the way the method expects. Credit cards work properly: a card purchase moves money into that card's payment envelope, so the money is set aside the moment you spend it. YOUR BANK'S CSV, READ ON YOUR DEVICE Export a statement from your bank and Fundkeep works out the columns itself โ€” dates, payees, amounts, debit and credit pairs โ€” for the layouts the major US banks produce. Import the same file twice and nothing is duplicated. You see every row before anything is saved. If a column is read wrong, you tell it which is which โ€” and Fundkeep remembers the layout for next time. COMING FROM YNAB Bring your budget across in about five minutes. Fundkeep reads a YNAB export, rebuilds your categories, accounts and history, and then shows you a reconciliation report: what YNAB said each balance was, what Fundkeep makes it, and every difference it found. You check the numbers before you commit to them. IPHONE, IPAD AND MAC One purchase covers all three. Enter a spend in a few seconds from anywhere โ€” a widget on your home or lock screen, or a button in the Control Centre. The Mac app is a real Mac app with a menu bar and keyboard shortcuts, not a phone app in a window. REPORTS THAT STATE FACTS Where the month went, by envelope and by group. What changed against the last three months, compared like for like. Age of money. A monthly review you can save as a PDF. Every figure is a statement about your own history โ€” the app never tells you what to do with your money. NOTHING LEAVES YOUR DEVICE No bank connections. No servers. No analytics, no tracking, no advertising identifier. Syncing between your own devices goes through your private iCloud account, and you can switch it off. The privacy label says Data Not Collected, and it is accurate. YOUR DATA IS YOURS Export everything to CSV at any time โ€” including after the trial ends. An app that held your own records hostage would not be worth trusting with them. TRY IT FIRST Fundkeep is free to use for 14 days, with nothing withheld. After that it becomes read-only until you buy it: everything you entered stays visible and exportable, and entering new transactions resumes the moment you unlock it.

Screenshots

Pockets4 screens
Envelope Budgeting4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pockets at none against Envelope Budgeting's 1. 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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Envelope Budgeting sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pockets asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Pockets versus Envelope Budgeting: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocketsEnvelope Budgeting
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyโ€”Every 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” better
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size9 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSven-Patrick StemperArmen Ter-Oganezov

In-app purchases

None

Pockets

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Envelope Budgeting

One-time1
  • Fundkeep Full$39.99

Questions

Is Pockets free?
Pockets is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Envelope Budgeting free?
Envelope Budgeting is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pockets or Envelope Budgeting have ads?
Neither Pockets nor Envelope Budgeting shows ads.

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