Money Envelope vs Expense Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Money Envelope
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Take control of your finances with the envelope budgeting method — now with automatic Apple Pay tracking. Money Envelope is a beautifully simple budgeting app that puts every dollar in its place. Screenshot your Apple Pay payments, and the app reads them automatically using on-device OCR. No manual entry, no hassle, no subscription fees. Ever. ▸ AUTOMATIC TRANSACTION TRACKING • Scan Apple Pay payment screenshots — merchant names and amounts are read instantly • Set up Tap to Pay automation via iOS Shortcuts for hands-free tracking • Pending transactions queue lets you review and categorize in batches • Smart merchant memory — the app learns your categories and auto-assigns future transactions ▸ SMART ENVELOPE BUDGETING • Create custom envelopes for every spending category • Set monthly budgets and distribute your income across envelopes • Budget rollover — unused money carries over to next month automatically • Recurring transactions for subscriptions, rent, and regular expenses • Ready-made templates to get started in seconds ▸ ANALYTICS & EXPORT • Visual spending trends with daily and cumulative charts • Envelope breakdown showing where your money goes • Daily spending average, percentage spent, and remaining balance at a glance • Export your data as CSV or JSON — your data, your way • Flexible time periods: current month, last 3/6 months, year-to-date, or custom range ▸ MULTI-CURRENCY SUPPORT • 25+ currencies with automatic conversion • Set your base currency and log transactions in any currency • Real-time exchange rates keep your budget accurate across borders ▸ PRIVACY FIRST • All data stored on your device and in your personal iCloud — nowhere else • On-device OCR — your screenshots never leave your phone • No third-party servers, no data selling, no tracking • Analytics are 100% opt-in — you choose what to share • No account required — just download and start budgeting ▸ DESIGNED FOR SIMPLICITY • Clean, intuitive interface that gets out of your way • Add transactions in seconds with quick-entry flow • Search and filter transactions by category, date, or keyword • Custom icons and colors for every envelope • Dark mode support • Full onboarding to get you started fast Money Envelope is 100% free with no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, and no hidden costs. If you've been looking for a simpler, more private alternative to YNAB or other budgeting apps — this is it. Download now and take control of your spending.
Expense Tracker
Effortlessly track personal or shared expenses with this native app. Automate expense logging via Apple Wallet and categorize spending. Share financial insights with invited family or friends, controlling access levels and privacy.
- Automated expense logging via Apple Wallet
- Shared tracking for couples and families
- Customizable categories with icons and colors
- Detailed spending insights and budget tracking
- Private iCloud sharing with access control
- Multi-currency support with automatic conversion
- Data export and import options
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Track your spending on your own, as a couple or as a family. PayShare is a native app for iPhone, iPad and Mac that keeps your transactions in your own iCloud and shares them only with the people you invite. With a Shortcuts automation you set up once, a tap to pay with Apple Wallet becomes an expense in PayShare: you just pick the category. No ads, no account to create, no bank to connect. PAY WITH APPLE WALLET, PICK A CATEGORY Create one personal automation in the Shortcuts app. From then on, each time you tap to pay with a card in Apple Wallet, it runs PayShare's Add Expense action: you choose a category without opening the app, and PayShare saves the expense. Skip the question and it is saved as Uncategorized, ready to edit later. A payment in another currency is converted to your primary currency with the latest rates PayShare has downloaded. Wallet can report a payment a few seconds late and Apple's automations do not always run, so now and then a payment still needs adding by hand. SHARE WITH THE PEOPLE YOU CHOOSE Invite a partner, family or friends through private iCloud sharing. Everyone keeps ownership of their own transactions: you share yours, and you see theirs once they share back. Give each person read-only or read-and-write access, decide whether they may delete or split your transactions, and remove a connection at any time. Switch your Timeline to anyone who shares with you, search their transactions, see their spending in your budgets and insights, and hide any single transaction from the people you pick. YOUR TIMELINE • Expenses and income with a category, merchant, payment method and tags • Location and notes, and splitting one payment across categories • Your own categories, with more than 700 icons and any color • Your five most recent payment methods ready in a menu • Transactions grouped by day, with what each day cost • Recurring transactions for rent, salary or subscriptions, from daily to yearly • A second currency shown alongside your primary one • Search by text or category, and filter by date, amount, tag or place • Export to CSV, JSON or PDF, import from CSV or JSON, and restore from backups SEE WHERE IT WENT Your months sit side by side as a bar chart. Pick one to see its total, the change from the month before, your biggest expense, your top merchant, a day-by-day chart and your categories, for expenses or income. Group by tag, merchant, place, payment method or recurring transaction, choose several months, the whole year or a past year, and open any group for the details. BUDGETS AND SAVINGS Set a monthly budget and a budget for any category, and follow your progress. A marker shows how far through the month you are, so you can compare what you have spent with how much of the month has gone, and a row of months shows which ones stayed within budget. Plan across several months, and track savings accounts toward a goal. Turn on activity budgets to unlock spending through your Apple Health steps, running minutes and mindful minutes. ON IPHONE, IPAD AND MAC Everything stays in sync through your iCloud account. PayShare works offline and syncs when you are back online. Home Screen widgets show today's spending and this month's by category. PRIVACY Your transactions are stored in your own iCloud and shared only with the people you invite. PayShare sends anonymous usage events and crash reports to help improve the app; they never include amounts, merchants, notes or categories. Exchange rates come from a public currency service, and on iPhone and iPad the app asks Apple Ads whether an ad led to the install. Some features require PayShare Premium, offered as a monthly or annual subscription or a one-time purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage it in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://boogdan.com/apps/payshare/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://boogdan.com/apps/payshare/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Money Envelope at none against Expense Tracker's 3. Expense Tracker's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (18.5 vs 26.2). On price, ads and device support 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. Expense Tracker sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Money Envelope asks for nothing beyond the download.
Money Envelope ships an update every 2 months, Expense Tracker fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Money Envelope | Expense Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.2 | 18.5 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vladislav Komkov | BOGDAN-GEORGIAN ALEXA |
In-app purchases
Money Envelope
No in-app purchases
Expense Tracker
- Pro – Monthly$4.991 Month
- Pro – Annual14 Days trial$19.991 Year
- One Time Payment Premium Lifetime$39.99
Questions
Is Money Envelope free?
Is Expense Tracker free?
Do Money Envelope or Expense Tracker have ads?
Which is updated more often, Money Envelope or Expense Tracker?
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