Comparison

Money Journal vs BudgetLab

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

Head to head
About

Money Journal

Features
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PREMIUM — PURCHASE REQUIRED: All features described below are part of Pro and require a purchase: a weekly or yearly auto-renewing subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Every dollar you spend, written down in ten seconds — and kept on your phone, not on someone's server. Expense Tracker is a private money journal for people who want to log daily spending by hand: no account, no bank linking, no cloud. Most budget apps want your bank login and a monthly report of your life. This one works the old way, made fast: open, type the amount, done. Manual entry sounds slower — until you realize it is exactly why you finally know where the money goes. WHAT YOU GET • A spending log you actually keep up — add an expense in seconds by keyboard, voice, or receipt scan • Wallets for cash, bank, card and e-wallet balances, with transfers between them, so "how much do I have" is one glance • Monthly category budgets that warn you before you overshoot, not after • Charts and month-to-month comparisons that show the leak (it's usually food delivery) • Savings goals, debts, assets and net worth — the full picture, not just outflow • Split a dinner among five people and get the exact settle-up amounts PERFECT FOR • Cash-first spenders whose bank app only ever sees half the story • Anyone who quit a bank-linking budget app over privacy • Couples and housemates settling shared costs without a shared account • Kakeibo fans who want the paper-ledger ritual with searchable history WHY NOT JUST A SPREADSHEET? A spreadsheet doesn't fit in a checkout line. Here, an entry takes seconds, categories fill themselves from your own past corrections, receipts attach to the row, and the monthly chart draws itself. You keep the control of a hand-kept ledger — and lose the Sunday-night data entry. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No sign-up, no bank credentials, no ad tracking. Transactions, receipt photos and plans stay in local storage on your device unless you export them yourself. Lock the app with Face ID if others borrow your phone. PREMIUM (PURCHASE REQUIRED) Expense Tracker requires a Full Access unlock. One plan opens everything: unlimited logging, wallets and transfers, budgets with alerts, receipt scanning, recurring transactions, reports and analytics, net worth and goals, expense splitting, and CSV/PDF export. Choose weekly, yearly, or a one-time lifetime purchase — prices are shown in the app before you commit. Start tonight: log today's spending before bed, and read your first honest week on Sunday. Terms of Use: https://leanstudio.asia/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://leanstudio.asia/privacy-policy Support: support@leanstudio.asia

About

BudgetLab

Features
Read full description

BudgetLab makes managing your household budget effortless. Share one budget with your partner, family, or roommates — everyone adds their spending and you see it all in real time. SHARED BUDGETING • Create a "house" and invite family or roommates with a simple code • See everyone's income and expenses in one place • Track "who paid" to settle shared expenses with ease EXPENSE & INCOME TRACKING • Add income and expenses in seconds • Filter by category, member, or date • Ready-made categories for groceries, rent, bills, transport and more BUDGETS & LIMITS • Set a monthly spending limit for each category • Track your progress with colorful progress bars • Get alerts when you go over budget DASHBOARD & REPORTS • See your remaining monthly balance at a glance • Visualize spending by category with a donut chart • Income vs. expense trends and spending-by-member reports FEATURES • Switch between multiple houses • Multi-currency support (EUR, USD, TRY…) • English and Turkish language support • Dark mode • Your data syncs securely in the cloud PREMIUM Unlock unlimited houses, unlimited members, full history, unlimited categories, and report export (CSV/PDF) with Premium. Budget together, save together. Download BudgetLab today! https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Money Journal4 screens
BudgetLab4 screens

Verdict

The call

Money Journal and BudgetLab are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Money Journal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and BudgetLab sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Money Journal ships an update every 3 months, BudgetLab every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Money Journal versus BudgetLab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMoney JournalBudgetLab
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB28 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLEAN ASIA CO., LTDAykut Inan YILMAZ

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Money Journal

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Weekly Plan$2.997 Days
  • Premium Yearly3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$29.99
3 purchases

BudgetLab

Subscriptions2
  • BudgetLab Pro Monthly$5.991 Month
  • BudgetLab Pro Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • BudgetLab Pro Lifetime$109.00

Questions

Is Money Journal free?
Money Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BudgetLab free?
BudgetLab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Money Journal or BudgetLab have ads?
Neither Money Journal nor BudgetLab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Money Journal or BudgetLab?
Money Journal ships an update every 3 months, and BudgetLab every 2 months. Most recently, Money Journal was updated on October 28, 2026 and BudgetLab on November 5, 2026.

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