Caffeinated Checkbook vs Simple Expenses App
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Caffeinated Checkbook
This app provides a digital checkbook register to manually track all your financial transactions across multiple accounts. It offers detailed reporting, reconciliation tools, and recurring transaction management without connecting to your bank or displaying ads.
- Manual transaction tracking
- Multiple account management
- Running balances
- Account reconciliation
- Recurring transactions
- Financial reporting
- Customizable categories
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Caffeinated Checkbook is a digital checkbook register for people who want to track their money themselves. It doesn't connect to your bank. It doesn't sync your transactions automatically. It doesn't sell your data or show you ads. It's a notebook that does math. Record payments, deposits, and transfers across as many accounts as you need: checking, savings, credit cards, cash, or investments. Every transaction gets a running balance, just like a paper checkbook register. When you're ready, reconcile against your bank statement to make sure everything matches. No account required. No internet required. Your data lives on your device in an encrypted local database that you control. Caffeinated Checkbook works completely offline and always will. FEATURES Manage multiple accounts with full transaction registers and running balances. Enter transactions with payee, amount, category, memo, and check number. Smart auto-fill remembers your frequent payees. Split transactions across categories. Transfer between accounts with linked transaction pairs. Void, duplicate, and search transactions instantly. Reconcile your accounts against bank statements with a guided workflow. Track cleared vs. uncleared balances. View reconciliation history. Set up recurring transactions for bills and regular income. Choose manual confirmation or auto-posting. Never forget a payment. Run reports: spending by category, payee summaries, cash flow, year-over-year comparisons, and tax-relevant expense reports with IRS schedule classifications. Export any report to CSV. 50+ built-in categories with tax-relevant flags for medical, charitable, mortgage interest, property tax, and more. Create your own categories and subcategories. SYNC & SHARING The app is free to use on a single device with no limitations. For those who want more: An Individual subscription adds multi-device sync, keeping your data consistent across your phone, tablet, and desktop. A Family subscription includes multi-device sync for up to five members, plus the ability to share specific accounts with other members of your household. Keep personal accounts private while sharing joint accounts, each person controls what they share. A single Caffeinated Account unlocks sync across the entire Caffeinated Softworks suite. One account, one subscription, all of the apps. WHAT THIS APP IS NOT Caffeinated Checkbook does not connect to banks or financial institutions. It cannot move money, pay bills, or access your account credentials. It is a record-keeping tool, the digital equivalent of the paper register in your checkbook. You enter what you spent, and it keeps track. No ads. No tracking. No data collection. Your finances are yours. Part of the Caffeinated Softworks suite. Terms of Use: https://caffeinatedsoftworks.com/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://caffeinatedsoftworks.com/privacy/
Simple Expenses App
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Snap a photo. Get an organized expense report. That's it. Simple Expenses is the fastest way for business travelers, freelancers, and contractors to track receipts and turn them into a clean expense report, without an account, a login, or a single byte of your data ever leaving your phone unless you share it. HOW IT WORKS Bank a Receipt Point your camera at any receipt and Simple Expenses reads the vendor, total, date, and category automatically, using Apple Vision, and on supported iPhones, Apple Intelligence, entirely on-device. Organize into Packets Group receipts by trip, client, or project. See your running total, category breakdown, and receipt count at a glance. Forward Email Receipts Share any receipt email straight into Simple Expenses from Mail, and it's added to your active packet automatically. Catch Mistakes Early Low-confidence scans are flagged for a quick review before they're banked, and possible duplicates are caught before they cost you twice. Send a Complete Report Export a packet as a single ZIP file with a CSV summary and every original receipt image or PDF, ready to email to your accountant, HR department, or client. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No sign-in. No cloud sync. Every receipt, packet, and dollar amount is stored locally on your iPhone; never uploaded to a server, never shared with advertisers, never tracked. When Apple Intelligence is used to read a receipt, that processing happens entirely on-device too. SIMPLE EXPENSES PRO Upgrade to Pro to export and send unlimited packets as ZIP files. Everything else; scanning, organizing, categorizing, is free. Whether you're a consultant tracking client expenses, a freelancer prepping for tax season, or a road warrior with a shoebox full of receipts, Simple Expenses turns "I'll deal with this later" into "already done." Terms of Use (EULA): https://abmsoftware.co/eula Privacy Policy: https://abmsoftware.co/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is device support: Caffeinated Checkbook at 3 against Simple Expenses App's 1. 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
Both are free to download. Caffeinated Checkbook sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Simple Expenses App sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Caffeinated Checkbook | Simple Expenses App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | Every 6 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Caffeinated Softworks LLC | ABM Software |
In-app purchases
Caffeinated Checkbook
- Individual Account (Monthly)$4.991 Month
- Duo (Monthly)$7.991 Month
- Family Account (Monthly)$14.991 Month
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- Friends & Family Account (Monthly)$19.991 Month
- Individual Account (Annual)$49.991 Year
- Duo Account (Annual)$79.991 Year
- Family Account (Annual)$149.991 Year
- Friends & Family (Annual)$199.991 Year
Simple Expenses App
- Simple Expenses Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
- Simple Expenses Pro Annual$39.991 Year
Questions
Is Caffeinated Checkbook free?
Is Simple Expenses App free?
Do Caffeinated Checkbook or Simple Expenses App have ads?
Which is updated more often, Caffeinated Checkbook or Simple Expenses App?
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