Comparison

Payday vs Payday Buckets

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

Head to head
About

Payday

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Payday is a focused paycheck budgeting app that helps you know what your money can do before payday arrives. Use zero-based budgeting to plan every paycheck, map upcoming bills, assign money to categories, and see a clear Safe to Spend amount after your allocations and personal cushion. With Payday, you can: Build a paycheck plan in minutes Track weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly income Add recurring paychecks and plan ahead Map bills to the paycheck or category covering them View your cash flow in Timeline and Calendar Track allocations, uncovered bills, and low-cushion weeks Export plans as PDF or CSV Use Dark, Light, or System appearance Protect access with Face ID Keep your financial data private without bank syncing No complicated spreadsheets. No guessing what is safe to spend. Payday helps you give every dollar a job and make your money feel more predictable. Start with your next paycheck and build a plan you can trust. https://socialreporthq.com/payday/terms

About

Payday Buckets

This app helps you manage your finances by calculating exactly how much to set aside from each paycheck for bills, savings, and irregular expenses. It simplifies budgeting by focusing on 'buckets' rather than detailed transaction tracking, ensuring you know your financial plan each payday.

Highlights
  • Paycheck-based financial planning
  • Bucket and sinking fund management
  • Customizable pay schedules
  • Bill and savings goal tracking
  • Local data storage
  • iCloud sync for iPhone and iPad
  • CSV export and JSON backup
Read full description

Tired of spreadsheets, sticky notes and paycheck guesswork? Payday Buckets answers one simple question: “What do I move this payday?” Set up the bills, savings goals and irregular expenses you want to plan for. Tell Payday Buckets when you get paid, and it calculates what to set aside in each bucket every payday. Use it for sinking funds, envelope budgeting, sub-savings accounts, bill planning, subscriptions, yearly expenses, savings goals and everyday categories. WHY PAYDAY BUCKETS • Plan around your real pay cycle — weekly, biweekly, monthly, twice monthly, or a custom interval. • Built for buckets and sinking funds, not endless transaction tracking. • Know what to move each payday before the money disappears. • No bank login required. • Your data is stored locally on your device. • iCloud sync keeps your iPhone and iPad up to date using your private iCloud account. • Designed for people who already use separate accounts, buckets or savings spaces and want a simple way to manage them. HOW IT WORKS 1. Create the buckets that matter — bills, savings goals, subscriptions, irregular expenses and everyday categories. 2. Choose how each bucket should be funded — by due date, fixed amount, top-up to target, or manual. 3. On payday, run your payday plan. 4. Payday Buckets shows exactly what to move into each bucket. 5. Mark bills as paid and keep your bucket balances up to date. FEATURES • Guided Simple Mode for quick bucket setup • Advanced editor for detailed bucket planning • Weekly, biweekly, monthly, twice-monthly and custom pay schedules • Smart payday plans for bills, savings goals, subscriptions and irregular expenses • Scheduled transactions for recurring bills, income and transfers • Upcoming bills view with overdue, 7-day, 30-day and later sections • Insights for bucket forecasts, monthly outlook and budget balancing • Payday plan history • Local reminders for payday, bills, transfers and underfunded buckets • Rename, recolor and organize categories • iCloud sync across iPhone and iPad • Light, Dark and System themes • Dynamic Type and VoiceOver support • CSV export and JSON backup PREMIUM Payday Buckets is free to try with up to 5 active buckets. Upgrade to Premium for: • Unlimited active buckets • Unlimited scheduled transactions PRIVACY Payday Buckets does not require bank access. Your budgeting data is stored locally on your device. If you turn on iCloud sync, your data syncs through your private iCloud account, not through a Payday Buckets budgeting server. SUPPORT Questions or feedback? Get in touch from Settings → About inside the app. Stop guessing what to set aside. Start every payday with a clear plan. What’s New 1.0 First release of Payday Buckets! Plan each payday around your bills, savings goals, subscriptions and sinking funds. • Create buckets for the things you need to fund • Set your pay schedule • Run a payday plan to see what to move into each bucket • Track scheduled bills and recurring transactions • View upcoming bills and bucket forecasts • Sync across iPhone and iPad with iCloud sync • Export your data with CSV and JSON backup Thanks for trying Payday Buckets — your feedback will help shape what comes next.

Screenshots

Payday4 screens
Payday Buckets4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Payday Buckets at fortnightly against Payday's monthly. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Payday sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Payday Buckets sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Payday ships an update monthly, Payday Buckets fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Payday versus Payday Buckets: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaydayPayday Buckets
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRAPHAEL MOMANYINathan Booth

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Payday

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Plan$7.991 Month
  • Yearly Plan3 Days trial$59.991 Year
1 purchases

Payday Buckets

One-time1
  • Payday Buckets Pro$12.99

Questions

Is Payday free?
Payday is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Payday Buckets free?
Payday Buckets is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Payday or Payday Buckets have ads?
Neither Payday nor Payday Buckets shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Payday or Payday Buckets?
Payday ships an update monthly, and Payday Buckets fortnightly. Most recently, Payday was updated on October 25, 2026 and Payday Buckets on October 24, 2026.

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