CashEnvelope vs CustomBudget
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CashEnvelope
This app digitally replicates the cash envelope budgeting method, allowing you to allocate funds for various expenses. Track spending with visual fill bars and forecast your end-of-month financial status without linking bank accounts.
- Digital envelope system
- Live liquid-fill spending visualization
- Transaction logging in two taps
- End-of-month financial forecasting
- Customizable roll-over behavior
- Monthly spending overview with charts
- Automatic paycheck allocation
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Digital envelopes, kitchen-table simple. CashEnvelope brings the classic cash-stuffing method to your iPhone — no bank link, no account, no analytics. Stuff your paycheck into envelopes for Rent, Groceries, Fun, and Savings, watch the liquid fill bars tick down as you spend, and stay in control of every dollar. WHAT YOU CAN DO: • Envelope Wall — every envelope on one screen with live liquid-fill cards (green on track, amber near limit, red over budget) • Add Transactions — log spending in two taps, see the wall update instantly • Pace Forecast — projects each envelope's end-of-month landing before you actually overspend • Roll-Over Behavior — choose roll, reset, or bank-to-savings at month end, per envelope or globally • Monthly Overview — pie chart of where your money went, plus trend lines • CSV Export — every envelope and every transaction in one shareable file • Auto-Allocate Paycheck — define a paycheck template once, tap "Receive Paycheck", and watch every envelope fill automatically by % or fixed amount • Daily Reminder — gentle local notification to log yesterday's spending • Local Currency — formats automatically to your device locale WHY CASHENVELOPE IS DIFFERENT: The big envelope-budgeting apps (YNAB, Goodbudget, EveryDollar, Mvelopes) all want $10–$18 a month, a login, and a bank connection through Plaid. Reddit and the App Store are full of "Plaid disconnected again" complaints and "lost my data when my subscription lapsed" reviews. CashEnvelope skips all of that. No email signup. No bank link. No cloud sync. Your envelopes live on your iPhone, in SwiftData, and nowhere else. If you cancel, your data stays. If you go offline, the app works. If you want privacy, you have it. CASHENVELOPE PREMIUM — $2.99/month (7-day free trial): • Roll-Over Behavior (roll, reset, or bank to savings) • Smart Forecast Alerts with tunable warning + critical thresholds • Monthly Overview pie chart + trends • One-CSV Export (envelopes + transactions) • Auto-Allocate Paycheck (one-tap distribute by % or $) • Ad-Free Free forever: unlimited envelopes, unlimited transactions, live fill bars, daily reminders. We don't gate the basics. PERFECT FOR: Couples and roommates splitting expenses, parents teaching the envelope method to teens, freelancers tracking variable income, anyone tired of bank-link apps breaking every other week, and the cash-stuffing community looking for a private digital companion. Privacy: CashEnvelope stores everything on your device. No account. No bank link. No personal data leaves your iPhone except the standard StoreKit purchase receipt and AdMob ad requests (free tier). See our Privacy Policy below for full disclosure. Auto-renews monthly. Cancel anytime in your Apple ID Subscriptions settings. Any unused portion of the free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. --- Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://tabishhassan5121472.github.io/privacy-policy.html
CustomBudget
This app offers a private and secure budgeting experience without requiring bank account access. It uses an envelope system to help you track spending, manage recurring bills, and visualize where your money goes, all while keeping your data offline and on your device.
- Envelope budgeting system
- No bank account linking
- Offline functionality
- Customizable budget start date
- Bill reminders
- Recurring bill automation
- Data export and backup
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Every other budget app wants your bank password. This one just wants five seconds a day. CustomBudget is envelope budgeting with no bank linking, no account, and no cloud. You give each category an amount at the start of the month, record what you spend as you go, and always know what is left. Everything stays on your phone. WHY CUSTOMBUDGET Most budget apps start by asking for read access to your bank. CustomBudget never asks, because it never needs to. There is no sign-up, no password, no sync, and no server. Open it, budget, close it. ENVELOPES THAT MATCH YOUR REAL MONTH * Give every category an amount and watch it draw down as you spend * Money left in an envelope rolls into next month; overspending does not follow you * Set your month to start on any day from the 1st to the 28th, so your budget matches your payday instead of the calendar * Starts with 16 spending envelopes and an income category, or build your own from 29 icons and 12 colours * Retire an envelope without losing its history FAST ENTRY, HONEST MATH * A big keypad built for one-handed entry in a checkout queue * Payee, note, account and date when you want them, none of them required * Cash, checking, savings and credit accounts * Transfers between your own accounts are tracked but never counted as spending * Every amount is exact to the cent, with no floating point drift REMINDERS THAT ARRIVE * Bill reminders 1, 3 or 7 days ahead of a recurring payment, at 9am * An alert when an envelope reaches 80% and again at 100%, while you can still do something about it * A month-end nudge the day before your budget month rolls over * Every reminder is scheduled by your phone. Nothing is sent anywhere RECURRING BILLS ON AUTOPILOT * Weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly or yearly * Post automatically on the due date, or hold it for you to confirm * Catches up correctly after you have been away from the app SEE WHERE IT WENT * A spending ring that adds up to exactly what you spent, including retired envelopes * Budgeted against actual, worst overspend first * Uncategorised spending is shown, never quietly hidden PRIVACY FIRST BY DESIGN * No account and no login * No bank linking and no email scanning * No cloud, no sync, no server * No ads, no trackers, no analytics * Works completely offline, always YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS * Export a full backup to Files, iCloud Drive, email or AirDrop * Restore in one tap, with a seven-day undo if you change your mind * Delete everything permanently whenever you want * Backup and export are free forever, because it is your data BUILT TO READ WELL * Light and dark themes * 30 currencies * Money columns that line up properly instead of jittering PERFECT FOR * Anyone who wants a budget without handing over bank credentials * People paid on the 15th, or the last Friday, whose month is not the calendar month * Envelope and zero-based budgeters * Anyone who has tried a budgeting app and quit because it took too long YOUR MONEY. YOUR PHONE. NOBODY ELSE'S BUSINESS. Download it and set up your first envelope in under a minute.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: CustomBudget at 5.0 against CashEnvelope's 1.0. CustomBudget also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). CashEnvelope's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 4 weeks). On price, ratings volume 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. CashEnvelope sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per month. CustomBudget asks for nothing beyond the download.
CustomBudget holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
CashEnvelope ships an update every 10 days, CustomBudget every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CashEnvelope | CustomBudget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tabish Hassan | CustomApps LLC |
Customer experience
CashEnvelope
CustomBudget
In-app purchases
CashEnvelope
- CashEnvelope Premium Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
CustomBudget
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is CashEnvelope free?
Is CustomBudget free?
Which has better reviews, CashEnvelope or CustomBudget?
Do CashEnvelope or CustomBudget have ads?
Which is updated more often, CashEnvelope or CustomBudget?
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