Comparison

Shared Budget vs Pennies Plus

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

Head to head
About

Shared Budget

Manage household finances with a group. Track income, expenses, budgets, and debts with clear charts and recurring transaction features. Ideal for couples, roommates, or families.

Highlights
  • Shared group creation and member invitation
  • Quick income and expense logging
  • Category spending visualization
  • Monthly budget envelopes
  • Debt tracking
  • Recurring transaction setup
  • Shared task management
Features
Read full description

Shared Budget is a simple money management app for people living together. Whether you are a couple, roommates, or a family, Shared Budget helps everyone stay aligned on income, spending, and monthly goals. What you can do: Create a shared group and invite members with a code Add income and expenses in seconds See category spending with clear charts Set monthly budget envelopes and track overspending Track who owes whom with debt records Create recurring transactions for bills and routine payments Manage shared tasks and monthly to-dos View group activity history for full transparency Why Shared Budget: Clean, mobile-first experience (no complex spreadsheets) Built for shared household finances Fast daily tracking with clear monthly visibility Premium unlocks unlimited transactions, envelopes, and members Start today and always know where your money goes. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Pennies Plus

This app simplifies household budgeting by allowing users to share budgets with family or housemates. It provides real-time updates on spending, helps users understand how much they can spend daily, and offers flexible budget creation. It's designed for easy use and collaborative financial management.

Highlights
  • Share budgets with household members
  • Real-time spending updates
  • Daily spending guidance
  • Flexible budget creation (weekly, monthly, custom)
  • Home screen widgets for quick access
  • Multi-currency support
  • Transfer funds between budgets
Features
Read full description

Pennies+ is the next generation of Pennies, the award-winning budgeting app loved by everyday people worldwide. Everything that made Pennies famous, made simple enough for your whole household: now you can share budgets with the people you share money with. ••• SHARE BUDGETS WITH YOUR HOUSEHOLD ••• Money is a team sport. Invite your partner, family or flatmates into a budget and everyone adds their spending to the same pot. Everyone sees the same numbers, updated live, so there are no surprises at the end of the month. > ONE PLAN COVERS EVERYONE One household plan covers your whole budget. You subscribe, then invite up to 6 people to each budget, and they join free. No one else needs to pay a thing. > INVITES MADE EASY Send an invite by email. One tap on the link (or a simple code) and they're in your budget, adding expenses in seconds. ••• MAIN FEATURES ••• > HELPS YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TO SPEND Pennies+ does the hard work for you by telling you how much you have to spend today. Spend less? No worries, there's more to spend tomorrow. > HELPS YOU SAVE MONEY Should you spend or should you save? Pennies+ shows your spending health with bold colors, helping you slow down or speed up to stay on track. > BUDGETS THAT FIT YOUR LIFE Weekly, bi-weekly, twice-monthly, monthly, custom and one-off budgets, starting on any day you want. Create budgets that work perfectly with your lifestyle, and set up as many as you need. > YOUR BUDGETS ON ANY IPHONE Sign in with Apple or Google and your budgets follow you. New phone? Sign in and everything is right there, always backed up and always in sync for everyone in your budget. > YOUR BUDGETS ON THE HOME SCREEN Add a widget in three sizes and see one or more budgets at a glance, today or this period. Spend, receive and transfer in one tap from the Home Screen. > MOVING FROM PENNIES? Bring your budgets with you. Pennies+ imports your budgets and history from the original Pennies app in one tap. > FLEXIBLE EXPENSES Sometimes we forget when we spend, and that's OK. Add and edit expenses on previous dates and periods, and your spending money today is always up to date. > MULTIPLE CURRENCIES Use any currency in the world for individual budgets. > TRANSFER BETWEEN BUDGETS Easily move money between budgets with a single tap. > SUPER SIMPLE, SUPER QUICK Made a purchase? Sweet, just add it in. No tags, no charts, no complex breakdowns. Just the amount of money you have to spend, for you and your household. Budgeting shouldn't be hard work, boring, or a solo job. Pennies+ is friendly, bold and unbelievably easy to use, for you and everyone you share money with. Keep things easy, spend what you want, and save money together at the end of the month. ••• PENNIES+ HOUSEHOLD PLAN ••• Creating and owning budgets requires the Household Plan, an auto-renewable subscription with monthly and yearly options and a free trial for new subscribers. One plan covers every budget you own, and the people you invite join free (up to 6 members per budget). Prices are always shown in the app before you subscribe. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://theappshop.io/privacy Start budgeting together today with Pennies+! If you enjoy using Pennies+ please rate the app! If you have any feature requests we'd love to hear them. Check out Pennies in action: http://www.getpennies.com Contact us: hello@getpennies.com

Screenshots

Shared Budget4 screens
Pennies Plus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Shared Budget at 100% against Pennies Plus's 33%. Shared Budget also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.7) and monetization model (freemium vs subscription). Pennies Plus's advantage is ratings volume (3 vs 1). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Shared Budget sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Pennies Plus sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shared Budget holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Shared Budget's written reviews are positive against 33% of Pennies Plus's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shared Budget ships an update every 2 days, Pennies Plus every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Shared Budget versus Pennies Plus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShared BudgetPennies Plus
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better3.7 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings13 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB60 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRuby Game Studio LLCThe App Shop, Inc.

Customer experience

Shared Budget

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Pennies Plus

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral66.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Shared Budget

Subscriptions2
  • Shared Budget Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Shared Budget Premium$39.991 Year
11 purchases

Pennies Plus

Subscriptions10
  • Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Annual1 Year trial$19.991 Year
  • Annual7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Annual1 Year trial$29.991 Year
  • Annual7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Annual1 Year trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Shared Budget free?
Shared Budget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pennies Plus free?
Pennies Plus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Shared Budget or Pennies Plus?
Shared Budget is rated higher. Shared Budget averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Pennies Plus averages 3.7 from 3 ratings.
Do Shared Budget or Pennies Plus have ads?
Neither Shared Budget nor Pennies Plus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shared Budget or Pennies Plus?
Shared Budget ships an update every 2 days, and Pennies Plus every 10 days. Most recently, Shared Budget was updated on October 10, 2026 and Pennies Plus on October 29, 2026.

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