Penni vs Basic Budget
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Penni
Manage your finances with a calm, beautifully simple approach. Track spending, set gentle budgets, and grow savings without spreadsheets or account creation. Your data stays private on your device and synced via iCloud.
- Private by design, no sign-up required
- Track expenses and income
- Set gentle budgets
- Manage savings goals
- Financial health score
- Home and Lock Screen widgets
- iCloud sync and backup
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Penni is a calmer way to manage your money. Track what you spend, set gentle budgets, and watch your savings grow — in an app that feels warm, unhurried, and beautifully simple. No spreadsheets, no clutter, and no account to create. Just open Penni and start. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No sign-up, no login, no account. Ever. • Your data is stored on your device and synced privately through your own iCloud — it never touches our servers, because we don't have any. • Lock the app behind Face ID or Touch ID for an extra layer of privacy. SEE YOUR MONEY AT A GLANCE • A clean home dashboard with your total balance, income, and spending for the month. • Beautiful wallet cards for cash, bank accounts, cards, savings, and more. • A simple financial-health score that tells you how you're doing. TRACK EVERY TRANSACTION • Log expenses and income in seconds. • Organize with tidy, colorful categories and per-day grouping. • Search and filter by date range to find anything fast. BUDGETS THAT GUIDE YOU • Set gentle limits for the categories you care about. • Always know exactly where you stand — without the guilt. REACH YOUR GOALS • Save for an emergency fund, a new phone, or a dream trip. • Watch each goal fill up as you set money aside. INSIGHTS • Spending trends and category breakdowns that actually make sense. WORKS WHERE YOU DO • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets keep your balance and budgets a glance away. • A Live Activity keeps an eye on your budget while you spend. ICLOUD SYNC & BACKUP • Turn on iCloud Sync and your wallets, transactions, budgets, and goals stay up to date across your iPhone and iPad automatically — and are safely backed up to your iCloud account. Penni is a personal bookkeeping tool to help you understand your own money. It does not connect to your bank, move money, or give financial advice. — PENNI PRO Penni is free to use. Penni Pro unlocks everything: unlimited wallets, unlimited budgets and goals, unlimited transactions, iCloud sync, dark mode, advanced insights, and custom categories. • Penni Pro Monthly — $3.99 / month • Penni Pro (3 Months) — $9.99 / 3 months • Penni Pro Yearly — $29.99 / year Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription renews automatically for the same price and duration 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 Apple Account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial, if offered, is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://penni.cc/privacy
Basic Budget
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Basic Budget is a simple, private expense tracker that helps you stay on top of your spending — without accounts, ads, or your data ever leaving your phone. Everything works completely offline. Open the app, log what you spent, and instantly see how much you have left in each budget. No sign-up, no sync, no tracking. WHY BASIC BUDGET - 100% offline — your financial data stays on your device, always - No account required — start tracking in seconds - No ads, no analytics, no data collection - Fast, clean and easy to use every day TRACK YOUR SPENDING - Log expenses in seconds with amount, category and notes - Organise spending with categories and subcategories - See exactly how much you've spent and what's left BUDGETS THAT MAKE SENSE - Set a budget for each category - Watch your remaining balance update as you spend - Clear at-a-glance status so you always know where you stand SEE YOUR HISTORY - Review spending by day, week or month - Spending-over-time chart across your whole history - Category breakdowns to spot where your money goes OWN YOUR DATA - Export your transactions to CSV any time - Import transactions from CSV — categories are created for you automatically - Your data is yours: no cloud lock-in FREE TO USE Basic Budget is free. An optional one-time lifetime unlock adds premium features — pay once, own it forever. No subscriptions, ever. Made for people who just want a straightforward way to track spending and stick to a budget: private, offline and simple.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Basic Budget at none against Penni's 3. Basic Budget also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Penni sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Basic Budget asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Penni | Basic Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 51 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | OTHMANE MDIDET | Border networks Pte ltd |
In-app purchases
Penni
- Monthly$3.991 Month
- 3 Months$9.993 Months
- Yearly$29.991 Year
Basic Budget
No in-app purchases









