Comparison

BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger vs Checkbook

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

Head to head
About

BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger

Read full description

Your checkbook register, kept the way you have always kept it. Write down what you spend. Tick off what the bank has cleared. Balance to the penny at the end of the month. That is the whole job of a checkbook register, and it is all this app does. THREE PROMISES No ads. Not on the free version, not after you pay, not ever, on any screen. No subscription. One payment and it is yours. Nothing renews. No account and no bank login. There is nothing to sign into, so there is nothing to be signed out of. YOUR REGISTER STAYS ON YOUR PHONE Everything you enter is stored on your own iPhone. It works with no internet connection at all, on a plane or out of signal. Your register is never sent to us and never sold to anyone. A copy leaves your phone only in ways you control. If iCloud Backup is switched on, your register is included in it, so it comes back when you set up a new phone. That copy sits in your own Apple account, not ours, and you turn it on or off in Settings. The app never shows you a permission prompt. It does not ask for your contacts, your location, your photos or your camera. WHAT IT DOES - Multiple accounts: checking, savings, credit, cash, each with its own running balance - Fast entry: date, payee, amount, check number, category, memo. Repeat entries take seconds, and check numbers advance on their own. - A proper register list with a running balance on every single line - Reconcile mode: enter the statement date and ending balance, tick off what cleared, and watch the difference count down to 0.00 - Scheduled and recurring entries: weekly, every two or four weeks, monthly, twice a year or yearly, or on a set weekday, like the second Wednesday of the month. They show up as scheduled and only affect your projected balance until you post them. Nothing is ever posted behind your back. - Transfers between your own accounts, entered once and mirrored on both sides - Search by payee, memo, amount or check number, with filters for what is outstanding, what cleared, and what is scheduled - Categories, both the presets and your own - Totals by category for a month, three months or a year, with the exact figures printed beside the chart. Scheduled bills are not counted until you post them. - Bring your history in from a CSV file, with a column mapper for spreadsheet users - Print or save a PDF of your register or of those category totals, or export a CSV of any account BACKUPS, BECAUSE THAT IS THE PART THAT MATTERS The app backs itself up on its own, every day you open it, and gives you a Restore screen to go back to any copy it has kept. You can also send a copy out of the app, so deleting the app does not reach it. Pick a folder and every copy after that goes there too. If you are signed in to iCloud with iCloud Drive turned on, the app also keeps a BalanceWright folder there by itself, and you can open it in the Files app. If you are not signed in, the Backup screen says so rather than claiming a copy it did not make. Your data is never held hostage. Export and backup keep working whether you have paid or not. TRY THE WHOLE THING FIRST Everything works from the moment you install it. Nothing is crippled, grayed out or hidden to push you into paying. The app asks for payment only after you have closed your first statement, so you decide once you have watched it do the exact thing you came for. If you never reconcile, a generous entry limit applies instead. BIG, PLAIN TYPE Built to be read. Large numbers, strong contrast, plain words, no jargon. WHAT IT WILL NEVER DO No bank connection. No budgets, no spending advice, no AI. No ads, no subscription. If a feature would need your register sent to us, it is not going in. ANSWERED BY A REAL PERSON Every review here is read and answered. The support address on this page reaches someone who can actually fix things. Written for anyone who keeps a check register or a checkbook ledger by hand, and wants the same habit on a phone.

About

Checkbook

Features
Read full description

Your checkbook. Your everyday spending, clearly. Record income and expenses, check your recorded balance and see where your money goes. Add entries manually, without a bank login. Your register works offline. RECORD IN SECONDS • Add expenses, income, refunds and transfers. • Include a payee, category and date, with an optional note or check number. • Search, filter and mark entries cleared. KEEP YOUR REGISTER CLEAR • Compare recorded and cleared balances. • Reconcile against your bank statement and see the difference. • Organize checking, savings, cash and credit card accounts. SEE YOUR SPENDING • Explore category charts, trends and cash flow. • Focus on one account or choose a report range. • Set category budgets with Checkbook Plus. PLAN BILLS WITH PLUS • Schedule recurring bills and income. • Repeat weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly or yearly. • Enable reminders and choose whether due entries record automatically. YOUR DATA, YOUR CHOICES • Use your ledger locally or choose Sync & Sharing. Shared ledger data is stored on our sync service when sharing is enabled. • Turn optional usage analytics off in Settings. Financial amounts, payees and notes are not sent in analytics. • Protect the app with Face ID. • Export or import a full backup, and use CSV import and export. • Choose light or dark mode. The app initially follows your device language. WHAT IS INCLUDED One active account, unlimited entries, reconciliation, backups and CSV tools are free. Reports for today, the last seven days and the current month are included. No ads. CHECKBOOK PLUS An optional purchase adds unlimited accounts, budgets, recurring payments, bill reminders and more report ranges, including all time. Monthly and yearly subscriptions and a one-time purchase are available. Prices, billing periods and any eligible trial offer are shown in the app before you buy. The one-time purchase does not renew. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel subscriptions in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://grey-entree-512.notion.site/Checkbook-Privacy-3d74abc1b144800caa1ae2ca8024c6db Terms of Use: https://grey-entree-512.notion.site/Checkbook-Terms-3d74abc1b14480aa84a2cacf6aa08cb9 Apple EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger4 screens
Checkbook4 screens

Verdict

The call

BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger and Checkbook are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Checkbook sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger ships an update fortnightly, Checkbook every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger versus Checkbook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBalanceWright Checkbook LedgerCheckbook
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFarrukh AmeenHaresh Lakhwani

In-app purchases

1 purchases

BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger

One-time1
  • Own Your Register$9.99
5 purchases

Checkbook

Subscriptions4
  • Checkbook Plus Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Checkbook Plus Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Checkbook Plus Yearly3 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Checkbook Plus Yearly3 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Checkbook Plus Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger free?
BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Checkbook free?
Checkbook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger or Checkbook have ads?
Neither BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger nor Checkbook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger or Checkbook?
BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger ships an update fortnightly, and Checkbook every 10 days. Most recently, BalanceWright Checkbook Ledger was updated on October 11, 2026 and Checkbook on October 25, 2026.

Other comparisons