Duefolio vs Scary Budget
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Duefolio
Track all your recurring payments and subscriptions in one place. Monitor renewal dates, billing cycles, and spending history. Receive reminders to avoid unexpected charges and gain a clear overview of your financial commitments.
- Track subscriptions and renewals
- Monitor billing cycles and price history
- Set reminders for upcoming charges
- Analyze recurring income and expenses
- Import and export ledger data
- On-device ledger analysis with Folio
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Manage every subscription on one clear timeline: what renews, what it costs, and what's ending. No bank login and no account. Your ledger stays on your iPhone. Get a reminder before each renewal, see monthly and yearly costs, and, with Pro, find recurring charges in a bank statement. TRACK WHAT RENEWS • Add from a built-in catalog of popular services • See upcoming charges and renewal dates • Record price changes and review spending history • Use reminders so renewals do not catch you off guard UNDERSTAND THE LEDGER • Review monthly and annual recurring costs • Track income alongside recurring expenses • Import and export your Duefolio ledger with JSON or CSV • Review compatible bank-statement CSV files for recurring-charge candidates PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your subscription and income records stay on your device. Folio, the optional on-device ledger analyst on compatible devices, processes questions locally after a one-time language-model download. Folio provides ledger analysis, not financial, tax, or investment advice. DUEFOLIO PRO — ONE PURCHASE Unlock custom subscriptions, bank-statement review, income and profit & loss, category composition, the Home Screen widget, and alternate app icons with one non-consumable lifetime purchase. No subscription and no renewal. Highlighted in MacStories Weekly. Duefolio is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any services displayed in the app. All third-party trademarks belong to their respective owners. Privacy Policy: https://www.cynq.ventures/duefolio/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ PURCHASE DISCLOSURE Duefolio Pro is a one-time, non-consumable lifetime purchase. It is not a subscription and does not renew. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation. You can restore the purchase on devices signed in to the same Apple Account. U.S. price: $14.99. Prices may vary by country or region.
Scary Budget
This app helps you manage your personal finances by creating a cash-flow model that connects your account balance with your upcoming expenses. It forecasts your daily checking balance, tracks bills, subscriptions, and payments, and allows you to reconcile expected activity with actual bank transactions.
- Daily checking balance forecast
- Model recurring bills and income
- Reconcile expected vs. actual transactions
- Track credit card balances and APR
- Analyze spending by category and merchant
- Optional connected-inbox receipt search
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Money gets hard to manage when the balance in your account and the life on your calendar stop feeling connected. Scary Budget connects them. It turns the money you have, the money coming in, and the commitments ahead of you into a working cash-flow model for your personal life. What can my money support? That is the question Scary Budget is built around. Add income, bills, subscriptions, transfers, card payments, payment plans, and one-time expenses. Scary Budget turns them into a daily checking forecast, then helps reconcile that forecast against posted activity. One month becomes a reusable model for the weeks ahead. You can inspect each source, correct it, and see how changes flow through the forecast, credit views, and insights. This is the kind of thinking people use to run something with care. Know what is committed. Know what is flexible. Know where the pressure points are before the decision arrives. WHAT SCARY BUDGET MODELS • Checking balance by day See when money comes in, when money leaves, and where the tight days land. • A plan with real timing Model recurring bills, paychecks, transfers, subscriptions, credit card payments, payment plans, one-time expenses, variable amounts, and end dates. • Reconciliation against reality Compare posted bank activity with what you expected. Confirm matches, correct dates or amounts, archive what happened, and keep the forecast current. • Judgment that stays with you Bank data is evidence. Your judgment remains the source of truth. Review the plan, correct the source, and keep the model yours. • Context for unclear charges Optional connected-inbox search can help find the receipt, item, order, service, subscription, or installment behind a confusing bank description. • Credit decisions connected to cash Track card balances, limits, utilization, APR, minimum payments, and payoff strategies alongside the checking forecast those payments affect. • Insights from the same model Explore spending by category, merchant, and month. BUILT FOR REAL FINANCIAL LIFE Scary Budget supports the questions that come up when timing matters. What can I support before payday? What is my lowest balance this month? Can I move this bill? Can I make an extra card payment? What changed since I made the plan? What was that charge? Your spending choices stay yours. Discretionary spending can stay discretionary. Net worth stays optional. Bank connection stays optional. FREE MANUAL MODE Scary Budget works without a bank connection. Manual planning, CSV import, forecasting, reconciliation, credit tools, insights, and export are free to use. OPTIONAL SCARY BUDGET+ Scary Budget+ adds live bank sync and connected-inbox search through a paid subscription. Bank sync reduces repetitive work. It does not replace the plan, and it is not required to understand your money. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your saved financial plan is encrypted on your device before it is stored. Scary Budget does not sell your personal or financial information and does not show ads. Bank connections are read-only. Connected-inbox search is optional. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS Scary Budget+ is available as a monthly or annual auto renewing subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage them in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: scarybudget.com/privacy Terms of Service: scarybudget.com/terms How Scary Budget protects your data: scarybudget.com/security Learn more at scarybudget.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Scary Budget at 4 against Duefolio's 1. Scary Budget also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Duefolio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Scary Budget sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Duefolio against 5.0 for Scary Budget. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively.
| Parameter | Duefolio | Scary Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 98 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | cynq ventures | Scary Budget LLC |
Customer experience
Duefolio
Scary Budget
In-app purchases
Duefolio
- Duefolio Pro Lifetime$14.99
Scary Budget
- Monthly1 Month trial$2.991 Month
- Annual$29.991 Year









