Envelope Budgeting vs Subly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Envelope Budgeting
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Fundkeep is envelope budgeting ā the zero-based method ā for iPhone, iPad and Mac. You decide what every dollar is for before you spend it, and the board tells you what is actually left. Bought once. There is no subscription, no account to create, and no bank login. GIVE EVERY DOLLAR A JOB Money arrives, you assign it to envelopes, and each envelope shows what remains. Overspend one and the app says so plainly, then carries the rest forward the way the method expects. Credit cards work properly: a card purchase moves money into that card's payment envelope, so the money is set aside the moment you spend it. YOUR BANK'S CSV, READ ON YOUR DEVICE Export a statement from your bank and Fundkeep works out the columns itself ā dates, payees, amounts, debit and credit pairs ā for the layouts the major US banks produce. Import the same file twice and nothing is duplicated. You see every row before anything is saved. If a column is read wrong, you tell it which is which ā and Fundkeep remembers the layout for next time. COMING FROM YNAB Bring your budget across in about five minutes. Fundkeep reads a YNAB export, rebuilds your categories, accounts and history, and then shows you a reconciliation report: what YNAB said each balance was, what Fundkeep makes it, and every difference it found. You check the numbers before you commit to them. IPHONE, IPAD AND MAC One purchase covers all three. Enter a spend in a few seconds from anywhere ā a widget on your home or lock screen, or a button in the Control Centre. The Mac app is a real Mac app with a menu bar and keyboard shortcuts, not a phone app in a window. REPORTS THAT STATE FACTS Where the month went, by envelope and by group. What changed against the last three months, compared like for like. Age of money. A monthly review you can save as a PDF. Every figure is a statement about your own history ā the app never tells you what to do with your money. NOTHING LEAVES YOUR DEVICE No bank connections. No servers. No analytics, no tracking, no advertising identifier. Syncing between your own devices goes through your private iCloud account, and you can switch it off. The privacy label says Data Not Collected, and it is accurate. YOUR DATA IS YOURS Export everything to CSV at any time ā including after the trial ends. An app that held your own records hostage would not be worth trusting with them. TRY IT FIRST Fundkeep is free to use for 14 days, with nothing withheld. After that it becomes read-only until you buy it: everything you entered stays visible and exportable, and entering new transactions resumes the moment you unlock it.
Subly
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Subly shows you how much you pay for subscriptions and reminds you before every charge. No bank connection and no account needed. THE ESSENTIALS ⢠Reminders before every charge and before a free trial ends, so you can cancel what you don't use in time. ⢠All your monthly spending in one number, even if you pay in several currencies (European Central Bank reference rates). ⢠Your year: what you've spent so far, what's expected through December and what your current subscriptions cost per year. ⢠A calendar with all your charges and each month's list of payments. ⢠Monthly budget with an alert if you go over it. ⢠Icons and colors for every subscription, and 100+ services suggested as you type. CANCEL WITHOUT GETTING LOST ⢠Every subscription shows how to cancel it: the service's cancellation page and your App Store subscriptions. ⢠See how much you've paid since you added it and what it costs per year. ⢠Savings simulator: mark what you don't use and see how much you'd save. SPLIT COSTS ⢠Note who you share each subscription with and how much each person owes you. ⢠Mark it as paid or send a reminder by message. ADD IN SECONDS ⢠Type the name or scan a receipt with the camera or from a screenshot. Text is recognized on your own device. ON ALL YOUR DEVICES ⢠iCloud sync. ⢠Widgets for the Home Screen and the Lock Screen. ⢠Apple Watch app with your spending and upcoming charges. PRIVACY ⢠No accounts, no bank access and no ads. ⢠Your data stays on your device and in your private iCloud. ⢠Face ID lock and export to CSV or JSON. SUBLY PRO For free you get up to 4 active subscriptions with reminders 1 day before the charge, calendar, budget, shared costs, receipt scanner and widgets. Subly Pro adds unlimited subscriptions, reminders as many days in advance as you want, iCloud sync, the Apple Watch app, "Your year" and currency conversion. ⢠Annual plan with a 1-month free trial for new subscribers. If you don't cancel before the trial ends, the annual fee is charged. ⢠Monthly and annual plans: auto-renewable subscriptions. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. They renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel them in your Apple Account settings. ⢠One-time purchase: unlocks Subly Pro forever, with no renewals. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/view/subly-app-/inicio
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Envelope Budgeting at every 5 days against Subly's every 3 weeks. Subly's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
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
Both are free to download. Envelope Budgeting sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Subly sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Envelope Budgeting ships an update every 5 days, Subly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.
| Parameter | Envelope Budgeting | Subly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days ā better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac ā better | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Armen Ter-Oganezov | Jorge Valderrama Sanchez |
In-app purchases
Envelope Budgeting
- Fundkeep Full$39.99
Subly
- Subly Monthly$0.991 Month
- Subly annual$8.991 Year









