Envelope Budgeting vs Spendra
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.
Spendra
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Make everyday spending easier to see and easier to plan. Spendra is a focused expense tracker for recording purchases, setting a monthly budget and understanding where your money goes ā across iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Free, always: ⢠Add, edit, duplicate and delete unlimited expenses. ⢠Organise records with categories, accounts, tags and notes. ⢠See a clear Spending summary and searchable history with useful filters. ⢠Set an overall monthly budget and configure reminders. ⢠Protect access with Face ID or other device authentication. ⢠Create and restore versioned JSON backups, and delete your data at any time. Spendra Pro is an optional monthly, annual or lifetime upgrade that unlocks: ⢠Unlimited receipt scanning with Apple Vision; three useful scans are complimentary. ⢠Full Insights with weekly, monthly and yearly periods, comparisons, charts and category drill-down. ⢠Recurring-expense automation, subscription detection, price-change insights and renewal reminders. ⢠CSV export. ⢠Quick add with Siri and App Intents, from the Mac menu bar, and on Apple Watch. Pricing and any eligible introductory offer are shown in the app before purchase. Restore Purchases is available from the paywall and Settings. If Pro lapses, existing data is never deleted, hidden or made unreadable. Records sync through a private iCloud database. Apple Watch entries transfer to the paired iPhone through WatchConnectivity and then sync; availability depends on pairing and connection. Preferences remain device-local. Choose from the full ISO currency list. Spendra reports each currency separately and does not convert currencies or provide exchange rates. Spendra requires no separate account, does not connect to banks and does not provide financial advice. Camera, device authentication, notifications, Siri, exports and WatchConnectivity depend on device capabilities, permissions and system support. Terms of Use: https://nsdsrinivas.github.io/apps/spendra/index.html#terms-of-use
Screenshots
Verdict
Envelope Budgeting and Spendra are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters ā price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them ā 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
Both are free to download. Envelope Budgeting sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Spendra sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Envelope Budgeting | Spendra |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | ā |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch ā better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Armen Ter-Oganezov | Srinivas Naathireddy |
In-app purchases
Envelope Budgeting
- Fundkeep Full$39.99
Spendra
- Spendra Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
- Spendra Pro Annual$19.991 Year
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$2.99
- Large Tip$4.99
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- Spendra Pro Lifetime$49.99
Questions
Is Envelope Budgeting free?
Is Spendra free?
Do Envelope Budgeting or Spendra have ads?
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