Checkbook vs Simple Budget
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Checkbook
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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/
Simple Budget
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Simple Budget is the calm, private way to see where your money goes and plan where it should go next. Add your accounts, set a monthly budget, and Simple Budget does the rest: it sorts every transaction, tracks each category against its budget, spots your bills and subscriptions, and shows how your net worth grows over time. Everything stays on your devices and syncs through your own iCloud. There's no sign-up, no ads and no tracking. BUDGETS THAT KEEP UP WITH YOU • Set a monthly budget for each category and watch your progress at a glance • Roll unspent money into next month for irregular costs like travel, gifts or car repairs • Split a single purchase across several categories • Get a gentle alert when a category nears or passes its budget, even when the app is closed EVERY ACCOUNT IN ONE PLACE • Checking, savings, credit cards, loans, mortgages, cash, investments and property • On iPad, a sortable transaction table with running balances • Bring in Apple Card, Apple Cash and Savings straight from Apple Wallet, going back as far as you choose • Add transactions by hand, import a CSV from your bank, or import automatically from your own SimpleFIN Bridge account • Overlapping CSV imports skip duplicates, and Find Duplicates merges any that slip through • Messy bank descriptions become clean payee names, and Simple Budget remembers each payee's category • Create rules to rename and categorize payees automatically • Mark transfers between accounts so they never count as spending • Reconcile accounts with your statements, down to the penny • Edit many transactions at once SEE EXACTLY WHERE IT WENT • Monthly and yearly reports of spending and income by category or by payee, with clear, interactive charts • Tap any category to see the transactions behind it • Cash flow: income vs. spending and your savings rate, month by month • Export any report as a PDF with its charts, or as a CSV spreadsheet NEVER MISS A BILL • Recurring bills, subscriptions and paychecks are detected automatically • See what's due in the next 30 days and what your subscriptions cost per year SET GOALS AND HIT THEM • Give any account a target and a date, like $25,000 saved by next summer or a card paid off by June • See where your current pace leads and exactly how much more each month gets you there WATCH YOUR NET WORTH GROW • A Net Worth screen with your total, how it's changed, what you own and owe, and where you're heading • Track investment holdings, allocation and gains, with optional live prices using your own free Twelve Data key • Track your home's value and see your equity against your mortgage • See your mortgage payoff date, interest paid, what extra payments would save, and when mortgage insurance can come off RECEIPTS, SCANNED • Scan a paper receipt with your camera or attach a photo or PDF to any transaction ASK YOUR BUDGET • Ask questions in plain English, like "How much did I spend on dining this month?", answered on device by Apple Intelligence • Ask Siri what's left in your budget or what you spent at a store, or add a transaction hands-free WIDGETS • Left to spend, upcoming bills, net worth and goals on your Home Screen and Lock Screen PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Your data lives on your devices and in your own private iCloud database • No account to create, and the developer never sees your information • Automatic sync between iPhone, iPad and Mac (your bank connection and preferences too), plus backups you control FREE TO TRY Simple Budget is free to download and use with up to 10 transactions per account. A one-time purchase of Simple Budget Unlimited removes the limit on all your devices, with no subscription. Notes: Asking questions requires a device that supports Apple Intelligence. Apple Wallet import works on iPhone where Apple Card, Apple Cash or Savings are available. Importing from SimpleFIN Bridge requires your own SimpleFIN Bridge account, a separate service. Live stock prices require your own Twelve Data API key.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Simple Budget at every 4 days against Checkbook's every 10 days. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Checkbook sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Simple Budget sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Checkbook ships an update every 10 days, Simple Budget every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Checkbook | Simple Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 2.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | Haresh Lakhwani | Ryan Egli |
In-app purchases
Checkbook
- Checkbook Plus Monthly$2.991 Month
- Checkbook Plus Monthly$4.991 Month
- Checkbook Plus Yearly3 Days trial$19.991 Year
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- Checkbook Plus Yearly3 Days trial$24.991 Year
- Checkbook Plus Lifetime$39.99
Simple Budget
- Simple Budget Unlimited$4.99









