# Bills Manager vs $5 Bill Helper

The clearest difference is ads: $5 Bill Helper at none against Bills Manager's shown. $5 Bill Helper also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Bills Manager's advantage is ratings volume (8.1K vs 13) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Bills Manager sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and $5 Bill Helper sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 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 — 4.8 for Bills Manager against 4.7 for $5 Bill Helper. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bills Manager has 8.1K ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Bills Manager's written reviews are positive against 89% of $5 Bill Helper's.

Bills Manager ships an update every 3 weeks, $5 Bill Helper every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Bills Manager | $5 Bill Helper |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (8.1K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bills-manager/id834370671/reviews)** | [4.7 (13 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/5-bill-helper/id1621002428/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **8.1K** | 13 |
| Positive reviews | 85.4% of reviews | **88.9% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | **Every 3 weeks** | Every 6 weeks |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 16 MB | 70 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | **13.0** |
| Devices | iPhone | **iPhone, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jose Fabian Pena](https://appshunter.io/developer/824000829) | [Five Dollar Bill Helper LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1621002430) |

## What reviewers say

### Bills Manager

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bills-manager/id834370671)

Easily track your bills and avoid late fees with this intuitive app. It offers a clean interface for managing payments, viewing upcoming due dates, and receiving customizable notifications. All your data is stored locally on your device for privacy.

**Highlights:** Monthly bill list, Calendar view, Past due and upcoming bills overview, Recurring bills management, Customizable notifications, Attach photos to bills, Backup and restore via Dropbox

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remove ads | $5.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🚀 Helps stay organized and on top of bills
- 💡 Customizable categories and views
- 🔒 Doesn't require bank account connections
- 🎨 Clean and intuitive interface

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Notification issues (not working or inconsistent)
- 💡 Lack of option to mark bills as partially paid
- 💡 No way to track when payments clear bank account
- 💡 Limited customization options (e.g. colors, layouts)
- 🐛 Data loss when switching devices or reinstalling

**Reported bugs**

- Recurring bills automatically turning off
- Paid bills getting unmarked after app use
- Crashes when marking bills as paid

**Requested features**

- Option to set bills with no end date
- Ability to track paydays and link them to bills
- Export/import functionality for bill data
- Customizable notification settings
- Integration with mobile banking apps


### $5 Bill Helper

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/5-bill-helper/id1621002428)

This app helps you manage your finances by splitting bills and spending over a 4-6 week period. It offers an at-a-glance view of current and future expenses, with options to manually enter data or link your bank account for seamless tracking.

**Highlights:** Bill splitting and spending management, 4-6 week financial planning, At-a-glance bill and spending overview, Manual data entry, Bank account linking via Plaid, Pending and cleared bill status

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| $5 Bill Helper Basic Plan | $4.99 | per month |
| $5 Bill Helper Gold Plan | $49.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Bills Manager free?

Bills Manager is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is $5 Bill Helper free?

$5 Bill Helper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Bills Manager or $5 Bill Helper?

Bills Manager is rated higher. Bills Manager averages 4.8 out of 5 from 8.1K ratings, while $5 Bill Helper averages 4.7 from 13 ratings.

### Do Bills Manager or $5 Bill Helper have ads?

Bills Manager shows ads; $5 Bill Helper does not.

### Which is updated more often, Bills Manager or $5 Bill Helper?

Bills Manager ships an update every 3 weeks, and $5 Bill Helper every 6 weeks. Most recently, Bills Manager was updated on November 1, 2026 and $5 Bill Helper on October 10, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*