Comparison

Trace vs Budget Projects

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Trace

This app helps you manage your daily spending to achieve monthly financial goals. It offers a simple way to create budgets, track expenses, and understand your available spending money each day. Focus on today's habits to build effective personal finance.

Highlights
  • Daily spending tracking
  • Monthly financial goal setting
  • Simple budget creation
  • Expense and income tracking
  • Automatic transaction clearing
Features
Read full description

Trace helps you understand your money—not manage a budget. Instead of asking you to categorize every purchase or stay within spending limits, Trace automatically analyzes your financial activity and reveals the story behind your money. Securely connect your accounts to see income, spending, balances, recurring payments, and financial trends in one beautifully designed experience. Every transaction includes context, every trend has a comparison, and every month tells a clearer story. Built for professionals who value precision over spreadsheets and insights over notifications, Trace surfaces the information that actually matters. Features Financial Intelligence See where your money is going without creating budgets Compare spending month-over-month Understand what changed and why Identify meaningful financial trends automatically Complete Account Overview View all connected accounts in one place Monitor balances across institutions Track cash flow over time Secure bank connectivity powered by Plaid Transaction Transparency Rich transaction details on every purchase Merchant information and categorized spending Compare transactions against previous periods Instantly understand spending patterns Recurring Income & Expenses Automatically detect subscriptions and recurring payments Track recurring income Monitor upcoming financial commitments Spot changes in recurring charges Smart Notifications Stay informed about important account activity Receive meaningful financial insights—not noise Get notified when spending trends shift Surface unusual changes automatically Designed for Clarity Trace isn't about telling you to spend less. It's about giving you complete visibility into your finances so every dollar has context. Know where your money went. Understand what's changing. Make decisions with confidence. Please see below for our user agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Budget Projects

This app helps you manage your finances by creating income and expense budgets. Track your spending against these budgets to gain control and save money. Visualize your financial habits with detailed reports and charts.

Highlights
  • Create unlimited budgets
  • Recurring budget options
  • Progress bar for budget tracking
  • Detailed financial reports and charts
  • Customizable categories
  • Transaction search and export
  • Passcode and Touch ID protection
Features
Read full description

Stop asking the question that where my money went, and why there is no money left in my wallet. Budget Projects keeps your money well managed and spent. By Budget Projects, you can create income and expense budgets, which indicate how much money you plan to spend or get, then when you have transactions under that budget, add them into it. When there is less money to spend under a budget, you will automatically control spending. This app helps controlling yourself spending money randomly and keeping your money well organized. After using it for a while, you will be surprised how much money you will save. Key Features: ⁃ Create unlimited budgets with recurring or not. ⁃ Recurring budgets by single or multiple cycles of daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. ⁃ Progress bar to show used amount VS budget amount. ⁃ Over roll amount to next cycles or not. ⁃ Custom order of added budgets. ⁃ Add recurring transactions. ⁃ Editable default categories and you can add your own. ⁃ Pie chart reports to show income, expense and savings. ⁃ Cycle pie chart reports to show percentage and amount of each budget. ⁃ Chart report to show cash flow tendency. ⁃ Search transactions by their name, type amount or note. ⁃ Hide Expired Budgets or not. ⁃ Air print support. ⁃ iCloud backup and restore. ⁃ Dropbox backup and restore. ⁃ Passcode protection. ⁃ Supports Touch ID as passcode. ⁃ Custom week and month start day. ⁃ Create unlimited reminders. ⁃ Export data in form of CSV, HTML or PDF. ⁃ Adds 3D Touch function. ⁃ Supports Apple Watch. ⁃ Supports universal version (available on both iPhone and iPad). If you have any question or suggestion, please email to linklinksapp@tom.com.

Screenshots

Trace4 screens
Budget Projects4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Trace at none against Budget Projects's shown. Trace also leads on update cadence (every 8 days vs every 6 months) and review sentiment (83% vs 62%). Budget Projects's advantage is ratings volume (80 vs 18) and device support (4 vs 1). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Trace sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Budget Projects sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 6 months. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Trace holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 80 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Trace's written reviews are positive against 62% of Budget Projects's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Trace ships an update every 8 days, Budget Projects every 6 months. Both last shipped on October 21, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Trace versus Budget Projects: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTraceBudget Projects
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (18 ratings) — better4.3 (80 ratings)
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews — better62.4% of reviews
Number of ratings1880 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.016
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStackchief LLCLINKLINKS LTD

Customer experience

Trace

All ratings18 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral5.6%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral5.6%
Negative11.1%

Budget Projects

All ratings80 ratings
Positive85.0%
Neutral2.5%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews117 reviews
Positive62.4%
Neutral7.7%
Negative29.9%

Bugs and requests

Trace

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Budget Projects

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • App crashes when creating budgets
  • Recurring costs not deducted from associated budgets
  • Date field defaults to January instead of current date
  • Ads appearing in center of screen and not closeable
  • Data erased after app updates
Show 5 more
  • App freezes or becomes unresponsive
  • Transactions showing as 'earned' instead of 'spent'
  • Incompatibility with iOS 15 and later
  • Unexpected charges for in-app purchases
  • Budgets disappearing without explanation

Requested features

11 requests
  • In-app tutorial or contextual help menu
  • Automatic transaction entry from bank accounts
  • Biweekly recurring payment option
  • Default time setting for all transactions
  • Monthly calendar view of expenses
Show 6 more
  • Ability to change budget cycle date
  • Zero-dollar budget groups for tracking unexpected expenses
  • Better UI/UX design and layout improvements
  • Easier decimal entry without calculator
  • Multi-month or year-long budget tracking
  • Improved customer support responsiveness

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Trace

Subscriptions2
  • Daily Budget Pro14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Trace - Money Tracking14 Days trial$49.991 Year
3 purchases

Budget Projects

Subscriptions1
  • Premium - 6 months$1.996 Months
One-time2
  • Remove Ads Forever$9.99
  • Unlimited Transactions$11.99

Questions

Is Trace free?
Trace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Budget Projects free?
Budget Projects is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Trace or Budget Projects?
Trace is rated higher. Trace averages 4.4 out of 5 from 18 ratings, while Budget Projects averages 4.3 from 80 ratings.
Do Trace or Budget Projects have ads?
Budget Projects shows ads; Trace does not.
Which is updated more often, Trace or Budget Projects?
Trace ships an update every 8 days, and Budget Projects every 6 months. Most recently, Trace was updated on October 21, 2026 and Budget Projects on October 21, 2026.

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