Buddy vs BudgetArk
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Buddy
Manage your finances by creating budgets, tracking expenses, and viewing detailed overviews of your income and savings. Collaborate on shared budgets with friends and family, and easily settle up any shared costs.
- Budget creation and tracking
- Expense and income monitoring
- Shared budgets for groups
- Bank account transaction import
- Detailed spending overviews
- Transaction splitting and settlement
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Buddy helps you set up a budget and keep track of your expenses, either by yourself or together with your loved ones. Here’s what is waiting for you inside: BUDGETS Buddy will help you not to overspend on your well-earned salary by setting up a budget plan that fits you. Do you want a shared budget with your partner? Or keep the expenses between you and your mates fair on the vacation? No problem, just invite them and get a clear picture of who spent what. CONNECT YOUR BANK Import all transactions from your bank account into Buddy and see how your budget is doing. OVERVIEW We'll give you a beautiful & detailed overview of your spendings, income, and savings. SPLIT Split lets you know who paid what, and how to settle up. And much more for you to find. Take control of your finance today! Buddy offers a $9.99 monthly renewing and a $49.99 yearly renewing subscription to unlock Premium functionality. The purchase will be charged from your iTunes account if you choose to buy the Buddy Premium subscription. You can manage or cancel your subscription through the user settings in iTunes after the purchase. The subscription period ends with the same kind of subscription you already bought to the same price unless you turn off your subscription 24 hours before it renews. It is not possible to cancel your current subscription during the time your subscription is active. Privacy Policy: https://buddy.download/privacypolicy/ Terms & Conditions: https://buddy.download/terms-and-conditions/
BudgetArk
Manage your finances privately with this open-source app. Track debt, plan budgets, and project investments without subscriptions or sign-ups. Your financial data stays on your device.
- Debt tracking with progress insights
- Budget planning by category
- Investment projection tools
- Couples-friendly debt planning
- Avalanche and Snowball payoff strategies
- Local data storage
- Open-source with community feedback
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BudgetArk is a free, private, open-source personal finance app built for people who want control without subscriptions, ads, or account signups. Track your money in one place: - Debt tracking with progress insights - Budget planning by category - Investment projection tools - Flexible currency and locale formatting - Couples-friendly debt ownership and payoff planning Privacy first: - No sign-up required - No cloud account required - Data stored locally on your device - Export and import your data whenever you want Debt tools that help you take action: - Avalanche and Snowball payoff strategies - Separate debt types for smarter Snowball ordering - Owner tags (Mine, Partner, Joint) - Bulk debt type review tools Budgeting made practical: - Fast entry flow with month selection - Categories including Grocery, Restaurant, Tech, Giving, Retirement, and Investing - One-time helper to split older Food entries into Grocery or Restaurant Built with the community: BudgetArk is open source, and your feedback helps shape what comes next. You can suggest feature ideas and improvements through the project repository and support channels. Whether you’re paying down debt, building better habits, or planning long-term wealth, BudgetArk keeps your financial data private and your workflow simple. Issues: let me know at https://github.com/RickeyNet/BudgetArk/issues Feature requests: Suggest ideas at https://github.com/RickeyNet/BudgetArk/discussions
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: BudgetArk at 100% against Buddy's 49%. BudgetArk also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Buddy's advantage is ratings volume (9.6K vs 4) and update cadence (every 9 days vs monthly). On price, ads 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. Buddy sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. BudgetArk asks for nothing beyond the download.
BudgetArk holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Buddy has 9.6K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of Buddy's written reviews are positive against 100% of BudgetArk's.
Buddy ships an update every 9 days, BudgetArk monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Buddy | BudgetArk |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (9.6K ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 48.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 9.6K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #66 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 173 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Buddy Budgeting AB | RICKEY AUSTIN CORNETT |
Customer experience
Buddy
BudgetArk
Bugs and requests
Buddy
Reported bugs
5 issues- Recurring transactions not working as expected
- Balance not carrying over to next month
- Syncing issues between devices
- Transactions disappearing or resetting
- Inability to edit categories without creating new ones
Requested features
8 requests- Calendar view for transactions
- Bill reminders and due date tracking
- Ability to hide/exclude certain transactions
- Savings/investment tracking
- Multi-currency support
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- Ability to reorder categories
- Weekly budget view
- Ability to split transactions
BudgetArk
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Buddy
- Buddy Premium7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Buddy Premium$4.991 Month
- Premium$9.991 Month
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- Buddy Premium$9.991 Month
- Buddy Premium7 Days trial$16.991 Year
- Buddy Premium7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- Buddy Premium7 Days trial$34.991 Year
- Buddy Premium1 Year trial$34.991 Year
- Buddy Premium7 Days trial2 variants$49.991 Year
BudgetArk
No in-app purchases








