Comparison

Buddy vs Expense Tracker Simple

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

Head to head
About

Buddy

This app helps you create and manage personal or shared budgets. Track expenses, connect your bank account for automatic transaction import, and gain a clear overview of your spending, income, and savings. It also features tools to split costs and settle up with others.

Highlights
  • Create personal budgets
  • Shared budgeting for couples/groups
  • Connect bank accounts for transaction import
  • Detailed spending and income overview
  • Expense splitting and settlement tracking
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

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/

About

Expense Tracker Simple

This app offers a straightforward way to track your expenses without requiring an account or subscription. Log spending quickly with custom categories and view your financial habits through charts and historical data.

Highlights
  • Log expenses with amount, category, date, and note
  • 10 built-in categories
  • Up to 15 custom categories
  • Monthly history browsing
  • Pie chart spending breakdown
  • Analytics section for insights
  • Yearly spending view
Features
Read full description

Most expense apps forgot what "simple" means. This one never did. Expense Tracker Simple is the app for people who just want to log what they spent, and nothing else. No setup. No account. No subscription. No tutorial. You open it, you log, you're done. Free. Forever. No catch. Not free for 7 days. Not free with a 5-expense limit. Not free until you "upgrade to Pro." Every single feature in this app, expense logging, monthly history, pie charts, custom categories, is yours forever, from the moment you download it. No credit card. No subscription. No expiry. No account. Not now. Not ever. You don't sign up. You don't verify an email. You don't create a password you'll forget. The app works the moment you open it, privately tied to your device_id. Nothing leaves your hands. Three taps. Every time. Open → Amount → Category → Done. That's the entire flow. No onboarding wizard. No budget targets to configure. No "link your bank account." Just log what you spent and move on with your day. Everything you need. Nothing you don't. • Log expenses with amount, category, date, and a note • 10 built-in categories for everyday spending • Add up to 15 custom categories • Browse any past month in history • Pie chart breakdown of where your money went • Get deeper insights into your spending with the analytics section • Yearly view to spot spending patterns • No bank connection. No data selling. Built for real people, not accountants. If you've downloaded five expense apps and deleted all of them because they were too complicated, too expensive, or too pushy, this is the one you've been looking for. It doesn't do everything. It does exactly enough.

Screenshots

Buddy4 screens
Expense Tracker Simple4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Expense Tracker Simple at none against Buddy's 15. Expense Tracker Simple also leads on review sentiment (75% vs 49%) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 9 days). Buddy's advantage is ratings volume (9.6K vs 1) and chart position (#68 vs unranked). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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. Buddy sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Expense Tracker Simple asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Expense Tracker Simple 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 1, 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 75% of Expense Tracker Simple's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Buddy ships an update every 9 days, Expense Tracker Simple every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Buddy versus Expense Tracker Simple: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBuddyExpense Tracker Simple
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (9.6K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews49.3% of reviews75.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings9.6K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#68 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size169 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBuddy Budgeting ABVipul Vishnu AV

Customer experience

Buddy

All ratings9,567 ratings
Positive92.8%
Neutral3.0%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews872 reviews
Positive49.3%
Neutral11.9%
Negative38.8%

Expense Tracker Simple

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews24 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral16.7%
Negative8.3%

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
Show 3 more
  • Ability to reorder categories
  • Weekly budget view
  • Ability to split transactions

Expense Tracker Simple

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

11 purchases

Buddy

Subscriptions10
  • Buddy Premium7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Buddy Premium$4.991 Month
  • Premium$9.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • 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 trial$39.991 Year
  • Buddy Premium7 Days trial2 variants$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlimited$49.99
None

Expense Tracker Simple

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Buddy free?
Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Expense Tracker Simple free?
Expense Tracker Simple is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Buddy or Expense Tracker Simple?
Expense Tracker Simple is rated higher. Buddy averages 4.7 out of 5 from 9.6K ratings, while Expense Tracker Simple averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Buddy or Expense Tracker Simple have ads?
Neither Buddy nor Expense Tracker Simple shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Buddy or Expense Tracker Simple?
Buddy ships an update every 9 days, and Expense Tracker Simple every 2 days. Most recently, Buddy was updated on October 18, 2026 and Expense Tracker Simple on October 17, 2026.

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