Comparison

Buddy vs Basis

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Budget creation and tracking
  • Expense and income monitoring
  • Shared budgets for groups
  • Bank account transaction import
  • Detailed spending overviews
  • Transaction splitting and settlement
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

Basis

This app helps you save money by prioritizing savings before budgeting. It allows you to define spending categories, make conscious decisions about overspending, and track your savings growth over time. It offers quick expense logging and receipt scanning for a streamlined financial management experience.

Highlights
  • Save first budgeting method
  • Customizable spending categories
  • Deliberate period closing
  • On-device receipt scanning
  • Home-screen widgets
  • Complete privacy (no cloud/account)
Features
Read full description

Basis is a budgeting app built on one old rule: pay yourself first. Most apps track what you spend and call whatever's left at the end of the month "savings". For most people, that number is zero. Basis flips the order: on payday, your saving rate comes off the top — like a bill. What's left is what you budget, across categories you define. Then, at the end of the period, nothing settles silently. You close the month yourself: every overspent category gets an explicit decision, cover it from savings, or carry it and start next month tighter. Leftovers sweep into savings with one tap. Basis doesn't just track saving. It causes it. THE METHOD • Save first: your saving rate is set aside on payday, before any budgeting happens • Budget the rest across your own categories: rent, groceries, whatever fits your life • Close each period deliberately: settle overspends, sweep the surplus MEASURED AGAINST YOU, NOT A RULEBOOK • Every category charts this period against your own usual pace — "13% under your usual at day 13" • Average per day, projection to period end, and your past periods as bars: drift is visible before it becomes a problem • The capital chart draws the money you've kept across every payday, from your first period to today FAST TO LIVE WITH • Log an expense in two taps with the custom keypad • Or scan the receipt: the text is read on-device and the photo never leaves your phone • Recurring expenses post themselves • Home-screen widgets for quick logging and an at-a-glance balance AND IT'S COMPLETELY PRIVATE No bank link, no account, no cloud. Basis runs entirely on your phone. FREE FOREVER No subscription, no ads, no in-app purchases, no premium tier. Basis has no running costs, so it has no price. That's the whole deal.

Screenshots

Buddy4 screens
Basis4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Basis at 100% against Buddy's 49%. Basis 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 1) and chart position (#83 vs unranked). On price, update cadence and ads 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 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Basis asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Basis 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 100% of Basis's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Buddy ships an update every 9 days, Basis every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Buddy versus Basis: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBuddyBasis
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (9.6K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings9.6K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank#83 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size173 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBuddy Budgeting ABSilvia Stocchi

Customer experience

Buddy

All ratings9,609 ratings
Positive92.8%
Neutral2.9%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews892 reviews
Positive48.7%
Neutral11.9%
Negative39.5%

Basis

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Basis

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Buddy

Subscriptions9
  • Buddy Premium7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Buddy Premium$4.991 Month
  • Premium$9.991 Month
Show 6 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 trial2 variants$49.991 Year
None

Basis

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Buddy free?
Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Basis free?
Basis is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Buddy or Basis?
Basis is rated higher. Buddy averages 4.7 out of 5 from 9.6K ratings, while Basis averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Buddy or Basis have ads?
Neither Buddy nor Basis shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Buddy or Basis?
Buddy ships an update every 9 days, and Basis every 2 weeks. Most recently, Buddy was updated on November 5, 2026 and Basis on October 31, 2026.

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