PocketGuard・Budget Planner App vs Stack
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App
This app simplifies personal finance by automatically tracking expenses and bills. It helps you understand your disposable income, analyze spending habits, and manage subscriptions to save money. Set financial goals and create debt-payoff plans with smart algorithms.
- Automatic expense tracking
- Bill and subscription monitoring
- Disposable income calculation
- Spending habit analysis
- Financial goal setting
- Debt-payoff plan creation
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PocketGuard is a budgeting app for people who want to be on top of their money. Personal finance is made simple by smart algorithms, which means budgeting with PocketGuard is so easy that you don't have to spend your entire life crunching numbers. We take care of all the routines like expense tracking and bill monitoring so you can clearly focus on money management operations. Always know what's in your pocket! A budget is a difference between income and expenses. If it's positive - you're doing well. In any other case, the budget is unbalanced and needs attention. This is where the "Leftover" feature takes action. How much disposable income do you have after paying your bills, saving for your goals, and setting aside enough money for needs and wants? The PocketGuard budgeting app does those calculations for you! Always know the actual safe-to-spend amount so you can fit your monthly budget. Comprehensive analytics! Budget and expense tracking are just a part of the story. If you wanna do money management the right way you need to learn from the data you track. PocketGuard's budgeting app provides you with various reports to let you see personal finances from different angles. Learn about your spending habits, make necessary adjustments, and optimize your monthly budget. Bill tracker and subscription manager! You can use PocketGuard as a bill organizer. Once you connect bank accounts the app starts working as a finance tracker. All your bills and subscriptions will be identified automatically and included in your monthly budget. The bill organizer will help you never miss the due date again. PocketGuard bill organizer gives you an easy way to negotiate better rates with your provider. So you can optimize your budget by cutting costs on services you use. PocketGuard subscription manager will help you to find subscriptions you might have forgotten about. This is another money management trick - stop paying for services you no longer need. Set and reach your financial goals! Goals are a key concept of budgeting. As was mentioned before, expense tracking is just a part of the story. Personal finance is made of goals. Let's say you want to spend less on shopping or save more for vacation. These are financial goals. The PocketGuard budget app gives you all the necessary tools to set them properly. Set up your debt-payoff plan! Nobody's perfect and almost anyone has debt to pay off. The question is: do you have a plan? Connect all your credit and loan accounts and we'll show you the way to a debt-free future. Our smart algorithm calculates the most profitable debt repayment strategy so you'll save hundreds or even thousands by paying less in interest! BANK-LEVEL SECURITY We use the same 256-bit SSL encryption as all major banks to ensure your sensitive information is safe and sound. The PocketGuard app also uses PIN codes and biometrics, like Touch ID & Face ID, as an additional security layer. PocketGuard connects to U.S. and Canadian financial institutions only. PocketGuard Plus subscription lengths and prices: Monthly - $12.99* / month Annual - $74.99* / year Prices are in U.S. dollars, may vary in countries other than the U.S., and are subject to change without notice. If you choose to purchase PocketGuard Plus, payment will be charged to your iTunes account. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited if you purchase a different subscription plan. Privacy Policy: https://pocketguard.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://pocketguard.com/terms/
Stack
Easily track and manage personal finances by categorizing credit and debt across multiple devices. Create separate spaces for different financial situations, share summaries, and use the built-in calculator for complex calculations.
- Categorize credit and debt
- Create multiple financial spaces
- Share debt summaries
- Integrated value calculator
- Split expenses easily
- App lock with Face ID/Touch ID
- Apple Watch app for on-the-go management
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Stack is the fastest debt management app for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. It enables you to categorize money you are owed and money you owe, and conveniently track and manage your finances across multiple devices. Stack offers the following features: • Spaces: Create multiple Spaces to categorize your debt. For example, you can create a Space for each friend who owes you money. • Add Entries: Add an entry to a Space with one tap. Give each entry a name, quantity, and value. Use a positive value for money you are owed and a negative value for money you owe. Entries in Spaces can be sorted by date, value, or name. • Remove Debt: Removing debt is also straightforward. Tap on the circle on the left side of a debt entry to remove it. If you accidentally removed an entry, you can restore it later, similar to the Reminders app. • Share Debt: You can choose to share the debt of a Space, which generates a list of all debt and the total sum. You can choose if you want to include entries previously marked as complete, and you can choose to include the date of the entry. The date can also be edited. • Value Calculator: You can use the integrated calculator to perform complex calculations and then transfer them directly to the value field. • Split Sum: With this feature, sharing expenses is easy. Just choose the number of parts you want to split a Space's total into, and Stack will automatically calculate the amount of each part. • App Lock: Stack offers Face ID or Touch ID to lock the app, ensuring that only you can access it. • Apple Watch App: You can view, edit, and add new entries on your Apple Watch. No connection to your iPhone is required. • iCloud Sync: All your data is synced between your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. • Privacy: Your data is stored only on your device and in iCloud. The app does not collect any user data, and the developer has no access to it. • Text Field Sizes: You can adjust the name field and the value field sizes to your preference.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Stack at 100% against PocketGuard・Budget Planner App's 39%. Stack also leads on ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). PocketGuard・Budget Planner App's advantage is ratings volume (7.7K vs 6) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). On price, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. PocketGuard・Budget Planner App sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Stack sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PocketGuard・Budget Planner App has 7.7K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 39% of PocketGuard・Budget Planner App's written reviews are positive against 100% of Stack's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App ships an update every 3 weeks, Stack every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PocketGuard・Budget Planner App | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (7.7K ratings) — better | 4.3 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 38.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.7K — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #95 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 163 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PocketGuard, Inc. | Leon Boettger |
Customer experience
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App
Stack
Bugs and requests
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inconsistent transaction syncing and labeling
- Inability to delete or manage connected accounts
- Budgeting data disappearing or not updating properly
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to carry over unspent budget to next month
- More advanced reporting and analytics
- Light/dark mode theme options
- Improved transaction categorization and learning
- Support for multiple users/family budgeting
Stack
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
PocketGuard・Budget Planner App
- Weekly offer with 7 day trial7 Days trial$2.997 Days
- PocketGuard Plus3 variants$4.991 Month
- Monthly subscription$4.991 Month
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- PocketGuard Plus7 Days trial$7.991 Month
- Monthly subscription$7.991 Month
- Monthly Subscriptions7 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription$12.991 Month
- PocketGuard Plus7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- PocketGuard Plus$34.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$74.991 Year
- Lifetime Membership$79.99
Stack
- Stack+$0.99
Questions
Is PocketGuard・Budget Planner App free?
Is Stack free?
Which has better reviews, PocketGuard・Budget Planner App or Stack?
Do PocketGuard・Budget Planner App or Stack have ads?
Which is updated more often, PocketGuard・Budget Planner App or Stack?
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