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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Money Manager Expense & Budget vs Monarch

Money Manager Expense & Budget 4.8★ · Free + IAP 65
Winner Monarch
Monarch 4.9★ · Free + IAP 80

Monarch is the better choice for users seeking comprehensive, automated financial tracking with a modern interface, despite its subscription cost and occasional syncing issues, while Money Manager Expense & Budget suits those who prefer a free, manual entry app and don't mind an older interface.

Full reviews: Money Manager Expense & Budget · Monarch

Monarch offers robust automated syncing, detailed budgeting, and a modern interface for a paid subscription, making it ideal for comprehensive financial management. Money Manager Expense & Budget is a free, manual-entry app praised for its simplicity and multi-currency support, though it suffers from an outdated interface and reliability issues.

Head to head

Features & Functionality edge: MonarchR2R6R9R10
Money Manager Expense & Budget Money Manager Expense & Budget is praised for basic budgeting, multi-currency support, and manual data backup R9. Users appreciate its simplicity for daily financial management R2. However, it lacks advanced features like custom budgets R10, payee categories , split payments , and real-time sharing with a partner R6. Recurring transactions are problematic, often disappearing or creating a mess R13R16.
Monarch Monarch offers comprehensive features including budgeting, net worth tracking, investment account aggregation, and rollover funds R77. It's highly valued for managing household finances and allowing couples to collaborate R68R89R95. However, some users find it less effective for debt payoff strategies and note that its investment tracking can require manual updates for dividends or interest .
Ease of Use & Interface edge: MonarchR7R9R13R23
Money Manager Expense & Budget Many users find Money Manager Expense & Budget easy to use and straightforward for basic tasks R7R23. However, a significant number of recent reviews describe the interface as outdated R9, complex, or difficult to understand and set up, leading to frustration R7R13.
Monarch Monarch is generally praised for its intuitive, thoughtfully designed, and clean interface . Users find it easy to navigate and visually pleasing . However, some users find it not simple or intuitive, especially during initial setup, describing setup videos as unhelpful . The iPad app is noted for reduced capabilities compared to the web version .
Reliability & Performance tieR1R3R4R13
Money Manager Expense & Budget Money Manager Expense & Budget has significant reliability issues, with users reporting transactions getting messed up R1, data not updating R13, recurring entries disappearing or duplicating R16, and frequent app crashes or inability to open after updates R3R28R31R43. Cross-platform data import is also problematic R4.
Monarch Monarch faces widespread complaints about account syncing, with users reporting frequent disconnections R82R87. This often requires manual re-authentication or leads to inaccurate data . Some users also experience app freezing and issues with auto-categorization leading to miscategorized transactions .
Price & Value tieR9R16R18R33
Money Manager Expense & Budget Money Manager Expense & Budget is a free app with in-app purchases to remove ads R9. While some appreciate the free functionality , recent reviews indicate ads have become intrusive, covering parts of the app R18R33. Some users feel it's not worth the time invested due to functionality issues, even if free R16.
Monarch Monarch is a paid subscription service, costing around $100 a year . Many users find it well worth the price for its comprehensive features and effectiveness R95. However, others feel it's too expensive for its issues R110 or that similar functionality can be achieved with free tools like spreadsheets . The paywall experience is also criticized as misleading R63R79.
Support & Updates tieR3R28R31R36
Money Manager Expense & Budget Money Manager Expense & Budget users report issues with updates causing app crashes R3R28R31R43 and a lack of in-app help or instructions R36. There's no mention of direct customer support interactions in the reviews.
Monarch Monarch's customer support receives negative feedback for being slow to respond or unhelpful, particularly regarding syncing issues . Users also complain about being forced to update the app frequently to maintain access and deceptive practices around subscription management and tier changes . Some appreciate detailed release notes .
Pick Money Manager Expense & Budget if

you prefer a free app for basic, manual expense tracking, appreciate multi-currency support, and don't mind an older interface or occasional glitches.

Pick Monarch if

you need comprehensive financial management with automated syncing, detailed budgeting, net worth tracking, and collaborative features for a paid subscription, and value a modern interface.

Evidence note: Monarch's reviews are heavily skewed towards recent negative experiences related to syncing and subscription issues, which might not fully reflect its lifetime rating. Money Manager Expense & Budget's negative reviews also focus on recent reliability and interface problems.

Frequently asked

Does Monarch offer a free version?
Monarch does not offer a truly free version; it is a paid subscription service, with some users noting a misleading paywall experience that requires payment information for a trial R63R79R110.
Can I share my financial data with a partner in these apps?
Monarch allows users to share financial data and collaborate with a partner, which is highly valued for household finance management R68R89R95. Money Manager Expense & Budget users have requested this feature, indicating it is not currently available R6.
Do these apps support automatic bank syncing?
Monarch supports automatic bank syncing, which is a key feature for many users, though it frequently suffers from accounts disconnecting and requiring re-authentication R77R82R87. Money Manager Expense & Budget primarily relies on manual entry and does not offer automatic syncing between devices or bank accounts R15.
Are there issues with app updates?
Both apps have issues with updates; Money Manager Expense & Budget users report updates causing app crashes and making the app unusable R3R28R31R43. Monarch users complain about being frequently forced to update the app to maintain access, sometimes locking them out .

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] Money Manager Expense & Budget 5/5 · US Excelente: Mes es de gran ayuda para llevar mis cuentas y para ahorrar
  2. [R6] Money Manager Expense & Budget 3/5 · US Habiten que se pueda compartir con la pareja: Necesito poder compartir los datos con mi pareja en tiempo real y que el también pueda actializar
  3. [R9] Money Manager Expense & Budget 3/5 · US A bit outdated: GOOD: Has basic budgeting functions and multi-currency! Can backup/export your data (manually). No subscription, just a one-time purchase to remove ads, but the ads are not super-intrusive. BAD: The interface looks like it was created over 20 years ago. Every category has an icon, but they cannot be changed and new categories and all subcategories have no icon which is boring. (And
  4. [R10] Money Manager Expense & Budget 2/5 · GB Not able to make custom budgets: This app is great but there is such a limited number of budget options. I can have a budget for my pets expenses but not my kids?
  5. [R7] Money Manager Expense & Budget 1/5 · GB Used to be nice and simple: Easy to use, straightforward, no bells and whistles. Now they have overcomplicated it. Leaving and moving on to another app that is more user friendly.
  6. [R13] Money Manager Expense & Budget 2/5 · GB Could be better: This app has so much potential but it’s not user friendly. It’s very complex for what it is. Also after you spend time entering all your incoming and outgoing transactions, it doesn’t update. I entered multiple dates on the calendar for the month and selected the repeat frequency for each yet only on day in the month had anything in it so nothing else updated. Not very useful. The
  7. [R23] Money Manager Expense & Budget 5/5 · US Nice: It’s really use to easy and nice
  8. [R1] Money Manager Expense & Budget 1/5 · US Glitches: Got all my transactions messed up in a day, lost tracking of all my information
  9. [R3] Money Manager Expense & Budget 3/5 · US New version login problem: Unable to log into 4.14.0 after downloading. It opens momentarily and the closes before I have a chance to login on my iPhone.
  10. [R4] Money Manager Expense & Budget 1/5 · US Android phone backups cannot be imported to an iPhone: I used this app on a Samsung phone, but after switching to an iPhone, I found that the data from my Samsung phone could not be imported, even after exporting an Excel file. It's too inconvenient. · translated
  11. [R16] Money Manager Expense & Budget 1/5 · GB Dreadful. Inexplicably bad: So I downloaded this with the aim of tracking bills. I enter everything as recurring monthly. Save. Disappears. So I do it again and again. Same thing. Then all of a sudden after a month, all those attempts now show and make a complete mess of things. Utterly useless. Use google calendar and sheets/numbers for the pie charts. This is a rip off being free due to time co
  12. [R18] Money Manager Expense & Budget 3/5 · US Buena aplicación lástima los adds: Buena aplicación lástima los adds
  13. [R33] Money Manager Expense & Budget 3/5 · GB Nice and solid app ruined by ads: This used to be a nice app that can be used ok with a free version, however, recently, they increased the size of the ad banner and you can no longer press some areas of the app because they are covered by ads.
  14. [R28] Money Manager Expense & Budget 1/5 · GB App Crush: After updating app Crush Please fix this immediately
  15. [R31] Money Manager Expense & Budget 1/5 · GB No longer works: Latest update stops this app working. Get splash screen then nothing. Could be working in background but with no display or access to stored information. Now completely useless and all my information lost.
  16. [R36] Money Manager Expense & Budget 3/5 · GB Money manager: It would be helpful to have a help option or basic how to included within the program.
  17. [R63] Monarch 3/5 · US Paywall felt like it’s made to trick me: There are 2 options on the paywall. 1 to start trial and another to continue in app. I thought the start trial was going to open the Apple subscription flow which was very misleading when it didn’t. I don’t like to use non-apple subscriptions in apps as they are harder to manage. It was not clear that “continue in app” would open the apple subscription flow
  18. [R79] Monarch 1/5 · US Es de pago: No puedes obtener prueba sin otorgar información de pago
  19. [R110] Monarch 1/5 · US Terrible: I’m gonna help you save money by making you spend it on a subscription. Great idea stupid.
  20. [R68] Monarch 5/5 · US Very good: Great app for couple of professionals
  21. [R89] Monarch 5/5 · US The best: This helped me get our family finances in order and more importantly, collaborate with my partner on our finances. Amazing app, keep going Monarch!
  22. [R95] Monarch 5/5 · US Great for families: My husband got us started on Monarch and at first I was skeptical. Why are we spending money to track our money, but it has really helped us see where we are spending irresponsibly and then make changes. We are saving for a house so knowing where we can cut costs and see our spending habits is a game changer!
  23. [R15] Money Manager Expense & Budget 3/5 · US Sync needed: App is good. I’ve been using it for more than 3 years, but there’s no sync between devices.
  24. [R77] Monarch 5/5 · US So easy: I’ve tried my fair share of budgeting apps over the years. Monarch has been the only one that has all the features I’ve wanted. It connects easily to all of our banking institutions, including credit cards. It also has the capability to have rollover funds for larger, less frequent purchases like end of year expenses/taxes. I also like that it calculates our net worth, showing the mont
  25. [R82] Monarch 1/5 · US Doesn’t stay connected: The simply cannot stay connected to accounts. It’s really frustrating.
  26. [R87] Monarch 3/5 · US Disconnected Accounts: My husband and I signed up for this service to help with budgeting and to get a more accurate, transparent picture of where our money was going instead of relying on spreadsheets. Like many people, we have multiple bank and credit card accounts, and it seemed like every other day we were getting notifications that one of our accounts had disconnected. It became frustrating
  27. [R43] Money Manager Expense & Budget 1/5 · GB Application is not opening: Looks like it is crashing after recent update

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store