Penge vs Buddy
Co-founder of Penge · Published 3 September 2026 · 5 min read
Penge starts with what has happened across the accounts you connect, then suggests categories and looks for recurring charges. Buddy starts with a budget you build, either alone or with other people. Both can import bank transactions, but their strongest uses are different.
Key takeaways
- Penge is free with no ads and connects to 2300+ banks in 30+ countries.
- Every transaction gets a category suggested from your own history; automatic categorization is opt-in and never overwrites a category you set.
- Penge scans transaction history for subscriptions and shows their estimated monthly cost and next expected charge.
- Buddy is made by Buddy Budgeting AB in Stockholm and supports shared budgets, manual entry and settling up.
- Penge has no settle-up feature between friends. It splits one transaction across categories.
The short version
Choose Buddy if you want to build a shared budget, enter spending deliberately and track who paid what. Choose Penge if you want transactions imported from connected banks, category suggestions from your history and subscription detection. Buddy asks for more active input, while Penge reduces the routine work after setup.
| Penge | Buddy | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no ads | Free, with a paid Premium tier[1] |
| Where transactions come from | Imported from connected banks | Manual entry or bank import[1] |
| Categorization | Suggestions from your history, with opt-in automatic application | You choose as you enter[1] |
| Sharing | No account or budget sharing between users | Invite people into a budget and settle who paid what[1] |
| Manual data | Manual accounts and statement imports | Manual transaction entry[1] |
| Languages | English, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish | English and 12 more[1] |
| Platforms | iPhone | iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch[1] |
Where Buddy is the better tool
- Splitting. If you share a flat or a holiday and need to know who owes whom, that is a first-class feature there and not one at all here.
- Typing things in deliberately. Some people budget better when entering a purchase is a small act of attention rather than something that happens invisibly.
- Shared budgets. Buddy lets you invite other people into the plan instead of treating the budget as one person's view.[1]
- Design that people enjoy opening. App Store reviews repeatedly praise how it looks and feels.[1]
Where Penge is the better tool
- Bank aggregation. Connect supported accounts across 2300+ banks in 30+ countries and see their imported transactions in one overview.
- Category help. Every transaction gets a suggestion from your history for you to confirm. If you enable automatic categorization, Penge applies only the most confident suggestions and never overwrites your choice.
- Subscription tracking. Penge detects candidates from transaction history, then shows estimated monthly cost and the next expected charge.
- Fallbacks when a connection is not enough. Add a manual account with its own balance, or import PDF, CSV and Excel statements.
Can you use both?
Yes. Buddy can hold the shared plan and settle-up record, while Penge can show what happened across the bank accounts you connect and detect recurring charges in that history. If you split big costs with someone every month, running both is worth it. If you mostly track your own money, Penge alone covers it.
If the shared part is the whole reason you are looking, we go through what an app has to do for two people in budgeting app for couples.
Get a full overview with Penge
Connect your bank and let the app categorize and budget automatically.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Penge let me split a bill with a friend?
- Not as an IOU between people. You can split one transaction across categories, but Penge does not calculate who owes whom.
- Is manual entry worse than automatic?
- Not for everyone. Buddy's deliberate entry can make each purchase more noticeable. Penge imports bank transactions, but its category suggestions still need confirmation unless you switch on automatic categorization in settings.
- Can I enter transactions by hand in Penge?
- Yes. You can add transactions by hand on a manual account, and import statement files. The design still assumes a bank connection does the routine work.
- Which is better for a couple?
- Buddy, since Penge has no budget or account sharing between users. A couple where each person tracks their own accounts can each run Penge on their own phone, and let Buddy hold the shared plan if they want one.