Expense trackers for India, compared

You use an iPhone

Fold, FinArt or PennyWise. iOS does not let any app read SMS, so Skimp cannot work there.

You want open-source software

PennyWise. Its code is public under the AGPL-3.0 licence and it is on F-Droid.

You want investments and net worth too

Fold, which tracks mutual funds, stocks, EPF, NPS and fixed deposits beside spending.

You want bill and card due-date reminders

axio or FinArt. Skimp has no reminders.

You share a budget, or spend in several currencies

FinArt, which has family sync and multi-currency support.

You want nothing to leave your phone, no account, and no bill

Skimp. It has no internet permission, no sign-up and no paid tier.

Not verified means we found no source that settles the question. It does not mean the app lacks the feature. Scroll the table sideways on a small screen.

Most of the differences in the table follow from one design decision: where the app gets your transactions from. There are four ways, and each has a cost.

Bank SMS, on the phone

The app reads the alerts your bank already sends. Works with any UPI app or card, needs no bank login, and misses any payment the bank sends no SMS for. Skimp and PennyWise work this way and keep the result on the device.

Bank SMS, with a server

The same capture, with some or all of the data sent to the developer for categorising, syncing or analytics. axio and FinArt declare SMS as collected in their Data Safety sections.

Account Aggregator

The app fetches transactions from your bank through the RBI's consent framework. Complete, works on iPhone, and needs an account and a server by design. Fold works this way.

Inside a payment app

Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm show the payments made through that app. Nothing to install, and nothing from your other apps, cards or cash.

What SMS access exposes, and how to check any app before granting it, is in is SMS permission safe?

• SMS tracker from a lender

  axio (Walnut)

  axio is the best-known SMS-based expense tracker in India. Walnut, Capital Float and Walnut 369 were merged into the axio brand, and Amazon completed its acquisition of the company in September 2025. The app reads bank SMS to track spending, balances and bills, and offers pay-later credit, personal loans and fixed deposits alongside the tracker.

  Skimp vs axio

• Paid tracker with iPhone and family sync

  FinArt

  FinArt is a subscription expense tracker for India with more than ten lakh downloads on Google Play. It positions itself on privacy, earns from subscriptions instead of credit products, and captures transactions from bank SMS, email and app notifications. It added an iPhone app in 2026 and offers family sync and multi-currency support.

  Skimp vs FinArt

• Open-source SMS tracker

  PennyWise

  PennyWise is a free, open-source (AGPL-3.0) expense tracker that reads bank SMS and processes them on the phone, with no account. It lists 54 Indian banks and services among 159 across 25 countries, supports multiple currencies, and includes an AI assistant that runs on the device. An optional paid upgrade, PennyWise Pro, supports its developer.

  Skimp vs PennyWise

• Account Aggregator-based tracker

  Fold (Fold Money)

  Fold is an expense and net-worth tracker for India that fetches data from your bank accounts through the RBI's Account Aggregator framework instead of reading SMS. It runs on Android and iPhone, tracks mutual funds, stocks, EPF, NPS and fixed deposits as well as spending, and needs a phone number to sign up. It has a free tier and paid plans.

  Skimp vs Fold

• Discontinued SMS tracker

  Money View Money Manager (Moneyview)

  Money View Money Manager was a free expense tracker from the lender Moneyview that read transaction SMS to show spending without manual entry. It is still named in many lists of the best expense trackers in India, including recent ones, although the standalone app has been withdrawn.

  What to use instead of Money View Money Manager

Skimp is a free, offline expense tracker for Android, built for India. It reads the transaction SMS your bank already sends, on your phone, and turns them into a ledger.

Its case rests on one property that can be checked without trusting anyone: the release build does not request Android's internet permission, so the operating system refuses it a network connection. Several small trackers now describe themselves the same way, and that is a good thing. Whichever you choose, look at the app's permissions screen and confirm it for yourself.

What it gives up for that is real: no sync, no iPhone app, rupees only, and no reminders. The full list is on the about page, and the banks it recognises are on supported banks.

• Sources. Each app's Google Play listing and Data Safety section, its own website and privacy policy, and for PennyWise its public source code. They are linked from each app's page.
• Data Safety is self-declared. Google Play publishes what a developer says its app collects and shares. We report those declarations as declarations and have not audited any app.
• No guessing. A cell is marked yes, partial or no only where a source supports it. Everything else says “Not verified”.
• No ranking. There are no scores and no winner, because which features matter depends on the person.
• Dated. Everything was read on 6 October 2026. Apps change; the date moves only when the sources are read again.

Found something wrong, or an app that belongs here? Tell us at support.skimp.rabugotra.com and it will be corrected.