Comparison : Account Management Apps for Windows Phone

Last one week I had been hunting for Account Management apps ( Expense / Income / Budget ) for windows phone where one can key in all its financial details either from the phone or sync from online accounts etc and was able to figure out three such apps, namely 1App Budget, My Expenses and Balance Book.

I am sure many other apps must be there so if you use any or if you have developed one that can compete here, send me the link via the contact page.

Below is a table of comparison on few key points which I think will be of interest. Right after that I have included more details on each of the app. Remember Table does not cover all the points so you might like to see the details as well.

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App Name	Balance Book	My Expenses	1AppBudget
UI / Usability / Live Tile	Simple and Neat Interface but does not support Live Tiles	Metro Based UI with Live Tile Support. Supports Pinning to start menu	Impressive UI but no Live Tile or Pin to Start menu Support
Data Syncing / Import / Export	Export to Google Docs, Skydrive or via Email	Syncs with Dropbox and Skydrive. Also Allows you to send data as CSV files.	Google Docs (Spreadsheet)
Budget	No	No	Yes and is integrated in every screen to give you clear idea of your status
Search / Filters	No	Simple But supports Nice Reporting or Summary Feature where you can view Income Summary, Expense Summary and Balance Sheet	Transaction Filters : By Transaction Type, By Account, By Category, Date Range, Min / max Amount, Transaction Status, Repeated / Not Repeated / Check Number
Account Transfer	No	Yes	Yes
Recurring Expenses / Income	No	Yes	Yes
Charts and Diagram	Yes, Simple View	Only for Expenses by Category.	Yes. Advance Filtering, Pie and Bar Chart.
Unique Feature	Normal Calculator which supports price and loan calculation.	It allows users to create live tiles based on Account and Action you want to take i.e. Expense / Income / Add / Balance Sheet	Calendar View gives you one tap access to find all transaction on a particular day. Supports Check Number.
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Common Features of All the Account Apps :

Predefined Categories which is used in daily life.
Multiple Account Support
Password Protection or Pin Lock.
Multiple Currency Support

Balance Book

What I really like about the app is the simplicity and clean interface which will make users adapt to this app easily. If you are looking for a simple app with loan and price calculator ready, this is just for you.

One thing which I really loved about the app was option to include Quantity, Processing Cost, Rate, Extra Cost Amount etc. when create a new record for income. This particularly will suit many users who need to include such inputs for every transaction.

This app, from version 1.2, allows you to export your account over email, Skydrive and Google Docs. Second you can edit or delete the transactions easily. Lastly you can select transaction according to account, product or expense category.

It also comes with a 7 Day trial for users who want to try it for a longer duration before buying it.

My Expenses

If you want your data in and out all the time including over email and that at any moment required, this app has serious data syn integrated every where. It not only allows both Skydrive and Dropbox Integration but you can also email your data and even support CSV format which will be useful if you work on excel.

There are two things this app needs to work on, More Charts and Reports and bit more improved UI to make it more metroish.

1App Budget

The major reason why you will love to use this app is because of Budget Integration it has with its application and is integrated nicely. So when you are looking at the list of transactions the colour can tell you if you are overdoing it.

Second would be one screen to make all possible entries here. You can any details quickly switched from Income to expense in one tap which means you just have one screen to do all the stuff. So lets say if you want to switch from expense to transfer you can do that, you can create repeat expense or income for auto entry right when you are at add new entry screen. Check Number comes as dedicated field.

Third is at the time of Account Creation you can set a lot of options like Pin Lock, Default operation, Sort Mode, Running balance, Hide, Transaction Date, Check Number, Category and so on. So making it simple and complex is in your hands.

Balance Mode helps you find daily status on amount to be collected, awaiting, available etc. And Calendar Mode to see list of income and expense according to calendar date.

The only drawback is No integration to Skydrive or Dropbox. I would suggest to bring in Skydrive Integration at least which many live users will love to use it.