Cashew Review 2026: A Free, Open-Source Tracker That Earns It

Cashew is the rare budget app with a near-perfect rating and a near-zero price. Free to download, no ads, no account, and an average of 4.93 from 506 US App Store ratings. This review reads it on its own terms, using only what its developer publishes on the website, FAQ, privacy policy, App Store listing and public source README, fetched on 12 September 2026. Anything those sources do not settle is marked as not verified.

What Cashew is

Cashew, listed on the App Store as "Cashew—Expense Budget Tracker", is an open-source budget and expense tracker built with Flutter by James Kokoska, an independent developer in Canada who publishes under the name DapperAppDeveloper. Development started in September 2021 and the iOS app arrived in September 2023. It runs on iPhone and iPad, on Android through Google Play or a GitHub APK, and as a web app. The current iOS build is version 5.8, released 14 July 2026, requiring iOS 18.0 or later, at about 105 MB.

The shape is a classic manual tracker. Transactions through a prompt flow, categories and subcategories, budgets over any time frame, several accounts in several currencies. No bank connection, and the developer's materials never suggest one is coming.

Pricing, as listed

Free with in-app purchases. The US App Store lists three: Cashew Pro Monthly at $1.49, Cashew Pro Yearly at $11.99 and Cashew Pro Lifetime at $19.99. The FAQ adds three rules worth knowing before you buy. Pro is purchased per platform, because iOS and Android each run their own billing. The web app does not support Pro at all. And to move from a subscription to Lifetime you cancel first, then buy Lifetime once the term ends.

What Pro actually unlocks is the one real gap in Cashew's documentation. The FAQ implies multiple budgets are Pro. Nothing we read sets out the full split. Recent App Store reviews mention that reports are limited and automatic sync is missing on the free version, and several say the developer offers Pro for free to anyone who reads an in-app message. No trial is stated, which matters less when the base app is free.

What is genuinely good

The privacy position is the best in this category, and it is not close. Cashew's policy says the developer does not operate servers to collect financial data, that everything lives in an on-device SQL database the developer cannot access, and that the app uses no advertising, no analytics and no trackers. The source code is public. So those are claims you can check rather than claims you have to believe, which almost no money app can offer.

Budgets are flexible in the ways that usually cost money elsewhere. Monthly, weekly or a unique time frame, with spending limits per category inside each budget, a history of past budgets, and goals. Every category takes subcategories, and custom titles auto-categorize by name.

It also understands more than plain expenses. Transaction types cover upcoming, subscription, repeating, borrowed and lent, with reminders for the recurring ones. Multiple accounts run in different currencies at current conversion rates. Borrowed and lent in particular is the sort of thing you only miss once you have had it.

Then there is reach. iPhone, iPad, Android and a web app, with optional Google Drive backup and cross-device sync through your own Google account, or local file backups if you want nothing in the cloud at all. Import and export are documented too: CSV import, Google Sheets import, CSV export, plus biometric lock, dark mode, a custom accent color and a rearrangeable home screen.

What is weak or missing

Entry is typing. Cashew's description, FAQ and README all describe a manual prompt flow, customizable but manual, and neither voice entry nor receipt scanning appears anywhere in its materials. If your tracking habit died of friction, that is the whole question and nothing else on this page answers it.

The automation that does exist is in beta. The FAQ lists app links, a Siri Shortcuts route described as adding transactions by using Apple Pay, notification and SMS scanning, and an Intelligence feature using Gemini or Apple Intelligence. It then tells you to use the public beta for full support. They exist. They are not finished.

Sync means Google. Backup and cross-device sync run through your personal Google Drive, and sharing with a partner means sharing one Google account. iCloud is not mentioned. On an iPhone, that is a detour, and for some people it is a dealbreaker dressed up as a settings screen.

Two smaller things. Cashew's own FAQ says the app does not natively support splitting a transaction across categories. And recent reviews mention a freeze during data export, a wish for iOS home-screen widgets, and requests for clearing all transactions without deleting the categories. Keep those in proportion, though: 48 of the 50 most recent US reviews gave five stars.

Privacy, in Cashew's own words

The Terms of Use and Privacy Policy were updated on 15 January 2026 and are governed by the laws of Ontario, Canada. On where data lives: "Your Data remains on your device unless you choose to export it or enable cloud backup." On the developer's reach: "The Developer does not operate servers to collect your financial Data." and "All Data is stored locally using an on-device SQL database ... The Developer does not have access to this Data." On tracking: "We do not sell personal information and we do not use advertising or in-app usage tracking/analytics." Optional cloud backup uses "your personal Google Drive". The policy also states that Cashew is an open source project with its code available on GitHub.

Who Cashew suits

Someone who wants a capable tracker for nothing, with no ads and no sign-up. Someone who uses Android, an iPad or a computer alongside an iPhone. Someone who budgets by category with limits over a period they choose. And anyone who would rather read the code than trust the policy.

It suits you less if logging should take seconds rather than a form, or if you want an iPhone app to sync through iCloud rather than Google.

How Cash Book differs

Cash Book is narrower and faster. Logging runs through voice, where one sentence becomes one or several transactions, and receipt scanning, where every line on a receipt or screenshot becomes an entry. A one-time Shortcuts automation logs every Apple Pay tap by itself. Data stays on the iPhone with optional sync to your own iCloud, and there is no account. It is iPhone only, has no free tier, and costs $39.99 a year or $19.99 once after a 7-day trial. On price and platforms, Cashew wins outright, and no amount of feature-table arrangement changes that.

What Cash Book lacks, Cashew has: Android and web versions, Google Drive backup, loan and debt types, and a price of zero. The full side-by-side, with feature and pricing tables, is in Cash Book vs Cashew.

The bottom line

Cashew earns its rating. A complete manual tracker with flexible budgets, multi-currency accounts, real import and export, a privacy policy that says no servers and means it, and a price that is often nothing. Its limits are choices rather than mistakes. Entry by typing. Automation still in beta. Sync through Google.

Want a free, open, cross-platform log and do not mind the form? Cashew is one of the easiest recommendations on this site. If the form is the problem, Pro will not fix it, because the form is not a paywall. It is the design.

Get Cash Book on the App StoreFree for 7 days. $19.99 once for lifetime.

Get Cash Book on the App StoreFree for 7 days. $19.99 once for lifetime.