The short answer
Copilot is a full budgeting and net-worth app. It categorizes spending, tracks investments, and gives you the whole financial picture — and it needs your accounts connected to do any of it.
PaySmart does one job: credit cards and debts. Balances, limits, utilization, due dates, payoff. Nothing else.
Copilot runs about $95 a year. PaySmart is $9.99. You're paying for scope — the question is whether you want that scope.
Side by side
| PaySmart | Copilot Money | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free + $9.99/yr | About $13/mo or $95/yr |
| Free tier | Yes, 2 accounts | Trial only |
| Bank linking | Optional | Required |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Where your data lives | On your iPhone | Their cloud |
| Ads / data selling | Neither | Neither |
| Full budgeting + categories | No | Yes |
| Investment / net worth tracking | No | Yes |
Based on each company's publicly published pricing and privacy policy as of August 2026. Plans change often — check their current terms before deciding. Copilot Money is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with PaySmart.
Why people choose PaySmart over Copilot
- Debt is the problem they're solving, and they don't want to pay for budgeting features they won't open.
- They aren't willing to connect every account to a cloud service — PaySmart works fully with manual entry.
- $9.99 a year versus $95 a year is a decision most people can make in about four seconds.
When Copilot is worth the extra $85
If you want automatic transaction categorization, a monthly budget, and net worth in one place, Copilot does that well and PaySmart genuinely does not. It's a broader product, and the price reflects real work.
If your finances are healthy and you want to optimize them, Copilot is the better fit. If you're carrying balances and want to get out from under them, that's what PaySmart is for.
What PaySmart costs
Free — up to 2 accounts, utilization tracking, payment reminders, no ads, no account required.
Pro — $9.99/year — unlimited accounts, minimum-payment insights, debt payoff projections, optional bank sync via Plaid.
Pro is an auto-renewing annual subscription through the App Store. It renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends, and refunds are handled by Apple. Full detail in the Terms of Service.