Pricing
Spew is $4.99 per month with a 30-day free trial and no card required, or a one-time $149 lifetime.
Copilot is $7.99 per month or $95 per year (about $7.92 per month), with a 15-day free trial.
On price, Spew is a bit cheaper monthly and significantly cheaper over the long run with the lifetime option. Both are reasonable compared to Monarch or YNAB.
Platform
This is where the apps are most different.
Copilot started as iOS-only and is famous for feeling like a native Apple app: smooth animations, great typography, fluid swipes. Android arrived in 2024, and a web version launched after that. The polish is real.
Spew is web-first. It runs in any browser, installs as a PWA on your home screen, and uses the same responsive layout on desktop, tablet, and phone. Native apps are on the roadmap, but today if you want a pixel-perfect native experience, Copilot is ahead.
If your phone is where you live, Copilot has a real edge. If you want bill-tracking on a 27-inch monitor, Spew’s grid and calendar use the space better.
Bank sync depth
Both apps connect to your bank through data-access providers (Plaid for Spew, Plaid and MX for Copilot) and both are read-only.
Where they differ:
- Spew auto-matches charges to bill rows in the monthly grid. Smart tagging learns from how you’ve categorized transactions and tags new ones automatically. Unmatched transactions land in a small pending inbox for quick triage.
- Copilot runs ML categorization on every incoming transaction with strong results out of the box. You can override categories and the model adapts.
Both are good. Copilot’s category-first workflow shines if that’s your main lens. Spew’s bill-first workflow shines if you think in rent, utilities, insurance, and subscriptions.
Bills and recurring
Spew is built around the monthly bill grid. Every known bill, every month, twelve months across. You can log partial payments, attach receipts, drop notes. The grid is the product.
Copilot has a Recurring section that lists detected subscriptions and upcoming bills with due dates. It’s a solid list, not a grid. You don’t get the month-over-month visual of “which bills got paid when and how much.”
For bill-heavy users, Spew is more powerful here.
Forecasting
Spew has a 24-month cash-flow forecast with sliders. Model a house purchase, a raise, a career change, a baby. See projected balance update live.
Copilot has a cash flow view focused on the current month and recent history. It’s a great dashboard for “how’s this month going” but doesn’t do scenario modeling.
For planning ahead, Spew. For situational awareness in the current month, Copilot is great.
Investments
Copilot has strong investment tracking: positions, performance, allocation, all integrated with your cash accounts. If you want a single app that shows you net worth with real investment detail, Copilot leads here.
Spew tracks investment account balances and includes them in the forecast, but doesn’t yet drill down to positions. For people who want one dashboard for bills and investments at a detail level, Copilot is ahead today.
Privacy and data handling
Both apps connect read-only and don’t store bank credentials.
Copilot has published privacy practices; check their current policy if data handling matters.
Spew is independent, doesn’t sell data, and the live demo runs entirely in your browser with nothing saved to a backend.
Best for
| You should pick… | If… |
|---|---|
| Spew | You think in bills and months and want to plan ahead. |
| Copilot | You live on your phone and want a beautiful native experience. |
| Spew | You want a monthly bill grid and calendar view. |
| Copilot | You want investment tracking integrated with your cash accounts. |
| Either | You want excellent auto-categorization. Both deliver, just with different flavors. |
Verdict
Pick Spew if bills and forecasting are the job. The monthly grid, the calendar, Plaid autosync with smart tagging, and flat $4.99/month pricing (or $149 lifetime) are a strong fit for people who want to see and plan.
Pick Copilot if you want a gorgeous native app with strong categorization and investment tracking. It costs a bit more, but the polish is real and the investment view is the best of the consumer finance apps.