Loam vs PocketGuard: a private PocketGuard alternative

PocketGuard links your bank to show how much is left to spend after bills and goals. Loam looks past the month: your investments, gold and deposits, how long your savings would last, and where your wealth is heading.

Feature by feature

	Loam	PocketGuard
Price
Price	$30 a year or $3 a month	$74.99 a year, $12.99 a month or $149.99 once
Free trial	30 days, no payment details needed	7 days
Free plan	No, the trial is the free part	Unclear: its pricing page shows paid plans only
Ads	None	None
Privacy and your data
Account required	None, not even an email	Yes; email, Apple, Google or LinkedIn
Bank login	Never	Yes, through Plaid, Finicity, Salt Edge or Apple Wallet
Where your data lives	On your phone, plus your own iCloud or Google device backup	PocketGuard’s cloud, processed in the US
AI and your finances	Never sees your finances. Only a bank text format Loam has never seen goes out, until Loam learns its pattern	A support chatbot, and spending predictions it says use AI
Analytics and tracking	None	Mixpanel; its App Store label lists financial info as tracking data
App lock	Face ID, Touch ID or fingerprint	PIN, Face ID or Touch ID
Export	CSV or JSON	CSV by email
Getting transactions in
Bank sync	No, by design	Yes, 20,000+ institutions
Bank text messages	Yes, read on the phone. Automatic on Android; a Shortcut on iPhone	No
Manual entry	Yes	Yes, through cash accounts
Voice entry	Siri, without opening the app	Not advertised
Receipt scanning	No	Attach photos; no scanning
Categorising	Merchant rules you set, suggested once you file a shop by hand twice	Automatic, plus rename and tag rules
What it tracks
Credit cards	Yes, with statements and installment plans	APR and minimum payment; no statement cycles
Deposits and CDs	Yes: interest payouts, floating rates and maturity	Not advertised
Stocks and ETFs	Yes, with average cost and gain	Synced balances and holdings
Crypto	Yes, priced for you	Not advertised
Gold and silver	Gold by karat and silver by fineness, priced off spot	Manual asset only
Property	Yes	Yes
Loans and mortgages	Mortgages, loans and installment plans	Yes, with a snowball or avalanche payoff plan
Currencies	80, and totals also readable in a steadier one, such as USD	One currency
Planning
Budgets	Monthly category budgets, tagged needs or wants	Leftover, zero-based, envelope or 50/30/20
Spending insights	Per category, five months back, with what to do	Categories, trends and top merchants
Net worth over time	No; the forecast looks forward instead	Yes, daily
Long-term forecast	5, 10 or 20 years of your deposits and investments, with your own return per holding	End-of-month spending only
Inflation-adjusted view	Consumer prices, monetary debasement and currency devaluation, filled in for you	Not advertised
Runway	Yes: months of your budget the assets you choose would cover	Not advertised
Savings goals	No goals; a monthly savings target and savings rate	Yes
Recurring charges	Spots monthly charges, their yearly cost and when one goes up	Finds bills and subscriptions; helps cancel
Everyday use
Apps	iPhone and Android	iPhone, Apple Watch and Android
Web app	No	Yes
Sharing with a partner	No	Only by sharing one login
Notifications	None, ever	Overspending alerts and bill reminders
Languages	English and Arabic	English
Where it works	Anywhere, with banks that text in English or Arabic	US and Canada; some of its pages add the UK

Which should you pick?

PocketGuard is stronger at	Loam is stronger at
Automatic sync with 20,000+ banks in the US and Canada. Several budgeting methods, including leftover and 50/30/20. A debt payoff planner and help cancelling subscriptions. A web app and an Apple Watch app.	Investments with average cost and gain, plus gold, silver and fixed deposits. Runway and a 5 to 20 year forecast. PocketGuard forecasts to the end of the month. Credit cards with real statements and installment plans. Less than half the price, with bank texts from any country.

Pick PocketGuard if you bank in the US or Canada and want a safe-to-spend number from synced accounts. Pick Loam if you want to see past this month to your savings, investments and runway.

More comparisons

Try Loam free for 30 days.

In beta now on iPhone and Android. No account, no bank login, no payment details for the trial. Then $30 a year or $3 a month.

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PocketGuard details are taken from its own website and app store listings in September 2026 and may have changed since. PocketGuard is a trademark of its owner; Loam is not affiliated with it.