Loam vs Say: a private alternative to the Say AI expense tracker

Say is an AI-first expense tracker: you speak your expenses or let it import bank texts, and AI providers turn them into entries. Loam files the same bank texts on your phone instead. Your finances are not sent to an AI, there is no account to create, and your whole net worth sits next to your spending.

Feature by feature

	Loam	Say
Price
Price	$30 a year or $3 a month	Free plan; Pro $6.99 a month or $34.99 a year on the US App Store
Free trial	30 days, no payment details needed	Not advertised
Free plan	No, the trial is the free part	Yes, with capped SMS and voice
Ads	None	None found
Privacy and your data
Account required	None, not even an email	Yes, with an email
Bank login	Never	No
Where your data lives	On your phone, plus your own iCloud or Google device backup	Say’s cloud (Supabase), per its privacy policy
AI and your finances	Never sees your finances. Only a bank text format Loam has never seen goes out, until Loam learns its pattern	Voice, bank texts and chat go to AI providers (Google, OpenAI, Anthropic); the chat sends spending data to Claude
Analytics and tracking	None	Mixpanel, PostHog and Sentry
App lock	Face ID, Touch ID or fingerprint	Not advertised
Export	CSV or JSON	CSV and PDF, Pro only
Getting transactions in
Bank sync	No, by design	No
Bank text messages	Yes, read on the phone. Automatic on Android; a Shortcut on iPhone	Yes, parsed by AI; its privacy policy says the original text is kept
Manual entry	Yes	Yes
Voice entry	Siri, without opening the app	Yes, AI speech parsing in 99+ languages
Receipt scanning	No	Email invoice capture, per its App Store listing
Categorising	Merchant rules you set, suggested once you file a shop by hand twice	AI categorising plus merchant rules
What it tracks
Credit cards	Yes, with statements and installment plans	Credit cards and installments with due dates
Deposits and CDs	Yes: interest payouts, floating rates and maturity	Not advertised
Stocks and ETFs	Yes, with average cost and gain	Not advertised
Crypto	Yes, priced for you	Not advertised
Gold and silver	Gold by karat and silver by fineness, priced off spot	Gold
Property	Yes	Not advertised
Loans and mortgages	Mortgages, loans and installment plans	Installments with due dates
Currencies	80, and totals also readable in a steadier one, such as USD	Per-account currency, converted to your main one
Planning
Budgets	Monthly category budgets, tagged needs or wants	Category limits with progress bars
Spending insights	Per category, five months back, with what to do	Trends, categories, top merchants and weekly AI insights
Net worth over time	No; the forecast looks forward instead	Not advertised
Long-term forecast	5, 10 or 20 years of your deposits and investments, with your own return per holding	Next month’s 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	Not advertised
Recurring charges	Spots monthly charges, their yearly cost and when one goes up	Subscription tracker for 70+ services, with reminders
Everyday use
Apps	iPhone and Android	iPhone, iPad and Android
Web app	No	No
Sharing with a partner	No	Yes, households
Notifications	None, ever	Renewal, due-date and referral reminders
Languages	English and Arabic	English and Arabic
Where it works	Anywhere, with banks that text in English or Arabic	Worldwide; bank texts in English and Arabic

Which should you pick?

Say is stronger at	Loam is stronger at
Voice logging in 99+ languages, several items in one sentence. An AI chat that answers questions about your spending. A free plan, households and sync across devices. Subscription tracking for 70+ services, with reminders.	Bank texts are read on the phone. Say’s privacy policy says AI pulls out each expense and the original message is kept. No AI chat reading your money, and no analytics SDKs. Say uses Mixpanel, PostHog and Sentry. Stocks, crypto, deposits, property and loans alongside gold. Say’s asset tracking names only gold. Your totals read in a steadier currency such as USD, to see whether you are really getting ahead.

Say is stronger at

Loam is stronger at

Voice logging in 99+ languages, several items in one sentence.
An AI chat that answers questions about your spending.
A free plan, households and sync across devices.
Subscription tracking for 70+ services, with reminders.

Bank texts are read on the phone. Say’s privacy policy says AI pulls out each expense and the original message is kept.
No AI chat reading your money, and no analytics SDKs. Say uses Mixpanel, PostHog and Sentry.
Stocks, crypto, deposits, property and loans alongside gold. Say’s asset tracking names only gold.
Your totals read in a steadier currency such as USD, to see whether you are really getting ahead.

Pick Say if you want to talk to your expense tracker and chat with an AI about your spending. Pick Loam if you want your bank texts kept private and your savings, investments and gold in the same place as your spending.

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.

Join the iPhone beta Request an Android invite

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