Ascent vs. Debt Payoff Planner: Which Debt App Should You Use?

Ascent and Debt Payoff Planner are both built for one purpose: helping you pay off debt. Neither one tries to be a full budgeting app or financial dashboard. They focus on your debts, your strategy, and your payoff timeline. But they take different approaches to get there.

Side-by-Side Comparison

	Ascent	Debt Payoff Planner
Price	$29.99 one-time	Free / $2/month
Platforms	iOS only	iOS and Android
Strategies	9	3 (snowball, avalanche, custom)
Partner sync	Yes (PartnerSync)	No
BNPL tracking	Yes	No
What-if scenarios	Yes	Yes (Pro only)
Bank sync	No	No
Data entry	Manual	Manual
Privacy	iCloud-only, no account needed	Account required

Where Ascent Stands Out

Strategy Variety

This is Ascent’s biggest advantage. Nine strategies means you can go well beyond snowball and avalanche. Stress-based prioritization lets you rank debts by the anxiety they cause. There’s also highest-balance-first, lowest-balance-first, custom ordering, and more. If you’re not sure which method works best for your situation, Ascent lets you compare them all with your actual numbers.

Debt Payoff Planner gives you three options: snowball, avalanche, and custom. For many people, that’s plenty. But if you want to explore, Ascent gives you more to work with.

Partner Features

Ascent’s PartnerSync is genuinely unique among debt apps. Two people can share a payoff plan while each controlling what’s visible to the other. You can collaborate on shared debts while keeping personal ones private. No other dedicated debt app offers this.

Debt Payoff Planner is a single-user tool. If your partner wants to track the same debts, they’d need their own account and would need to enter everything separately.

BNPL Awareness

If you have buy-now-pay-later balances from Affirm, Klarna, or Afterpay, Ascent tracks promotional deadlines and warns you before deferred interest kicks in. This is a niche feature, but if you carry BNPL debt, it’s valuable. Debt Payoff Planner treats all debts the same — there’s no concept of a promotional period.

Where Debt Payoff Planner Stands Out

Price

This is a big one. Debt Payoff Planner’s free tier is genuinely useful — you can build a payoff plan and track progress without paying anything. The Pro version costs just $2/month, making it one of the cheapest paid debt apps available.

Ascent’s $29.99 one-time price is a good deal long-term, but it’s a higher upfront cost. If you’re on a tight budget (and you’re paying off debt, so you probably are), Debt Payoff Planner’s free tier lets you get started without spending anything.

Platform Availability

Debt Payoff Planner works on both iOS and Android. Ascent is iOS-only. If you have an Android phone, the decision is made for you.

Simplicity

Debt Payoff Planner is deliberately simple. You add your debts, pick a strategy, and see your plan. There’s less to learn, less to configure, and less to distract you. If you know you want snowball or avalanche and just need a tool to track it, Debt Payoff Planner gets you there fast.

Ascent has more features, which means more to navigate. The interface is well-designed, but nine strategies and partner sync add complexity that not everyone needs.

Track Record

Debt Payoff Planner has been on the app stores longer and has a larger user base. There are more reviews, more community tips, and a more established track record. Ascent is newer, which means fewer reviews and a smaller community — though the reviews it has are positive.

Real-World Scenarios

You’re paying off debt solo and want something simple. Go with Debt Payoff Planner. It’s free, focused, and available on any phone. You’ll be set up in five minutes.

You and your partner are tackling debt together and both have iPhones. Ascent’s PartnerSync is built for exactly this situation. No other app lets you share a plan with per-debt privacy controls.

You’re not sure which payoff strategy to use. Ascent lets you compare nine strategies with your actual numbers. It’s the better tool for exploring which approach saves you the most money or pays off debt fastest.

You have BNPL debt with promotional deadlines. Ascent understands promotional periods and alerts you before deferred interest hits. Debt Payoff Planner doesn’t differentiate between debt types.

You’re on Android. Debt Payoff Planner is your best option. Ascent isn’t available on your platform.

Money is very tight and you can’t spend anything on an app. Debt Payoff Planner’s free tier is solid. Start there. You can always switch later if your needs change.

The Honest Take

Debt Payoff Planner is the safer, simpler choice that works for most people. It’s free, cross-platform, and focused. If snowball or avalanche is your strategy and you’re working on debt alone, it’s hard to beat.

Ascent is the better choice if you need what it uniquely offers — partner sync, strategy variety, or BNPL tracking. Those features aren’t available in Debt Payoff Planner or most other debt apps.

Both apps use manual data entry (no bank sync), so the day-to-day experience of updating your balances is similar. The difference is in the planning and analysis tools surrounding that core experience.

Bottom Line

Choose Debt Payoff Planner if you want a simple, affordable, cross-platform debt tracker. It does one thing and does it well.

Choose Ascent if you want more strategies, partner features, or BNPL awareness — and you’re on iOS.

Either way, you’re choosing to take control of your debt. That’s the step that matters most.