Top gift list apps to organise your gifts

12 apps for keeping track of the gifts you are buying: who they are for, what you have spent, and what is still to get. That is what every app below is judged on.

The GiftTracker app showing one person's Christmas gifts grouped under To Buy, Bought and Wrapped, with their budget and what is left to spend above.

GiftTracker

Best for: The person doing the buying: a list of people, a budget to keep to, and gifts to get from an idea to wrapped.
For planning your own gift buying: The job it was built for. The budget, the statuses and the archive are all aimed at the same thing: getting you through a list of people before the day arrives.
How the lists are organised: An Event for each occasion, the Recipients you are buying for inside it, and their gifts on each Recipient. Finished events move to your archive rather than disappearing.
Tracking what you've bought: Gifts move through To Buy, Bought and Wrapped, and you can add your own statuses when those do not match how you shop.

Set a budget for the event, then share it out between the people on your list. GiftTracker keeps a running total of what you have spent and what you have still got to buy, and tells you when you are heading over while there is still something you can do about it. It points out the gifts you have not priced up yet, so the total adds up.

Good ideas come and go. Save one at any point in the year, with a price, a note, a photo or a link, and put it against an event when the time comes. Anything you did not buy comes back when the event is archived, so next Christmas starts where this one left off.

Once you are set up, the whole app works offline. In a shop, on a train, anywhere with no signal. Your changes sync as soon as you are back. Lock it behind a PIN, Face ID or your fingerprint, so a borrowed phone does not give anything away.

The archive is why that last part matters: before you buy for somebody, you can see what they have had from you in previous years. Free on iPhone and Android, with no subscription and no ads.

The 11 we compared it against

In no particular order beyond roughly how often people search for them. Every app is asked the same 8 questions, so the comparison stays fair. The screenshots and everything stated as fact come from each app's own App Store and Google Play listings, with the date we read them under every entry. If you think we got anything wrong, please let us know.

The first screenshot Elfster publishes on its own App Store listing.

Available on

iOS
Android

Elfster

Best for: Groups running a Secret Santa or a gift exchange, especially a large one where nobody should draw their own partner.
For planning your own gift buying: Weak for it. Elfster is built around the exchange and the lists other people share inside it, so there is no private record of what you are buying. Neither listing describes a budget or a spending total, neither describes what happens to a gift after you have bought it, and the Google Play listing carries the Contains ads label.
How the lists are organised: Around an exchange and the wish lists people share inside it, rather than a private list of what you are buying for each person.
Tracking what you've bought: The listings describe wish lists, trending gifts and price alerts. Neither describes stages for a gift after you have bought it.

Elfster, Inc. · Read from App Store listing and Google Play listing on 5 September 2026.

GiftTracker vs Elfster: feature comparison

The first screenshot Giftster publishes on its own App Store listing.

Available on

iOS
Android

Giftster

Best for: A family who already swap gift ideas and want one private place to keep them, reachable from a phone or a computer.
For planning your own gift buying: Closer than most of the wish list apps. A group member marks an item purchased and the list maker cannot see it, and the listings describe a record of gifts you have bought. It is still organised around other people's lists rather than your plan for an occasion, and neither listing describes a budget or a spending total.
How the lists are organised: Around wish lists inside a private group you invite people to, including lists kept for children and pets.
Tracking what you've bought: Group members mark an item purchased and that status is hidden from the list maker. The listings also describe a record of gifts you have bought and received.

MyGiftster Corporation · Read from App Store listing and Google Play listing on 5 September 2026.

GiftTracker vs Giftster: feature comparison

The first screenshot GiftList publishes on its own App Store listing.

Available on

iOS
Android

GiftList

Best for: Anyone building a wish list or a registry they want to share, especially across several shops at once.
For planning your own gift buying: Half the job. The giver's tracker described on its Google Play listing holds order and delivery details, which is genuinely useful once you have bought. Everything before that is built for the person asking: neither listing describes a budget or a spending total, and the shop browser that fills a list needs a connection.
How the lists are organised: Around a wish list or a registry for an occasion, filled from any shop through a built-in browser.
Tracking what you've bought: Reservations are hidden from the list owner, and its Google Play listing describes a tracker for givers that holds order and delivery details.

Listed as Malibu Vista Ventures, Inc. on the App Store and as GiftList on Google Play. Both listings are linked from giftlist.com. · Read from App Store listing and Google Play listing on 5 September 2026.

GiftTracker vs GiftList: feature comparison

Available on

Santa's Bag

Best for: An iPhone or iPad owner who wants a Christmas plan they can print or email, and does not mind paying once to remove the ads.
For planning your own gift buying: One of the few here aimed at the buyer, and it looks it: recipients gathered under an occasion, with a budget for each and progress bars. Three things count against it. Removing the banner ads is a £4.99 purchase, there is no Google Play listing, and its listing describes lists you tick off rather than stages a gift moves through.
How the lists are organised: Recipients with their gifts, ideas, links, preferences and notes, gathered under an occasion.
Tracking what you've bought: Its listing describes planning and shopping lists you can tick off, print or email, with customisable views, sorts and filters, rather than named stages for a gift.

Clay Pot Software LLC · Read from App Store listing on 5 September 2026.

GiftTracker vs Santa's Bag: feature comparison

The first screenshot Christmas Gift List publishes on its own Google Play listing.

Available on

Android

Christmas Gift List

Best for: An Android owner who wants a Christmas list with a budget for each person and does not mind ads on top of it.
For planning your own gift buying: The closest thing here to a Christmas-only version of the job, and it has the right parts: a budget for each person, gifts marked purchased and then wrapped, and stats for what has gone so far against the total. Against that: its Google Play listing carries both the Contains ads and In-app purchases labels, we found no App Store listing from this developer, and the listing was last updated in August 2024.
How the lists are organised: One Christmas list of people, each with their gifts, and a picture, a note and a link on each gift. On 1 January the list archives itself and a new one starts with the same people carried over.
Tracking what you've bought: Gifts are marked purchased as you buy them and wrapped as you get round to them, with stats for what has been spent so far.

engApps · Read from Google Play listing on 7 September 2026.

Available on

Christmas Gift List Tracker

Best for: Someone whose devices are all Apple and who wants a detailed Christmas plan across iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.
For planning your own gift buying: Does the job, on Apple hardware only. Gifts move through idea, purchased, arrived and wrapped, and there is an overall budget with an allocation per person. The apps with the same name on Google Play belong to other developers, the Pro tier is £2.99 a year, and its listing describes iCloud syncing rather than working without a connection.
How the lists are organised: A list per person, aimed at Christmas, with previous years kept in an archive.
Tracking what you've bought: Gifts move through idea, purchased, arrived and wrapped, and can be filtered by type, status and shop.

LW Brands, LLC · Read from App Store listing on 5 September 2026.

GiftTracker vs Christmas Gift List Tracker: feature comparison

The first screenshot MyRegistry.com publishes on its own App Store listing.

Available on

iOS
Android

MyRegistry.com

Best for: Anyone building a wedding or baby registry who wants to pull in the lists they have already started at individual shops.
For planning your own gift buying: Built for the person being bought for, not the one buying. Both listings describe the list from the receiver's side, so nothing follows a gift once somebody has bought it, and neither describes a budget or a spending total. Its Google Play listing also carries the Contains ads label.
How the lists are organised: Around a registry or gift list for an occasion, filled from any shop and from store registries synced in from elsewhere.
Tracking what you've bought: The listings describe the list from the receiver's side. Neither describes stages for a gift after somebody has bought it.

My Life Registry LLC · Read from App Store listing and Google Play listing on 6 September 2026.

The first screenshot GoWish publishes on its own App Store listing.

Available on

iOS
Android

GoWish

Best for: Someone whose friends and family already use it, which in Denmark and its neighbours is a lot of them.
For planning your own gift buying: Not for it. GoWish is a wishlist you own or keep on somebody else's behalf, filled by sharing links in from shops, so it needs a connection to grow. Neither listing describes a budget, and nothing follows a gift once you have bought it.
How the lists are organised: Around wishlists you own or keep on somebody else's behalf, filled from any online shop by sharing a link into the app.
Tracking what you've bought: Guests can see what other guests have reserved while the list's owner cannot. Neither listing describes stages for a gift after you have bought it.

Ønskeskyen ApS · Read from App Store listing and Google Play listing on 6 September 2026.

Available on

Listful

Best for: Someone who saves things they want all year and wants one good-looking link to hand over when anybody asks.
For planning your own gift buying: Listful is built to be shared: one link, reservations, a collage for Instagram. Its listing describes price comparison rather than a budget or a spending total, nothing follows a gift once you have bought it, and there is nothing on Google Play.
How the lists are organised: A list per occasion, filled from any shop, arranged how you like and shared as a collage.
Tracking what you've bought: The listing describes reservations, price-drop alerts and price comparison. It does not describe stages for a gift after you have bought it.

Listful LLC · Read from App Store listing on 6 September 2026.

Available on

GiftLog

Best for: Someone who wants a history of gifts received: who gave what, what went back, and what has already been re-gifted.
For planning your own gift buying: It points the other way. GiftLog records the gifts you have been given: what was kept, returned or re-gifted, and which thank-yous are owed. Prices go in, but its listing describes no budget and no running total, there is no Google Play listing from this developer, and the App Store listing was last updated in May 2023.
How the lists are organised: Gifts given and received, viewed by event or by contact, with photos and unlimited events.
Tracking what you've bought: Aimed at gifts received rather than gifts to buy: the listing describes recording whether something was kept, returned, exchanged or re-gifted, and sending thank-you messages.

GiftLog Limited · Read from App Store listing on 6 September 2026.

Available on

Christmas Planner.

Best for: An iPhone owner who wants Christmas and nothing else, with a countdown, per-person budgets and a passcode on top.
For planning your own gift buying: A buyer's app, and the right shape for one: gifts by person and by shop, stages from idea through purchased and wrapped to done, and a budget for each person. It is Christmas and nothing else, there is no Google Play listing, and it describes a Dropbox backup rather than a sync, so a lost phone is only as current as the last one you took.
How the lists are organised: Gift lists by person and by shop, for Christmas, with past years archived and restorable.
Tracking what you've bought: Gifts move through idea, need to buy, purchased, wrapped and done, tracked by money and by quantity.

LINKLINKS LTD · Read from App Store listing on 6 September 2026.

How this page is put together

What every app is judged on

One job: keeping a list of the gifts you are buying, for the people you are buying them for, without going over what you meant to spend. Several of the apps below are very good at a different job, and where they are, it says so. It is a narrower question than "which is best", and it is the one this page can answer.

Where the facts come from

Each app's own App Store and Google Play listings, read directly (5 September 2026 to 7 September 2026) and cited under every app with the date we read them. We do not repeat feature claims from review sites. We have not tested anybody else's app to a standard we could publish, which is why there are no scores or star ratings here: a number implies testing we have not done.

What "not described" means

Where a listing does not mention something, the answer says so. That is a fact about the listing rather than about the app, because a feature can exist and go unadvertised. So you will see that wording instead of a plain no.

The screenshots

Each is the first image its developer publishes on their own store listing, reproduced whole and unedited. The App Store is the source where the app is on it, and Google Play where it is not. They are marketing, and they are meant to be: putting everybody's chosen poster next to everybody else's is fairer than us photographing other people's apps and picking which moment to catch them in.

Which apps are here

Apps that come up when you search the App Store and Google Play for a gift list or a gift tracker, and that people are using. GiftTracker is ours. Nobody has paid to be on it, there is no sponsorship, and we have no affiliate arrangement with any app named here. If one is missing and you think it should not be, tell us.

When they are wrong

Store listings change without notice, so any of this can go stale between our reading it and yours. Each comparison names who maintains it and when it was last reviewed. If something is out of date or unfair, get in touch and we will correct it.

App names and screenshots are the property of their owners and appear here for comparison. GiftTracker is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them.

Deciding without the names

If you would rather work out what you need before looking at any particular app, the gift-planning guides cover the same ground without naming one: what to look for in a gift list app and how to choose one for Christmas.

Try GiftTracker for yourself

Free on iPhone and Android, with no ads or subscription.