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Quick guides for using iowii.

Compare merchants

Put up to four merchants from the same category side by side and compare what you spent at each, based on your real transactions.

  1. 1

    Understand what is compared

    This comparator uses your own data, not market prices. It takes the merchants where you logged expenses and shows what you spent at each within the same category — supermarket A against supermarket B, with your numbers.

    TipThere are no price tables or external offers. Everything you see here comes from your own transactions.

  2. 2

    Have something to compare

    A merchant only appears once you have at least one expense logged against it. The link between merchant and category comes from the transactions themselves, so the same merchant can show up under several categories if you spend on different things there.

    TipIf the page is empty, it is because no expenses are attributed to merchants yet. Fill in the Merchant field when logging an expense and it starts counting here.

  3. 3

    Pick the category

    The tabs at the top are the categories where you have merchants with expenses, each showing how many merchants are available. Only merchants within the same category are compared — putting a supermarket against an insurer would tell you nothing.

  4. 4

    Select up to four merchants

    You can compare up to four merchants at once. The first two come pre-selected so you have something to look at straight away; click a merchant to add or remove it. Once you reach four, the rest are unavailable until you free a slot.

  5. 5

    Read the comparison

    The table gives each merchant a column and compares five things:

    • Total spent — everything you left there in that category.
    • Average per transaction — how much you spend each time.
    • Transaction count — how many times you went.
    • Last transaction — when you were last there.
    • Monthly limit — the limit you set for that merchant, if you set one.

    TipThe lowest total spent is highlighted. Read it carefully: spending less can mean you go there less often, not that it is cheaper — always weigh it against the average per transaction and the visit count.

  6. 6

    Set limits per merchant

    The monthly limit row comes from each merchant's own record on the Merchants page. A dash means no limit is set. That is where you set it, not here — this comparator only displays the figures.

  7. 7

    Use the comparator on mobile

    On mobile, the page has its own layout: whoever spends the least in the active category sits in the coloured header. Desktop's side-by-side table — hard to read while scrolling sideways on a narrow screen — becomes a card per merchant, each with the same five figures stacked, and the cheapest one gets a badge.

    TipCategories sit in a horizontally scrolling row, so they all fit without taking up much vertical space.