Best Mint Alternatives 2026: 8 Apps Tested & Compared

Mint officially shut down on March 23, 2024 after 17 years. Intuit pushed everyone to Credit Karma, which is a credit-monitoring app, not a budgeting app. The two products are not the same job. Two years later, the budgeting-app market has reorganized around the gap Mint left behind.

We've spent the last 18 months testing every app that gets pitched as a "Mint replacement." Some are excellent. Some are forgettable. Below is the short list of what we actually recommend in 2026 — paid and free — with what each one does best, current pricing, and which kind of Mint user it fits.

The fastest answer for most readers: Monarch Money is the most-recommended Mint replacement across major personal-finance editorial coverage, and is the one we keep coming back to ourselves. It's not free like Mint was, but it does more, doesn't have ads, doesn't sell your data, and was named Best Overall Budgeting App by The Wall Street Journal. Try the free 7-day trial first to confirm.

Why finding a Mint replacement is hard

Mint did three things at once:

1. Aggregated all your accounts in one dashboard.
2. Categorized transactions automatically.
3. Was completely free (because Intuit sold ads and lead-gen offers inside the app).

The hard part of replacing Mint is that the "free + ad-supported" business model didn't transfer well. Most modern budgeting apps either charge a subscription, or are free because they're loss-leaders for another product (a brokerage, a bank, a credit-monitoring service). The free Mint replacements that exist tend to be narrower than Mint was.

Here's what we recommend, organized by what kind of Mint user you were.

Quick comparison table

#1 — Monarch Money: Closest replacement, more features than Mint had

Pricing: $14.99/month or $99.99/year ($8.33/month annual). 7-day free trial with full access. Use code SMARTMONEY for 50% off the first year ($49.99 first year — under $5/month).

Why former Mint users pick it: Monarch is the most direct successor to what Mint did well — it aggregates accounts (13,000+ institutions), auto-categorizes, builds a dashboard you can actually use, and adds modern features Mint never had: a built-in AI assistant, separate logins for partners, custom reports including the Sankey diagram (the river-of-money chart), and goal tracking with projected hit dates.

It's the app that shows up most often when you search Reddit for "Mint replacement" — both because it works and because it's the closest spiritual successor. Awards include WSJ Best Overall Budgeting App, Forbes Best Budgeting App of 2025, CNBC World's Top Fintech Companies 2025, and Motley Fool Best App for Couples.

What you get: - Connect 13,000+ banks, credit unions, brokerages, 401(k)s, mortgage providers, crypto wallets - Real-time transaction sync with smart auto-categorization - Built-in AI Assistant — ask "how much did I spend on groceries last month?" in natural English; answers come from your actual account data, not a generic chatbot - Credit score monitoring with monthly updates and trend graphs (no hard pull) - Partner collaboration at no extra cost (separate logins for both partners) - Custom categories, custom rules, custom reports - Goals view with progress bars and projected hit dates - Sankey diagram cash-flow visualization - No ads. No selling your data to third parties.

The Mint-to-Monarch migration: Monarch has imported a large number of users from Mint over the past two years. The dashboard layout will feel familiar (account list on the left, summary widgets in the middle, transactions in a sortable table). Custom-categorized transactions from Mint can be imported via CSV.

Who shouldn't pick Monarch: - People who specifically need a permanently-free app and won't pay $99.99/year - People who only want subscription auditing (Rocket Money is better for that single job) - People who want a 100% investment-focused tool (Empower is better there)

The fastest way to test. Connect your top 3 accounts, see if the dashboard works for you. If it doesn't, cancel before day 7 — no charge.

#2 — Rocket Money: Best free Mint replacement (with caveats)

Pricing: Free tier + Premium ($7–$14/month sliding scale).

Why former Mint users pick it: It's free. Rocket Money's free tier connects accounts, lists transactions, and most importantly finds every recurring subscription you have across all your cards. For Mint users who used Mint mainly to spot weird recurring charges, Rocket Money's free tier is a more focused replacement.

What's free: - Account connections - Transaction list and basic categorization - Net worth tracking - The recurring-subscription radar (this is the killer feature) - Spending insights

Available to all users (free + Premium): - Bill negotiation — Rocket Money's team negotiates with cell, internet, cable, home security, and satellite radio providers on your behalf. Success-based fee (35-60% of first-year savings, user-selectable when you submit a bill); no charge if they can't lower the bill.

What requires Premium: - Smart Savings (auto-save into a Rocket Money savings account) - Concierge cancellation help - Real-time sync (free tier syncs less frequently) - Detailed credit-score reporting (free tier shows score; Premium adds the full report)

The honest tradeoff vs Monarch: - Rocket Money's free tier is genuinely free. - But the budgeting tools are noticeably weaker than Monarch's. - For real budget management — categories, goals, reports, partner collaboration — Monarch is meaningfully better. - A common setup: use Rocket Money free for subscription auditing + use Monarch for the actual budget. Different jobs.

Run a free subscription audit first. Cancel the obvious recurring charges, then decide whether you want to layer Monarch on top for the actual budgeting work.

#3 — Empower Personal Dashboard: Best free Mint replacement for net worth & investments

Pricing: Free for the dashboard. Empower also offers paid wealth management as a separate product.

Why former Mint users pick it: Free, no ads, focused on net worth and investments rather than line-item budgeting. If your main use of Mint was the investment dashboard and net-worth chart (rather than the line-item categorization), Empower is the strongest free replacement.

What you get free: - Account aggregation across checking, savings, credit cards, brokerages, 401(k)s - Net worth tracking over time - Investment performance (how each holding is doing) - Retirement planner (project whether you'll hit your retirement goals) - Fee analyzer (find hidden fees in your 401(k)) - Asset allocation breakdown

The caveat: Empower's free dashboard exists because Empower wants to upsell you to its paid wealth-management service. If you have $100K+ in investable assets, you'll get phone calls from a Wealth Advisor. You can decline politely. The free dashboard works regardless.

Best fit: People in their 30s+ with non-trivial investment portfolios who want to see their full picture without paying.

Free, takes 5 minutes to set up. Skip the wealth-advisor calls and use the dashboard standalone.

#4 — YNAB: Best for hands-on Mint refugees who want stricter discipline

Pricing: $14.99/month or $109/year. 34-day free trial.

YNAB is for people who liked the idea of Mint's budgeting but felt Mint was too passive. YNAB makes you assign every dollar a job before you spend it. It's more friction up front, more habit-building over time.

Where YNAB beats Monarch: Long-term behavior change. Couples and individuals who do well on YNAB tend to develop genuinely better money habits because the app forces engagement.

Where Monarch beats YNAB: Lower friction, better aesthetics, partner collaboration without sharing logins, AI Assistant, more flexible categorization. Monarch tells you what happened; YNAB tells you what you'll let happen.

Pick YNAB if: You want budgeting to be a discipline you build over time and you're willing to spend 30 minutes per week on it.

Pick Monarch if: You want a dashboard you can glance at and stay on track without doing the YNAB ritual every Sunday.

#5 — Quicken Simplifi: Best Mint replacement on the lowest paid budget

Pricing: $5.99/month, often discounted further. Quicken pricing varies through the year — check their site.

Simplifi is the cheapest paid Mint alternative. Quicken built it specifically to capture displaced Mint users. It's competent. Connections are reliable. The interface is clean.

The honest comparison: Simplifi is fine. Monarch is meaningfully better — better partner support, better AI features, better reports — but at roughly 2-3x the price.

If $5.99/month is your firm budget, pick Simplifi. If you can afford $8.33/month, Monarch is worth the upgrade. (Note: with the SMARTMONEY code, Monarch's first year is $49.99 — below Simplifi's annual cost.)

#6 — Copilot Money: Beautiful, but iOS-only

Pricing: $13/month or $95/year. 30-day free trial.

Copilot is the most visually polished budgeting app on the market. The categorization is good, the design is delightful, the features are well-thought-through.

Catch: iOS-only. If you have an Android phone — or if your partner does — Copilot is a non-starter.

For iPhone-only households, Copilot is genuinely competitive with Monarch. Monarch wins on partner collaboration and platform breadth (works on web, iOS, Android). Copilot wins on visual polish.

#7 — EveryDollar: Best Mint replacement for Dave Ramsey followers

Pricing: Free tier + Premium tier (around $17/month, varies).

If you're following Dave Ramsey's baby steps, EveryDollar is the natural fit. It's built around the envelope method (zero-based budgeting) but specifically tied to the Ramsey framework — so it's complementary if you're using other Ramsey resources.

The free tier is fine for manual entry. Premium adds bank syncing.

Pick EveryDollar if: You're already in the Ramsey world. Otherwise, Monarch and YNAB will both serve you better.

#8 — PocketGuard: Best for a single "what can I spend" number

Pricing: Free tier + Plus tier (around $13/month).

PocketGuard's signature feature is the "In My Pocket" number — what you can safely spend right now, after bills, savings, and goals are accounted for. For some former Mint users, this is exactly the dashboard they want.

The free tier is functional. The paid tier adds custom categories, debt payoff plans, and unlimited budgets.

Pick PocketGuard if: You want a simple "what can I spend today" number and don't need deep reports.

#9 — Tiller Money: Best for spreadsheet enthusiasts

Pricing: $79/year. 30-day free trial.

Tiller is the answer for former Mint users who want maximum control over their data. Instead of running in a polished web app, Tiller pipes your transaction and balance data into Google Sheets or Excel. You build dashboards, charts, and budgets in the spreadsheet itself using their starter templates or your own.

Where Tiller wins for Mint refugees: Data ownership. Your finances live in your spreadsheet, not in a third-party platform that could shut down. After Mint, this is meaningful for a non-trivial slice of users.

Where Tiller is weaker: Setup time, learning curve, and ongoing maintenance. Tiller is for users who actually enjoy spreadsheets. If "build your own dashboard" sounds tedious rather than empowering, Monarch's prebuilt experience is a better fit.

Best fit: Mint refugees who said "never again" to platform lock-in.

#10 — Goodbudget: Best for the envelope method without bank linking

Pricing: Free tier + Plus ~$10/month.

Goodbudget is a modern take on the envelope budgeting method. The differentiator: you don't link bank accounts. You manually log every transaction into "envelopes" (Groceries, Rent, Vacation, etc.), and the app keeps your phone (and your partner's phone) in sync.

Best fit: Privacy-conscious users who categorically refuse third-party bank aggregators (Plaid, Finicity, MX), and couples who want manual envelope discipline. The friction of manual entry forces awareness — which for some users is the whole point.

Where Goodbudget loses to Monarch: Massive amount of manual data entry. For households with active spending across many cards, the daily logging is genuinely painful.

A free-only Mint replacement stack

If you'll firmly never pay for a budgeting app post-Mint, here's the strongest free combination we've found:

This stack covers ~80% of what Mint did, free. The trade-offs vs Monarch: weaker single-dashboard view (you'll switch between apps), no AI assistant, no Sankey reports, lighter goal projection. For users firmly at $0, this is the closest you can get to Mint without paying.

Why Credit Karma is not a Mint replacement

Intuit owns both Mint and Credit Karma. When Mint shut down, Intuit pushed every Mint user toward Credit Karma — even adding a "spending" tab inside Credit Karma to ease the transition. Many former Mint users who tried Credit Karma found it didn't replace what Mint did and moved to a real budgeting app instead. Here's why:

What Credit Karma does well: Free credit score monitoring (TransUnion + Equifax). Loan and credit card recommendations. Identity monitoring. Tax filing (Credit Karma Tax, now part of Cash App Taxes).

What Credit Karma doesn't do (vs Mint): No real budget categories with monthly caps. No goal tracking with auto-funding. No custom rules. No reports beyond basic spending charts. No Sankey diagrams or cash-flow visualization. No couples support. No AI assistant. The "spending" tab inside Credit Karma is a transaction list with light categorization — not a budgeting product.

Privacy tradeoff: Credit Karma's revenue comes from financial product recommendations. Your transaction data feeds the recommendation engine, which surfaces credit cards, loans, and other Intuit/partner products. This is a different model than Monarch (subscription-funded, no data sale) or YNAB (subscription-funded, no data sale). Whether that tradeoff matters to you is personal — but it's a meaningful difference from Mint's clean dashboard.

Bottom line: if you want a free credit-score app with light spending visibility, Credit Karma is fine. If you want a Mint replacement that does what Mint did, Credit Karma isn't it. Pair Credit Karma with Empower's free dashboard (net worth + investments) and Rocket Money's free tier (subscription audit) for a more complete free Mint-replacement stack.

The Mint timeline (for context)

• 2006 — Mint launches as an independent web-only personal finance startup founded by Aaron Patzer.
• November 2009 — Intuit acquires Mint for $170M.
• 2010-2020 — Mint grows to 25M users at peak. Connection issues and ad-heavy UX become consistent complaints.
• November 2023 — Intuit announces Mint will sunset, with users migrated to Credit Karma.
• March 23, 2024 — Mint officially shuts down. All accounts closed.
• 2024-2026 — Market reorganizes. Monarch, YNAB, Rocket Money, and Copilot capture the displaced user base. Quicken Simplifi specifically positions itself as a Mint successor.

How to migrate your Mint data to a new app

Mint shut down for good in March 2024, but you may still have an old export sitting on your computer. Here's how to use it:

If you have a Mint CSV export: - Monarch and most paid apps can import CSV transaction history, with column mapping for category names. - You'll need to re-link your accounts (the CSV is historical, not live). - Categories from Mint will need to be mapped to the new app's category system. Most apps make this a one-time setup task.

If you don't have an export anymore: - Don't worry — every modern app rebuilds your transaction history by reading 90+ days of transactions from your bank when you connect. - You'll lose Mint's pre-2024 history but you'll get the current state of every account in 5 minutes.

Pro tip: If you used Mint custom categories aggressively, write down your category list before you migrate. Recreating the category structure in the new app is the boring-but-important step that makes the new app feel like Mint did.

Mint → Monarch Money: step-by-step migration

If you have a Mint CSV export saved (Mint allowed exports until shutdown), the migration to Monarch is straightforward.

Step 1 — Create a Monarch account. Sign up at northvilletech.co/monarch. Use the web flow rather than the app store. Use code SMARTMONEY at checkout for 50% off the first year.

Step 2 — Connect your accounts fresh. Don't try to import account connections from Mint — those are dead. Connect each bank, credit card, brokerage, and retirement account directly via Monarch's account-add flow. Most institutions sync 90 days of history immediately.

Step 3 — Import historical transactions via CSV. From your Mint CSV export, Monarch's import flow accepts the Mint format with column mapping (Date, Description, Amount, Category, Account). The mapping takes about 5 minutes. Historical data older than 90 days that Mint had — but your bank doesn't expose — comes in this way.

Step 4 — Map old Mint categories to Monarch categories. Monarch's default category set is similar to Mint's but not identical. Spend 15 minutes mapping (e.g., Mint "Auto & Transport" → Monarch "Transportation"). Monarch saves the mapping for future imports.

Step 5 — Recreate your custom categories. If you had aggressive custom categories in Mint ("Wedding 2024", "Kid's Birthday Fund"), add them in Monarch. Custom categories in Monarch are unlimited.

Step 6 — Set up rules. For repeat merchants, set rules so future transactions auto-categorize. Monarch has stronger rule logic than Mint did (regex matching, account-specific rules), so this step actually improves on Mint.

Step 7 — Add your partner if applicable. Send an invite from settings; partner gets their own login (separate password — Monarch doesn't share credentials).

Total migration time: 1-2 hours for a household with 10+ accounts and aggressive Mint customization. About 30 minutes if you're willing to start fresh on categories.

If you don't have a Mint CSV export: Don't worry. Monarch will pull 90 days of fresh transactions from each connected bank automatically. You'll lose Mint's pre-2024 history, but you'll have a working Monarch dashboard in 30 minutes.

Use code SMARTMONEY for 50% off your first year — $49.99 instead of $99.99.

Frequently asked questions

Why did Mint shut down?

Intuit announced in November 2023 that it was sunsetting Mint and moving users to Credit Karma. The shutdown completed on March 23, 2024. Intuit's stated reason was strategic consolidation. The community theory is that Mint never made enough revenue from its ad-supported model to justify its engineering costs.

Is Credit Karma a Mint replacement?

No. Credit Karma is a credit-monitoring app with some account aggregation. The budgeting features are minimal. Many former Mint users who tried Credit Karma found it didn't replace Mint's budgeting features and moved to a different app within a few months.

What's the closest free Mint alternative?

Rocket Money's free tier for subscription auditing + recent transactions. Empower's free dashboard for net worth and investments. Neither is as comprehensive as Mint was, because the ad-supported business model that funded Mint hasn't been replicated.

For a full Mint experience including modern features Mint never had, you'll need a paid app — Monarch is the closest spiritual successor, with a 7-day free trial to test before paying.

Is Monarch worth $99.99/year compared to free Mint?

For users who valued Mint's full-feature aggregation, yes. Monarch does more: AI Assistant, partner collaboration with separate logins, custom reports, no ads, no data resale. The 7-day free trial lets you confirm fit before paying.

Does Monarch import Mint data directly?

Monarch supports CSV import of transaction history. You re-link your accounts to get live data going forward. Most former Mint users we know completed migration in under an hour.

Are there any free, no-strings-attached Mint replacements?

Closest: Empower Personal Dashboard (truly free, focused on net worth and investments, may receive wealth-advisor calls). Rocket Money's free tier (subscription radar + basic transactions). Neither replaces 100% of Mint's functionality, but together they cover most of what Mint did, free.

Will my old Mint login still work?

No. Mint accounts were closed when the service shut down. Any old login is dead.

Do these apps have ads like Mint did?

Monarch — no ads, no data resale. YNAB — no ads, paid only. Rocket Money — no display ads, but recommends partner offerings inside the app. Empower — no display ads, but you may get calls from their wealth-advisor team. Simplifi — no ads, paid only. Copilot — no ads, paid only.

Can I use multiple apps at once?

Yes, and many people do. A frequently-recommended stack: Rocket Money free tier for subscription auditing + Monarch Money for actual budgeting + Empower free dashboard for net worth tracking. Different apps optimize for different jobs.

Which app has the best customer support?

In our testing, Monarch and YNAB both have responsive support. Rocket Money's support has improved noticeably in the past year. Free apps (Empower, EveryDollar free tier) tend to have slower response times.

What's Monarch Plus and do I need it?

Monarch Plus ($299/year for new members) is a premium tier that launched April 2026. It adds advanced forecasting, business/rental income tracking, advanced investment analysis powered by Morningstar, and an estate-planning perk through Trust & Will. Most users are well-served by Monarch Core ($99.99/year) and don't need Plus. Consider Plus if you have rental properties or run a business and want to track that alongside personal finances.

The bottom line

There's no perfect Mint replacement because the free + ad-supported business model that funded Mint hasn't survived. But two years after the shutdown, the market has settled into a clear hierarchy:

1. For most former Mint users: Monarch Money — closest spiritual successor, more features than Mint had, 7-day free trial, no ads, no data resale. Use code SMARTMONEY for 50% off your first year.
2. For free users who mainly need subscription auditing: Rocket Money's free tier.
3. For free users focused on net worth and investments: Empower Personal Dashboard.

Most stable setups we see combine 2 of those 3 — typically Monarch + Rocket Money, or Empower + Rocket Money for free-only users.

The best Mint alternative is the one you'll actually open. Pick one, run the free trial (or set up the free tier), and commit to a weekly check-in. Mint is gone, but the habit it built doesn't have to be.

Related reading: - Best Budgeting Apps for Couples in 2026 - Best Budgeting Apps With AI Assistants - Best All-in-One Personal Finance App - Rocket Money vs Monarch Money - Is Empower Worth It? Honest Review