The perfect Mint options

As a long-time Mint consumer, I used to be pissed off to say the least when information broke on the finish of 2023 that Intuit would shut Mint down. I, like hundreds of thousands of others, loved how simply Mint allowed us to trace all accounts in a single place and monitor credit score scores. I additionally used it commonly to trace spending, set objectives like pay my mortgage down quicker and with normal cash administration.

So I got down to discover the very best Mint options within the wake of its disappointing demise. I gave Credit Karma, Intuit’s different monetary app, a attempt however discovered it to be a poor Mint substitute. The next information lays out my expertise testing a number of the hottest Mint alternative apps obtainable right this moment in the hunt for my subsequent budgeting app.

Our decide for finest Mint different stays Quicken Simplifi, even lengthy after Mint shutting down, due to its straightforward to make use of app, good earnings and invoice detection and its reasonably priced value. However there are many different stable choices on the market for these with totally different wants. For those who’re additionally on the hunt for a budgeting app to switch Mint, we hope these particulars will help you resolve which of the best budgeting apps on the market will probably be best for you.

Desk of contents

Finest Mint options in 2025

No pun supposed, however what I like about Quicken Simplifi is its simplicity. Whereas different budgeting apps attempt to distinguish themselves with darkish themes and customizable emoji, Simplifi has a clear consumer interface, with a touchdown web page that you simply simply hold scrolling via to get an in depth overview of all of your stats. These embrace your top-line balances; internet price; latest spending; upcoming recurring funds; a snapshot of your spending plan; prime spending classes; achievements; and any watchlists you’ve arrange.

One other one of many key options I respect is the power to arrange financial savings objectives elsewhere within the app. I additionally respect the way it gives neat, virtually playful visualizations with out ever trying cluttered. I felt at house within the cell and internet dashboards after a day or so, which is quicker than I tailored to some competing providers (I’m taking a look at you, YNAB and Monarch).

Getting arrange with Simplifi was largely painless. I used to be notably impressed at how simply it linked to Constancy; not all finances trackers do, for no matter motive. That is additionally one of many solely providers I examined that provides you the choice of inviting a partner or monetary advisor to co-manage your account. One factor I’d add to my preliminary evaluation of the app, having used it for a couple of months now: I want Simplifi provided Zillow integration for simply monitoring your own home worth (or no less than a tough estimate of it). Numerous rivals together with Monarch Cash and Copilot Cash work with Zillow, so clearly there is a Zillow API obtainable to be used. Because it stands, Simplifi customers should add actual property manually like another asset.

In observe, Simplifi miscategorized a few of my bills, however nothing out of the peculiar in comparison with any of those finances trackers. As you’re reviewing transactions, you may also mark in case you’re anticipating a refund, which is a novel function among the many providers I examined. Simplifi additionally estimated my common earnings higher than another apps I examined. Most of all, I appreciated the choice of with the ability to categorize some, however not all, purchases from a service provider as recurring. As an example, I can add my two Amazon subscribe-and-saves as recurring funds, with out having to create a broad-strokes rule for each Amazon buy.

The budgeting function can be self-explanatory and may possible accommodate your most popular budgeting methodology. Simply test that your common earnings is correct and make sure to arrange recurring funds, making observe of that are payments and that are subscriptions. That is essential as a result of Simplifi reveals you your complete take-home earnings in addition to an “earnings after payments” determine. That quantity contains, properly, payments however not discretionary subscriptions. From there, you possibly can add spending targets by class within the “deliberate spending” bucket. Deliberate spending also can embrace one-time expenditures, not simply month-to-month budgets. While you create a finances, Simplifi will counsel a quantity primarily based on a six-month common.

Not dealbreakers, however two issues to bear in mind as you get began: Simplifi is notable in you could’t arrange an account via Apple or Google. There’s additionally no choice for a free trial, although Quicken guarantees a “30-day a refund assure.”

Monarch Cash

Month-to-month price: Begins at $9 | Tracks spending: Sure | Funding monitoring: Sure | Hyperlinks to financial institution accounts: Sure | Cell app: iOS, Android

A sturdy budgeting app that’s a bit more durable to make use of than our prime decide, however not prohibitively so. (Energy customers won’t thoughts.)

Execs

• A lot of element and alternatives for personalization
• Useful “objectives” function
• You possibly can grant account entry to different folks
• Chrome extension for importing from Mint
• Month-in-review recap is extra thorough than most
• Automotive worth syncing
• Zillow integration

Cons

• Steeper studying curve than another finances trackers
• The cell app feels restricted and fewer intuitive than the net model
• Doesn’t appear to differentiate between payments and different recurring bills
• Some bugginess on cell round creating guidelines for expense classes

$100 a year or $15 a month at Monarch Money

Monarch Money grew on me. My first impression of the budgeting app, which was based by a former Mint product supervisor, was that it is tougher to make use of than others on this listing, together with Simplifi, NerdWallet and Copilot. And it’s. Modifying expense classes, including recurring transactions and creating guidelines, for instance, is a bit more sophisticated than it must be, particularly within the cell app. (My recommendation: Use the net app for fine-tuning particulars.) Monarch additionally didn’t get my earnings proper; I needed to edit it.

When you’re arrange, although, Monarch gives a formidable degree of granularity. Within the budgets part, you possibly can see a bona fide steadiness sheet exhibiting budgets and actuals for every class. You may additionally discover a forecast, for the 12 months or by month. And recurring bills could be set not simply by service provider, however different parameters as properly. As an example, whereas most Amazon purchases is perhaps marked as “buying,” these for the quantities of $54.18 or $34.18 are positively child provides, and could be mechanically marked as such every time, to not point out programmed as recurring funds. Weirdly, although, there’s no option to mark sure recurring funds as payments, particularly.

Not lengthy after I first revealed this story in December 2023, Monarch introduced an in depth reporting part the place you possibly can create on-demand graphs primarily based on issues like accounts, classes and tags. That function is accessible simply on the internet model of the app for now. As a part of this identical replace, Monarch added assist for an aggregator that makes it attainable to mechanically replace the worth of your automobile. This, mixed with the present Zillow integration for monitoring your own home worth, makes it straightforward to shortly add a non-liquid asset like a car or actual property, and have it present up in your internet price graph.

The cell app is generally self-explanatory. The principle dashboard reveals your internet price; your 4 most up-to-date transactions; a month-over-month spending comparability; earnings month-to-date; upcoming payments; an investments snapshot; an inventory of any objectives you’ve set; and, lastly, a hyperlink to your month-in-review. That month-in-review is extra detailed than most, delving into money circulate; prime earnings and expense classes; money circulate developments; modifications to your internet price, belongings and liabilities; plus asset and legal responsibility breakdowns. In February 2024, Monarch expanded on the net worth graph, in order that in case you click on on the Accounts tab you possibly can see how your internet price modified over totally different durations of time, together with one month, three months, six months, a 12 months or all time.

On the primary display, you’ll additionally discover tabs for financial savings and checking accounts (and all others as properly), transactions, money circulate, finances and recurring. Like lots of the different apps featured right here, Monarch can auto-detect recurring bills and earnings, even when it will get the class fallacious. (All of them do to an extent.) Expense classes are marked by emoji, which you’ll be able to customise in case you’re so inclined.

Monarch Cash makes use of a mixture of networks to attach with banks, together with Plaid, MX and Finicity, a competing community owned by Mastercard. (I’ve a fast explainer on Plaid, the trade normal on this area, towards the tip of this information.) As a part of an replace in late December, Monarch has additionally made it simpler to attach via these different two networks, if for some motive Plaid fails. Much like NerdWallet, I discovered myself finishing two-factor authentication each time I wished to get previous the Plaid display so as to add one other account. Notably, Monarch is the one different app I examined that lets you grant entry to another person in your loved ones — possible a partner or monetary advisor. Monarch additionally has a Chrome extension for importing from Mint, although actually that is only a shortcut for downloading a CSV file, which you’ll should do no matter the place you select to take your Mint knowledge.

Moreover, Monarch simply added the power to trace Apple Card, Apple Money, and Financial savings accounts, due to new performance introduced with the iOS 17.4 replace. It isn’t the one one both; at the moment, Copilot and YNAB have additionally added comparable performance that will probably be obtainable to anybody with the newest variations of their respective apps on a tool operating iOS 17.4. As an alternative of manually importing statements, the brand new performance permits apps like Monarch’s to mechanically pull in transactions and steadiness historical past. That ought to make it simpler to account for spending on Apple playing cards and accounts all through the month.

Monarch additionally just lately launched funding transactions in beta. It additionally says invoice monitoring and an overhauled objectives system are coming quickly. Monarch hasn’t offered a timeline for that final one, besides to say that the improved objectives function is coming quickly.

Copilot Cash

Month-to-month price: Begins at $8 | Tracks spending: Sure | Funding monitoring: Sure | Hyperlinks to financial institution accounts: Sure | Cell app: iOS

A superbly designed and fairly priced app with plenty of options in growth — together with Android and internet apps.

Execs

• Slick UI
• Standalone Mac app
• Decrease month-to-month value than some competing apps
• Does a great job visualizing recurring bills
• Elective Amazon, Venmo and Zillow integration
• “To evaluate” part is useful

Cons

• No internet or Android app but
• Miscategorized extra bills than our prime decide
• A lot of in any other case widespread options are nonetheless in growth

$95 a year or $13 a month at Copilot Money

Copilot Money is perhaps the best-looking budgeting app I examined. It additionally has the excellence of being unique to iOS and Macs — no less than for now. Andres Ugarte, the corporate’s CEO, has publicly promised that Android and internet apps are coming quickly. However till it follows via, I can’t advocate Copilot for most individuals with so many good rivals on the market.

There are different options that Copilot is lacking, which I’ll get into. However it’s promising, and one to keep watch over. It’s only a quick, environment friendly, properly designed app, and Android customers will probably be in for a deal with after they’ll lastly have the ability to obtain it. It makes good use of colours, emoji and graphs that will help you perceive at a look the way you’re doing on the whole lot out of your budgets to your funding efficiency to your bank card debt over time. Particularly, Copilot does a greater job than virtually another app of visualizing your recurring month-to-month bills.

Behind these punchy colours and cutesy emoji, although, is a few subtle efficiency. Copilot’s AI-powered “Intelligence” will get smarter as you go at categorizing your bills. (It’s also possible to add your individual classes, full together with your alternative of emoji.) It’s not excellent. Copilot miscategorized some purchases (all of them do), nevertheless it makes it simpler to edit than most. On prime of that, the inner search function may be very quick; it begins whittling down ends in your transaction historical past as quickly as you start typing.

Copilot can be distinctive in providing Amazon and Venmo integrations, permitting you to see transaction particulars. With Amazon, this requires simply signing into your Amazon account through an in-app browser. For Venmo, it’s a must to arrange fwd@copilot.cash as a forwarding handle after which create a filter, whereby emails from venmo@venmo.com are mechanically forwarded to fwd@copilot.cash. Like Monarch Cash, you may also add any property you personal and observe its worth via Zillow, which is built-in with the app.

Whereas the app is closely automated, I nonetheless respect that Copilot marks new transactions for evaluate. It’s a great way to each weed out fraudulent expenses, and in addition be considerably intentional about your spending habits.

Like Monarch Cash, Copilot up to date its app to make it simpler to hook up with banks via networks aside from Plaid. As a part of the identical replace, Copilot mentioned it has improved its connections to each American Specific and Constancy which, once more, is usually a bugbear for some finances monitoring apps. In an much more latest replace, Copilot added a Mint import choice, which different budgeting apps have begun to supply as properly.

As a result of the app is comparatively new (it launched in early 2020), the corporate remains to be catching as much as the competitors on some table-stakes options. Ugarte advised me that his workforce is nearly carried out constructing out an in depth money circulate part as properly. On its website, Copilot additionally guarantees a raft of AI-powered options that construct on its present “Intelligence” platform, the one which powers its sensible expense categorization. These embrace “sensible monetary objectives,” pure language search, a chat interface, forecasting and benchmarking. That benchmarking, Ugarte tells me, is supposed to present folks a way of how they’re doing in comparison with different Copilot customers, on each spending and funding efficiency. Most of those options ought to arrive within the new 12 months.

Copilot does a pair fascinating issues for brand new prospects that distinguish it from the competitors. There’s a “demo mode” that seems like a recreation simulator; no want so as to add your individual accounts. The corporate can be providing two free months with RIPMINT — a extra beneficiant introductory provide than most. When it lastly does come time to pony up, the $7.92 month-to-month plan is cheaper than some competing apps, though the $95-a-year-option is in the identical ballpark.

NerdWallet

Month-to-month price: $0 | Tracks spending: Sure | Funding monitoring: Sure | Hyperlinks to financial institution accounts: Sure | Cell app: iOS, Android

The perfect free finances monitoring app you will get (and there aren’t many compromises moreover the ever-present advertisements).

Execs

• Free
• Straightforward to make use of
• Useful weekly insights
• NerdWallet has a deep properly of useful monetary explainers and guides
• One of many few choices that provides credit score rating monitoring

Cons

• Advertisements in all places
• No customization for spending classes
• Much less adept at detecting common earnings
• One of many extra tedious setup processes

Free at NerdWallet

It’s possible you’ll know NerdWallet as a web site that provides a mixture of private finance information, explainers and guides. I see it typically after I google a monetary time period I don’t know and certain sufficient, it’s one of many websites I’m more than likely to click on on. Because it occurs, NerdWallet additionally has the excellence of providing one of many solely free budgeting apps I examined. In truth, there isn’t any paid model; nothing is locked behind a paywall. The principle catch: There are advertisements in all places. To be truthful, the free model of Mint was like this, too.

Even with the inescapable bank card gives, NerdWallet has a clear, easy-to-understand consumer interface, which incorporates each an online and a cell app. The important thing metrics that it highlights most prominently are your money circulate, internet price and credit score rating. (Of observe, though Mint itself provided credit score rating monitoring, most of its rivals don’t.) I notably loved the weekly insights, which delve into issues like the place you spent essentially the most cash or how a lot you paid in charges — and the way that compares to the earlier month. As a result of that is NerdWallet, an encyclopedia of economic information, you get some notably particular class choices when organising your accounts (suppose: a Roth or non-Roth IRA).

As a budgeting app, NerdWallet is greater than serviceable, if a bit primary. Like different apps I examined, you possibly can arrange recurring payments. Importantly, it follows the favored 50/30/20 budgeting rule, which has you placing 50% of your finances towards belongings you want, 30% towards belongings you need, and the remaining 20% into financial savings or debt repayments. If this works for you, nice — simply know you could’t customise your finances to the identical diploma as some competing apps. You possibly can’t at the moment create customized spending classes, although a observe contained in the dashboard part of the app says “you’ll have the ability to customise them sooner or later.” You can also’t transfer gadgets from the needs column to “wants” or vice versa however “Sooner or later, you can transfer particular transactions to actively handle what falls into every group.” A NerdWallet spokesperson declined to offer an ETA, although.

Lastly, it’s price noting that NerdWallet had probably the most onerous setup processes of any app I examined. I don’t suppose it is a dealbreaker, as you’ll solely should do it as soon as and, hopefully, you aren’t organising six or seven apps in tandem as I used to be. What made NerdWallet’s onboarding particularly tedious is that each time I wished so as to add an account, I needed to undergo a two-factor authentication course of to even get previous the Plaid splash display, and that’s not together with the 2FA I had arrange at every of my banks. This can be a safety coverage on NerdWallet’s finish, not Plaid’s, a Plaid spokesperson says.

Exactly as a result of NerdWallet is likely one of the solely finances trackers to supply credit score rating monitoring, it additionally wants extra of your private information throughout setup, together with your birthday, handle, cellphone quantity and the final 4 digits of your social safety quantity. It’s the identical with Credit score Karma, which additionally does credit score rating monitoring.

Associated to the setup course of, I discovered that NerdWallet was much less adept than different apps at mechanically detecting my common earnings. In my case, it counted a big one-time wire switch as earnings, at which level my solely different choice was to enter my earnings manually (which is barely annoying as a result of I’d have wanted my pay stub useful to double-check my take-home pay).

YNAB

Month-to-month price: Begins at $8 | Tracks spending: Sure | Funding monitoring: Sure | Hyperlinks to financial institution accounts: Sure | Cell app: iOS, Android

An app with a cult following that promotes a distinct, extra hands-on strategy to budgeting. Not for individuals who need a set-and-forget expertise.

Execs

• Notably sturdy emphasis on budgeting
• Distinctive “zero-dollar” strategy to monetary planning that some folks swear by

Cons

• Steep studying curve
• Tougher to make use of sure options on the cell app than on the internet

$110 a year or $15 a month at YNAB

YNAB is, by its own admission, “totally different from something you’ve tried earlier than.” The app, whose title is brief for You Want a Price range, promotes a so-called zero-based budgeting system, which forces you to assign a goal for each greenback you earn. A steadily used analogy is to place every greenback in an envelope; you possibly can all the time transfer cash from one envelope to a different in a pinch. These envelopes can embrace lease and utilities, together with unexpected bills like vacation items and the inevitable automobile restore. The concept is that in case you finances a specific amount for the unknowns every month, they received’t really feel like they’re sneaking up on you.

Importantly, YNAB is just involved with the cash you’ve got in your accounts now. The app doesn’t ask you to offer your take-home earnings or arrange recurring earnings funds (though there’s a approach to do that). The cash you’ll make later within the month via your salaried job isn’t related, as a result of YNAB doesn’t have interaction in forecasting.

The app is more durable to be taught than another right here, and it requires extra ongoing effort from the consumer. And YNAB is aware of that. Inside each the cell and internet apps are hyperlinks to movies and different tutorials. Though I by no means fairly bought comfy with the consumer interface, I did come to understand YNAB’s insistence on intentionality. Forcing customers to draft a brand new finances every month and to evaluate every transaction isn’t essentially a nasty factor. As YNAB says on its web site, “Certain, you’ve bought pie charts exhibiting that you simply spent an obscene sum of money in eating places — however you’ve nonetheless spent an obscene sum of money in eating places.” I can see this strategy being helpful for individuals who don’t are inclined to have quite a lot of money in reserve at a given time, or who’ve spending habits they need to appropriate (to riff off of YNAB’s personal instance, ordering Seamless 4 occasions every week).

My colleague Valentina Palladino, figuring out I used to be engaged on this information, penned a respectful rebuttal, explaining why she’s been utilizing YNAB for years. Maybe, like her, you’ve got main financial savings objectives you need to obtain, whether or not it’s paying for a marriage or shopping for a home. I counsel you give her column a learn. For me, although, YNAB’s strategy seems like overkill.

Different Mint options we examined

PocketGuard

PocketGuard was once a stable free finances tracker, however the firm has since restricted its “free” model to only a free seven-day trial. Now, you’ll have to decide on between two plans as soon as the trial is over: a $13 month-to-month plan or a $75 annual plan. After I first examined it, I discovered it to be extra restricted than NerdWallet, however nonetheless an honest choice. The principle overview display reveals you your internet price, complete belongings and money owed; internet earnings and complete spending for the month; upcoming payments; a useful reminder of when your subsequent paycheck lands; any debt payoff plan you’ve got; and any objectives. Like another apps, together with Quicken Simplifi, PocketGuard promotes an “after payments” strategy, the place you enter your whole recurring payments, after which PocketGuard reveals you what’s left, and that’s what you’re presupposed to be budgeting: your disposable earnings.

Though PocketGuard’s UI is simple sufficient to grasp, it lacks polish. The “accounts” tab is a bit busy, and doesn’t present totals for classes like money or investments. Seemingly small particulars like weirdly phrased or punctuated copy sometimes make the app really feel janky. Greater than as soon as, it prompted me to replace the app when no updates had been obtainable. The net model, in the meantime, feels just like the cell app blown as much as a bigger format and doesn’t benefit from the additional display actual property. In the end, now that the free tier is gone, it simply doesn’t current the identical worth proposition because it as soon as did.

What’s Plaid and the way does it work?

Every of the apps I examined makes use of the identical underlying community, referred to as Plaid, to drag in monetary knowledge, so it’s price explaining in its personal part what it’s and the way it works. Plaid was based as a fintech startup in 2013 and is right this moment the trade normal in connecting banks with third-party apps. Plaid works with over 12,000 monetary establishments throughout the US, Canada and Europe. Moreover, greater than 8,000 third-party apps and providers depend on Plaid, the company claims.

To be clear, you don’t want a devoted Plaid app to make use of it; the know-how is baked into a wide selection of apps, together with the finances trackers I examined for this information. As soon as you discover the “add an account” choice in whichever one you’re utilizing, you’ll see a menu of generally used banks. There’s additionally a search area you need to use to look yours up straight. As soon as you discover yours, you’ll be prompted to enter your login credentials. When you have two-factor authentication arrange, you’ll must enter a one-time passcode as properly.

Because the intermediary, Plaid is a passthrough for data which will embrace your account balances, transaction historical past, account sort and routing or account quantity. Plaid makes use of encryption, and says it has a coverage of not promoting or renting buyer knowledge to different firms. Nonetheless, I’d not be doing my job if I didn’t observe that in 2022 Plaid was forced to pay $58 million to consumers in a class action suit for amassing “extra monetary knowledge than was wanted.” As a part of the settlement, Plaid was compelled to vary a few of its enterprise practices.

In an announcement offered to Engadget, a Plaid spokesperson mentioned the corporate continues to disclaim the allegations underpinning the lawsuit and that “the crux of the non-financial phrases within the settlement are targeted on us accelerating workstreams already underway associated to giving folks extra transparency into Plaid’s position in connecting their accounts, and making certain that our workstreams round knowledge minimization stay on observe.”

The best way to import your monetary knowledge from the Mint app

Mint customers ought to contemplate getting their knowledge able to migrate to their new budgeting app of alternative quickly. Sadly, importing knowledge from Mint isn’t as straightforward as coming into your credentials from inside your new app and hitting “import.” In truth, any app that advertises the power to port over your stats from Mint is simply going to have you ever add a CSV file of transactions and different knowledge.

To obtain a CSV file from Mint, do the next:

1. Signal into Mint.com and hit Transactions within the menu on the left facet of the display.

2. Choose an account, or all accounts.

3. Scroll down and search for “export [number] transactions” in smaller print.

4. Your CSV file ought to start downloading.

Word: Downloading on a per-account foundation may appear extra annoying, however might assist you get arrange on the opposite facet, if the app you’re utilizing has you importing transactions one-for-one into their corresponding accounts.

How we examined Mint options

Earlier than I dove into the world of budgeting apps, I had to perform a little research. To discover a listing of apps to check, I consulted trusty ol’ Google (and even trustier Reddit); learn critiques of widespread apps on the App Retailer; and in addition requested pals and colleagues what finances monitoring apps they is perhaps utilizing. A number of the apps I discovered had been free, identical to Mint. These, after all, present a great deal of advertisements (excuse me, “gives”) to remain in enterprise. However many of the obtainable apps require paid subscriptions, with costs sometimes topping out round $100 a 12 months, or $15 a month. (Spoiler: My prime decide is cheaper than that.)

Since this information is supposed to assist Mint customers discover a everlasting alternative, any providers I selected to check wanted to do a number of issues: import your whole account knowledge into one place; provide budgeting instruments; and observe your spending, internet price and credit score rating. Besides the place famous, all of those apps can be found for iOS, Android and on the internet.

As soon as I had my shortlist of six apps, I started working setting them up. For the sake of completely testing these apps (and bear in mind, I actually was on the lookout for a Mint alternative myself), I made a degree of including each account to each budgeting app, irrespective of how small or immaterial the steadiness. What ensued was a veritable Groundhog Day of two-factor authentication. Simply hours of coming into passwords and one-time passcodes, for a similar banks half a dozen occasions over. Hopefully, you solely have to do that as soon as.

What about Rocket Cash?

Rocket Money is one other free monetary app that tracks spending and helps issues like steadiness alerts and account linking. For those who pay for the premium tier, the service also can assist you cancel undesirable subscriptions. We didn’t take a look at it for this information, however we’ll contemplate it in future updates.