Mint, the popular budgeting app, was discontinued on March 23, 2024. In its initial press release, Intuit – Mint’s parent company – invited Mint users to switch to another Intuit service, Credit Karma.
Although Credit Karma offers numerous resources (including credit monitoring), the service has fewer financial tools than Mint once offered, especially when it comes to budgeting. As a result, millions of former Mint users are looking for alternatives.
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The 5 best budgeting and money management apps to replace Mint
On the plus side, there are plenty of budgeting options to help you manage your money. If you’re still looking for an alternative to Mint, consider the following five tools.
1. Accelerate Simplifi
The Quicken Simplifi app offers a wealth of features, including custom reports and personalized spending plans. Once you’ve imported data like your bank account and billing information, you can use the Simplifi app to track income and expenses, manage savings goals, and stay on top of your bills.
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Cost: $3.99 per month, billed annually. Discounted promotional pricing is available throughout the year. There is no free version.
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Main features: Customizable spending categories, expense and reimbursement trackers, bill tracking and transaction watchlists, customizable financial reports, and more.
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Who is Quicken Simplifi best suited for? Budgeting beginners trying to stick to spending limits or track monthly expenses, with tools for users at all levels of money management.
Hot tip: Yahoo Finance readers can try Simplifi free for 90 days. Act now!
2. Rocket Money
Rocket Money offers a variety of financial tools, including monthly budget management, subscription tracking, and cancellation services. You’ll have to pay a fee for premium services (like unlimited budget categories, automated Smart Savings Accounts, and account sharing) and bill negotiation. However, Rocket Money also offers a free membership plan that includes basic budgeting tools.
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Cost: Free for basic membership, $6-12 per month for premium membership, 30-60% savings in the first year for invoice negotiation service.
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Main features: Create a budget (free and premium versions), unlimited budgets, automated saving, invoice negotiation, subscription management, account sharing between multiple users.
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Who is Rocket Money best suited for? Couples or families who want to manage their money together might be particularly interested in Rocket Money, as might people interested in unlimited budget categories or automated savings account features. However, keep in mind that in addition to basic budgeting services, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee to become a premium member of Rocket Money.
3. Empower
If you’re looking for a free online budgeting tool after Mint closes its virtual doors, Empower might be worth considering. Formerly known as Personal Capital, Empower offers free budgeting services as well as a spending tracker. The app also has investment management tools, but those services cost extra.
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Cost: Budgeting tools and expense trackers are free, but optional investment management services incur additional fees.
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Main features: Free budget planning and tracking, net worth tracking, spending and savings management, and optional investment management services for an additional fee.
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Who is Empower best suited for? People looking for a free budgeting tool to replace Mint will appreciate Empower’s features.
4. PocketGuard
PocketGuard is another free budgeting solution that could be a good replacement for the now-defunct Mint app. The app even offers the ability to import your history from Mint – making the transition to a new budgeting tool easier. The free version of the app lets you track expenses, income, and your net worth, but if you want access to premium features like a debt payoff plan or unlimited budget categories, you’ll need to pay extra.
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Cost: Free for basic membership, $12.99 per month or $74.99 per year (billed annually) for PocketGuard Plus.
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Main features: Individual budgets, unlimited budgets, debt payoff plan, expense tracker, bill and income tracker and net worth tracker.
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Who is PocketGuard best suited for? PocketGuard might be suitable for people who want to get their spending under control, especially those who are working on paying off debt.
5. Good budget
Goodbudget is another free budgeting app – one that takes the classic envelope budgeting strategy and updates it for the digital world. The free version of Goodbudget lets you create up to 20 digital “envelopes” to divide your cash into different categories each month (e.g. gas, groceries, food, etc.), allowing you to plan how you’ll use your money before you spend it. The app also offers debt tracking features.
If you upgrade to the paid premium version of Goodbudget, you can use unlimited budget categories and share your budget with multiple users. This feature can be helpful for couples or families who manage household finances together.
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Cost: Free for basic membership, $10 per month or $80 per year for premium membership.
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Main features: Method for digital envelope budgeting, debt tracking.
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Who is Goodbudget suitable for? Fans of envelope budgeting and anyone looking for an easy way to track a zero-based budget—either alone or with a partner—should consider Goodbudget.
6. You need a budget (YNAB)
You Need a Budget, or YNAB for short, is another zero-base budgeting tool that helps you plan how to spend your money before you spend it. There is no free version of the YNAB app aside from the initial trial period, but the company claims that users save an average of $600 in the first two months.
The app is also packed with premium features, including the ability to share budgets with up to six people, unlimited budget adjustments, financial goal planning, expense trackers, debt management tools, and net worth trackers.
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Cost: $14.99 per month or $99 per year
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Main features: Unlimited budget customization, debt management, financial goal planning and tracking, expense tracker, and the ability to share budgets with up to six users.
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Who is YNAB suitable for? Individuals, couples, or groups who want to create or manage a zero-based budget and don’t mind paying for a robust budgeting app.
Next Steps
If you’ve relied on Mint for budgeting, tracking expenses, or reaching other financial goals, it’s important to find a replacement. Otherwise, you risk losing track of your money. While it’s disappointing that Mint is no longer available, there’s good news: There are plenty of other budget planning apps out there.
When looking for alternatives to Mint, the trick is to look at the features of different budgeting apps and see which one best suits your needs. Free services can be tempting, of course. But it may be worth paying for a service if the cost fits your budget and the benefits outweigh the cost.
Read more: How to Make a Budget: Your Complete Guide to Budget Planning for 2024
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Mint closing?
Yes, the budgeting tool Mint was officially discontinued on March 23, 2024. Users will no longer be able to access their data or Mint’s budgeting features through this platform.
Is Rocket Money safe?
Rocket Money is a legitimate budgeting app that is safe to use. It does not store users’ financial credentials. Rocket Money links your accounts to Plaid, which follows strict security protocols to ensure sensitive data remains protected.
What will replace Mint?
Mint users can transfer their data to Credit Karma, but most of Mint’s comprehensive budgeting features will no longer be available.
