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Mint, the popular budgeting app, shut down on March 23, 2024. In its initial press release, Intuit — the parent company of Mint — invited Mint users to transition 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. This is especially true for budgeting. As a result, millions of former Mint users are left searching for alternatives.
5 best budgeting and money management apps to replace Mint
On a positive note, there are many budgeting options available to help you manage your money. If you’re still looking for an alternative to Mint, you may want to consider the five tools below.
1. Quicken Simplifi
The Quicken Simplifi app offers a wealth of features, including customized reports and personalized spending plans. Once you import data like your bank account and billing information, the Simplifi app allows you to track income and spending, manage savings goals and stay on top of bills.
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Cost: $3.99 per month, billed annually. Discounted promotional prices are offered throughout the year. There is no free version.
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Key features: Customizable spending categories, spending and store refund tracker, bill tracking and transaction watchlists, customizable financial reports and more.
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Who is Quicken Simplifi best 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. Premium services (such as unlimited budgeting categories, automated Smart Savings Accounts, and account sharing) along with bill negotiation do require you to pay a fee. 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% of first year’s savings for Bill Negotiation Service.
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Key features: Create a budget (free and premium versions), unlimited budgets, automated savings, bill negotiation, subscription management, account sharing between multiple users.
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Who is Rocket Money best for? Couples or families who want to manage money together may be especially interested in Rocket Money, along with people who are interested in unlimited budget categories or automated savings account features. But keep in mind that aside from basic budgeting services, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee to be a Premium Member of Rocket Money.
3. Empower
If you’re looking for a free online budgeting tool now that Mint has shut its virtual doors, Empower may be worth considering. Formerly known as Personal Capital, Empower offers free budgeting services along with a spending tracker. The app also has investment management tools, but those services cost extra.
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Cost: Free for budgeting tools and spending tracker, additional fees apply for optional investment management services.
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Key features: Free budget planning and tracking, net worth tracking, spending and savings management, and optional investment management services for additional fees.
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Who is Empower best for? People looking for a free budgeting tool to replace Mint may appreciate the features that Empower has to offer.
4. PocketGuard
PocketGuard is another free budgeting solution that might make a good replacement for the now-shuttered Mint app. The app even offers the ability to import your history from Mint — making the transition to a new budgeting tool easier to navigate. You can track spending, income, and net worth using the free version of the app. But if you want access to premium features such as a debt payoff plan or unlimited budget categories, there’s an additional cost.
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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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Key features: Customized budgets, unlimited budgets, debt payoff plan, spending tracker, bills and income tracking, and net worth tracker.
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Who is PocketGuard best for? PocketGuard could be a good fit for people who want to take control of their spending, especially those who are working to pay down debt.
5. Goodbudget
Goodbudget is another free budgeting app — one that takes the classic envelope budgeting strategy and updates it for the digital world. With the free version of Goodbudget, you can create up to 20 digital “envelopes” to divide your cash into different categories each month (e.g., gas, groceries, dining, etc.). This allows you to plan how to 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 enjoy unlimited budget categories and share your budget with multiple users. This feature could be helpful for couples or families who are managing 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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Key features: Digital envelope budgeting method, debt tracking.
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Who is Goodbudget good for? Fans of envelope-style budgeting and those who want a simple way to track a zero-based budget — either on their own or with a partner — may want to consider Goodbudget.
6. You Need a Budget (YNAB)
You Need a Budget, known as YNAB for short, is another zero-based budgeting tool that allows you to plan how you’ll use your money before you spend it. Aside from the initial trial period, there is no free version of the YNAB app, but the company claims users save an average of $600 in the first two months.
The app is also full of premium features, including the ability to share budgets with up to six people, unlimited budget customization, financial goal planning, spending 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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Key features: Unlimited budget customization, debt management, financial goal planning and tracking, spending trackers, plus the ability to share budgets with up to six users.
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Who is YNAB good for? People, couples, or groups who want to start or manage a zero-based budget and don’t mind paying for a robust budgeting app.
Next steps
If you relied on Mint to budget, track your spending, or accomplish other financial goals, it’s important to find a replacement. Otherwise, you risk getting off track when it comes to your money. Although it’s disappointing that Mint is gone, the good news is there are plenty of other budgeting apps available.
As you search for alternatives to Mint, the trick is to examine the features different budgeting apps offer and figure out the best fit for your needs. Free services can be appealing, of course. But it might be worth paying for a service if the cost fits into your budget and the benefits outweigh the expense.
Read more: How to budget: Your complete guide to budgeting for 2024
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Is Mint shutting down?
Yes, the budgeting tool Mint officially shut down on March 23, 2024. Users can no longer access their data or Mint’s budgeting features via this platform.
Is Rocket Money safe?
Rocket Money is a legitimate budgeting app that is safe to use. It doesn’t store users’ financial login information; Rocket Money links your accounts using Plaid, which follows strict security protocols to ensure sensitive data remains protected.
What is Mint being replaced with?
Mint users can transfer their data to Credit Karma. However, most of Mint’s comprehensive budgeting features are no longer available.