What Replaced Mint? Every Major Alternative, Compared
Intuit shut down Mint on March 23, 2024 and moved users to Credit Karma, which never replaced Mint's budgeting. That left millions looking for somewhere to go, and the field has settled into three camps: paid sync apps (Monarch, Copilot, YNAB), freemium Rocket Money, and free or local-first tools (Actual Budget, spreadsheets, and the one this site is about). The quick version: pick Monarch for a polished household budget, YNAB to actually change your spending, Rocket Money to cancel subscriptions on autopilot, and a free, local tool if you refuse to link your bank or pay a subscription. Here is the honest, current comparison.
Prices are as of 2026 and change often; check each vendor before you commit.
What happened to Mint
Mint was free because it ran on ads and lead-gen. Intuit retired it and pointed people at Credit Karma, also Intuit-owned, but Credit Karma dropped the budgeting features that made Mint useful. The lesson a lot of ex-users took away: a free product built on your data can disappear overnight, and it did. That is the backdrop for every choice below.
The alternatives, compared
| Tool | Price (2026) | Links your bank? | Data leaves your device? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mint | Shut down (Mar 2024) | Yes | Yes | Nobody now |
| Rocket Money | Free; Premium $7–14/mo | Yes | Yes | Hands-off subscription cancellation |
| Monarch Money | $14.99/mo or $99.99/yr | Yes | Yes | Households, shared budgeting + goals |
| Copilot Money | $13/mo or ~$95/yr | Yes | Yes | Apple users who want a daily app |
| YNAB | $14.99/mo or $109/yr | Optional | Yes (if synced) | Actively changing spending habits |
| Actual Budget | Free, open-source | Optional / import | No (local-first) | Privacy-minded envelope budgeters |
| Spreadsheet / Tiller | Free / ~$79/yr | DIY: no · Tiller: yes | DIY: no | Tinkerers who want full control |
| Finance Dashboard | Free, open-source | No (you export files) | No (100% local) | A free, private, one-time deep analysis |
A fair look at each
Rocket Money
Formerly Truebill, now owned by Rocket Companies. The free tier covers account sync, subscription tracking, and basic budgeting; Premium ($7–14/mo, pay what you think is fair) adds a concierge that cancels unwanted subscriptions for you, plus credit and net-worth tracking. Best if you want the cancellations handled and do not mind linking accounts.
Monarch Money
The app most ex-Mint households moved to, founded by Mint's first product manager. It does real budgeting, goals, net worth, and shared access for couples, across web and mobile, for $99.99/yr. It links your accounts through an aggregator. If you want one place the whole household runs the budget, Monarch is the strongest pick, and it does more than a pure analysis tool by design.
Copilot Money
The polished choice for the Apple crowd: excellent design, smart categorization, around $95/yr. The catch is platform — it is iPhone, iPad, Mac, and web only, with no Android app. If you live in Apple's ecosystem and want a finance app you open every morning, it is hard to beat.
YNAB
You Need A Budget is a method, not just a tracker. Zero-based budgeting asks you to give every dollar a job, and people who stick with it change their behavior in ways passive apps never trigger. At $109/yr with a learning curve, it is the pick if your goal is to change spending rather than just observe it. You can link accounts or enter transactions manually.
Actual Budget
The open-source standout: free, MIT-licensed, local-first, and self-hostable, with 26,000+ GitHub stars. It is an envelope budgeting app you run yourself, with optional end-to-end-encrypted sync and file imports. It is the closest peer on privacy and price, with one difference worth being clear about: it is an ongoing budgeting app you host and maintain, not a one-shot analysis you generate and keep.
Spreadsheets and Tiller
A DIY spreadsheet is free, private, and infinitely flexible, at the cost of real monthly effort. Tiller (about $79/yr) automates the tedious part by linking your bank and auto-filling Google Sheets or Excel, which trades some of that privacy back for convenience. Great for people who genuinely enjoy the control.
Finance Dashboard (the free, local option)
This is the tool this site is about, so read it as a disclosed pitch with honest edges. It is free and open-source, runs 100% locally, and never links your bank — you export your own CSV or XLS files, and it builds a single offline HTML report you keep forever. It is a deep analysis, not a budgeting app: every subscription with a true monthly run-rate, spending that correctly excludes transfers and card payments, a money-flow diagram, per-counterparty timelines, and a tax-audit risk read. The honest trade-offs: it is not real-time (you re-export to refresh), there is no mobile app, and it does no budgeting automation. If you want a private, one-time deep look rather than a daily app, it fits where nothing else does. The deeper case is in the free, private alternative guide.
The privacy trade-off most lists skip
Almost every cloud app on this list connects to your bank through an aggregator like Plaid. You type your real banking credentials into a screen, and from then on your account data flows through third-party servers so the app stays in sync. For most people that is a fine trade for convenience. For anyone who would rather their login and full transaction history not live on someone else's infrastructure, it is the deciding factor, and it is the one axis the free/local tools win outright. If forgotten charges are your real concern, see how to find the subscriptions you forgot about.
Which should you pick?
- A polished household budget → Monarch Money.
- To change your spending, not just watch it → YNAB.
- Hands-off subscription cancellation → Rocket Money.
- A beautiful daily app and you're on Apple → Copilot Money.
- Free, private, ongoing envelope budgeting → Actual Budget.
- A free, private, one-time deep analysis without linking your bank → Finance Dashboard.
Try the free, local option
If the privacy-first, no-subscription route fits, you can see it before committing: open the live demo on fictional sample data, then grab the one-shot prompt and run it on a folder of your own exports. It is free and open-source, built by Space & Story, and nothing you run ever leaves your machine.
FAQ
What replaced Mint?
There is no single replacement. Most former Mint users moved to paid apps, with Monarch Money the most popular, followed by Copilot and YNAB. Credit Karma, where Intuit sent users, dropped Mint's budgeting. If you want free, the closest options are Actual Budget, a spreadsheet, or a local analysis tool like Finance Dashboard.
Is there a truly free Mint alternative?
Yes, a few. Actual Budget is free and open-source for ongoing budgeting. Spreadsheets are free if you do the work yourself. Finance Dashboard is free and open-source for a deep one-time analysis. Rocket Money has a free tier, but its useful features sit behind Premium, and it links your bank.
What's the best Mint alternative that doesn't link my bank?
If you do not want to connect a bank login, your options are file-based or manual: Finance Dashboard (you export statement files; it runs locally), Actual Budget with manual or imported data, or a DIY spreadsheet. Every cloud sync app on this list links your accounts through an aggregator.
Is Monarch or YNAB better?
They solve different problems. Monarch is a tracker and household dashboard; YNAB is a budgeting method that changes behavior through zero-based budgeting. Pick Monarch to see and share your finances, YNAB to actively reshape your spending.
Do I have to pay to replace Mint?
No, but the most convenient options cost around $95 to $110 a year. The free routes (Actual Budget, spreadsheets, a local analysis tool) trade some convenience, such as automatic real-time sync, for being free and more private. Match the cost to whether you want a daily app or a periodic deep look.