I've been a loyal Mint user for many years. This $0 budgeting app lets you see your spending at a glance, stick to your budget, and adjust your goals in real time when unexpected expenses arise. Many times I thought, “It's a waste.''
And now it turns out it was. This budgeting app disappeared on March 23, 2024. Information can be transferred to Credit Karma. According to Mint, it has “some of Mint's most popular features.” However, the Credit Karma website says: “Credit Karma currently does not offer the same budgeting features that Mint has offered in the past. We know that many minters love our budgeting features, so we are I understand that this may be disappointing.”
I imported my Mint data into Credit Karma and was disappointed. Credit Karma provides an overview of your spending by showing you your latest transactions and the amount you spend each month. But that's where the budgeting functionality ends.
So I decided to look for the best alternative to mint. And I found some great options, along with budgeting apps that I plan on using in the future.
Budgeting apps I tested
I decided to test out some popular household finance apps that offer a variety of price points, features, and budgeting approaches. All of these are available for both iOS and Android, and all (except WallyGPT) allow you to import Mint data to make switching easier.
- pocket guard: A free version is also available. PocketGuard Plus for $12.99/month or $74.99/year
- Rocket money: A free version is also available. Premium at $4 and $12 per month (choose your payment amount) ($4 and $5 options billed annually)
- Inab: $14.99/month or $99/year (1 year free for college students)
- Quicken Simplify: $3.99/month, billed annually ($2/month if ordered by March 31, 2024)
- Wally GPT: free
Specifically, I was looking for an app with similar features to Mint, such as:
- Customizable categories
- You can flexibly adjust your budget according to your expenses.
- Simple and intuitive user experience
- Candid and valuable insights
- affordable price
How we tested these budgeting apps
I linked my account to four different budgeting apps and tried them out simultaneously for a few weeks to see how they stacked up. (There was a fifth app of hers that I tried to test, but it failed even after multiple attempts.)
At the end of our testing, we found two apps that Mint users might enjoy (Rocket Money and PocketGuard), and two options that aren't quite like Mint but offer a different approach to budgeting. The last option, WallyGPT, is not suitable for Android or iOS users based on glitches encountered by our team.
My new household budget app: Rocket Money
Notable features:
- Link to external account
- Automatic savings*
- Account sharing with partners (in beta testing)*
- View credit score
- Credit report tracking*
- Net worth tracking*
- bill negotiation
After trying out these apps for a few weeks, I chose Rocket Money instead of Mint. PocketGuard and Rocket Money both felt like comparable alternatives to Mint, but I found Rocket's interface to be cleaner and easier to use. I'm also a fan of its sliding price scale. I've been using it since testing and continue to find it provides the information I need with an easy user experience that I like.
Rocket Money has many of the same features as Mint, offering basic free budgeting features and more advanced options (automated savings, net worth tracking, credit reporting) in the paid tier. Like PocketGuard, we also offer bill negotiation as a separate service, and if we're successful, we take a percentage of your savings.
Rocket Money's interface is simple and intuitive. Easily scan your budgeted spending, actual spending, and projected savings to see how well you're doing at a glance. Editing budget categories and transactions was intuitive and took fewer steps than PocketGuard.
I also like the amount of notification options Rocket Money offers. You can choose to receive alerts on a number of important financial statistics to help you identify potential budget deviations and new opportunities to reduce spending.
In addition to the simple user experience, what sets Rocket Money apart from PocketGuard for me is the 7-day free trial that lets you test out premium features. If you want to upgrade, choose to pay between $4 and $12 per month. No matter how much you pay, you get the same features.
Unlike PocketGuard, Rocket Money does not offer debt repayment plans. This isn't a huge issue for me, but it could give PocketGuard an edge for users who value this feature.
Comparison with other household account book apps
Pocket Guard: It was a close second.
PocketGuard works similarly to Rocket Money. You can link external accounts, create customizable budgets, and categorize transactions. We also offer invoice negotiation through our partner, Billshark, and if we're successful, we'll take a percentage of your savings.
PocketGuard's free version is very basic, but it does offer some budgeting tools, expense tracking, and expense reporting. The paid version allows for more customization, including advanced features such as debt repayment plans and automatic savings features.
However, I didn't like that PocketGuard doesn't offer a free trial so you can try the paid version to see if it's worth the price. And since its paid version is one of the more expensive ones I've tested ($12.99 per month, $74.99 per year), this feels like a missed opportunity for the service.
Having used Mint, my experience with PocketGuard was familiar. I love that I can see basic budget information all at a glance, like which categories I've overspent on and how much I'll have left over at the end of the month, without being overwhelmed by unnecessary information.
My biggest issue with Pocket Guard was that it wasn't as intuitive as Mint. For example, to edit the amount assigned to a category, click the category,[設定]Select[予算の編集]had to be selected.
Compared to other apps that let you adjust budget amounts for categories on the same screen as the budget overview, we found these extra steps to be a pain, especially when first setting up a budget. Editing transactions is a multi-step process as well, which was frustrating to me.
YNAB: Robust, but doesn't work for everyone
YNAB (which stands for You Need a Budget) uses a zero-based budgeting method. This method takes the money you earn and allocates each dollar to a specific category until you have $0 left. You can allocate money manually or use automatic allocation for recurring bills and expenses.
Having all your funds allocated will discourage you from spending money you haven't earned yet. However, if something goes wrong and you end up spending more than you allocated to a category, YNAB allows you to reallocate dollars from categories with available funds. This means that even the most carefully planned budget may require flexibility at times.
YNAB's main budget screen shows you how much you've allocated to each category, how much you've exceeded, and where you have available funds. Alerts at the top indicate areas that require attention. YNAB also offers loan repayment plans and free live workshops.
If you want to learn how to better manage your spending or want to know more about how every dollar goes, you'll see how great YNAB is. But zero-based budgeting is not my favorite way to manage money. I like to see upfront how much money I expect to make that month and where that money will go. YNAB only allows you to allocate money that you receive, which is frustrating.
YNAB is also the most expensive app on this list at $14.99 per month or $99 per year. However, there is a 34-day long-term trial to do a test run before committing.
Quicken Simplifi: Not as intuitive as Mint, but worth considering
Simplifi, Quicken's budgeting app, offers budgeting and many other features, including the ability to monitor your investments, assets, debts, and track your net worth. Simplifi also has unique budgeting features to help you stay on top of your cash flow, including:
- tagtransactions within a specific budget area can be further categorized.
- Watch list To track amounts paid to specific recipients, categories, or tags
- Expected balanceestimates the balance for the next 30 days
You can also create a number of highly customizable reports that can be filtered by date, category, recipient, and more.
If you want a snapshot of your entire finances beyond just budgeting, but aren't interested in zero-sum budgeting, this might be a good alternative to YNAB.
However, despite what the name suggests, I didn't find Quicken Simplifi particularly easy to use. The budget menu does not display specific transactions or categories. Instead, you have to click on “Planned Spending” to see the budget categories, which requires a lot of scrolling. The phone screen only displayed a few categories at a time.
Unclassified transactions are classified as “Other Expenses.” Once you have categorized these transactions,[支出計画]You should go back to the screen and see how the amount you spend in each category changes. Other apps allow you to view different transactions on the same screen as categorized transactions. Overall, we found the budgeting user experience to be difficult to use and not necessarily intuitive.
Additionally, Simplifi does not offer a free version and requires a one-year upfront commitment as there is no monthly payment option. No free trial means you could be paying for a year's worth of features that you won't actually use. I'm willing to pay a little more for billing flexibility and the ability to be sure I get the product that best fits my needs.
WallyGPT: No.
I was looking forward to testing WallyGPT, the first AI-powered budgeting app, but never had the chance. I was able to install the app on my Android device, but when I tried to create a new account, I got stuck at an endless loading screen. I had the same issue with his other CNET Money editors with Android.
iPhone users were similarly out of luck. WallyGPT is currently not even available on the App Store. We reached out to WallyGPT but did not receive a response.
final thoughts
Budgeting apps are very personal. What works for me may not be best for you. I think Rocket Money is a great alternative to Mint, but you might be more satisfied with PocketGuard or an app that works a little differently. Most of these budgeting apps also offer free trials, so you can run your own field tests to find what works best for you.
