Best Mint Alternatives in 2025 (Now That Mint Is Gone)

In January 2024, Intuit shut down Mint — the app that taught millions of people what a personal finance dashboard should look like. If you are still looking for a replacement, you are not alone. The good news: the budgeting app market has matured, and today there are much better options for almost every type of user — whether you want automatic bank sync, investment tracking, or a more private and calm approach.

Why Mint shut down — and what it says about your privacy

Mint was free. And like most free products, the cost was not visible at first glance. Intuit's business model relied on showing ads for financial products — credit cards, loans, insurance — based on your spending data. When Intuit decided that model was no longer profitable, they shut down Mint and migrated users to Credit Karma.

The problem: Credit Karma is an advertising platform, not a budgeting tool. Its primary function is to show you financial products you might click on. The migration wasn't to give you a better experience — it was to preserve Intuit's ad revenue.

The real lesson of Mint's shutdown is this: when a financial app is free, your data is the product. Apps that connect to your bank account, read your transactions, and categorize your spending have access to extremely sensitive information about your life. Understanding who sees that data — and what they do with it — is now a fundamental part of choosing a budgeting tool.

What to look for in a Mint replacement

Mint did a few things well: it showed you where your money went, organized spending into categories, and gave you a bird's-eye view of your finances in one place. A good replacement should do at least that — and ideally, do it better.

Here is what you should evaluate before choosing a new app:

• Spending categories and trends. Does the app automatically organize transactions and show you where you are overspending? This was Mint's core value.
• Bank sync vs. CSV import vs. voice logging. Automatic sync is convenient but requires sharing your credentials with a third-party aggregator. CSV and voice logging keep your data private — but require more active participation.
• Price. Most serious apps charge between $10 and $15 a month. It is reasonable if the app genuinely changes your habits. Free apps with ads, as Mint proved, are not actually free.
• Privacy. Who stores your data? Is it sold or shared with advertisers? Is there a local option that doesn't send your transactions to a server?

The best Mint alternatives in 2025

There is no single “best” replacement for Mint — because different users have different needs. Below are five apps that represent the strongest options based on different priorities.

Savlo — the best option if you want privacy and don't want to link your bank

Savlo takes a fundamentally different approach to expense tracking. Instead of connecting to your bank, it allows you to log expenses by voice (“$42 at the grocery store”) or import a CSV directly from your bank. All data stays on your device — no third-party access, no aggregators, no ads. Ever.

The app is built around a concept called Daily Margin: a single number that tells you how much you can spend today without falling behind on your goals. It also includes Spaces (digital spending envelopes), Funds (sinking funds with custom names for planned expenses), and Gentle Streaks that encourage consistency without punishing you if you miss a day.

Savlo is iOS-only as of 2025. It is the right choice if financial anxiety has made you avoid your finances — its calm, ad-free design eliminates the friction and judgment that keep many people from looking at their numbers.

Monarch Money — the best option for automatic sync and net worth tracking

Monarch Money is the most direct replacement for the connected dashboard experience that Mint offered. It links to your bank accounts, credit cards, and investment accounts to give you an all-in-one view of your net worth and spending in real time.

At $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, it is a paid product — but unlike Mint, it does not monetize your data with advertising. Monarch is particularly strong for couples managing shared finances, with collaborative features built into the core product.

YNAB — the best option for changing financial behavior

YNAB (You Need A Budget) is the gold standard for those who want to fundamentally change their relationship with money. It uses a zero-based budgeting system: every dollar of income gets an assignment before you spend it.

It costs $14.99 a month or $109 a year, has a real learning curve, and does not include investment tracking. But no app has a stronger track record of breaking the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. If you want high-level visibility, Monarch is better. If you want behavior change, YNAB wins.

Empower — the best free option for tracking net worth

Empower (formerly Personal Capital) offers free account aggregation, net worth tracking, and basic budgeting. Its budgeting features are lighter than Mint's, but the net worth dashboard is genuinely excellent — especially for tracking investment portfolios alongside spending accounts.

The catch: Empower's free tier exists to channel users toward their wealth management services. If you have significant assets, you will receive sales calls. If you just want a free tracker, it works — but expect the pitch.

PocketGuard — the best option to see at a glance how much you can spend

PocketGuard focuses on one essential question: after paying bills and setting aside savings, how much do I have left to spend? Its “In My Pocket” number is conceptually similar to Savlo's Daily Margin — a single, actionable figure rather than a complex dashboard.

It has a free tier, with PocketGuard Plus at $12.99 a month. It requires bank sync. It is a solid middle ground between Mint's simplicity and YNAB's depth.

The privacy question — what actually happens to your data?

When you link your bank to an app, your transaction data generally passes through a financial data aggregator — companies like Plaid, Finicity, or MX. These aggregators act as intermediaries between your bank and the app. Most have privacy policies that allow them to use anonymized transaction data for analytics and, in some cases, sell it to financial institutions and research firms.

This doesn't mean apps with bank sync are dangerous. But it does mean that your spending history — what you buy, where, and how often — becomes part of a data chain you don't fully control. For most people, the convenience of automatic sync is worth that trade-off. For others, it isn't.

CSV import and voice logging are the two main privacy-preserving alternatives. With CSV import, you export your transactions directly from your bank's website and manually upload them to the app — no shared credentials, no aggregator involved. Voice logging keeps everything local from the moment of purchase.

If Mint's shutdown taught us anything, it's that “free” has a cost. Choosing a paid app with a clear privacy policy is, in most cases, the safest choice in the long run.

Quick comparison

Which alternative to Mint is right for you?

The right app depends on your relationship with money and how much friction you are willing to accept in exchange for control or privacy.

• Choose Savlo if privacy matters to you, if linking your bank makes you uncomfortable, or if you want a polished, clear, stress-free, and guilt-free interface to stay aware of your daily spending. The public site emphasizes CSV imports, voice logging, and a calmer daily budgeting rhythm.
• Choose Monarch Money if you want a true Mint replacement with automatic sync, visual reporting, and couples budgeting all in one place.
• Choose YNAB if you are determined to change your financial behavior and willing to invest time in learning a new system.
• Choose Empower if you want free portfolio and net worth tracking and don't mind receiving occasional wealth management pitches.
• Choose PocketGuard if you just want a simple number that tells you how much it is safe to spend today.

There is no universally correct answer. The best budgeting app is the one you will actually use — and that starts with finding one whose design philosophy matches your way of thinking about money.