If you have money goals, there’s a good chance you already understand the importance of knowing what you spend and knowing what you save. But managing your money–and all those spreadsheets–can get complicated! Monarch Money can help. In our Monarch Money review, we’ll share our favorite aspects of this tool and how it stacks up to its competitors.
Who is Monarch Money?
It’s more than just a budgeting app. Monarch is a personal finance tool that is designed to help you tackle modern money management. From your fully customizable dashboard, you can use Monarch Money to build a budget, review spending, and keep track of your investments. You can even get financial advice!
Some features that Monarch highlights on its website include:
- Net worth syncing – See all your accounts in one place.
- Recurring transactions – Keep tabs on recurring transactions all year.
- Spending insights – Track spending across your accounts and see your savings rate.
- Advice – Access custom advice from experts.
- Transaction lists – See all of your transactions in a single feed.
- Budgeting – Customize your budget to stay on track with your goals.
- Investments – Get an in-depth look at your portfolio.
- Custom dashboard – Tailor your dashboard to see what info you want.
- Financial goals – Get clear on goals like saving for retirement.
- Collaboration – Allow other users to add to your dashboard.
Monarch is both web-based and an app (iOS and Android). It is currently available in the App Store and on Google Play.
Cost
Monarch Money costs $99.99 annually or $14.99 monthly. Additionally, Monarch offers a free seven-day trial.
Monarch Money Review: Best Features
There are a lot of features that we love about Monarch. Here are the top reasons why we think this fintech tool will shine for its users:
Complete Financial Overview
Do you find yourself getting frustrated keeping track of all the different money tools you use? You’ve got a high-yield savings account. Then, there are credit cards. Plus, a budgeting app. But don’t forget your investments either!
And if you have a spouse, well, money dates can be challenging enough without having to go on a scavenger hunt for your complete financial picture.
That’s the beauty of Monarch. It puts a complete financial snapshot at your fingertips. You can also easily add members of your household to Monarch as well. That way, you and your partner can get on the same page with your finances–whether you’ve combined all of your accounts or not.
I could spend forever in different spreadsheets, but I can’t say the same for my wife. So anytime we find a financial tool that streamlines the process, we both get pretty excited!
Ad-Free
There’s a good chance that you’ve tried out a few different budget apps. Maybe you’ve taken a scroll through the app store, or perhaps you’ve searched the list of our favorites. One thing that really stands out about Monarch is its commitment to being ad-free.
That means there are no annoying pop-ups and no distracting sidebars. We know that ads don’t bother everyone. But if you’re someone who finds them distracting–or you find yourself clicking off the app and spending money!–you will appreciate the fact that there are no advertisements on Monarch.
No Upsell
Another way that many fintech companies make their money is by recommending products or selling them outright. Monarch does neither. That means there’s no phone call to dodge once your net worth hits a certain threshold and no recommendations for products that you may or may not actually need.
Collaboration
Another thing we love about Monarch is that it’s made with couples in mind. You can invite other household members! They get their own login but have access to your household financial picture.
We know that no two couples manage their money the same, and so does Monarch. That’s why they give users the option to choose which accounts and transactions are added to the shared household data.
Customization
Monarch wants to work for you. That’s why you can make unlimited customizations to the app. The dashboard features 8 categories as a default:
- Getting started guide
- Net worth
- Budget
- Goals
- Monthly spending
- Recent transactions
- Investments
- Advice
The Getting Started guide is meant to empower new users. As a result, it goes away once you finish the walk-through. As for the other categories, you can reorder…or remove them completely. To do so, you simply do a quick toggle. This allows you to reinstate a category that you’ve removed if and when you want to.
You can also create custom categories. Categories function like containers that hold similar transactions. The default setup includes commonly used categories, but you can input your own. Plus, you can tweak the existing names or add emojis as subtle ways to make your money management truly your own.
Monarch Money Review: Areas for Improvement
While we think that Monarch offers a lot of perks that we haven’t seen from other money platforms, it isn’t perfect.
Here are the areas that we think Monarch might need to improve in the future:
Cost
Many people who are focused on their finances are also very frugal. Said another way, they want things to be free! If you can’t stomach paying for a financial tool, you are going to have a hard time with Monarch.
In our opinion, though, the Monarch platform is so robust and the advice is so solid that the fee is worth it. Plus, you don’t have to battle any annoying (or worse, tempting!) ads, and you can count on them not to sell your data. Paid services do have their perks!
They also currently offer a free 7-day trial so you can take the tool for a test drive before paying.
Limited Options for Crypto Owners
If you buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrency, Monarch might not be as much of a one-stop shop for you as it is for traditional investors. Currently, Monarch only syncs with Coinbase. That means that you might have to manage that piece of your financial picture separately.
Undo Feature
This one is more of a suggestion to the Monarch team. If you make a mistake while reallocating money across different categories, there is no “undo” feature. When you’re used to this type of feature with dozens of other software you use, not having it can feel frustrating. This would be a nice improvement opportunity for future iterations of Monarch.
Monarch Money Competitors
Monarch certainly isn’t the only financial management tool in the game. No Monarch review would be complete without acknowledging the many contenders in the fintech space.
Let’s see how Monarch stacks up against some of the perennial favorites like YNAB, EveryDollar, and Tiller.
YNAB vs Monarch
It’s no secret that YNAB has legions of dedicated users. And they’ve saved those users a ton of money over time!
However, one thing that even the most dedicated YNAB-er will say is that there is a learning curve when it comes to using the tool. This learning curve causes some users to look elsewhere. Many of which have found more success with Monarch.
In addition to prioritizing an intuitive experience, Monarch also does a bit more than YNAB. Budgeting is the bread and butter of YNAB. However, Monarch wants to be a total money management platform. So if you are looking to focus primarily on your money goals and how to spend and save for them, YNAB might be the right tool for you. Here’s our full YNAB review.
But if you are looking to get an overall snapshot of your financial health and custom advice, Monarch might be more what you need.
To see how these two budget powerhouses compare, check out our YNAB vs. Monarch review.
EveryDollar vs. Monarch
EveryDollar is another Monarch competitor. Fans of Dave Ramsey will find that EveryDollar feels familiar. It’s the budgeting app from Ramsey Solutions, and it includes both a free and paid version.
This budgeting tool is another zero-based budgeting platform. The learning curve isn’t quite as step as YNAB (though it doesn’t have the same cult following at YNAB either). It’s a sleek budgeting platform for people who are looking for a straightforward tool.
Use the platform to build a budget, create savings funds, and track your debt repayments. If you want to automation, recommendations, and the option to download transactions, you’ll have to pay up for the premium plan.
Take a closer look at EveryDollar here!
Tiller vs. Monarch
Tiller is a spreadsheet lover’s dream come true. If you want to truly customize your budget, Tiller might be the platform for you. Working from a variety of existing templates, you can truly tailor your Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet to meet your exact needs.
After you customize your budget, you can still reap the benefits of automation. Tiller syncs with common financial accounts. That means you can pull data from your checking account, savings account, credit cards, and more with zero effort. There’s no manual entry required. So you get a clear and comprehensive financial picture with next to no effort after the initial set up.
Find out why people love Tiller!
Empower vs. Monarch
Empower is another juggernaut in the personal finance space. It came onto the scene as Personal Capital and has since evolved into Empower. Empower offers users a plethora of free tools that are particularly helpful for future planning. Think FIRE, retirement planning, and even education planning.
Still, where Monarch outshines Empower is the way in which you can collaborate with Monarch. Plus, you don’t have to dodge any sales calls once your net worth crosses the six figure mark!
There’s still a lot of love about Empower. If you’re interested in free financial tools, you might want to check them out.
Simplifi vs. Monarch
Simplifi is determined to help you keep your finances–you guessed it–simple! There’s a lot to like about Simplifi. It offers automated budgeting. Plus, it’s easy to use and easy to customize. It does come with a cost. Though the annual rate works out to about $4 a month, and Simplifi runs frequent promotions.
Currently, the biggest drawbacks to Simplifi are its limited investment features. It’s certainly a Monarch competitor to keep an eye on! Here’s our full Simplifi review.
Monarch Money Review FAQ
With so many different options for financial tools, it’s no surprise that people have questions about Monarch. After rounding up the most popular questions, we dug in for answers.
Find out if Monarch is actually legit and so much more in our Monarch FAQ.
Is Monarch legit?
Yes! Monarch is a legit website. In addition to having a really solid team of founders and developers, Monarch also prioritizes user security.
One of the top ways that they keep your finances safe is by using read-only data. That means that Monarch can see your spending habits and can keep an eye on your investments. It can’t, however, move any money within your account or from one account to another.
Monarch also uses bank-level security and encryption to keep your information secure.
Another way to know that Monarch is legit is to check out its reviews in the App Store or on Google Play. Currently, Monarch has a 4.8-star rating for iOs and 4.6 for Android.
Who owns Monarch?
Val Agostino, Jon Sutherland, and Ozzie Osman are the Monarch co-founders. These startup veterans have a wide-ranging background, giving them the experience needed to solve money management problems and create a powerful user experience at the same time.
Since its creation in 2020, Monarch has been backed by angel investors, as well as Accel and Signal Fire.
What does Monarch cost?
Monarch offers two different ways to pay. You can pay each month or you can pay an annual fee. By paying annually, you save over 40%.
- Monthly cost: $14.99
- Annual cost: $99.99, or $8.33 per month
No matter how you choose to pay for Monarch, you can take advantage of their free 7-day trial at Monarch. You also want to note that Monarch allows you to have unlimited household collaborators. That means that you pay once for yourself, and you don’t pay again to add your partner, your adult children, your parents–or whoever else you have living in your household!
Is Monarch better than Mint?
Is Monarch better than Mint? That’s for you to decide.
What we will say is that Monarch money is different than many platforms. In fact, Monarch actually bills itself as a Mint alternative. When Mint shuttered, Monarch landed many former Mint users. The biggest difference Monarch users notice right away is that, unlike Mint, Monarch is not ad-supported.
There are other key differences between Mint and Monarch:
- User access: Mint was set up for single users while Monarch allows you to add household collaborators.
- Investments: Mint was more limited in its investment analysis while Monarch offers a more robust picture.
- Financial planning: Mint helped users analyze their past spending whereas Monarch encourages users to focus on their future goals.
- Support: Mint’s support was quite limited while Monarch prides itself on offering responsive customer support.
- User input: Mint didn’t solicit user input but Monarch invites users to offer suggestions as to what they want the platform to offer next.
How do I transition from Mint to Monarch?
Are you a former Mint user looking to find a new budgeting tool? It’s simple to make the switch from Mint to Monarch!
Follow these simple steps to move your data into Monarch:
- Sign into your Mint account
- Select Transactions
- Choose Export Transactions
- Make sure your transactions are downloaded as a CSV format
- Go into Monarch
- Click the Move from Mint to Monarch button
- Find the CSV file you exported from Mint
- Clean up your tags from Mint — Monarch doesn’t allow spaces
- Assign your Mint categories to Monarch — you may need to make new ones
- Follow the prompt to assign your Mint accounts to Monarch
- Choose which transactions to prioritize
- Click Import Transactions
- Watch for a confirmation that it was successful and start using Monarch!
You can also use this helpful video to set up your Monarch account after the Mint shutdown.
What is your real-life experience with Monarch?
We’re just getting started with Monarch. After using Mint for over 10 years, it’s a new experience!
So far, we’re enjoying the clean user experience and we like that there aren’t any ads. It feels very similar to Mint so the transition has been easy for us so far.
The only downside is the fact that it’s $99/year, but we suppose if you want to make sure your budget app doesn’t disappear (like Mint), you’ve gotta pay for it! The “ad-supported” model only works for so long, evidently.
Final Thoughts on our Monarch Money Review
Whether you could spend all day combing through spreadsheets joyfully or find yourself overwhelmed with the sheer number of log-ins for all the different accounts you have, we could all benefit from a streamlined financial process. Monarch Money offers that and so much more.
Monarch allows users to set goals, create budgets, and track their spending. Plus, you can see your investments and net worth. You can even monitor your progress toward your goals and get advice straight from the apps.
As an added bonus, Monarch is equally powerful for couples to use as singles–at no extra cost! While it does come with a fee, we think that it’s well worth it if you want an all-in-one experience that’s ad-free. Check out Monarch and their free 7-day trial to see if this tool can support your financial journey.
How do you manage your money? Did anything stand out from our Monarch Money review?
Please let us know in the comments below.
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