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I've been really enjoying Monarch money. It's not free, but they offer an introductory discount for Mint users. I'm not a power user. I used Mint mostly for a

I've been really enjoying Monarch money. It's not free, but they offer an introductory discount for Mint users. I'm not a power user. I used Mint mostly for a window into the current state of my accounts, and to check recent transactions. I find the Monarch UI to be snappier and less laggy than Mint, which makes sense given it seems like Mint was not a very well-funded project at Intuit. I've toyed around a bit with Monarch's transaction tagging and grouping features and they seem to do what I expect. I've also played with their budgeting feature which is helpful as a way for me to try to keep tabs on my spending per-category month-to-month. Personally I do prefer the idea of paying for a service like this, but that's because I know it will probably decay if it's not supported monetarily by users. I also prefer my data _not_ be sold to third parties (which Monarch promises.. for now). Unfortunately I suspect the end goal for Monarch is to get acquired by one of the FinTech giants which probably sadly means it sees a similar fate to Mint down the road.

swarthy_avenger 3y ago
I tried Monarch for awhile, and I really wanted to like it. Like you said, the UI is much better, and the team does seem to be working very hard to improve it. Unfortunately the importers were just terrible compared to Mint's. I had to re-login to each account on Monarch every time I used it, and I would get constant spam SMS notifications from my bank as their importers would run in the background - often throughout the night. I know that Monarch uses 3rd party importers, so its technically "out of their control" - but it is a key aspect to the usability of their product. I also understand that there are security trade offs here - in terms of 2FA, but ultimately on the user side here - I need something that is usable, and "just works". Especially if I am going to pay a premium for it.
seany 3y ago
I switched to Monarch as well. I tried YNAB first, after mint closed, and _despised_ it. Then tried Monarch and felt basically at home again.
bettercaust 3y ago
I'll second Monarch. I had issues with connections when I first started a month or so ago, but they've since been resolved. They seem to have a very active customer service team AND a roadmap (which is something Mint hasn't had in years). Budgeting is much better than Mint. Transactions are much better than Mint. Rules are much better than Mint. You have to subscribe to it, but you get to try it out for a month for free and in that time I genuinely felt a subscription would net me more than my money's worth.

swarthy_avenger 3y ago

I tried Monarch for awhile, and I really wanted to like it. Like you said, the UI is much better, and the team does seem to be working very hard to improve it. Unfortunately the importers were just terrible compared to Mint's. I had to re-login to each account on Monarch every time I used it, and I would get constant spam SMS notifications from my bank as their importers would run in the background - often throughout the night. I know that Monarch uses 3rd party importers, so its technically "out of their control" - but it is a key aspect to the usability of their product. I also understand that there are security trade offs here - in terms of 2FA, but ultimately on the user side here - I need something that is usable, and "just works". Especially if I am going to pay a premium for it.

seany 3y ago

I switched to Monarch as well. I tried YNAB first, after mint closed, and _despised_ it. Then tried Monarch and felt basically at home again.

bettercaust 3y ago

I'll second Monarch. I had issues with connections when I first started a month or so ago, but they've since been resolved. They seem to have a very active customer service team AND a roadmap (which is something Mint hasn't had in years). Budgeting is much better than Mint. Transactions are much better than Mint. Rules are much better than Mint. You have to subscribe to it, but you get to try it out for a month for free and in that time I genuinely felt a subscription would net me more than my money's worth.