Mint is gone — it shut down in March 2024 — and every serious replacement now charges a subscription. So the real question in 2026 is no longer free versus paid. It is which paid app earns its fee, and how much the monthly price hides.
The short answer: if you want one app that does the whole job — every account, every category, net worth in one place — get Monarch Money Core at $99.99 a year. If you want the app most likely to actually change how you spend, get YNAB at $109 a year. And if you refuse to pay anything, Goodbudget’s free plan is the only genuinely free budgeting app on this list that still works properly. Everything else is a trade-off, and this guide works through each one with real prices, checked against each provider’s own pricing page in October–November 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Best all-rounder for most households: Monarch Money Core, $99.99 a year — the closest thing to what Mint used to be.
- Best for changing spending habits: YNAB, $109 a year — a budgeting method with an app attached, not just a tracker.
- Best genuinely free option: Goodbudget — 20 envelopes free; EveryDollar’s free plan works too if you type transactions in by hand.
- Watch the billing trick: paying monthly instead of annually costs $61 to $136 extra per year on the same app.
- Watch the promo trap: Quicken Simplifi’s $3.99 a month headline is a first-year rate — the renewal price is higher.
The 7 Best Budgeting Apps at a Glance
| App | Best for | Annual price | Monthly price | Free option | Trial | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YNAB | Changing spending habits | $109 | $14.99 | No | 34 days | iOS, Android, Web |
| Monarch Money (Core) | Full household dashboard | $99.99 | $14.99 | No | 7 days | iOS, Android, Web |
| Copilot Money | Apple households | $95 | $13 | No | 1 month | Apple + Web (no Android) |
| EveryDollar | Free zero-based budgeting | $79.99 (Premium) | $17.99 (Premium) | Yes, manual entry | 14 days (Premium) | iOS, Android, Web |
| Goodbudget | Envelope budgeting | $80 (Plus) | $10 (Plus) | Yes, 20 envelopes | Free tier | iOS, Android, Web |
| PocketGuard | One safe-to-spend number | $74.99 | $12.99 | Limited | 7 days | iOS, Android, Web |
| Quicken Simplifi | Budget all-rounder | $47.88 first year | $3.99 first year | No | Varies | iOS, Android, Web |
Prices are US list prices from each company’s own pricing page, checked October–November 2026. They change often, and first-year promos are flagged where they apply — always check the checkout page before you pay.
What the Monthly Price Hides: The Real Yearly Cost
Every app on this list looks cheaper than it is, because the monthly price is the one shown biggest. Run the same app for a year on monthly billing and the gap is real money. Here is the worked math, using the published prices above:
| App | 12 monthly payments | Annual price | Extra you pay monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| YNAB | $179.88 | $109 | $70.88 |
| Monarch Money Core | $179.88 | $99.99 | $79.89 |
| Copilot Money | $156 | $95 | $61 |
| EveryDollar Premium | $215.88 | $79.99 | $135.89 |
| PocketGuard | $155.88 | $74.99 | $80.89 |
EveryDollar is the worst offender: paying month to month costs $135.89 more per year than the annual plan — nearly triple the sticker price of the yearly plan. The lesson is simple: if you are going to pay for a budgeting app at all, pay annually, or at least treat the monthly price as a trial rate and switch before the second month.
The gap gets bigger over time. At current list prices, five years of the same app costs: Quicken Simplifi $359.40, PocketGuard $374.95 (or $149.99 once for the lifetime plan — its break-even against the annual plan is about 24 months), Copilot Money $475, Monarch Money Core $499.95, YNAB $545, EveryDollar Premium $399.95, Goodbudget $0 on the free plan or $400 on Plus. That five-year view is the number that should decide a close call, not the monthly teaser. Providers do raise prices, so treat these as today’s ranking rather than a promise.
YNAB — Best for Changing How You Spend
What it costs
$14.99 a month or $109 a year, with a 34-day free trial that does not ask for a card. College students get a free year. There is no lasting free tier.
What it does well
YNAB is the only app here that is really a method first and software second. It runs on zero-based budgeting: every dollar you own gets a job before the month starts, and when you overspend in one category you have to move money from another in plain sight. That friction is the point. People who stick with it usually report the same thing — they do not just track spending, they spend less, because the app makes every trade-off visible at the moment of the decision. It also handles debt payoff plans, savings targets, and loan tracking properly, which most trackers treat as an afterthought.
Where it falls short
It demands real effort, especially in the first month: you assign money, reconcile accounts, and fix categories by hand. If you want an app that quietly categorises everything and shows you a chart, YNAB will feel like homework. It also costs more per year than its closest rival, Monarch, and it allows only one currency per plan, which matters if you hold accounts in two currencies.
Monarch Money — Best All-Round Dashboard
What it costs
Core is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year. Plus is $199 a year, annual only, and adds premium support and personalised advice sessions. The trial is 7 days and needs a card.
What it does well
Monarch is the natural home for former Mint users. It connects to more than 13,000 institutions, pulls every account into one dashboard, tracks net worth and investments alongside the budget, and includes a built-in Mint CSV importer so your history survives the move. Household sharing is included at no extra cost, so two people can budget together on one plan — the feature that makes it the best pick for couples on this list. It asks far less of you than YNAB: set it up, let it sync, and check in weekly.
Where it falls short
There is no free tier, only a short trial, so you are paying from week two. And because it is so automatic, it will not change your habits by itself — it shows you the numbers, but the discipline is still yours. The Plus tier at $199 a year is hard to justify unless you genuinely want the advice sessions.
Copilot Money — Best for Apple Households
What it costs
$13 a month or $95 a year, with a one-month free trial. That makes it the cheapest of the three big paid trackers on an annual plan.
What it does well
Copilot is the app design enthusiasts recommend to each other: fast, beautiful, and genuinely pleasant to open every day, with smart categorisation and adaptive budgets that learn from your spending. It now has a web app alongside iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and its one-month trial is the most generous of the paid apps here — long enough to know whether you will actually use it.
Where it falls short
There is no Android app at all, and it works with US accounts only. It is also single-user, so there is no couples sharing — if your household budgets together, Monarch is the better fit. For an all-Apple household that budgets alone, though, it is the best-looking and cheapest of the premium options.
EveryDollar — Best Free Option With a Method
What it costs
Free, with manual transaction entry. Premium is $79.99 a year or $17.99 a month and adds bank sync, with a 14-day trial for new users.
What it does well
EveryDollar is Dave Ramsey’s zero-based budgeting app, and its free version is honest: a real budget, with every dollar assigned, that costs nothing. If you are following the baby-steps method — paying off debt smallest-first, building an emergency fund — the app is built around exactly that. The free plan is genuinely usable, not a demo with the important buttons greyed out.
Where it falls short
Bank sync is a paid feature, so the free plan means typing transactions in by hand. That is fine for a week; many people stop by week three. And the monthly Premium price is the worst value on this list — $17.99 a month works out to $215.88 a year against a $79.99 annual plan. If you upgrade, pay annually or do not upgrade at all.
Goodbudget — Best Envelope Budgeting
What it costs
Free: 20 envelopes (10 regular and 10 more), one account, two devices, one year of history. Plus is $10 a month or $80 a year and adds bank sync for US banks, unlimited envelopes, and more history.
What it does well
Goodbudget is digital envelope budgeting done properly. You fill envelopes for groceries, rent, fun money, and when an envelope is empty, spending stops — no charts needed. It is the only free plan here that stays useful for months rather than days, and it is built for sharing: two people can fill the same envelopes from different phones, which makes it the best free option for couples. It also works without bank links, which matters if you do not want to hand a third party your banking credentials.
Where it falls short
The free plan caps you at one account and one year of history, and bank sync on Plus is US banks only. It has no investment or net-worth tracking, so it is a budgeting app, not a money dashboard. But as a free starting point, nothing else on this list comes close.
PocketGuard — Best for One Simple Number
What it costs
$12.99 a month, $74.99 a year, or $149.99 once for a lifetime licence, with a 7-day free trial.
What it does well
PocketGuard answers one question and answers it well: after bills, goals, and savings, how much can I spend today? Its “In My Pocket” number is the whole product — no envelope system to learn, no method to study. For people who find YNAB exhausting and Monarch overwhelming, that single number is the difference between budgeting and not budgeting at all. It also connects your accounts and tracks bills, and the lifetime plan is genuinely good value if you keep it for more than two years.
Where it falls short
It is shallow by design: there is no real debt payoff planning and no deep reporting, and the free version is limited to two accounts. The trial is short, and it charges unless you cancel at least 24 hours early, so set a reminder before you start it.
Quicken Simplifi — Best Budget All-Rounder
What it costs
$3.99 a month billed annually for the first year — a promo for new members — with a regular rate around $5.99 to $6.99 a month billed annually after that. There is no lasting free tier.
What it does well
Simplifi is the cheapest capable all-rounder here: automatic tracking, a spending plan, cash-flow forecasting, and net-worth tracking for roughly half the annual cost of YNAB or Monarch. The forecasting is the feature the others charge more for — it projects your balance weeks ahead so a big bill never surprises you. For a household that wants a proper dashboard but refuses to pay $100 a year, it is the obvious compromise.
Where it falls short
The headline price is a first-year promo, not the real price: your renewal will be higher, and Quicken has moved that renewal rate before. Confirm the exact figure at checkout rather than trusting the advertised $3.99. It is also less polished than Monarch or Copilot, and it has no envelope or zero-based method — it tracks and forecasts rather than teaching a system.
How to Choose in Ten Minutes
Do not compare all seven. Answer three questions and the list collapses to one or two names.
- Will you do the work, or do you want it done for you? If you will assign every dollar and check in daily, YNAB. If you want syncing and charts with a weekly glance, Monarch, Copilot, or Simplifi.
- Who is budgeting? A couple sharing one budget should pick Monarch Core or Goodbudget. Budgeting alone on Apple devices points to Copilot. Budgeting alone on Android rules Copilot out entirely.
- What is your budget for a budgeting app? Zero means Goodbudget, or EveryDollar if you like the Ramsey method. Under $50 a year means Simplifi’s first year or PocketGuard’s lifetime plan. Around $100 a year means Monarch Core or Copilot, and YNAB only if you will actually use its method.
Then use the trial properly: run your real accounts through it for the full trial period, check whether the bank sync connects to your bank, and look at the app at least three times a week. If you open it twice and forget it, no feature list will save it — pick the simpler app instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there still a free budgeting app as good as Mint was?
Not exactly. Mint was free and automatic, and nothing in 2026 offers that combination. The closest free options are Goodbudget, which is free but manual, and EveryDollar’s free plan, which is also manual. If automatic bank sync matters to you, the cheapest honest option is Quicken Simplifi’s first-year promo at $47.88 for the year.
Is YNAB worth $109 a year?
It is worth it if you use the method — assign every dollar, reconcile weekly, and let the trade-offs show. YNAB’s own surveys claim users save far more than the subscription costs, and that is plausible for people who actually follow the system. It is not worth it if you just want a dashboard; Monarch does that for $10 less a year with less effort.
Which budgeting app is best for couples?
Monarch Money Core, because household sharing is included at no extra cost and both partners see the same accounts, budget, and net worth. Goodbudget is the best free alternative for couples, since two people can share envelopes from separate phones.
Do these apps work outside the US?
Mostly no, or only partly. Copilot is US accounts only, Goodbudget’s bank sync is US banks only, and EveryDollar is built around US banking. YNAB and Monarch work in more countries but still connect best to US and Canadian banks. If you bank outside North America, check whether your bank connects before paying, and expect to enter some transactions by hand.
Can I switch budgeting apps without losing my history?
Yes, if you export first. Most of these apps export transactions as CSV, and Monarch has a built-in Mint CSV importer. Export a full CSV from your old app before cancelling, keep it as a backup, and import it into the new one during the trial — that way you can walk away in week two if the new app does not fit.
Bottom Line
For most households in 2026, Monarch Money Core at $99.99 a year is the best budgeting app: it does the whole job, shares with a partner, and asks the least of you. YNAB at $109 a year is the better buy only if you want the app to change your habits, not just record them. If money is tight, start with Goodbudget’s free plan — it is the only free option that stays useful — and pay for Simplifi or PocketGuard only when you know automatic syncing is worth it to you. Whatever you pick, pay annually: the monthly price is a surcharge of $61 to $136 a year for the privilege of paying more slowly.
Prices in this article are US list prices checked against each provider’s own pricing page in October–November 2026. First-year promos are flagged where they apply; check the checkout page before you pay.