Mint Alternatives: 6 Best Apps to Replace Mint in 2026

July 3, 2026 · 8 min read · by the Trace team

Mint is gone. Intuit shut the beloved budgeting app down in early 2024 and nudged everyone toward Credit Karma — which, useful as it is for credit scores, doesn't actually let you build a budget or manage your subscriptions the way Mint did. If you're still hunting for good Mint alternatives in 2026, this guide walks through six honest options, who each one is best for, and where a free, privacy-first tool like Trace fits in.

What happened to Mint (and why it matters)

Mint was, for a long time, the default free budgeting app. It connected to your bank, auto-categorised your spending, and put your whole financial life on one dashboard — all at no cost, funded by ads and credit-card offers. That's exactly what made its shutdown sting. Intuit, Mint's owner, retired the app on March 23, 2024 (the closure was first announced for January 1, then pushed back) and pointed users to Credit Karma, another Intuit product.

The catch: Credit Karma isn't a like-for-like replacement. It tracks net worth and syncs accounts, but it doesn't offer Mint's budgeting or subscription-management tools. So millions of ex-Mint users went looking for something that actually budgets. Good news — the field of Mint alternatives is stronger now than it was when Mint launched. The trade-off is that most of the closest replacements aren't free forever the way Mint was.

There's a lesson buried in the shutdown, too. Mint was free because you weren't really the customer — advertisers and lenders were, and the app monetised your financial data and attention. When that model stopped making enough sense for Intuit, the app went away and users had little say. It's worth keeping in mind as you pick a replacement: an app you pay for, or one that doesn't depend on selling your data, tends to be more stable and more aligned with what you actually want from it.

Why people look for a Mint alternative

If you landed here, it's probably for one of these reasons:

• Mint no longer exists — you need a new home for your budget, full stop.
• Credit Karma doesn't budget — it wasn't built to replace Mint's core job.
• You want to stop sharing bank logins. Mint's auto-sync was convenient, but plenty of people are done handing over credentials to a third party.
• You're tired of ads and upsells baked into a "free" finance app.
• You manage more than one currency — freelancers and remote workers rarely see their money in a single currency, and most budgeting apps assume you do.
• You want something you actually own — data you can export, or an app that doesn't disappear when a big company reshuffles its portfolio.

The best Mint alternatives in 2026

No single app replaces Mint for everyone, so here are six worth knowing — each genuinely good at something different.

Monarch Money

Monarch is the app most often recommended as the spiritual successor to Mint, and one of its founders was actually Mint's first product manager. It syncs your bank, credit-card, loan and investment accounts into one clean dashboard, with budgeting, cash-flow and shared household access for couples. It's a subscription with a free trial rather than a free-forever app, but it's polished and full-featured. If you want the closest thing to "Mint but better and ad-free," start here. We go deeper in our Monarch Money alternatives guide.

Rocket Money

Rocket Money leans into bills and subscriptions. It surfaces recurring charges, flags subscriptions you forgot about, and can even try to negotiate bills down on your behalf. It has a free tier plus an optional paid plan (its cancellation-concierge and some extras sit behind premium). Best for people whose main pain is "where is all my money leaking?" rather than detailed envelope budgeting. Like Mint, it works by connecting to your accounts.

Empower (formerly Personal Capital)

Empower's free financial dashboard — rebranded from Personal Capital in 2023 — is a strong pick if your focus is investments and net worth rather than day-to-day budgeting. Link your accounts and it tracks net worth over time, analyses your portfolio, and calls out investment fees. The dashboard is free; a paid wealth-management service is offered separately for larger balances. Best for investors who want a big-picture view. It's lighter on granular budgeting than Mint was.

Copilot Money

Copilot is a beautifully designed tracker with smart auto-categorisation and a genuinely pleasant interface. Historically it was Apple-only; it added a web app at the end of 2025, though there's still no native Android app, so Android users are limited to the web version. It's a paid subscription with a trial. Best for people in the Apple ecosystem who care about design and are happy to pay for it. See our Copilot alternatives for how it stacks up.

Actual Budget

Actual is the pick for the privacy-and-control crowd. It's free and open-source, built around zero-based (envelope) budgeting in the YNAB tradition, and it's local-first — your data lives with you. You can self-host it or use its hosted sync. Bank syncing is optional and set up separately. Best for the technically comfortable who want a free, transparent, no-lock-in budget. It asks a bit more of you at setup than a polished commercial app does.

Trace

Trace is a free web app that puts a money tracker and a habit tracker in one place — handy if the reason you budget is to build better money habits, not just to watch numbers. On the money side it does something most Mint alternatives don't: it holds accounts in any currency (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD and more) and keeps per-currency totals that never get mashed into one misleading number. You add transactions manually — there's no bank syncing, which is the deliberate trade-off: nothing to link, no credentials shared, your data stays yours. You can attach a receipt or invoice photo to any transaction, track subscriptions and credit-card due dates, and log buy-now-pay-later instalments. It runs in any browser and syncs across your devices with a Google sign-in. Best for freelancers, solo founders and anyone multi-currency who wants privacy over automation. Honest limit: because it's manual, it won't import your transactions for you.

Mint alternatives compared

Where Trace fits (and where it doesn't)

Trace won't be the right Mint alternative for everyone — and that's fine. It's the strongest fit when:

• You juggle more than one currency and want totals that stay separate instead of collapsing into a single wrong figure.
• You'd rather not link your bank — manual entry means no credentials leave your hands.
• You want subscriptions, credit-card due dates and BNPL instalments in one view, with a receipt photo attached where it matters.
• You're also trying to build habits — logging spend, saving weekly, sticking to a routine — and want them beside your money.
• You want a free tool that works in any browser and syncs across devices, with data you can export.

The plain boundary: Trace is not a bank-syncing app. It has no automatic transaction import, and no investment, portfolio or net-worth tracking. If Mint's auto-sync and net-worth view were the features you loved most, an app like Monarch or Empower will suit you better. If you valued Mint being free, private and simple — and you don't mind typing your transactions in — Trace is built for exactly that.

How to choose your Mint replacement

With so many Mint alternatives, the fastest way to decide is to be honest about which Mint feature you'll actually miss. A few quick filters:

• If you loved auto-categorised spending on one dashboard — look at Monarch or Copilot. They do the automatic, hands-off tracking Mint was known for, in exchange for a subscription.
• If you cared most about net worth and investments — Empower's free dashboard is purpose-built for that, more than Mint ever was.
• If subscriptions and wasted money were your headache — Rocket Money is the specialist, and you can start on its free tier.
• If free and private matter more than automation — Actual Budget (open-source) or Trace (free, manual, multi-currency) keep you in control of your data.
• If budgeting is really about behaviour — building the habit of checking in weekly, spending less, saving more — a tool that pairs money with habits, like Trace, can do more for you than a prettier dashboard. There's a wider view of the field in our best budgeting apps of 2026 roundup.

One more practical tip: whatever you choose, don't over-invest in setup before you know the app sticks. Mint's exit taught a lot of people not to pour months of tagging into a single tool. Pick something you'll open every week, make sure you can export your data, and start small.

Frequently asked questions

What happened to Mint?

Intuit shut Mint down on March 23, 2024 (the closure was first announced for January 1, then delayed). Intuit steered users toward Credit Karma, another of its apps. Credit Karma tracks accounts and net worth but doesn't offer Mint's budgeting or subscription tools, which is why so many former users went looking for a proper replacement.

What replaced Mint?

Intuit pointed Mint users to Credit Karma, but it isn't a true replacement because it doesn't budget. In practice people moved to apps like Monarch Money, Rocket Money, Empower, Copilot, Actual Budget, or a free multi-currency option like Trace, depending on whether they wanted budgeting, bill tracking or privacy.

Is there a free Mint alternative?

Yes. Actual Budget is free and open-source, Empower's financial dashboard is free, and Trace is a free web app that tracks money and habits together. Note that most of the closest full-featured replacements, like Monarch and Copilot, are subscriptions with a trial rather than free-forever apps.

What is the best Mint alternative in 2026?

It depends on what you loved about Mint. For the closest all-in-one successor, Monarch Money. For bills and subscriptions, Rocket Money. For investments and net worth, Empower. For a free, private, no-bank-login option — especially if you're multi-currency or want your habits alongside your money — Trace.

Can I move my Mint data to a new app?

Mint let users export transactions before it closed, but the app itself is gone, so there's no live migration now. Most alternatives ask you to reconnect your accounts or import a CSV. Trace uses manual entry instead of import, so you start fresh — the upside is nothing to link and no credentials shared.

Do I have to link my bank to replace Mint?

No. Apps like Monarch, Rocket Money and Empower rely on bank syncing, but it isn't the only way. Trace is built around manual entry on purpose — you type transactions in, so there's no account linking and your data stays private. It's slower than auto-import, but it's yours.

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