5 Mint Alternatives for 2026 (After the Shutdown)
Short answer: Intuit discontinued Mint in January 2024 and migrated users to Credit Karma. The five most credible alternatives for ex-Mint users in 2026 are Penno (one-time purchase, no bank linking), Monarch Money (subscription, designed as Mint replacement), Copilot Money (iOS subscription with auto-categorization), Empower (free, financial-product-affiliate model), and Goodbudget (free tier with envelope budgeting). Trade-offs for each below.
Mint had two superpowers: it was free, and it just-worked. Most of the alternatives that emerged after the shutdown solve one or the other but rarely both — for a reason. Mint's free-because-ads model was always going to end either by Intuit consolidating users (which is what happened) or by the broader privacy backlash to ad-supported finance apps. The successor landscape has split accordingly.
Penno
For Mint users who would not go through that experience again.
Why it's #1 for the specific cohort
- Pay once, use forever — closest to Mint's "no recurring cost" mental model that worked
- No bank linking ever — addresses the privacy concern many post-Mint users now have
- No account, no email collection — completely independent of Intuit, Plaid, or any aggregator
- 10 languages including RTL Arabic — Mint was English-only
- First-class debt tracker with payment notes — Mint treated debts as accounts
What you'll lose vs Mint
- Automatic transaction import — you enter every transaction yourself
- Net-worth tracking across accounts — Penno doesn't model bank balances
- Credit-score tracking — Mint included this for free
- Cloud sync between devices — Penno is single-device
Monarch Money
For users who want the Mint experience but with a subscription instead of ads.
Strengths
- Closest feature parity to Mint — bank linking, account aggregation, net-worth
- Designed specifically as the Mint replacement during the shutdown
- Shared budgets for couples and families
- Web client alongside iOS and Android
What you'll lose vs Mint
- Subscription cost — Mint was free, Monarch is $100/year
- No credit-score tracking
Copilot Money
For Apple-ecosystem users who want a polished UI and AI-assisted categorization.
Strengths
- Best Apple Card support of any budget app
- Beautiful iOS-native design
- AI-assisted categorization that learns your patterns over time
What you'll lose vs Mint
- Subscription cost (similar to Monarch)
- iOS/macOS only — no Android, no full web client
- No credit-score feature
Empower (formerly Personal Capital)
For users who want free + bank-linked, and accept the financial-product affiliate model.
Strengths
- Free to use — the closest free-tier match to Mint's model
- Investment tracking is its strongest surface — better than Mint was
- Net-worth tracking and retirement planning tools
What you'll lose vs Mint
- Empower monetizes by referring users to its own financial-advisory and credit products — similar to Credit Karma's model
- Less budgeting-focused; more wealth-management-focused
- Onboarding pushes you toward their advisor service
Goodbudget
For users who liked Mint's category tracking but want envelope methodology + free tier.
Strengths
- Envelope budgeting methodology (different mental model from Mint)
- Free tier with 10 envelopes — many users' core categories fit
- Shared envelopes for couples (Plus tier)
What you'll lose vs Mint
- No automatic bank import — manual entry
- Methodology is stricter — envelopes require active allocation, not passive tracking
- Free-tier limits push power users to the $80-120/year Plus tier
How to choose
- "I want Mint's free price" → Empower or Goodbudget free tier — but understand their monetization (affiliate referrals or tier upgrades)
- "I want Mint's bank-import convenience" → Monarch (Mint clone) or Copilot (iOS-polished)
- "I never want to give an app my bank login again" → Penno or self-hosted Actual Budget
- "I want to pay once and own my data" → Penno
- "I want envelope budgeting" → Goodbudget or YNAB
Start with Penno
Pay once. No bank login. No account. No subscription. Closer to Mint's "set it and forget it" mental model than any subscription replacement.
Visit Penno home →See also: Penno vs Mint in depth · YNAB alternatives
FAQ
What happened to Mint?
Intuit shut Mint down on January 1, 2024 after acquiring it in 2009 and operating it for 14 years. Users were migrated (with limited data) to Credit Karma, which is a credit-score product, not a budgeting app. The shutdown is the cleanest example of why free, ad-supported finance apps are a fragile product category.
Is there a free replacement for Mint?
No 1:1 free replacement exists with the same bank-linking + automation + ad-supported model. Empower (formerly Personal Capital) is closest on the wealth-tracking side but free with a sales pitch. For budget-only use, paid one-time apps like Penno or open-source Actual Budget are the durable choices.
Should I export my data from Credit Karma before switching?
If you still have transaction history accessible in Credit Karma, export it as CSV before you switch. Once you stop logging in, that history can become harder to retrieve. Most Mint alternatives accept CSV import — Penno's import format is documented in its support FAQ.
Why did so many people trust Mint?
Mint was free, polished, and one of the first apps to automate bank-import. The trade-off — your transaction data flowed to Intuit and was used for marketing partnerships — was buried in privacy disclosures. Post-shutdown, many former Mint users are explicitly looking for apps that don't repeat that pattern.
Can I use a Mint alternative without bank linking?
Yes. Penno is the clearest example — it contains no bank-aggregation SDK and operates fully on manual entry. Goodbudget also supports manual-only. The trade-off is that you'll log transactions yourself instead of having them imported, which is a feature for some users (more deliberate) and a friction for others.