Monarch Money Review (2026)
Monarch Money tracks spending, budgets, net worth and investments in one place, and a whole household can use one subscription at no extra cost. It suits couples and families who want a polished, mostly automatic view of their money. There is no free plan: Core costs $99.99 a year, and it is only available in the US and Canada.
By Wealthy Pot Editorial · Facts checked October 18, 2026
Facts checked October 18, 2026 against Monarch Money's own pricing, help and policy pages (13 sources, listed below). We re-check prices about once a month. We do not earn a commission from Monarch Money.
Monarch Money at a glance
| Price (Core) | $14.99 a month, or $99.99 a year [1] |
|---|---|
| Price (Plus) | $199 a year on Monarch's site ($199.99 through the App Store); no monthly Plus price published [3] |
| Free trial | 7 days, plus a money-back guarantee [1] |
| Free plan | None [1] |
| Availability | US and Canada only [2] |
| Household sharing | Unlimited members on one subscription, at no extra cost [2] |
| Platforms | Web, iPhone, Android [2] |
| Bank connections | Plaid, Finicity (Mastercard) and MX; you can switch provider per bank [5] |
| File import | CSV [9] |
| Two-factor login | Yes, with an authenticator app [7] |
| Security audit | SOC 2 Type 2 (Monarch's statement) [6] |
| Ads / data sales | No ads; Monarch says it never sells your financial data [1] |
App-store ratings (as of June 2026): App Store 4.9★ from 95k ratings; Google Play 4.7★ from 22k ratings. Store ratings mix many app versions and are not our verdict.
What Monarch Money costs
| Plan | Paying monthly, 1 year | Annual plan, 1 year | 3 years (cheapest way) | Annual plan saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core | $179.88 | $99.99 | $299.97 | $79.89 (44%) |
| Plusannual only on Monarch's site | - | $199 | $597 | - |
Our arithmetic from the listed prices, before sales tax, assuming today's prices hold; subscriptions can renew at a different rate. New users can use the code WELCOME for 30% off the first year of Core annual (Monarch's pricing page, October 2026; promotions can end without notice). Monarch recommends signing up on the web rather than through an app store.
How Monarch Money works
Monarch is an aggregator first: you link bank, card, loan and investment accounts, and transactions flow in and are categorized automatically. Rules let you fix a merchant's category once and have it applied from then on.
Budgeting is flexible rather than strict. The default, flex budgeting, sorts expenses into three buckets (fixed, non-monthly and flex) and pre-fills amounts from your last six months of spending; you can switch to a classic budget per category at any time. A hypothetical household earning $6,000 a month with $3,200 of fixed bills and $300 a month set aside for non-monthly costs might give itself a single $1,500 flex budget that groceries, dining and shopping share.
The rest of the app builds on the same linked data: net worth over time, investment holdings, recurring bills and AI-written summaries. The Plus tier, launched in April 2026, adds cash-flow and net-worth forecasting, business tracking with Schedule C export, and tax-lot gains and losses.
Pros
- Budgets, net worth and investments in one place
- Unlimited household members at no extra cost, with separate roles
- Three bank-data providers, switchable per bank when a connection breaks
- No ads, and a SOC 2 Type 2 statement from Monarch
Cons
- No free plan, and only a 7-day trial
- Plus costs twice as much as Core
- US and Canada only
- Less hands-on than a zero-based app
Who Monarch Money fits, and who should skip it
A good fit if
- You are a couple or family and want everyone on one plan: there is no per-member charge.
- You want spending, budgets, net worth and investments in one dashboard without manual entry.
- You left Mint and want a closer, more complete replacement.
Look elsewhere if
- You want a free app: Rocket Money and Empower have free tiers.
- You want strict, every-dollar planning: YNAB is built for that.
- You live outside the US or Canada: Monarch is not available there.
Limitations to know
- Only available to people in the US and Canada. [2]
- Plus is priced annually on Monarch's site; no monthly Plus price is published. [3]
- Forecasting, a Plus feature, works on the desktop web app. [4]
- Business tracking produces a profit-and-loss view and Schedule C export, but no invoicing or payroll. [3]
Monarch Money compared with alternatives
| App | Price | Free plan | Bank sync | Platforms | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monarch Money | No free tier; Core $14.99/mo · $99.99/yr; Plus $199/yr (US & Canada only) | No | Yes (Plaid, Finicity, MX) | iOS, Android, Web | Flexible / aggregation |
| YNAB | $14.99/mo · $109/yr (34-day trial; free 365-day trial for college students) | No | Yes (Plaid, MX) | iOS, Android, Web | Zero-based envelope |
| Copilot Money | No free tier; $13/mo · $95/yr (1-month trial; iPhone/iPad/Mac/web, no Android) | No | Yes (Plaid, plus MX, Mastercard, Akoya) | iOS, Web, Desktop | AI-assisted flexible |
| Quicken Simplifi | $6.99/mo billed annually ($3.99/mo first-year promo to Nov 13, 2026); no free tier | No | Yes (14,000+ institutions) | iOS, Android, Web | Spending plan |
| Empower | Free dashboard; paid advisory from 0.89% a year ($100k min) | Yes | Yes (Yodlee) | iOS, Android, Web | Aggregation / net worth |
- Pick YNAB if you want to plan every dollar in advance rather than track what happened.
- Pick Copilot Money if your household is all-Apple and you value design and automatic categorization.
- Pick Quicken Simplifi if you want automatic tracking for less and only share with one other person.
- Pick Empower if you mainly want a free net-worth and investment dashboard.
Security and privacy
- Account data comes through Plaid, Finicity and MX. Monarch says it cannot move money and does not store your bank login. [6]
- Data is encrypted at rest and in transit and stored in US-based AWS data centers; Monarch states it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant. [6]
- Each household member can turn on multi-factor authentication with an authenticator app (set up on the web). [7]
- Monarch says it never sells your financial data, and the app shows no ads. [1]
- Monarch says the third-party AI models behind its assistant are not allowed to train on your data. [10]
Recent changes
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| Apr 20, 2026 | Launched Monarch Plus ($199 a year) with forecasting, business tracking and investment analysis; the base plan became Core. [3] |
Monarch Money FAQ
How much does Monarch Money cost?
Core is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year. Plus is $199 a year on Monarch's website ($199.99 through the App Store). There is a 7-day free trial and no free plan.
Can my partner use Monarch for free?
Yes. A subscription covers unlimited household members at no extra cost, each with their own login and role.
Is Monarch Money safe?
Monarch connects through Plaid, Finicity and MX, says it cannot move money or store your bank password, encrypts data at rest and in transit, and states it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant. You can add multi-factor authentication.
What does Monarch Plus add?
Forecasting of cash flow and net worth, business tracking with Schedule C export, and advanced investment analysis such as tax-lot gains and losses.
Is Monarch available outside the US?
Only in Canada. Monarch is limited to the US and Canada.
How we researched this review
We did not get paid or receive a free account for this page. We read Monarch Money's own pricing page, help center, security and privacy pages and app-store listing on October 18, 2026, quoted each fact from those pages, and link every one below. We did not run a long-term hands-on test, so we do not score the app; where a point rests on what the company says rather than something we can check, we attribute it to Monarch Money. Cost figures are our own arithmetic. We re-check prices and plans about once a month and log changes in the table above.
Sources
- Monarch, Pricing, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Monarch FAQs, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch blog, Introducing Monarch Plus (April 2026), checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Monarch Plus tier, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Understanding data providers and connections, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Privacy and security, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Multi-factor authentication, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Monarch for couples and households, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Importing transactions manually, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, AI in Monarch, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Transaction rules, checked October 18, 2026.
- Monarch Help, Using flex budgeting (updated October 14, 2026), checked October 18, 2026.
- Apple App Store, Monarch listing, checked October 18, 2026.
Head-to-head comparisons
- Monarch Money vs YNAB
- Monarch Money vs Rocket Money
- Monarch Money vs Copilot Money
- Monarch Money vs Quicken Simplifi
- Monarch Money vs Empower
- Monarch Money vs Mint
See every option in our budgeting apps comparison, and set your category targets with the free budget calculator.
This review is for general information, not financial advice. Prices and features change; check the vendor's site before you subscribe.