Samuel's Blog

Recently, YNAB (You Need a Budget) has been overwhelming my wife and I making it difficult to get a clear picture our finances. We've been using it for about 2 years now so I figured it was time to do a full evaluation of the budgeting space again and make sure we are using the best tool for our situation.

Our Needs

• Simple to maintain
• Credit card and mortgage tracking
• Transaction importing & matching
• Easy and robust trend analysis

The Contenders

YNAB: The ol' reliable one

Cost: $99/year

Pros

• No major issues or service outages the past two years that have affected us.
• Connects to our mortgage account.

Cons

• Transaction imports are slower compared to other options.
• Lots of manual work to keep things updated and accurate.
• Reports leave something to be desired.

Copilot: The Apple-y one

Cost: $95/year

Pros

• Fast and on demand transaction imports.
• Native iOS and MacOS apps.
• Very sleek design.

Cons

• Syncing issues between phone and desktop were common. Clearing the cache would usually fix, but having to do this regularly is a huge red flag.
• Didn't connect to our mortgage account.
• Apple ecosystem only. Doesn't affect us now, but could be a reason for moving down the road.

Empower: The everything and the kitchen sink one

Cost: Free

Pros

• True all in one tool.
• All accounts sync directly.

Cons

• Constant up-selling to their management service.
• Budgeting is bare bones and not easy.
• Design is very dated.

Lunch Money: The cool indie one

I really want to use this one. Love the idea of a very straightforward budgeting app built by a fellow developer. Unfortunately, for all the pros it brings to the table, even the most competent developer is out gunned by a larger team. Look forward to revisiting this one in another year or so though.

Cost: $40-150/year

Pros

• Flexible pricing.
• Solid and simple budgeting.
• Projected income.
• Solid API available. Definitely could see me hacking something together with it.
• Solo developer.

Cons

• No mobile app. Website isn't very usable on mobile either.
• Some of our accounts had signification transaction import delays unlike other options.

Quicken Simplifi: The surprisingly great one

Honestly, was originally going to skip this one due to it being originally an Intuit product. I'm glad I didn't! This app is fantastic: snappy UI, snappier transaction imports, snappiest notifications. Killer bill and subscription tracking. Amazing cashflow reporting. This one really has it all and was a very close second. Definitely don't sleep on this one if you're in the market.

Cost: $48/year

Pros

• Simple and clear interface.
• Great recurring bill/subscription tracking. Really love the clear distinction between mandatory bills and optional subscriptions.
• Quick imports and alerts. Zero connection problems whatsoever (besides mortgage account).

Cons

• No free trial. Had to purchase a full year and refund when we decided not to keep.
• No dark mode on mobile, but only on web? Seems like some sort of cross platform framework so I'm unsure why they compromised here.
• Can’t connect to mortgage account.

Monarch Money: The most improved one

Used this one for a year or so while I was working on a competitor's app. This one is quite good all-around. There are a few things I miss from YNAB and others but it's so good for day to day things that it more than makes up for it.

Cost: $99/year (found a coupon for 50% off the first year)

Pros

• Full featured
• Snappy

Cons

• Mobile app is a little clunky and sometimes doesn't reflect latest changes immediately.

The Verdict

After using all the options listed above for about 2 weeks, we have a winner to crown as our budget app of choice: Monarch! We've used it before and it's really made some great strides in features since we left. Choosing between Monarch and Quicken Simplifi was extremely difficult though. It came down to Monarch having a mobile dark mode and a great progress check-in feature. We saved $50 with a coupon for the first year, but I could see us revisiting Simplifi again when it comes time to pony up $100 a year instead of $50 – time will tell. For now I'm just happy to stop tracking 5 different apps! If you're interested in giving Monarch a shot, feel free to use my referral code for an extended trial period.