Our Monarch budget app review highlights one of the latest and greatest ways to track spending and savings daily and monthly using just a simple phone and desktop app. Starting in 2018, the Monarch budgeting app quickly became a go-to for those discouraged by the disappearance of the Mint app.
Pros
Good replacement for Mint budgeting app
Significant pricing discount with annual payment
Use on mobile or desktop
Unique projections graphics
Cons
Short, 7-day trial period
Higher cost than competitors
Inefficient for variable income use
Monarch Overview
Touted by experts as one of the best budgeting apps for couples, Monarch is a relatively simple app that allows you to share your budget, goals, and goal tracking with your spouse, partner, or other individuals.
Despite its higher cost than many competitors, the app earns a spot in our top budgeting apps review. Its unique graphs and reporting provide an excellent visual representation of where your money was, is, and will be in near-real time. We tried the Monarch budgeting app briefly, but it wasn’t the one we ended up keeping. Here’s what we learned about it and how it might work for your needs.
Monarch Budget App Review: Features and Benefits
The Monarch Money budgeting app stands out from run-of-the-mill and lower-priced options for several reasons. We weren’t surprised by that. However, while its cost can make sense for those who can take advantage of all of its features, for many, justifying the price is more of a challenge.
- Goal tracking functions
- Sharable with partners
- AI chat function offers money-saving ideas
- Similar functions as the former Mint budgeting app
- Can connect automatically to your accounts
- Manual connections and transactions allowed
- Imports up to two years of transactions for a fast start-up
- Unlimited savings categories and options
- Finds and reports recurring charges
- Free version not available
- Potentially long set-up time
- Works with crypto accounts
About the Monarch Budget App
Most budgeting apps have similar goals and provide similar functionality. Monarch is no exception. The app offers personal finance and budget tools to facilitate your financial management. That’s really all there is to it.
However, there are some notable features that we need to point out that justify the app’s presence on our most-liked list.
Monarch allows you to connect your banking, checking, savings, investment, and other accounts directly to the app. The company uses Plaid to make connections, which is a trusted industry leader. Connecting directly to your banking institution provides bank-level security, which, while not perfect, is more secure than any simple app security might be. Monarch also offers you the ability to manually add any banking institution, other entity, or individual transactions so you don’t miss anything that should be in your budget.
While Monarch claims the ability to connect to over 13,000 financial institutions, experts agree that the actual number is closer to somewhere around or above 11,000. That, however, probably doesn’t matter much.
When you connect your accounts, Monarch looks back up to two years for transactions. This is excellent for getting a quick overview of your current financial situation. However, the app can’t accurately categorize all of those transactions on its own. To get an accurate picture, you’ll need to spend at least an hour or more categorizing and defining categories to finally get started in a meaningful way.
Once you’re set up, the Monarch app can get to work. Transactions at connected institutions are automatically imported and categorized using the information you provide at setup and along the way. By default, the app’s features can monitor almost everything, including accounts and credit card balances, bills due, total net worth, monthly income, and monthly progress.
The Monarch App Ratings
The Monarch app itself gets incredible reviews on the App Store and Play Store. Users appreciate the similarities and the ease of transitioning from using Mint.
Because Monarch’s graphics are top-notch and provide unique ways to visualize your money, short and long-term financial goals, and overall financial plan, many users say that alone is worth the money.
However, some state that it’s more like just spending more money for something that they used to like. In either case, the app receives 4.9 and 4.7 stars on the respective platforms.
How Much Does Monarch Cost?
Monarch is one of the more costly budgeting apps suitable for personal financial use. The app’s regular price is $14.99 per month, though paying annually qualifies you for the $99.99 per year rate, representing a savings of nearly $80.
One downside for Monarch, though, is its short free trial period. At just 7 days, we feel it’s much too short, especially for first-time budgeting app users, to get acquainted with it. Most apps provide at least a 30-day trial before having to commit.
Monarch Budget App Review: Editorial Rating
Trusted Company Reviews Rating Score for Monarch: 8.4
Our Monarch budget app review rewards the product with an 8.4 rating based on our ranking criteria against its nearest competitors. The app’s relative simplicity, coupled with excellent graphs and reports, provides a solid overview of your finances at a glance.
Its cash flow reporting and ability to roll over budgeted amounts by category earned it a place among the best. Keeping it from taking a higher spot on our list is its lack of bill pay, credit score tracking, and automatic recurring charge cancellation functions.
| Cost | $14.99 mo / $99.99 yr |
| Monthly pay available | Yes |
| Free Trial period | 7 days |
| Credit score tracking | No |
| App Rating (App Store/Play Store) | 4.9 / 4.7 |
What We Like
There are a number of features we like about Monarch. The most important being its security. The app offers an optional multifactor authentication option and doesn’t sell your information to third pirates according to its terms of service. We also like that the app can track your home’s value through Zillow, as well as the value of your investment accounts, including cryptocurrency holdings. The ability to share your information and goals with your partner is a nice feature, but it isn’t completely unique to Monarch.
What We Don’t Like
As stated earlier, while we tried the Monarch app, it wasn’t the one we kept after our testing. That said, we like that the app can track your vehicle’s value, as well as other assets. However, the tracking tool it uses is your VIN number. During our testing time, we were unable to determine if the app automatically updates the car value or if you must enter it manually from time to time.
Monarch Budget App Reviews
Monarch budget app reviews are mixed. In truth, experts tend to rate the app more favorably than consumers. However, being just a few years old, it doesn’t have a huge online review presence just yet.
Experts tend to rate the app at or just below four stars, while consumer reviews are more conservative, hovering around three stars. Negative reviews often cite banking connection issues as the reason for the lackluster scores given.
Who Monarch Budget App is Best For
Because Monarch allows easy sharing between individuals, the app is great for couples. Another thought we had is that it could be good for a college student-slash-parent budget arrangement for shared accounts during school. Either way, Monarch is a solid choice for those looking for a relatively simple budgeting app with a lot of extras.
On the other hand, while we like the budget roll-over option as a great tool, it could confuse budgeting for newcomers or those just learning how to manage their finances. Overall, the app is best for experienced budgeters looking for simplification rather than budgeting beginners. For beginners, we recommend the YNAB budgeting app.
Additionally, experienced users with variable incomes have reported challenges when trying to account for unknown income amounts.
Monarch Budget App Vs. Simplifi
Monarch and Simplifi are close competitors when it comes to user satisfaction and overall usefulness. Both are excellent for couples or others who wish to share financial goals and budgeting efforts by providing account sharability with individual logins. Both provide detailed spending reports and monthly projections for your income and spending.
However, Simplifi is the more robust app, and it happens to cost less to purchase. While Monarch provides a free trial, its 7-day duration is too short to compete with Simplifi’s 30-day money-back offer that allows you to try the app for a month. However, you’ll have to wait for a refund if you cancel.
By robust, we mean that Simplifi’s custom reports, spending projections, and visualization tools are more in-depth than Monarch’s. The added benefits are available after providing each app with similar input amounts. However, Monarch still appeals to many users regarding its available report functions.
Choosing one over the other comes down to your preference. Because inputting all of your information takes time, downloading and comparing the apps is best done by staggering them instead of doing both simultaneously. We recommend trying Monarch first, so you won’t have to wait for a refund after canceling. Just remember to cancel before your seven days are up to avoid being charged.
| Monarch | Simplifi | |
| Annual Cost | $14.99 mo / $99.99 yr | $71.88 yr |
| Free Trial (days) | 7 days | None / 30-day money-back option |
| Who it’s best for | Those willing to spend time monitoring their budget using a more traditional system | Those looking for a wallet-friendly yet robust budgeting tool |
Is Monarch Worth It?
We’ll say that Monarch is conditionally worth it. While the app has some nice attributes that provide value, those who are unfamiliar with budgeting, in general, will probably be a bit overwhelmed and could reach the point of turning off the app.
However, those who have experience with keeping a budget, especially those with previous budgeting app experience and know what they’re getting into, will likely be pleased with the app despite its higher-than-average price.
Monarch Budget App Alternatives
While Monarch is most likely to appeal to users with some budgeting and budgeting app experience, anyone with patience can find value in the app. However, if you’re looking for something a bit easier for beginners or a lower-priced option, here are some excellent alternatives we suggest.
- Copilot review
- YNAB review – Excellent for budgeting beginners
- Rocket Money review – Great for beginners and those seeking traditional budgeting style
- Quicken Simplifi review
- Credit Karma review – Excellent for tracking your credit score
Rating Breakdown
| Attribute | Rating Score 1-10 |
| Cost | 8 |
| Cost variables | 7 |
| Trial period | 5 |
| Features | 8 |
| Setup ease | 6 |
| Ease of use | 7 |
| Average time to effectiveness | 5 |
| Trustpilot review score | 2.7 |
| Other reviews score average | 4.3 |
| Average app rating | 4.8 |
| Editorial opinion score | 7 |
| Total Raw Score | 64.8 |
| Raw score averaged = TCR Rating Score | 8.4 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Monarch forecast balances?
Is it safe to connect accounts to Monarch?
Source
Image source: monarchmoney.com
Deane Biermeier
