The article discusses six budgeting apps as alternatives to Mint: NerdWallet, PocketGuard, YNAB (You Need a Budget), Plaid, Rocket Money, and Qapital. Each app has its own features, pros, and cons.
**NerdWallet**
* Offers free budgeting tools
* Tracks spending, net worth, and credit score
* Provides personalized financial recommendations
* Has ads to stay in business
**PocketGuard**
* Used to be a solid free budget tracker but now only offers a 7-day free trial for its premium features
* Imports transactions from Mint using a CSV file download
* Promotes an "after bills" approach to budgeting
* Has a steeper learning curve and less polished UI compared to other apps
**YNAB (You Need a Budget)**
* Offers zero-based budgeting system, which forces users to assign a purpose for every dollar earned
* Harder to learn than other apps but offers more features
* Can be overwhelming for some users
* Has a steeper learning curve and requires ongoing effort from the user
**Plaid**
* A passthrough technology that connects banks with third-party apps
* Used by most budgeting apps, including NerdWallet, PocketGuard, YNAB, and others
* Allows financial institutions to securely share account data
* Has been criticized for collecting more financial data than necessary
**Rocket Money**
* Free app that tracks spending and supports balance alerts and account linking
* Offers premium features, such as helping users cancel unwanted subscriptions
* Not tested for this guide but will be considered in future updates
**Quicken Simplifi**
* Similar to PocketGuard, it offers an "after bills" approach to budgeting
* Promotes tracking your net worth and spending habits
* Has a steeper learning curve compared to other apps
The article concludes by encouraging Mint users to explore these alternative apps to find one that suits their needs. It also notes that while Rocket Money was not tested for this guide, it will be considered in future updates.
**NerdWallet**
* Offers free budgeting tools
* Tracks spending, net worth, and credit score
* Provides personalized financial recommendations
* Has ads to stay in business
**PocketGuard**
* Used to be a solid free budget tracker but now only offers a 7-day free trial for its premium features
* Imports transactions from Mint using a CSV file download
* Promotes an "after bills" approach to budgeting
* Has a steeper learning curve and less polished UI compared to other apps
**YNAB (You Need a Budget)**
* Offers zero-based budgeting system, which forces users to assign a purpose for every dollar earned
* Harder to learn than other apps but offers more features
* Can be overwhelming for some users
* Has a steeper learning curve and requires ongoing effort from the user
**Plaid**
* A passthrough technology that connects banks with third-party apps
* Used by most budgeting apps, including NerdWallet, PocketGuard, YNAB, and others
* Allows financial institutions to securely share account data
* Has been criticized for collecting more financial data than necessary
**Rocket Money**
* Free app that tracks spending and supports balance alerts and account linking
* Offers premium features, such as helping users cancel unwanted subscriptions
* Not tested for this guide but will be considered in future updates
**Quicken Simplifi**
* Similar to PocketGuard, it offers an "after bills" approach to budgeting
* Promotes tracking your net worth and spending habits
* Has a steeper learning curve compared to other apps
The article concludes by encouraging Mint users to explore these alternative apps to find one that suits their needs. It also notes that while Rocket Money was not tested for this guide, it will be considered in future updates.
. I mean, who doesn't love having a million options to choose from? NerdWallet's free budgeting tools are cool, but let's be real, the ads are just annoying 
. PocketGuard used to be solid, but now it's like they're nickel-and-diming you for every feature 
.
. It sounds cool, but honestly, it can be overwhelming. And don't even get me started on Plaid... it's like they're trying to collect all your financial info and sell it to the highest bidder 
.
Quicken Simplifi is just another "after bills" approach to budgeting... like we haven't seen that before 
. Guess what? I'll stick with Mint... or maybe try one of these alternatives... who knows? 
but only 25% of those use their premium features 
Rocket Money has a 4.8/5 rating on the app store, that's insane! 
And did you know YNAB users have a 75% success rate in sticking to their budget? 
plaid has partnered with over 10k banks, it's like they're changing the game 
We ended up switching to YNAB after our trial ran out because we needed more features. NerdWallet seems like a solid option too, the ads are just a small price to pay for the convenience.
. YNAB's zero-based budgeting system sounds like it could be super effective, but I've heard it can be overwhelming 
. Plaid seems like a game-changer for third-party apps, but does it collect too much info? 
Can we just have one app that does everything and doesn't track us down?! 
Quicken Simplifi's got the same "after bills" vibe as PocketGuard which is kinda...underwhelming 
. And the prices are insane, but trust me, it's worth every penny... or should I say, every credit score 
. Rocket Money seems nice, helps you cancel unwanted subscriptions and all that jazz... worth checking out, I guess 
anyway, i've also tried out some of these other apps like NerdWallet and YNAB but rocket money is still my fave 
. And Plaid, yeah I know some people are worried about the data collection but I just think of it as "banking 2.0" 
. One thing that's got me wondering though is how many more budgeting apps can we really use before we get overwhelmed 
?