What is Monarch Money?
Monarch Money is a personal finance app, launched in 2021, that combines budgeting, spending tracking, net worth monitoring and investment account aggregation in one place. It became a common alternative to Mint after Intuit shut Mint down in March 2024.
Monarch is a passive tool: you connect your accounts, and it imports and categorizes transactions with little ongoing effort. That puts it at the opposite end from YNAB, which asks for weekly, hands-on zero-based budgeting. Where it sits among the other options is covered in our budgeting app comparison, and the budgeting hub explains the methods behind them.
Monarch Money pricing
| Plan | Price (USD) | Trial |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $14.99/month | 7 days free |
| Annual | $99.99/year | 7 days free |
Monarch Money has no free plan; after the seven-day trial you choose monthly or annual billing, and the annual plan works out cheaper per month. Charges are in US dollars, which a Canadian card converts at its own exchange rate, often with a foreign-transaction fee on top unless the card is one of the no-foreign-transaction-fee cards.
Canadian bank and investment account support
| Institution | Bank accounts | Credit cards | Investment accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| TD Canada Trust | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RBC Royal Bank | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scotiabank | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BMO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CIBC | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| National Bank | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tangerine | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Simplii Financial | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Wealthsimple | N/A | N/A | Yes |
| Questrade | N/A | N/A | Yes |
| EQ Bank | Limited | N/A | N/A |
Core features
Net worth dashboard
Monarch Money’s main feature. Connect chequing, savings, credit cards, investment accounts, a mortgage, car loans and student debt, and Monarch calculates your net worth and charts how it changes month over month.
For people focused on long-term goals (retirement savings, home equity, an investment portfolio), the dashboard puts every account in one view, which Canadian bank apps don’t offer for accounts held elsewhere.
Transaction tracking and categorization
Monarch imports and categorizes transactions from every linked account. Categories include:
- Food and drink (groceries, restaurants, coffee)
- Shopping
- Bills and utilities
- Travel
- Health and fitness
- Income (paycheque, freelance, government payments)
- Transfers
You can create custom categories, split a transaction across categories, and set rules for recurring merchants. Canadian grocery stores and some other merchants are occasionally miscategorized and need a manual fix. For the habit side of this, see our guide to tracking your spending.
Budgeting
Monarch’s budgeting sets a monthly spending limit per category and tracks you against it. You see when a category is close to or over its limit, but the app doesn’t make you rebalance the budget the way YNAB does. That flexibility suits people who already spend within their means; people working on chronic overspending or credit card debt often find YNAB’s active method more effective.
Monthly snapshot reports
Each month, Monarch summarizes total income, spending by category and net savings, and compares them with previous months. The snapshots make trends visible: dining spending creeping up, a savings rate changing after a raise, or a one-time expense distorting a month.
Goal tracking
Set savings goals (a TFSA top-up, a vacation, a home down payment) by linking an account to a goal with a target amount and date. Monarch shows the monthly contribution needed and tracks what you actually put in.
Couples and household feature
Invite a partner to your household, and both people’s linked accounts appear in one shared dashboard with joint budgets and combined net worth. The feature is included at no extra cost and is one of Monarch’s main differences from other apps. The wider question of managing money as a couple (joint versus separate accounts, splitting costs) has its own guide.
What Monarch Money does well
- Clean, well-designed interface
- Strong net worth tracking with investment account support
- Household feature included at no extra cost
- Funded by subscriptions rather than advertising or product referrals
- Reliable Canadian bank connections via Plaid
- iOS and Android apps
- Broader investment account coverage than YNAB
Where Monarch Money falls short
- No zero-based budgeting. People who need active behaviour change (debt payoff, chronic overspending) may get more from YNAB’s method.
- No Canadian tax features. No RRSP room tracking, no T-slip import, no CRA data.
- Categorization errors. Canadian merchants are occasionally miscategorized, so clean data takes some correction.
- No bill negotiation or savings offers. Mint had ad-supported bill negotiation; Monarch does not.
- Limited investment analytics. You see balances and net worth, but no portfolio performance analysis, asset allocation breakdown or fee calculator.
Monarch Money vs YNAB
Both apps cost the same per month and connect to the same Canadian banks. Monarch is the stronger dashboard for net worth and household tracking; YNAB is the stronger tool for changing spending through zero-based budgeting. Our YNAB vs Monarch Money comparison goes through the differences feature by feature.
Monarch Money vs Mint
Intuit shut Mint down in March 2024. Compared with what Mint offered, Monarch Money has:
- Investment account tracking
- No ad-supported product recommendations
- A cleaner interface
- Broad Canadian bank coverage
- A household feature Mint never had
- A subscription price (Mint was free), which is the trade-off for no advertising
Who Monarch Money suits
Monarch Money tends to fit people who:
- Want to track net worth across all accounts in one place
- Used Mint and want a replacement
- Manage finances as a couple or household
- Already budget reasonably well but want visibility
- Want passive, low-effort monitoring
- Have RRSP, TFSA or investment accounts to track alongside spending
Monarch Money is a weaker fit for people who:
- Carry credit card debt and want an active method for changing spending (YNAB is built for that)
- Need small business accounting (Wave or QuickBooks are built for that)
- Want portfolio analytics (a dedicated investment platform covers that)
- Don’t want to pay a US-dollar subscription for a tracking app
Verdict
Monarch Money is a strong choice for Canadians who want passive tracking of spending and net worth, especially as a household. It fills the gap Mint left with a subscription product that isn’t funded by advertising. People who mainly want to know their net worth, follow spending trends and track savings goals without much weekly effort are well matched to it; people who need to change how they spend may get more from YNAB.