Monarch is the cleanest Mint replacement money can buy, and it can buy a lot. But it still only shows you the picture. Flip lives in your texts and actually does the thing.
Monarch shows you the money. Flip moves it.
People want to know if Monarch Money is worth paying for, or if something can actually act on their money instead of just charting it.
By the numbers
The figures below are pulled from public pricing pages, press coverage, and app store listings. Every one of them maps to a source at the bottom of this page, so you can check the receipts.
Subscriber growth
20x
Monarch's paid subscriber base grew roughly 20-fold in the year after Intuit shut down Mint (CNBC, May 2025).
Free tier
$0 of it
Monarch has no free plan, just a 7-day trial, then $14.99/mo or $99.99/yr (Monarch pricing page).
Found in week one
$1,242
Flip users see a median of $1,242 in found value in their first week, or it's free (Flip).
Monarch Money vs Flip, side by side
Monarch Money does its one job. Flip treats that job as a single feature and keeps going. Here is the honest breakdown.
| Where it counts | Monarch Money | Flip |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | Visualizes net worth, budgets, and categories | Answers and acts on your money in a text |
| Where it lives | A web and mobile app you open | Inside iMessage, no app to open |
| Takes action | No, it tracks and charts only | Cancels, invests, splits, moves money with approval |
| Proactive | You go check the dashboard | Texts you when it spots something |
| Price | $14.99/mo or $99.99/yr, no free tier | Finds value first, or it's free |
| Net worth question | Open app, read the chart yourself | Text it, get one number across all accounts |
| Replaces a stack | One budgeting dashboard | Many single-purpose paid apps in one thread |
Without Flip
Monarch has no free tier at all, so you pay $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year just to look at your own numbers. And like every Plaid based aggregator, users report sync hiccups and accounts that drop their connection, which means the pretty dashboard is only as fresh as the last successful refresh.
With Flip
With Flip you text a question and get an answer across every connected account, and then Flip can go do something about it. Ask for your net worth, ask what to cancel, ask it to move money, and it handles the task in the same thread instead of handing you a chart to interpret yourself.
The honest part
Monarch earned its win, and its valuation
Credit where it's due. When Intuit killed Mint in 2024, millions of people needed a real replacement, and Monarch was the cleanest, best designed option waiting for them. Founded in 2018, it grew its paid subscribers about 20-fold in a year, raised a $75M Series B at an $850M valuation in 2025, and sits at a 4.9 rating on the App Store. If your goal is a beautiful, household ready view of net worth, custom categories, and budgets, Monarch is genuinely good at being a dashboard.
- Clean net worth tracking across all your accounts in one place
- Custom categories, budgets, and shared household views done well
The ceiling
A dashboard can only point at the problem
Here is the limit of any tracker. Monarch can show you that you are paying for three streaming services you forgot about, that your dining spend is up, or that cash is sitting idle. Then it stops, because it tracks and visualizes but does not act on your money. You still have to open the app, read it, and go do the work in a dozen other places. Flip closes that gap. You text 'what is my net worth right now' and get the number across every account, then you text 'cancel the two I never use' and it actually does it, asking before anything moves.
- Monarch surfaces the insight, you still execute it manually everywhere else
- Flip is consent-led, so it asks before it moves a dollar
Questions people ask
Does Monarch Money have a free version?
No. Monarch offers a 7-day trial, then it is $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year. There is no permanent free tier, so you are paying to view your own data.
Can Monarch Money actually move or manage my money?
No. Monarch tracks, categorizes, and charts your accounts, but it does not take action. It is a dashboard. Flip connects to your banks, brokerages, and email and does the task in a text, with your approval.
Is Monarch reliable for syncing accounts?
It is solid, but like every Plaid and MX based aggregator, users report occasional sync hiccups and dropped connections. Monarch even publishes a public connection status page, which tells you those hiccups are real.
Sources
We fact-check the numbers so the comparison stays honest. Pricing and product details change, so if something looks off, follow the link and tell us.
- 1.CNBC: Monarch raises $75M at $850M valuation with roughly 20x subscriber growth after Mint shutdown
- 2.Monarch official pricing page: 7-day trial, then paid, no free tier
- 3.The Penny Hoarder: Monarch Core is $14.99/mo or $99.99/yr, no free tier
- 4.Apple App Store: Monarch 4.9 rating, founded and developing since 2018
- 5.The Motley Fool: Monarch review covering Plaid and MX sync hiccups and connection issues
- 6.Flip: median of $1,242 in found value in a user's first week, or it's free
