Roy J. Riley 
It’s been a few months since Mint shut down. As a devotee of the popular budgeting app, I was heartbroken when I learned it would disappear on March 23. But I have to say, I’m not missing it as much as I thought I would thanks to the replacement I found.
After testing several Mint alternatives, I landed on an app that’s similarly robust, easy to use and affordable — and has even saved me some money. Read on to learn what my new favorite budgeting app is and why I chose it.
Budgeting apps I tested
I chose to test a selection of popular budgeting apps that offer different prices, features and budgeting approaches. All of them are available for both iPhone and Android, and all of them (with the exception of WallyGPT) allow you to import your Mint data to make the switch easier.
- PocketGuard: Free version available; $13 a month or $75 a year for PocketGuard Plus
- Rocket Money: Free version available; from $4 to $12 a month for Premium (choose what you pay; $4 and $5 options are billed annually)
- YNAB: $15 a month or $99 a year (free year for college students)
- Quicken Simplifi: $4 a month, billed annually
- WallyGPT: Free
Specifically, I was looking for an app with features similar to Mint’s, including:
- Customizable categories
- The flexibility to adjust my budget as expenses crop up
- A simple, intuitive user experience
- Straightforward, valuable insights
- An affordable price
How I tested these budgeting apps
I linked my accounts to four different budgeting apps and tried them out simultaneously for several weeks to see how they stacked up. (There was a fifth app I tried to test, but was unsuccessful after multiple attempts.)
At the end of my testing, I found two apps that Mint users might enjoy — Rocket Money and PocketGuard — and two options that aren’t similar to Mint but provide a different approach to budgeting. The last option, WallyGPT, isn’t a viable fit for Android or iOS users, based on the glitches our team encountered.
After several weeks of trying out these apps, my choice to replace Mint is Rocket Money. Both PocketGuard and Rocket Money felt like comparable substitutions for Mint, but I found Rocket’s interface cleaner and easier to use, and I’m a fan of its sliding pricing scale. I’ve been using it since I concluded my test and continue to find it delivers the information I need with the easy user experience I prefer.
Rocket Money has a lot of the same features as Mint, offering free basic budgeting features and more advanced options — automated savings, net worth tracking and credit reports — with its paid tier. Like PocketGuard, it also offers bill negotiation as a separate service, which costs a portion of your savings if it’s successful.
Rocket Money’s interface is straightforward and intuitive to navigate. It’s easy to scan your budgeted spending, actual spending and projected savings to see how well you’re doing at a glance. Editing budget categories and transactions was intuitive and required fewer steps than with PocketGuard.
I also loved how many notification options Rocket Money provides. You can opt to receive alerts for a multitude of important financial stats to help you identify potential budget derailers and new opportunities to trim your expenses.
In addition to a simpler user experience, what set Rocket Money apart from PocketGuard for me is its seven-day free trial to test out premium features. If you decide you want to upgrade, you’ll choose to pay between $4 and $12 a month. You get the same features regardless of how much you pay.
Unlike PocketGuard, Rocket Money doesn’t offer debt payoff planning. That’s not a dealbreaker for me, but it could give PocketGuard the edge for users who value this feature.
