Tracking your money is one of the most powerful financial habits you can build. It helps you understand your spending, monitor your net worth, and make better decisions about your future.
For more than 10 years, Empower was one of my favorite free financial tools. It helped me track my investments and net worth throughout much of my financial independence journey.
Today, though, my recommendation has changed.
After nearly four years of using Monarch Money daily, I believe it has surpassed Empower in almost every category that matters for families. Monarch has become the financial headquarters my wife and I use to manage our spending, review our goals, track our investments, and plan for retirement.
Empower is still a reasonable option if you want a free investment dashboard. But if you want a modern, comprehensive tool for managing your entire financial life, Monarch is the clear winner for me.
In this Empower vs. Monarch Money comparison, I’ll explain where each tool still performs well, why I rarely use Empower anymore, and which one I would choose today.
Who Should Choose Empower?
Empower (formerly Personal Capital) was one of the first financial tools I ever recommended. I used it for more than a decade to track my investments and net worth, and it played an important role in my financial independence journey.
Today, Empower is still a good option if you're looking for a completely free way to monitor your investments and overall net worth. The investment dashboard remains its strongest feature, and it's hard to argue with the price.
That said, Empower hasn't evolved much in recent years. While competitors have added AI features, better budgeting tools, retirement forecasting, and improved collaboration, Empower has largely stayed the same. It still works, but it no longer feels like the leader it once was.
Empower is best for you if:
- You want a free investment and net worth tracker.
- You don't need advanced budgeting features.
- You don't mind occasional invitations to learn about Empower's wealth management services.
Who Should Choose Monarch Money?
Monarch Money has become the financial headquarters for my family. My wife Nicole and I use it every day to track our spending, monitor our net worth, review investments, plan for retirement, and stay aligned during our biweekly money dates.
Unlike Empower, Monarch was built to manage your entire financial life. It combines budgeting, cash flow tracking, goal planning, investment monitoring, and retirement forecasting into one modern platform that's easy to use.
After nearly four years of daily use, it's the financial app I recommend most often to friends, family, and my audience.
Monarch is best for you if:
- You want one app for budgeting, investments, and net worth tracking.
- You manage money with a spouse or partner.
- You value automation and a polished user experience.
- You're willing to pay for software that saves you time and keeps your finances organized.
Quick Comparison
| Category | Winner | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 💰 Budgeting | Monarch | Robust budgeting tools, automation, and rollover budgeting. |
| 👨👩👧👦 Couples | Monarch | Shared household view with built-in collaboration. |
| 📈 Investment Tracking | Empower | Still offers a solid free investment dashboard. |
| 🏖️ Retirement Planning | Monarch Plus | Better forecasting than Empower, though Boldin and ProjectionLab remain my top picks. |
| 🤖 AI Features | Monarch | AI-powered financial insights and recommendations. |
| 📱 Mobile Experience | Monarch | Modern, polished app that's enjoyable to use daily. |
| 💵 Price | Empower | Completely free. |
| ⭐ Overall Winner | Monarch | The best all-around financial management platform for most people. |
Where Empower Still Wins
I used Empower for more than a decade, and it deserves credit for helping me build wealth during my financial independence journey. Even today, there are still a couple of reasons someone might choose it over Monarch.
Completely Free
If your biggest priority is avoiding another monthly subscription, Empower is one of the best free financial dashboards available. You can connect your accounts, monitor your net worth, and review your investment portfolio without paying a subscription fee.
Investment Dashboard
Empower still does a nice job organizing your investment accounts in one place. If you primarily want a high-level view of your portfolio and net worth, it remains a useful free option.
Excellent Educational Content
One thing I still enjoy from Empower is their educational content. Their email newsletter and market commentary do a great job explaining what's happening in the markets without resorting to fear or sensational headlines. Even though I rarely log into the platform anymore, I still find value in their educational resources.
Where Monarch Money Pulls Ahead
Empower helped me build wealth for more than a decade, and I'll always appreciate the role it played in my financial journey. But after nearly four years of using Monarch Money, I believe it offers a much more complete experience for managing your finances.
Here's where I think Monarch clearly outperforms Empower.
Complete Financial Management
The biggest difference between these two platforms is what they're trying to accomplish.
Empower has always felt like an investment dashboard with a few budgeting features added on.
Monarch Money feels like a complete financial operating system.
Instead of jumping between multiple apps, I can see our budget, cash flow, investments, net worth, recurring bills, and financial goals from one dashboard. My wife Nicole and I use Monarch as the central hub for our family's finances, making it easy to stay organized and make decisions together.
That convenience has been one of the biggest reasons Monarch replaced Empower in our household.
Better Budgeting
If budgeting is important to you, this isn't a close comparison.
While Empower technically includes budgeting tools, I don't find them nearly as useful or intuitive as Monarch's.
Monarch gives you the flexibility to build a budget that matches your life. Features like rollover budgeting, customizable categories, transaction rules, merchant renaming, recurring expense tracking, and monthly planning make it easy to stay on top of your spending without feeling overwhelmed.
Those small quality-of-life improvements add up over time.
Instead of constantly maintaining my budget, Monarch handles much of the work automatically so I can focus on making better financial decisions instead of categorizing transactions.
Built for Couples
One of my favorite features—and one that I don't think gets enough attention—is how well Monarch works for couples.
Nicole and I each have our own login, but we're looking at the same financial picture. During our biweekly money dates, we review our spending, check our progress toward goals, monitor our investments, and make decisions together.
That shared visibility keeps us aligned without having to send spreadsheets back and forth or wonder if we're looking at the same information.
If you manage money with a spouse or partner, this feature alone may justify the subscription cost.
Better Goal Planning
Tracking your progress toward long-term goals is another area where Monarch stands out.
Whether you're building an emergency fund, saving for a family vacation, contributing to a 529 plan, or setting aside money for your next vehicle, Monarch makes those goals visible.
I find that seeing our progress keeps us motivated to continue saving.
Rather than simply showing where our money has gone, Monarch helps us focus on where we want our money to go next.
Monarch Plus Has Closed the Gap
This is probably the biggest change since I originally compared these two platforms.
A few years ago, I often recommended using Monarch for budgeting and Empower for retirement planning.
Today, that's no longer my recommendation.
With Monarch Plus, you now get retirement forecasting and scenario planning directly inside Monarch. It's a meaningful improvement that has dramatically reduced my need to log into Empower.
To be clear, Monarch Plus still isn't my top retirement planning recommendation.
If retirement planning is your primary goal, I currently recommend:
- Boldin
- ProjectionLab
- Monarch Plus
- Empower
Even so, Monarch Plus has become more than capable for many households that want retirement planning integrated into the same app they already use every day.
A Better Mobile Experience
I open Monarch almost every day.
Whether I'm checking our budget before making a purchase, reviewing recent transactions, or seeing how our investments performed, the app is fast, polished, and enjoyable to use.
Empower's mobile app works, but it feels more like a tool I check occasionally.
Monarch feels like an app that's designed to become part of your daily financial routine.
Continuous Innovation
Perhaps the biggest reason my recommendation has changed is that Monarch continues to improve.
Over the past few years, Monarch has consistently released meaningful updates, including AI-powered insights, Monarch Plus, improved reporting, and other features that make managing money easier.
Empower, on the other hand, feels largely the same as it did several years ago.
That's not necessarily a criticism. Empower is still a solid free product.
But when I compare the two today, Monarch is clearly investing in the future of personal finance software, and that ongoing innovation is one of the main reasons it's become my top recommendation.
My Experience Using Both Apps
I've used Empower for more than a decade and Monarch Money for nearly four years, so this comparison isn't based on a few weeks of testing. Both tools have played an important role in my financial journey.
When I first discovered Empower (then Personal Capital), it quickly became one of my favorite free financial tools. It gave me a clear picture of my investments and net worth, and I recommended it to friends, family, and my audience for years.
As my financial life became more complex, though, my needs changed.
Instead of simply tracking my investments, I wanted one place where my wife Nicole and I could manage our entire financial life together. We wanted to budget, monitor our spending, track our net worth, review our investments, save for future goals, and plan for retirement without bouncing between multiple apps.
That's where Monarch Money really stood out.
Over the past four years, it has become the financial headquarters for our family. We use it every day to stay on top of our finances, and it has become an important part of our biweekly money dates. Rather than spending time gathering information from different accounts, we can focus on making better financial decisions together.
My recommendation has evolved because the software has evolved.
Monarch continues to release meaningful updates that improve the user experience, while Empower has remained relatively unchanged. Features like Monarch Plus, AI-powered insights, better budgeting tools, and improved goal tracking have made Monarch a more complete platform than it was just a few years ago.
That's not to say Empower is a bad product. It isn't.
If you're looking for a free investment dashboard, I still think it's one of the best options available.
But if someone asked me today which platform I'd recommend for managing their entire financial life, my answer would be Monarch Money without hesitation.
Final Verdict: Which Should You Choose?
If you're looking for a free way to track your investments and net worth, Empower is still one of the best options available. It offers a solid investment dashboard, helpful educational content, and costs nothing to use.
But if you're looking for one app to manage your entire financial life, I recommend Monarch Money.
After nearly four years of daily use, Monarch has become the financial headquarters for my family. My wife Nicole and I use it to budget, track our net worth, monitor investments, save for future goals, and plan for retirement, all from one platform.
Empower played an important role in my financial independence journey, and I'll always appreciate what it helped me accomplish. Today, though, I believe Monarch has become the better all-around product.
That's why it's the app I recommend to friends, family, and my audience.
💡 My Pick: Monarch Money
If you want one modern platform for budgeting, investing, net worth tracking, goal planning, and retirement forecasting, I believe Monarch Money is the best choice for most people.
Continue Reading
If you're researching personal finance software, these guides can help you find the right tool for your situation:
- Monarch Money Review: My complete review after nearly four years of daily use.
- Monarch Money vs. YNAB: Which budgeting app is the better fit for your financial style?
- Monarch Money vs. Rocket Money: Budgeting and wealth building versus subscription management.
- Best Budget Apps: My favorite budgeting apps for families and individuals.
- Best Retirement Calculators: My top retirement planning software, including Boldin and ProjectionLab.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Monarch Money better than Empower?
For most people, yes. While Empower remains an excellent free investment tracking tool, I believe Monarch Money offers a more complete experience with better budgeting, goal planning, spouse collaboration, and retirement forecasting. After using both platforms for years, Monarch is the one I recommend to friends, family, and my audience.
Is Empower really free?
Yes. Empower's financial dashboard is completely free to use. You can link your accounts, track your net worth, monitor your investments, and use many of its financial tools without paying a subscription. Just keep in mind that Empower also offers wealth management services, so you may occasionally receive invitations to learn more about working with an advisor.
Can Monarch Money track investments?
Absolutely. Monarch lets you connect your investment accounts to monitor your portfolio, track your net worth, and analyze your asset allocation. If you subscribe to Monarch Plus, you'll also get retirement forecasting and scenario planning tools.
Which app is better for couples?
I recommend Monarch Money. My wife Nicole and I each have our own login, which allows us to manage our finances together while viewing the same up-to-date information. It's become an important part of our biweekly money dates and helps us stay aligned on spending, saving, and long-term financial goals.
Which app is better for retirement planning?
If retirement planning is your primary focus, I currently recommend Boldin first, ProjectionLab second, and Monarch Plus third. Empower still offers retirement planning tools, but I believe those three platforms provide more robust forecasting and planning capabilities today.
Can I use Monarch Money and Empower together?
Absolutely. In fact, I used both together for several years. Today, though, I find Monarch comprehensive enough that I rarely log into Empower anymore. Unless you specifically want a free investment dashboard, I don't think most people need both apps.
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