If you have money goals, there is a good chance you already understand the importance of knowing what you spend and knowing what you save. But managing your money, and all those spreadsheets, can get complicated fast.

That is where Monarch Money comes in.

In this Monarch Money review, I will share my real world experience after using the app with my wife for three years. I will walk through the best features, where it still falls short, how it compares to competitors, and whether it is worth the cost in 2026.

Who is Monarch Money?

Monarch Money is more than just a budgeting app. It is a modern personal finance platform designed to help individuals and couples manage their entire financial life in one place.

From a fully customizable dashboard, you can use Monarch to:

• Build and manage a flexible budget
• Track spending across all accounts
• Monitor net worth and investments
• Set financial goals
• Collaborate with a spouse or partner
• Get personalized financial insights, including AI-powered assistance

Some key features Monarch highlights include:

• Net worth syncing across accounts
• Recurring transaction tracking
• Spending insights and savings rate
• Custom advice and insights
• Unified transaction feed
• Fully customizable budgeting
• Investment tracking
• Financial goals
• Collaboration for households

It is available on web, iOS, and Android.

Monarch Money Cost

Monarch Money pricing is straightforward.

• $99.99 per year
• $14.99 per month

They also offer a free 7-day trial.

Readers of this site can get 50% off their first year by using the code MKMONEY.

Who Monarch Money Is Best For (and Who It’s Not)

Monarch Money is a great fit if you:

• Want a single source of truth for your entire financial life, including budgeting, spending, net worth, and investments
• Manage money as a couple and want fewer arguments and clearer, more productive money conversations
• Like checking in on your money semi-frequently without spending hours in spreadsheets
• Value a clean, ad-free experience where your data is not sold or used to pitch financial products
• Want insights and guidance without pressure or upsells

Monarch may not be the best fit if you:

• Refuse to pay for financial software under any circumstances
• Want deep retirement modeling or Monte Carlo simulations built directly into your budgeting tool
• Prefer a rigid, rules-based zero-based budgeting philosophy similar to YNAB

For most couples and families, Monarch strikes a strong balance between power and simplicity. It is robust enough to see the full picture, yet easy enough to use consistently.

How My Wife and I Use Monarch Money Every Month

My Family's Monarch Snapshot (June 2026)

• Using Monarch since December 2022
• Household users: 2
• Connected accounts: 23
• Family net worth tracked: $2.286 million
• Money dates completed: 75+ (estimated)

My wife Nicole and I have used Monarch Money for more than three years to manage our family's finances.

As of June 2026, Monarch tracks more than $2.2 million of our family's assets across 23 connected accounts. While Monarch didn't create that wealth, it has helped us stay organized, aligned, and intentional with our money over the years.

Here's how we use it today.

Daily Check-In

I open Monarch almost every day on my phone for a quick five-minute review.

Most days, I'm simply checking transactions, recategorizing expenses when needed, and making sure everything looks accurate. It's a small habit that helps me stay connected to our finances without spending hours in spreadsheets.

Our Bi-Weekly Money Dates

Every two weeks, Nicole and I sit down together for what we call a money date.

The first thing we do is reconcile transactions and make sure we understand where our money went. This helps us catch any unusual charges, verify our spending, and ensure everything is categorized correctly.

Next, we review our budget and talk about upcoming expenses. We discuss areas where we've overspent, areas where we've underspent, and whether our current plan still aligns with our priorities.

Finally, we review our financial goals and discuss what's coming next for our family.

Sometimes that's a vacation, a home improvement project, charitable giving or planning for our kids' future.

These conversations usually last one to two hours and often turn into broader discussions about what matters most to our family.

Long-Term Planning

Beyond budgeting, Monarch helps us track progress toward several important goals:

• Retirement planning
• College savings for our kids
• A future vehicle purchase
• Home improvement projects
• Family travel

Having these goals visible helps us connect today's spending decisions with tomorrow's priorities.

Monarch Money Review: Best Features

Complete Financial Overview

One of the biggest challenges in personal finance is the multitude of apps needed to understand your full financial picture. Checking accounts in one app, credit cards in another, investments somewhere else, and spreadsheets on top of it all.

Monarch solves this by giving you a complete financial snapshot in one place.

This is especially valuable for couples. My wife and I use Monarch together, and having one shared view of our finances has made our money conversations dramatically easier. Instead of hunting for numbers, we can focus on decisions.

I flip open my Monarch app almost every day for a quick check and transaction categorization. It usually takes less than five minutes.

Budgeting That Actually Works for Couples

The budgeting tool remains the feature I use most in Monarch.

What makes Monarch stand out from many budgeting apps is how well it works for couples.

Nicole and I share one household budget, which creates a sense of partnership and shared direction. At the same time, we each maintain separate fun-money categories that give us autonomy and flexibility.

One feature I particularly appreciate is that Monarch allows each spouse to have their own login. Nicole doesn't need my password, and I don't need hers. We can both access the same financial information while maintaining our own accounts and security settings.

The experience is also remarkably consistent between desktop and mobile. Whether I'm reviewing transactions on my phone or we're sitting together at a computer during a money date, everything feels familiar and easy to navigate.

For us, budgeting isn't really about restricting spending.

It's about spending confidently.

When Nicole and I regularly review our finances together, we feel more comfortable saying yes to the things that matter most. Family vacations, home projects, charitable giving, and experiences with our kids become easier decisions because we've already planned for them.

I've also noticed something else over the years.

When we skip our money dates for too long, I start to feel more financial anxiety. Uncertainty creates stress.

When we sit down together and review our finances, that stress fades because we know exactly where we stand and what we're working toward.

That's one of the most valuable benefits Monarch provides for our family.

If you want a step-by-step walkthrough, check out our full Monarch Money Tutorial for Families and Couples where I show exactly how my wife and I use Monarch for budgeting, net worth tracking, goals, and money dates.

Saving for Future Goals

The Goals feature has improved significantly over the past few years and has become one of my favorite parts of Monarch.

Today, Nicole and I use Goals to track several priorities:

Family Travel

Travel is one of our family's biggest values.

We currently set aside approximately $1,000 per month for future trips. Monarch helps us track that progress and confidently plan upcoming adventures with family and friends.

College Savings

We maintain separate education goals for both of our children.

Seeing our progress toward those goals helps us stay motivated and ensures we're consistently preparing for their future.

Retirement

Monarch gives us a simple way to monitor our long-term retirement progress alongside our day-to-day budgeting.

Future Vehicle Purchase

We're planning ahead for a future vehicle purchase around 2030. Instead of scrambling when the time comes, we're intentionally preparing years in advance.

Home Improvements

One current goal involves creating a more enjoyable outdoor living space for our family. Whether it's a gazebo, outdoor furniture, or other home upgrades, Monarch helps us visualize progress and save intentionally.

Having these goals connected directly to our budget helps turn financial planning into something tangible and motivating.

No Ads and No Upsells

Monarch is completely ad-free and does not upsell financial products.

That means no popups, no distracting banners, and no sales calls when your net worth grows. You pay for the product, and that is it.

This is one of the reasons I was willing to move away from free tools. Free often means ad-supported or temporary, and Mint shutting down was a perfect example of that risk.

Collaboration and Shared Views

Monarch was built with couples in mind.

You can invite your spouse or partner to your household at no extra cost, and each person gets their own login.

Recently, Monarch added a feature called Shared Views. This allows couples to label accounts and transactions as mine, theirs, or ours. You can then filter views to see individual or shared finances across accounts, net worth, and reports.

In our case, most of our accounts are shared, so we do not use this feature heavily. However, it is extremely helpful for couples who want more autonomy, gift privacy, or clearer separation of personal and shared spending.

AI Assistant (One of Monarch's Best New Features)

One of the most impressive additions to Monarch over the past year has been the AI Assistant.

Instead of digging through reports and transaction histories manually, I can simply ask questions about my family's finances and receive answers based on our actual spending data.

For example, I recently asked Monarch how much my family spends at Costco each year. I was curious whether upgrading to a Costco Executive Membership would be worth the additional cost.

After reviewing our spending history, I realized we weren't spending enough to justify the upgrade. That simple insight saved us money and helped me make a more informed decision without having to build a spreadsheet or run the calculations myself.

I've also used the AI Assistant to help us stay on track with our family budget. Recently, I asked how our Summer Fun category was performing. The AI pointed out that our spending was running a little higher than planned at the beginning of summer, but it also showed that we'd likely stay within our annual target if we dialed things back slightly in July and August.

That type of personalized insight is incredibly helpful because it allows us to make small course corrections before a budget issue becomes a bigger problem.

I've also used the AI Assistant to:

• Find purchases from months or years ago
• Analyze spending trends over time
• Review net worth growth
• Answer questions about our family's spending habits

The biggest advantage is that the AI is working with my actual financial data. Instead of providing generic budgeting advice, it can give answers based on the transactions, accounts, and spending patterns that matter to my family.

Transparency note: I am an affiliate partner and also a paid consultant helping improve Monarch's AI Assistant. I still use Monarch daily with my wife and would not recommend it if it didn't genuinely add value to our financial lives.

Monarch Money Review: Areas for Improvement

No tool is perfect, and Monarch is no exception.

Cost

At $99 per year, Monarch is not cheap, especially if you are used to free tools.

That said, the lack of ads, strong security, and consistent product development make the price worth it for us.

Investment Analysis Depth

Monarch does a good job tracking investments and net worth. For most people, this is more than sufficient.

However, if you want advanced asset allocation analysis, fee analysis, retirement modeling, or Monte Carlo simulations, Monarch is not the best tool for that job.

I personally pair Monarch with:

• Empower for free investment analysis and asset allocation (just say no thanks to the sales call)
• ProjectionLab for retirement modeling
• Boldin for deeper retirement scenario analysis

For most users, Monarch plus one of these tools is an excellent setup.

Undo Feature

This one is more of a suggestion to the Monarch team. If you make a mistake while reallocating money across different categories, there is no “undo” feature. When you're used to this type of feature with dozens of other software you use, not having it can feel frustrating. This would be a nice improvement opportunity for future iterations of Monarch.

Monarch Money Competitors

Monarch Money is not the only budgeting tool available. Before choosing a platform, many people compare Monarch to a few well-known alternatives. Below is how Monarch stacks up against the three competitors I see readers most often consider.

YNAB vs Monarch

YNAB, short for You Need A Budget, has a loyal following and a very specific philosophy built around zero-based budgeting.

I have personally tried YNAB twice, and while I respect the system, I found it too complicated for how my wife and I actually manage money. The learning curve is real, and the rigid structure can feel overwhelming if you want flexibility or manage money as a couple.

Monarch takes a more adaptable approach. It still encourages intentional spending and saving, but it allows you to adjust categories, roll with real-life expenses, and focus on your overall financial picture without feeling like you are breaking the rules.

If you love structure and strict budgeting rules, YNAB may be a better fit. If you want a flexible, intuitive tool that works well for couples, Monarch tends to be the easier long-term solution.

You can read our full YNAB review or check out my detailed YNAB vs Monarch comparison for a deeper breakdown.

Simplifi vs Monarch

Simplifi by Quicken aims to keep money management simple. It offers automated budgeting, spending tracking, and a clean interface at a lower annual cost than Monarch.

I have tested Simplifi and found it easy to use, but not robust enough for our needs. The budgeting tools are more limited, reporting is less flexible, and the overall financial picture does not feel as complete as what Monarch provides.

Simplifi can work well if you want a lightweight budgeting tool at a lower price point. Monarch is the better option if you want deeper insights, stronger customization, and better collaboration for couples and families.

If you want to explore further, here is our full Simplifi review and a side by side Simplifi vs Monarch comparison.

EveryDollar vs Monarch

EveryDollar is the budgeting app from Ramsey Solutions and will feel familiar if you follow Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps.

It uses a zero-based budgeting approach and offers both free and paid versions. However, many automation features require the paid plan, and the app focuses almost entirely on budgeting rather than full financial management.

Monarch goes beyond budgeting by combining spending, net worth, investments, and goals into one platform. It is also much more flexible for couples who want shared visibility without rigid budgeting rules.

If you are committed to the Ramsey philosophy, EveryDollar may be a good fit. If you want a modern, all-in-one money management tool, Monarch is the stronger choice.

You can read our full EveryDollar review for a complete breakdown.

Monarch Money Review FAQ

Is Monarch Money legit?

Yes. Monarch uses read only data access, bank level encryption, and strong security practices. It cannot move money in or out of your accounts.

Can I use Monarch with my spouse?

Yes. This is one of Monarch’s strongest features. You can add your spouse or partner at no additional cost, each with their own login.

Is Monarch Money safe?

Yes. I have used Monarch for over three years without any security concerns. It uses encryption and read only connections to protect your data.

Is Monarch Money worth the cost?

For us, absolutely. After Mint shut down, I realized that paying for a high quality tool is worth it if it is something you rely on daily.

Who owns Monarch?

Val Agostino, Jon Sutherland, and Ozzie Osman are the Monarch co-founders. These startup veterans have a wide-ranging background, giving them the experience needed to solve money management problems and create a powerful user experience at the same time.

Since its creation in 2020, Monarch has been backed by angel investors, as well as Accel and Signal Fire.

Final Thoughts: Is Monarch Money Worth It in 2026?

After more than three years of daily use, Monarch Money remains the financial app my wife Nicole and I rely on most.

We use it to manage our budget, track more than $2.2 million in family assets across 23 accounts, plan for future goals, monitor our net worth, and stay aligned on the financial decisions that matter most to our family.

What I appreciate most isn't any single feature. It's the way Monarch helps us collaborate.

Our bi-weekly money dates are easier. Our financial goals are clearer. And I feel more confident about our spending because we have a system that helps us stay organized and intentional.

Is Monarch perfect? No.

I still think the investment analysis tools could be deeper, and I'd love to see an undo feature added someday.

But for budgeting, goal planning, net worth tracking, and household collaboration, I haven't found a better all-in-one solution.

If you're looking for a budgeting app specifically designed for couples and families, Monarch Money is still my top recommendation in 2026.

Monarch is a great fit if you:

• Manage money with a spouse or partner
• Want budgeting and net worth tracking in one place
• Prefer an ad-free experience
• Want a tool you'll actually use consistently

➡️ Try Monarch Money free for 7 days and get 50 percent off your first year using code MKMONEY.

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How do you manage your money?

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