Product Comparison

The Best Free Mint Alternatives in 2026 (After Mint Shut Down)

Sable Spend April 30, 2026 9 min read

Mint shut down in March 2024. Intuit moved everyone over to Credit Karma — which is not a budgeting app, it's a credit-monitoring product with a different job. If you were one of Mint's 20+ million users and you still haven't found a real replacement, you're not behind. A lot of people just quietly stopped budgeting when Mint died.

This guide walks through what actually replaces Mint in 2026, and the trade-offs to weigh before you pick.

What Made Mint Worth Replacing

Mint did four things people relied on: it pulled all your accounts into one dashboard, auto-categorized your transactions, tracked your net worth, and it was free. Any real replacement needs to cover those same four bases — not just one of them.

What to Look for in a Mint Alternative

  • Automatic bank syncing — through a trusted aggregator like Plaid, so you're not typing in transactions by hand.
  • A genuinely useful free tier — not a 7-day trial that locks the basics behind a paywall.
  • A clear privacy model — Mint made money partly by showing you financial product offers. Know how your replacement pays its bills.
  • Your banks supported — especially if you bank in Canada, where a lot of US-only apps fall short.
  • Net worth and reports — the at-a-glance picture Mint gave you.

The Main Options in 2026

  • Monarch Money — polished, couples-friendly, but around $100/year with no free tier.
  • YNAB — a powerful method (zero-based budgeting) with a real learning curve, at $14.99/month or $109/year.
  • Copilot — beautiful, but iOS-only and US-only.
  • Rocket Money — more of a bill-cancellation tool than a budget tracker.
  • Sable — free to start with 2 bank connections, unlimited budgets, goals, and reports; supports US and Canadian banks; paid plans from $5/month.

The "You Were the Product" Problem

One quiet lesson from Mint's shutdown: a free app still has to make money somehow. Mint did it through partner offers and, eventually, by becoming part of a credit product. When you pick a replacement, look for one whose business model is simply "you pay for the app" — no ads, no data sales. That's the model we chose for Sable, and we give 20% of profits to charity on top of it.

How to Actually Switch (Without Losing Your History)

  1. Export your Mint/Credit Karma transaction history to CSV while you still can.
  2. Pick a replacement and connect your accounts through Plaid.
  3. Import the CSV so your past spending comes along for the ride.
  4. Set your top 3–5 budgets based on what you actually spent last month.
  5. Give it two weeks before you judge it — the first sync is always the messiest.

You don't need to mourn Mint. You just need a tool that does the same job without treating you like inventory.

Try Sable free — no credit card required →

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened to Mint?

Intuit shut down Mint in March 2024 and moved users to Credit Karma, which is a credit-monitoring product, not a budgeting app. Mint had over 20 million users at its peak.

What is the best free Mint alternative?

Sable is a free Mint alternative that connects your bank through Plaid, auto-categorizes transactions, tracks net worth, and supports both US and Canadian banks. Its free Solo plan includes 2 bank connections, unlimited budgets and goals, and all reports with no credit card required.

Is Credit Karma a replacement for Mint?

Not for budgeting. Credit Karma focuses on credit scores and financial-product offers. If you want Mint's budgeting, spending categorization, and net-worth tracking, you need a dedicated budgeting app.

Can I import my Mint data into a new app?

Yes. Export your Mint or Credit Karma transaction history to CSV, then import that CSV into your new app so your spending history carries over.