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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Monarch vs YNAB

Monarch 4.9★ · Free + IAP 75
Winner Monarch
YNAB 4.8★ · Free + IAP 65

Monarch has an edge for users seeking a comprehensive, automated financial overview, while YNAB is better for those committed to a strict, hands-on 'zero-based budgeting' methodology.

Full reviews: Monarch · YNAB

Monarch offers a broader range of features for overall financial tracking, including net worth and AI tools, but struggles with account syncing. YNAB excels at its specific budgeting method, but recent UI changes and high cost are frustrating users.

Head to head

Features & Functionality edge: MonarchR2R11R12R14
Monarch Monarch is praised for its comprehensive features like net worth tracking, visual displays, AI tools, and collaborative budgeting for families R2R11. Users appreciate its ability to consolidate all financial information in one place R28. However, some find its auto-categorization imperfect R14 and note it's less suited for debt payoff strategies R15 or detailed projections R12.
YNAB YNAB is lauded for its 'zero-based budgeting' method, which helps users gain control over spending, pay off debt, and save money . It's seen as a powerful tool for understanding where money goes and making intentional spending decisions . However, some users find the app unnecessarily complicated and note it lacks features like subscription tracking or robust historical expenditure analysis .
Ease of Use & UI edge: MonarchR7R9R13R15
Monarch Monarch is generally considered easy to use and intuitive, with a good layout and user-friendly interface R24. Users appreciate its visual appeal and navigation R15. However, some find the iPad app's capabilities reduced R9 and are annoyed by marketing ads on the dashboard R7. There are also complaints about being forced to update the app frequently R13.
YNAB YNAB's method is praised for teaching users about budgeting , but the app itself is frequently described as complicated and unintuitive, especially for new users . Recent UI updates have been a major source of frustration, with users reporting more clicks are required for common actions like clearing transactions . Many feel the changes are unnecessary and make the app clunky .
Reliability & Syncing tieR6R8R12R18
Monarch Monarch faces significant criticism regarding account connection and syncing reliability. Many users report frequent disconnections, issues with specific banks (like Schwab), duplicate transactions, and the need for manual updates R6R8R12R18. Some also mention inaccurate data for holdings and returns R23 and the app being behind other budget apps .
YNAB YNAB also struggles with account syncing, with users reporting issues connecting to certain banks (Fidelity, Sam's Club Mastercard, Amex, Chase UK) and general unreliability . Some experience inaccurate balances and transactions needing multiple submissions . However, some long-term users report consistent success with the app .
Price & Value tieR3R5R10R16
Monarch Monarch is perceived as pricey by some users, but many find it 'worth every penny' for its quality and features R5R44. However, there are strong complaints about deceptive billing practices, being charged after cancelling free trials or subscriptions, and issues with managing subscriptions outside of Apple's system R3R10R16.
YNAB YNAB is frequently criticized for its high and increasing subscription cost, which many find counterintuitive for a budgeting app R78. Despite the cost, many users affirm that the app's budgeting method has saved them significantly more money than the subscription fee . There are also complaints about being automatically signed up for free trials without explicit permission R70.
Customer Support tieR4R10R23R25
Monarch Monarch's customer support receives mixed to negative reviews. Users report slow response times, unhelpful AI support, canned messages, and difficulty resolving issues like account syncing or billing disputes R4R10R23R25. There's also a lack of phone support R4.
YNAB YNAB's customer support is praised by some long-term users as 'second to none' and 'amazing' with helpful videos and support materials . However, recent reviews mention issues getting human support, with AI support being unhelpful .
Pick Monarch if

you want a comprehensive financial overview with net worth tracking, AI tools, and collaborative features, and are willing to tolerate occasional syncing issues and a learning curve for advanced features R2R11.

Pick YNAB if

you are committed to the 'zero-based budgeting' methodology, are disciplined about tracking every dollar, and are willing to invest time in learning the system, despite recent UI frustrations and a high subscription cost .

Evidence note: Both apps have a significant number of recent negative reviews, particularly regarding syncing issues and UI changes. Monarch's negative reviews often focus on billing and syncing, while YNAB's focus heavily on recent UI updates and increasing cost. The free-vs-paid asymmetry is less pronounced as both are free with IAP, but the high price point for both is a common complaint.

Frequently asked

Is Monarch better than Mint?
Yes, many users consider Monarch to be a superior replacement for Mint, offering similar functionality but with more robustness and an intuitive user interface R24R26R28R44.
Does YNAB have a free trial?
Yes, YNAB offers a free trial, but some users report being automatically signed up for it without explicit permission, leading to frustration R70.
How much does YNAB cost?
YNAB is expensive, with users frequently citing the cost as over $100 R78R108.
Does Monarch share my data?
One user reported that Monarch shares data with Facebook/Meta and requires users to disconnect it on the Facebook side if they don't want the information shared R31.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] Monarch 5/5 · US Best Financial App: Monarch has been a game changer for my family’s finances! I used to manually track expenses using excel and it got to be too much. Monarch simplifies all of those tasks and much much more. Between net worth tracking, the visual displays, and the built in AI tool you will not regret the move to Monarch!
  2. [R11] Monarch 5/5 · US The best: This helped me get our family finances in order and more importantly, collaborate with my partner on our finances. Amazing app, keep going Monarch!
  3. [R12] Monarch 3/5 · US Meh-narch: This app is ok, for budgeting but that’s about it. It’s pretty much the reincarnation of mint.com: full of double entered transactions and things that you need to recategorize multiple times before it sticks. Fine for budgeting, but not great for projections which is important to me. God, I wish Intuit hadn’t stopped making quicken.
  4. [R14] Monarch 4/5 · US I wish it didn’t auto-categorize: I’ve been using this app for 7 months and love everything except the fact that it automatically categorizes all transactions. Several transactions have been miscategorized and we don’t realize it until months later when looking back. If new transactions could be flagged or marked somehow, this app would be perfect.
  5. [R7] Monarch 2/5 · US Meh: Nice app. Just know that every time you open the app, you’ll suffer through a “dashboard” which is really just their marketing ads on trying to sell you services. Is quite annoying. Might want to find another app before you spend time setting up this one.
  6. [R9] Monarch 3/5 · US 2 Stars for the iPad App / 4.5 stars for the platform: I absolutely love the platform and experience very issues with syncing but I absolutely hate the iPad app’s unnecessarily reduced capabilities and minimal investment in improving it. Over a year ago I requested that the reporting feature from the web version be brought to the iPad, which at that time was the only major feature missing from the
  7. [R13] Monarch 1/5 · US Locks you out until you’re forced to update: Been a paid user for +2 years. Low signal? Old iOS? You’re out of luck. They will have a giant screen come up that completely locks you out of using the app and the services YOU PAY FOR until you drop everything and go update their app. You’d better hope you’re not on an older iPhone that doesn’t have the latest iOS because they’ll 100% lock you of th
  8. [R15] Monarch 3/5 · US If you’re paying off debt, NOT FOR YOU!!: I love everything else about this app. It’s got a great desktop and mobile version, account setup was easy and it’s visually pleasing and easy to navigate. My husband and I can finally both see our complete and up-to-date financial picture in a way we can both appreciate instead of me just tracking in Quicken and printing reports for him that he’ll barely
  9. [R6] Monarch 3/5 · US Good for spending tracking not for account aggregation: Pretty intuitive for tracking credit card spending across categories and budgeting. Tried using it as an account aggregator to have investment and retirement accounts included and it turned into manual updates every few days. The app can’t distinguish transactions between interest or dividends paid and reinvested. I have to fix it every month
  10. [R8] Monarch 4/5 · US Good except Schwab connection: Like everything except the connection to Schwab. Fussy, often doesn’t work and takes too much time every few days. Copilot does this much better.
  11. [R18] Monarch 3/5 · US Not quite a Mint replacement: The original mint.com app and website won users over from Intuit Quicken in part from how it elegantly handled transfer transactions between accounts, such as credit card account payments from a checking account. In Aaron Patzer’s original product, this was automatic. Monarch, otoh, has to be trained to do this, account by account, and if the transfer transactions sig
  12. [R3] Monarch 3/5 · US Paywall felt like it’s made to trick me: There are 2 options on the paywall. 1 to start trial and another to continue in app. I thought the start trial was going to open the Apple subscription flow which was very misleading when it didn’t. I don’t like to use non-apple subscriptions in apps as they are harder to manage. It was not clear that “continue in app” would open the apple subscription flow
  13. [R5] Monarch 5/5 · US Best budgeting app: I’ve been terrible at keeping up with our transactions and seeing where all our money goes. The categories and roll over ability for each month is flawless. Would definitely recommend. Yes it’s a bit pricey but worth every penny. Quality is fantastic only thing I’d recommend is an offline form to see your budget you have to be connected or have signal to view the app.
  14. [R10] Monarch 1/5 · US Missing a key feature: Unfortunately I have to update my review. I cancelled my Monarch subscription months ago when they stopped supporting access to my bank. I cancelled again when they sent me a reminder in May. They charged me anyway. I have contacted customer service but received no response. I’m left either no choice but to dispute the charge and replace my card as they clearly intend to kee
  15. [R16] Monarch 1/5 · US Es de pago: No puedes obtener prueba sin otorgar información de pago
  16. [R4] Monarch 2/5 · US No phone support, app freezing: There is no phone number for support and there’s a lot of duplicate like rent. My “July Progress” won’t load. I tried multiple times and researching online how to fix it and i can’t fix it.
  17. [R23] Monarch 1/5 · US Inaccurate Info: Incorrectly showed holdings and returns (showed losses on strong increase days). Support was very slow to respond and not helpful at all. Cancelled after 6 months for a refund. Look elsewhere and save the headache.
  18. [R25] Monarch 1/5 · US Unable to keep accounts synced: I really want to give five stars but can't because they cannot keep accounts synced. When you contact help they ask you to resign in which works 1/4 of the time and the others support responds back with canned messages like are you sure you own the account?? Mean while their sync status page will show issues with the major providers. You can do better.
  19. [R24] Monarch 5/5 · US Look no further: I used to like Mint. Everything else I’ve tried since never satisfied me. There was always things missing or clunky. Until Monarch. It’s literally perfect. I’ve never had a moment where I thought “man it does not do that?” Nope. It does it all and does it in an easy to use and intuitive user interface. Well done. Non reason to look at any other option.
  20. [R26] Monarch 5/5 · US Mint but better: Just like the mint I used to love
  21. [R28] Monarch 5/5 · US Best financial consolidation app you will find: I was lost after mint closed down until I found Monarch. They are the first and last app I check every single day. If you were serious about your money, you cannot do any better than Monarch for personal wealth management.
  22. [R44] Monarch 5/5 · US Best personal finance app: Love this app. Been using it ever since Mint was wound down. Its affordable and at the same time more robust than Mint ever was. Highly recommend.
  23. [R70] YNAB 1/5 · US Disappointed: As soon as I created an account, it automatically signed me up for a free trial WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. Now I have to spend time figuring out how much they charge afterwards how to cancel it. I didn’t even have a chance to see if I like the app and what it has to offer. They literally TRAPPED me into this free trial. They not how a good financial app has to work.
  24. [R78] YNAB 3/5 · US What is happening here?!: I’ve been a user since the YNAB 4 days and have struggled to watch the cost of the app tick higher and higher. It’s hard to recommend the app to folks I know who could really benefit from it because it’s so garsh darned expensive. There have been UI changes - some that I’ve loved, some that are just fine - but whatever recent one made entering transactions so hinder som
  25. [R108] YNAB 1/5 · US Over 100 bucks: Wouldn’t buy unless you are ready to spend over 100 bucks to use… kind of counter intuitive to my goal downloading this app
  26. [R31] Monarch 2/5 · US Privacy and policy: FYI they share your data with Facebook/Meta. You must go through the dark UX patterns of disconnecting it on the Facebook side if you don’t want that information automatically shared. I would appreciate better policy off the bat.

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store