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Ask HN: Alternative to Mint.com?

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Re: Ask HN: Alternative to Mint.com?

#41

Post by Larrikin »

Jtsummers wrote: post #6

YNAB isn't too expensive though I don't like that they went to an annual subscription. It does sync with most accounts (I don't use that feature but it seems to work well for others, pretty sure the same syncing backend as Mint and others use). GnuCash can sync with some banks but I only had luck with one of mine, and never tried with other account types like investment and retirement accounts. If you're willing to d…

I'm a massive advocate for YNAB and it has improved my financial life so much. Definitely worth the subscription.

But if it didn't have the syncing feature, it would easily be one of the first subscriptions I would eliminate. Instead of being a chore I do once or twice a month, I instead check in on all my accounts for a couple minutes every morning and know exactly where my finances stand. It allows me to have multiple credit cards and bank accounts for various different situations and not have to worry. Budgeting only money in my accounts is such a better system than trying to guess how much money I think I might have later.

Accounts that do not work with it usually actually aren't worth using. My Apple card is a massive manual pain with YNAB, but with my other cards it is only ever worth using for interest free and 3% back on Apple purchases, which aren't that often.

Re: Ask HN: Alternative to Mint.com?

#44

Post by ryandrake »

Not free, but I use old-school desktop Quicken and have never really had any trouble with it. The huge down side is they've gone to subscription pricing which is horrible. I have not migrated away only because I haven't found an acceptable alternative.

So my recommendation is a product that I hate. That's the current state of this category of software.

Re: Ask HN: Alternative to Mint.com?

#45

Post by swarthy_avenger »

bryceneal wrote: post #30

I've been really enjoying Monarch money. It's not free, but they offer an introductory discount for Mint users. I'm not a power user. I used Mint mostly for a window into the current state of my accounts, and to check recent transactions. I find the Monarch UI to be snappier and less laggy than Mint, which makes sense given it seems like Mint was not a very well-funded project at Intuit. I've toyed around a bit with…

I tried Monarch for awhile, and I really wanted to like it. Like you said, the UI is much better, and the team does seem to be working very hard to improve it.

Unfortunately the importers were just terrible compared to Mint's. I had to re-login to each account on Monarch every time I used it, and I would get constant spam SMS notifications from my bank as their importers would run in the background - often throughout the night.

I know that Monarch uses 3rd party importers, so its technically "out of their control" - but it is a key aspect to the usability of their product.

I also understand that there are security trade offs here - in terms of 2FA, but ultimately on the user side here - I need something that is usable, and "just works". Especially if I am going to pay a premium for it.

Re: Ask HN: Alternative to Mint.com?

#46

Post by Larrikin »

kingnothing wrote: post #26
qrush wrote: post #5

YNAB has turned my financial life around. I wish I had started using it 10 years ago. They also have built an importer from Mint. Some highlights I love: * One window to every account I have, which mostly automatically updates/syncs * Envelope budgeting has forced me to look at every penny and figure out what it's for * API to work with other tools (for me, Splitwise - https://github.com/vascopinho/split2ynab/ ) And…

For anyone reading the parent comment, you should avoid YNAB if you use an American Express card. YNAB uses Plaid and the overall integration from YNAB through to Amex and back does not work.

I don't have AmEx, but I do have Discover which also had some issues a while back. I believe they don't exclusively use Plaid anymore. When my discover card wasn't working for a few months they rolled out a switch to use alternative verification and then Discover just worked. This was over a year ago. YNAB realizes that the account syncing is what makes the system work.

Re: Ask HN: Alternative to Mint.com?

#47

Post by sph »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #20
Jtsummers wrote: post #6

YNAB isn't too expensive though I don't like that they went to an annual subscription. It does sync with most accounts (I don't use that feature but it seems to work well for others, pretty sure the same syncing backend as Mint and others use). GnuCash can sync with some banks but I only had luck with one of mine, and never tried with other account types like investment and retirement accounts. If you're willing to d…

I can't process how $100/yr for a static accounting program isn't severely overpriced. Do banks and credit cards charge for API requests? Is the compute necessary to balance your books require leasing A100s to crunch your numbers? A terabyte of rack space to store my transactions? Before the MBA enshitification of software, you would buy an accounting program for $60 and use it for years. And it would work great beca…

The idea of YNAB (I'm a paying user) is that learning to budget your money effectively with their app and methodology pays for itself tenfold.

Think about it: if you are from the Western world, how many $10 do you waste each month? I spent $20 for pizza yesterday. How much money would you save if you could budget effectively (and get yearly discounts to all your subscriptions instead of paying monthly, for example?) How much is it worth it to you to get out of debt and increase your net worth by avoiding surprise bills?

I gladly pay the $100/yr to deal with my finances, especially now that I'm broke and with negative income.

Re: Ask HN: Alternative to Mint.com?

#49

Post by hyperliner »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #20
Jtsummers wrote: post #6

YNAB isn't too expensive though I don't like that they went to an annual subscription. It does sync with most accounts (I don't use that feature but it seems to work well for others, pretty sure the same syncing backend as Mint and others use). GnuCash can sync with some banks but I only had luck with one of mine, and never tried with other account types like investment and retirement accounts. If you're willing to d…

I can't process how $100/yr for a static accounting program isn't severely overpriced. Do banks and credit cards charge for API requests? Is the compute necessary to balance your books require leasing A100s to crunch your numbers? A terabyte of rack space to store my transactions? Before the MBA enshitification of software, you would buy an accounting program for $60 and use it for years. And it would work great beca…

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: Alternative to Mint.com?

#50

Post by burkaman »

jabroni_salad wrote: post #23

If you just want to review your spending categories across all your accounts and don't need all the fancy planning features with more involved programs, I have been liking Fidelity Fullview. It's free and lets me keep tabs on things which is all I really used mint for as well. Fullview also is one of the few services not married to Plaid, if that's a factor for you.

Thanks for mentioning this, I already have a Fidelity account but didn't realize they had this feature.
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