Currently, over 15 million people all over the world use Mint.com as their personal finance application. While Mint may not be the most functional app in the industry, it works.
With it, a person can specify their financial goals, create a budget, and add their financial accounts. On top of that, by looking at Mint’s dashboard, a person can get a good grasp of what his finances look like in a few seconds.
Their dashboards are one of their strongest features and can be understood by just about anybody.
Simply put, Mint is a free Quicken alternative known for its user-friendly graphics and interface which makes managing your personal finances not only easy but fun.
In this, one of many Mint.com reviews, we will check out Mint’s features and we will compare it with nine different competitors. Due to a lot of questions about the subject, we will tell you how to delete a Mint account as well.
Mint specifications
Cost. Mint is completely free
Mobile. It is compatible with both Google Android and Apple iOS.
Synching. Mint.com has scored fairly low in the synchronization aspect. Often, users have had problems with possible issues that happen when syncing with the bank.
This has been known to take some time to get resolved. In some cases, some accounts added to the program fail to show in the accounts area for modifications.
By extension, the problem seems to affect reconciliations. Your monthly bank statements are not in sync. It is utterly an assumption by Mint.com that all data downloaded is correct.
The system lacks the ability to import data from other personal finance applications into your Mint.com account. This lack of history beyond Mint.com is a huge challenge for many users.
Bill Pay. Available
Investment Monitoring. The investing section is fine but lacks key investing features. For a good investment monitoring, personal capital is a good alternative. It has better tools than Mint.com.
Mint Free Credit Score. Available (to check it out, you have to click “Show Details” and you will be able to see your credit score, and age of credit accounts among other related data.
Also, you can get your Mint free credit score for free and you don’t need to give up any credit card info to get the Mint free credit score. Credit scores range from 300 to 850 and according to their site, the Mint free credit score of the average Mint user is 720.
Goal Tracking. You can set up your financial goals with Mint and track your achievements.
Alerts. You can enable alerts that will be sent to your smartphone or via e-mail. You can enable alerts in any of these scenarios:
- Reminder of a bill
- When a category has reached its spending limits
- Late fees
- Big purchases
- Any time a rate changes
Is Mint Safe?
Safety is one of the main concerns when it comes to personal finance apps like Mint. While complete safety cannot be guaranteed by virtually any app nowadays, Mint has included a two-step security process that enhances security.
A user will have to input his password and then validate your PC by entering a random code on Mint’s website which will be sent to either his e-mail or smartphone via a SMS. Nevertheless, many people are still doubtful of leaving their financial information to a third party such as Mint.
For this reason, Mint hasn’t acquired as many users as it could have if security wasn’t an issue in this area.
Mint Competitors
In this section, we will compare Mint with nine different competitors so you can have a broader look at personal finance apps before choosing any specific one.
Have in mind that most of the Mint alternatives mentioned below are budgeting apps but some include additional features you may be looking for.
Personal Capital vs Mint
The first of the Mint alternatives we will check out is Personal Capital. The main difference between Mint and Personal Capital is the task they were primarily designed for.
Personal Capital’s main goal is to allow the user to track his net worth, investments, and monthly cash-flow. On the other hand, Mint is more of a budgeting tool.
They both have similarities such as the two-step authentication process, alerts sent via e-mail when spending has reached its limits, account linking, and cash-flow monitoring.
One of the strengths of Personal Capital is that it has a retirement planner tool and has great customer service. Mint has very poor customer service (in the form of forums and slow e-mail answers) and you will have ads popping out in the interface.
For the person looking only for a budgeting option, Mint is a good choice. However, if you need more tools related to wealth-building, Personal Capital is better in this aspect. Both of them are free.
YNAB vs Mint
In terms of budgeting, You Need a Budget and Mint are probably the two most popular choices in the market. Our personal favorite by far is YNAB. In this YNAB vs Mint comparison, we will be checking their features and explaining our opinion on why YNAB kills Mint.
Mint is a free service while YNAB costs either $5 per month or $50 per year. If that is enough to deter you then Mint is the winner. Mint is designed for those people who need to budget but don’t want to be so down-to-the-dollar about their budgeting.
On the other hand, YNAB, has a more strict approach by helping you see if there were dollars you wasted needlessly. Mint categorizes purchases automatically. With YNAB, you can import them manually (as well as automatically) each day. We think this is an incredibly important feature.
Many Mint users express frustration that Ming automatically categorizes purchases, and typically does it wrong. Mint claims to have a learning algorithm built-in, but it doesn’t do a great job in our opinion.
In terms of goal setting, Mint takes the lead (broken clocks are right twice a day right?). It has options to help you save for a home, car, emergency fund, etc. Additionally, it offers a monthly plan to pay off your credit card balance. YNAB is one of main Mint competitors, yet is less intuitive in this regard. I
t offers three goal-setting options. These are “target category balance” (for a specific goal), “target category balance by date” (for a specific goal with a deadline), and “monthly funding goal” (for savings).
Similarities between the two include compatibility with iOS and Android, plus pretty much any device. You can connect your bank, investment, and credit card accounts with both.
In conclusion, if you want or need to be very meticulous about your budget, YNAB should be chosen. If not, Mint will do the trick – barely. YNAB is one of those Mint alternatives that offers similar features to those offered by Mint, but offers much more control to those that care.
CountAbout vs Mint
CountAbout gives you a current summary of your financial status just as Mint does. On the downside, CountAbout doesn’t offer bill payment nor investment monitoring. It costs $9.99 annually for the basic program and $39.99 annually for the premium one.
The difference between the basic and the premium plan is that the latter allows you to automatically download your financial transactions.
CountAbout is more secure than Mint as well. This is because it not only uses a two-step verification process for you to log in but it also uses Yoodle, a third party, to connect users to banks and other financial institutions.
That being said, no significant information is stored in CountAbout since only your e-mail will be saved in the app to identify you.
The advantages that CountAbout has over Mint are that it’s more secure and that no ads are displayed. The cons are that you have to pay for it, and that features such as bill payment and investment monitoring (which you can use in Mint) aren’t available in CountAbout.
As one of the many Mint competitors, CountAbout isn’t very appealing.
Learnvest vs Mint
Learnvest is one of those Mint alternatives that is very similar to Mint in its free version. Both of them display a dashboard with your financial information so you know your financial health and where your money is going.
You also have the possibility of entering your financial accounts as well as have access to impressive goal setting tools with any of them.
Unfortunately, Learnvest isn’t available for Android. The paid version of Learnvest is either $19 monthly or a one-time fee of $299.
This version gives you access to a financial planner, which is something Mint and most competitors do not offer. However, unlike Mint, Learnvest doesn’t have an investment monitoring feature.
You can decide to use any of them in their free version since there is no cost involved. We can’t say that Mint is overwhelmingly superior to Learnvest.
However, you may wish to try Learnvest’s financial planner for $19 a month if that is a tool you need and value.
Quicken vs Mint
The Quicken vs Mint review is probably one of the most searched for reviews given the good reputation both of these companies have in the personal finance app industry.
One of the advantages of Mint being a free Quicken alternative is that you can use it both in your smartphone and desktop devices. For budgeting purposes, this provides pretty much any tool the average user will ever need.
The advantages of Quicken are that it saves historical data so you can monitor not only your present and future budget but also take a look at your past budgeting habits.
You can customize charts and graphs more easily with Quicken than with Mint. Also, you can add accounts manually so loans at small banks can be easily introduced. However, you can only access your data from your desktop. The good thing is that since it is saved on your computer, it isn’t in the hands of a third party.
In the Quicken vs Mint comparison, there is not a clear winner since they offer very different features that you may or may not need. However, with the info given above you should be able to decide between any one of them.
Quicken at its core is built for tax purposes. It is to help small business owners keep track of everything and simplify tax season. Mint is for individuals that are looking to get a good idea of their budget and live within their means.
Banktivity vs Mint
The sixth of the Mint competitors we will be checking out is Banktivity. Banktivity is an exclusive product for Apple devices. Banktivity has the same functions as Mint but it comes with a price tag of $59.99.
Banktivity also has slightly better investing tools than Mint. It allows for tracking options and bonds as well as showing stock quotes and making currency conversion.
Since this app has been updated and it’s now called Banktivity 5 and it is made precisely for iOS devices, it is something worth trying, especially if you value an app with more investment features.
Moneydance vs Mint
Moneydance is one of the most versatile Mint competitors out there since it can be used not only in Mac and Windows operative systems but also in the Linux.
Although it costs $50, it can be tried for free in its limited version. Moneydance has the same features as those of Mint including bill payment, investment monitoring, and online synchronization. Moneydance is known to be a Quicken alternative for Mac users.
PowerWallet vs Mint
PowerWallet is one of the most recent Mint alternatives that have been launched in the market. PowerWallet is a good alternative since it is simple to use and has the same features as that of Mint.
Also, the app is free and it will analyze your budgeting habits to give you printable coupons that will allow you to save money in your expenses.
Although PowerWallet is nowhere near as big as Mint, nor as famous, it is worth keeping an eye on as the software is making great innovative strides that Mint is starting to fall behind on.
Yodlee MoneyCenter vs Mint
The last of the Mint alternatives we will be looking at is Yodlee MoneyCenter. Yodlee has clear advantages over Mint including account sharing and reliability.
On the downside, its interface is not very attractive and the investing section is poorer than that found in Mint. Both are free, although the mobile version of Yodlee MoneyCenter costs $3.99.
Yodlee MoneyCenter is one of those Mint alternatives that is worth trying if you are still not sure about using Mint.
How to Delete Mint Account
- Click on “Settings” which is located at the top of the site
- Click on “Sign in and Security”
- Go to the bottom of the page and click on “Delete Your Mint Account”
- Click on “Yes, delete my Mint account”
- Type your password
- Then, click on “Finish”
In case you are wondering why this Mint review includes this information, we receive daily questions on how to delete your Mint account. Many people are turning to Mint alternatives, and that may be a good idea for anyone looking for a more customized experience.
After you have followed these steps, there will appear a box saying that your Mint account was deleted and you will receive an e-mail with the same information. Click “OK”.
Within two or three days, all of your information and the account itself will cease to exist.
If you haven’t added any bank accounts, then at the bottom of the main page, you should click on “Delete Your Mint Account” and you will be finished.
