Mint vs Penny: 2026 Comparison for Former Mint Users

Intuit shut Mint down in January 2024 and pushed users to Credit Karma, which doesn't have real budgeting. If you're still looking for a permanent replacement, this post compares Mint (as it was) to Penny: what Penny does, what it doesn't, and the math on its $199 lifetime plan versus a $99/year alternative.

Short version: Penny is not a 1:1 Mint clone. If your only need was automatic transaction import and a free tool supported by ads, Penny won't replace Mint. If you want a lifetime-priced app with simple manual tracking plus AI-driven insights, Penny is worth a look.

TL;DR

Pricing

Mint was free, funded by ads and lead-gen placements. That model is why Intuit could afford to kill it when the economics stopped working.

Penny is paid:

Three-year total cost versus a typical subscription alternative

Break-even is year 3. After that, every year Penny is free and the subscription keeps compounding.

Feature-by-feature

Penny loses on the features Mint was famous for (auto-sync, bills, credit score). Penny wins on pricing structure, AI insights, and no-ads.

Who should pick Mint

Mint is gone. There is no current Mint to pick. If you were waiting for it to come back, it is not coming back. Intuit's forward product for this audience is Credit Karma, which does not include Mint's budgeting tools.

If auto-import of bank transactions is non-negotiable, your real options today are Rocket Money (free with upsells), Copilot ($95/year, iOS-only), or Monarch ($99/year). Comparisons to each of those are coming in follow-up posts.

Who should pick Penny

Pick Penny if at least three of these are true for you:

• You want to own your budget app, not rent it
• You are comfortable entering transactions manually (2–3 minutes a day)
• You like the idea of monthly AI reports that describe your spending personality
• You are on iOS
• You want a small, solo-built product rather than a venture-backed one that might shut down when priorities shift

Penny does less than Mint did. That is by design. The 7-column expense view fits on one screen and there is no envelope-budgeting methodology to learn.

Switching from Mint (or the Mint-to-Credit-Karma migration)

If you exported data from Mint before the shutdown:

1. Export your Mint transactions to CSV (the Intuit export tool was available through early 2024).
2. Download Penny from the App Store and sign up for the free trial.
3. Use the web dashboard at pennybudget.app to bulk-add historical transactions. Category mapping is manual.
4. From then on, log new transactions on iOS in the 7-column view as you make them.
5. Export to CSV any time for backup. Your data is yours.

You lose: historical auto-sync, investment snapshots, credit score, bill reminders. You gain: a single-payment tool, AI insights, no ads.

FAQ

Does Penny import my bank transactions automatically? Not as of April 2026. Entry is manual today. If auto-import is a hard requirement, Penny is not the right tool right now.

Is Penny going to shut down like Mint did? Penny is built by a solo founder with no VC overhead, and the lifetime plan means revenue is upfront rather than subscription-dependent. CSV export is free forever, so your data is portable regardless.

Why $199 lifetime instead of a cheaper annual plan? Lifetime pricing removes the incentive to raise prices or push upsells every year. The math works at year 3 versus a $99/year competitor and every year after is free.

Can I use Penny on Android? Not yet. iOS only as of April 2026.

Does Penny sell my data like some free apps do? No. No ads, no data sales, no lead-gen placements. Those were Mint's revenue model, not Penny's.

Ready to try it?

Start with the 14-day free trial, no card required. If you prefer to skip subscriptions entirely, the $199 lifetime plan is available at pennybudget.app.

Try Penny free for 14 days