7 Best Quicken Alternatives for 2026 (Free & Paid)

Quicken was once the go-to budgeting tool. I used it when it was first released in the 1980s. Today, it’s been eclipsed by apps that enable you to manage every aspect of your finances, often for free. I’ve tested dozens of apps, and here are the best Quicken alternatives in 2026.

My Top Picks

Of all the options out there to replace Quicken (now called Quicken Classic), three stand out among the rest:

1. Monarch Money: I’ve used Monarch Money for about two years and think it’s an excellent budgeting app and option for Quicken users. It tracks budgets and spending, keeps track of recurring expenses like subscriptions, makes creating budget category rules a snap, and has an excellent user interface in both a browser and smartphone. And Monarch recently introduced Flex Budgeting, which tracks those expenses that go up and down from one month to the next.

You can also track your investments, monitor your cash flow, and get personalized advice.

• New AI Assistant: Ask AI about your budget, transactions and other data inside Monarch.
• New Receipt Scanner: Scan or upload receipts and Monarch automatically matches it to the transaction, extracts line items, and recategorizes expenses.
• New Bill Split: Snap a photo of a group bill and divvy it up quickly and easily.

2. Quicken Simplifi: I’ve used and tested Quicken Simplifi since 2021, and what stands out most is how well it balances affordability and functionality. Quicken Simplifi makes it easy to build a spending plan (its term for a budget) and track your expenses automatically. It categorizes transactions as they come in—though you can easily adjust them or create your own rules for more control. Beyond budgeting, Quicken Simplifi helps you monitor your investments, subscriptions, and even monthly bills, all in one place.

If you want to get Quicken Classic data into Simplifi, you’ll need to download your Quicken data to a CSV file. From there you’ll format it according to Simplifi’s requirements, and then upload it into Simplifi.

3. Empower: I’ve used the Empower Personal Dashboard for more than a decade. Formerly called Personal Capital, it offers the most robust budgeting, cash flow, investment tracking, and financial tools of any app out there. It also includes excellent iOS and Android apps. In fact, I use it more on my iPad than I do on the website. It has over 3.3 million users, and it’s free.

7 Quicken Alternatives

Monarch Money

Monarch Money is the highest rated budgeting app on this page with an Apple App Store rating of 4.9 with more than 44,000 ratings. It’s earned this rating for good reason. It’s easy to use, has an excellent mobile app, and offers a wide range of features.

You can connect all your accounts, including bank, credit card, investment and loan accounts. Once connected, Monarch syncs your accounts to download transactions and balances. It automatically categorizes your spending, which you can easily change if needed. You can also create spending rules to categorize future transactions. The app lets you see all your transactions in one place, set financial goals, and customize your dashboard.

Monarch is ideal for couples because of its collaboration features. Invite someone to your Monarch account with a separate login. They can view your data and connect their own accounts. This feature is particularly useful for couples who keep separate accounts but want to understand their combined financial picture.

Like Quicken Classic, you can also track all of your retirement and other investment accounts:

Try Monarch Money for free for 7 days, then get 50% OFF Monarch Money Core Plan your first year with code ROB50.

Read our Monarch Money Review

Simplifi

Simplifi is the budgeting app solution offered by Quicken. It was built from the ground up to be a mobile-first budgeting app. In fact, originally it was only available on mobile, although now it is available as a web app. I’ve used Simplifi extensively and found its features and user interface to be excellent.

It offers a rich feature set. Users connect their accounts for automatic download and categorization of transactions. You can easily track spending, set goals, and monitor your upcoming bills. Its reports look great and give you the budgeting details you need to make spending decisions. 

NEW: Simplifi recently added investment tracking, making it a more complete Quicken replacement. That being said, I much prefer Empower for tracking investments.

Simplifi costs $6.99 a month, but for a limited time they are running a 50% discount, bringing the price down to $3.49.

Read our Quicken Simplifi review

Origin

Origin is a app designed to cover every aspect of your finances. In this regard, it’s similar to Quicken Classic Premier, except its a web-based and offers both Apple and Android apps. In addition, it integrates AI throughout.

Limited Time Offer: Get Origin for one year for just $1. Click here for details.

For example, you can create a budget manually like most apps, or you can let AI create a budget for you. AI will also create plans to save for an emergency, get out of debt, or plan your retirement. Origin can track your budget, spending, goals and your investment portfolio. In addition, Origin offers tax preparation and a basic will for no extra fees. They offer more complicated wills and even trusts for a small fee.

Origin will invest your money for you with its robo-advisor offer and it comes with a high-yield savings account paying 4.52% APY as of Augusut 26, 2025.

Try Origin for free for 7 days, then $12.99/month or $99/year.

Read our Origin review

Empower

Empower is an ideal alternative, particularly if you have investments you want to track. It’s free, and it offers tools to manage every aspect of your finances. With Empower, you can link just about every financial account you have–checking, savings, credit cards, retirement accounts, investments accounts, HSAs, and even your home (via Zillow).

Once linked, Empower’s financial dashboard offers valuable insights into your finances. As an example, the tool enables you to–

• Track your spending by category
• Estimate when you can retire
• Calculate the cost of your investments
• View the asset allocation of your portfolio
• Generate a net worth statement
• Get alerts when bills are due
• Evaluate your investment portfolio
• Save for emergencies
• Track Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and thousands of other tokens without giving access to your crypto wallet.

I’ve used Empower for years. It’s the only option that in my opinion can handle every aspect of my finances, from budgeting to investing to retirement planning.

I’ve written a detailed review and guide of Empower that you can check out.

You Need a Budget (YNAB)

YNAB is ideal for those looking just for a budgeting tool. In my view, there is no better app for creating a zero-based budget. YNAB’s interface is similar to a spreadsheet. The tool makes it easy to budget by category based on the money you have in the bank.

One of YNAB’s core principles is to give every dollar a job. You do that by deciding how you’ll spend every dollar in your checking account. As with other tools, you can connect your bank accounts and credit cards to YNAB. This allows for real-time updates so that you can track your spending throughout the month.

YNAB doesn’t have the rich feature set offered by Simplifi or Monarch Money. That’s particularly clear when it comes to investing. For those who don’t want to track investments, however, YNAB is a good option.

So what’s the downside to YNAB? Well, there are two actually. First, it’s one of the most expensive budget apps on the market. It costs $14.99 a month or $109 a year. Second, while many love its budgeting features, that’s about all you get. YNAB hasn’t kept up with the other apps that offer investment tracking, automated net worth tracking, AI integration and a host of other features.

WalletHub

WalletHub started as a free credit score app and grew into a full money manager. It does budgeting, spending tracking, net worth, and investment tracking, so it covers a lot of the same ground as Quicken, with credit monitoring layered on top. That mix is what makes it worth a look here.

One stand-out feature is the free credit side. You get a credit score that refreshes daily and a full TransUnion report, which most budgeting apps don’t touch. Pair that with the spending tracker and you manage your money and your credit in one place.

There is a free version, but like most of these apps, automatic account syncing is a paid feature. WalletHub Premium runs $7.99 a month billed annually ($95.90 a year), or $16 a month month-to-month, and adds bank syncing, automatic transaction importing, and $1 million in identity theft insurance. Premium+ is $10.50 a month billed annually ($125.99 a year), or $21 a month, and layers on bank-account-takeover and criminal-activity monitoring. On the free plan you enter transactions by hand.

Top Quicken Alternatives

Quicken Alternative	Best For	Free Trial (Cost)	Learn More
Monarch money	Budgeting	7-day free trial, Get 50% OFF Monarch Money Core Plan your first year with code ROB50	Visit Monarch
Quicken Simplifi	Mobile Budgeting & Bill Tracking	$3.49/mo. first year billed annually, then $6.99/mo. 30-day money back guarantee	Visit Simplifi
Origin	AI-Powered Financial Planning	7-day free trial; $1 first year, then $99/yr	Visit Origin
Rocket Money	Budgeting	Free version; Premium offers 7-day free trial ($7-$14/mo)	Visit Rocket Money
Empower	Investment & Net Worth Tracking	Free	Visit Empower
YNAB	Envelope Budgeting	34-day free trial ($9.08 to $14.99/mo)	Visit YNAB
WalletHub	Multiple Methods	Free, Premium & Premium+ ($7.99 – $21/mo)	Visit WalletHub

Quicken Alternatives FAQs

Whatever tool you choose, the key is to pick one that works for you. For me, that’s Monarch Money. One or more of the above Quicken alternatives, however, should suit the needs of most looking to better manage their money.