The best Empower alternative in 2026, for budgeting, not net worth
Empower is still the best free net worth and investment dashboard, full stop. People search for an alternative because its budgeting is an afterthought and the advisor calls get old. The right pick depends on which of those pushed you here.
We are not going to pretend Empower is bad. The retirement planner alone embarrasses most paid apps, and it costs nothing. But spend a week trying to budget with it and you notice what it actually is: a rearview mirror for wealthy people.
Budgeting in Empower is transaction categories and a monthly spending number. No envelopes, no per-category plans worth the name, and nothing that reacts when you overshoot. And because the dashboard is free as a funnel for wealth management, linking real balances tends to summon a very friendly phone call.
So the question is not “what replaces Empower” but “what do you actually want it to do.” Four honest answers below.
If you want a real budgeting system
YNAB
YNAB is the anti-Empower: it ignores your portfolio and makes you assign every incoming dollar a job before you spend it. The method changes behavior if you keep up with it, and at $109 a year it should. Expect fifteen minutes of upkeep a week, not zero.
Monarch Money
Monarch is the closest thing to Empower with actual budgeting bolted on: net worth, goals, shared access for a partner, and real category budgets. About $14.99 a month, and nobody calls you about advisory services. It is the natural upgrade if you want one app for the whole picture.
If you want simple and cheap
Quicken Simplifi
Simplifi is the easiest setup in the category, and at roughly $3 to $6 a month billed annually it is one of the cheapest paid trackers. Its spending plan quietly adapts to your bills and income, which is the day-to-day budgeting Empower never bothered with. We put it head to head with Hinder in Quicken Simplifi vs Hinder.
If you want free
Goodbudget
Goodbudget gives you envelope budgeting with a real free plan. You enter purchases by hand on the free tier, which is oddly effective, and Premium with bank sync is $10 a month. If you landed on Empower back when Mint died and never loved it, the full map is in our guide to Mint alternatives.
If Empower keeps reporting spending you want stopped
Here is the gap no tracker fills. Empower can show you, in a beautiful chart, that you overshot dining out again. It cannot do anything about it, and neither can any app above, because they all stop at reporting.
Hinder starts where the report ends. Connect your bank through Plaid, set monthly limits per category and per app, and at 100% the apps lock through iOS Screen Time. You get a warning at 80%, and past the line the app simply does not open until you raise your own limit.
One honest caveat: Hinder deliberately does no net worth, no investments, no retirement math. So for pure wealth tracking, keep Empower. Run both and each app does the one thing the other refuses to do. Hinder is free to try, iPhone only.
The alternatives at a glance
| App | Pick it if | Price | Blocks spend |
|---|---|---|---|
 Hinder | You want the overspending stopped, not charted | Free to try | Yes |
| YNAB | You want the deepest budgeting system | $109/yr | No |
| Monarch | You want Empower's picture plus real budgets | $14.99/mo | No |
| Quicken Simplifi | You want easy and cheap | $3-6/mo, annual | No |
| Goodbudget | You want free envelopes | Free tier; $10/mo | No |
Hinder- Pick it if
- You want the overspending stopped, not charted
- Price
- Free to try
YNAB- Pick it if
- You want the deepest budgeting system
- Price
- $109/yr
Monarch- Pick it if
- You want Empower's picture plus real budgets
- Price
- $14.99/mo
Quicken Simplifi- Pick it if
- You want easy and cheap
- Price
- $3-6/mo, annual
Goodbudget- Pick it if
- You want free envelopes
- Price
- Free tier; $10/mo
Common questions
Is Empower good for budgeting?
Not really. Empower Personal Dashboard gives you transaction categories and a monthly spending total, which is closer to a report card than a budget. It is excellent for net worth and investments, but day-to-day spending control is not what it was built for.
Is Empower Personal Dashboard still free in 2026?
Yes, the dashboard is free. It is free because it feeds Empower's wealth management business, so once you link meaningful balances, expect a call about advisory services. The tools themselves cost nothing.
What is the best Empower alternative for budgeting?
YNAB if you want the deepest system, Monarch for a whole-household dashboard, Quicken Simplifi for the easiest cheap option, and Goodbudget for free envelopes. If your real problem is overspending Empower keeps reporting, Hinder blocks the spending apps at your limit.
Should I replace Empower or keep it?
Keep it if you like the net worth and retirement tools, because nothing free beats them. Most people do not need an Empower replacement, they need a budgeting app next to it. Hinder pairs well since it handles the one thing Empower does not touch: stopping a purchase.
Does any Empower alternative actually block spending?
Hinder does. It connects to your bank through Plaid, and when you hit 100% of a category or per-app budget it locks those apps with iOS Screen Time until you raise the limit. Every other app on this list only tracks and reports.