Allocate vs. Monarch (2026) — the Mint successor vs. a plan for lumpy pay

	Allocate	Monarch
Price	$25/mo, or $20/mo paid yearly	$14.99/mo or $99.99/yr (Core); Plus $199/yr
Free tier	No	7-day trial
Platforms	Web, iPhone	Web, iOS, Android (Plus features web-only)
Bank sync	Plaid, included	Plaid, Finicity and MX, included
Approach	Planning in plain language: say what you want, it proposes the plan, you approve	Monthly cash-flow budgeting (flex or category)
Variable pay, bonuses, RSUs	Yes: a bonus, a commission or a vest goes in the plan as expected income and funds the goals it should	Tracks RSU/option grants and vests for net worth; forecasting doesn’t model equity yet; bonuses categorized as income
Works before a bank is linked	Yes	Manual accounts, yes
Cash-flow forecast	Month by month, each goal measured against what comes in	Historical cash flow in Core; long-horizon Forecasting in Plus (web only)
Goal planning	Yes, with a written plan (My plan) you can read	Yes
Investment tracking	Balances and holdings	Yes; Morningstar fund analysis in Plus
Net worth	Yes	Yes
Bills & subscriptions	Detected from your accounts; no negotiation	Recurring tracking; no negotiation
AI assistant	Allo-Bot: 100 messages/mo included, packs from $5	AI Assistant, answers questions
AI can change your plan (with approval)	Yes	No
Shared / household	No	Included
Moves your money	No	No

What Monarch is

Monarch (formerly Monarch Money) is a personal-finance tracker built to replace Mint: all accounts in one place, flexible or category budgets, goals, net worth, investment holdings, and a household on a single subscription. In 2026 it added an AI assistant that answers questions about your data, equity tracking for RSU and option grants, and a $199-a-year Plus tier with long-horizon forecasting and Morningstar fund analysis (web only). Core is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year with a 7-day trial. It raised a $75M Series B in 2025 and runs on web, iOS and Android.

What Allocate is

Allocate is a personal-finance app built so you can plan in plain language. You link your accounts (Plaid), then you talk: “can I afford a $600 flight in November?”, “move the house goal out a year”, “what happens if I put $400 more into the 401(k)?” Allo-Bot answers from your real numbers and, when something should change, stages the change for you to approve. It never moves money.

Around the conversation are three things we haven’t seen elsewhere. My plan is a written plan — your goals, in order, with what each takes a month and when it lands — that reads like a document, not a dashboard. Workspace is a board you build from your own data: pin a card for any number, a note beside it, a sheet with live cells, and ask the guide to break a figure down onto the board. And a morning brief tells you what moved and what needs a yes, so you don’t have to go looking. Pay that comes in pieces — a bonus, a commission, a vest — is handled as income in the plan, not a surprise deposit.

The point of all of it is that a plan should be liquid. A raise, a move, a baby, a job change, a bad month: you say what changed, and the plan moves — goals re-dated, amounts re-sized, the brief the next morning telling you where things stand. It’s not a budget to keep up; it’s a plan that keeps up with you. One price, US only, web and iPhone.

Where Monarch is better

Breadth. Monarch tracks more kinds of things — manual holdings, fund analysis, business expenses, receipts — and does it well.
Households. Partners share one plan with mine/theirs/ours views, included in the price. Allocate is single-user.
Android. Monarch runs everywhere; Allocate is web and iPhone.
Price. $99.99 a year for Core against Allocate’s $240, though Plus takes it to $199.
Long-horizon forecasting. Plus projects to age 90 with life events and side-by-side scenarios. Allocate’s plan is about the next months and years, not retirement modeling.
Choice of sync provider. If Plaid struggles with your bank, Monarch lets you switch to Finicity or MX.

Where Allocate is better

An assistant that does something. Monarch’s AI answers questions and, by its own description, takes no actions. Allo-Bot answers and then stages the change — a goal resized, a contribution moved, a bill added — for you to approve. “Can I afford the Tahoe trip?” gets a number and, if the answer is “not without moving something,” the move.
Built to change. Monarch’s forecast is a scenario you set up on the web. Allocate’s plan moves when your life does: “I got a raise, put half of it toward the house” re-sizes the goals and the next brief tells you where things stand.
My plan. Monarch has goals on a screen. Allocate has a written plan: goals in order, what each takes, when it lands, what changed. It reads like something a planner would hand you.
Workspace. Monarch’s reports are Monarch’s. A Workspace board is yours: cards for the numbers you care about, notes, live sheets, and a guide that breaks a figure down onto the board when you ask.
Equity in the plan, not just on the chart. Monarch’s equity tracking records grants and vests for net worth; its forecasting docs say equity compensation isn’t supported yet. In Allocate the expected vest is income: it can fund a goal, and the goal is measured against it.
A morning brief. A short written note each day about what moved and what needs a yes, instead of a dashboard to remember to open.
Useful in the first hour. Monarch’s most repeated complaint is that seven days isn’t enough to set up. Allocate plans from your setup estimate before a bank is linked.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Monarch if

You share money with a partner.
You want the widest possible view: holdings, funds, business, receipts.
You want retirement-horizon forecasting with scenarios.
You’re on Android.

Pick Allocate if

You want to ask questions in plain words and get a plan back.
You want a written plan and a board of your own, not only reports.
You want an assistant that can act, with your approval.
Some of your pay is bonus, commission or equity, and you want it in the plan.

Frequently asked questions

Monarch has equity tracking now. Isn’t that the same thing?

It’s tracking: you enter the grant and vesting terms and Monarch shows vested and unvested value on your net worth. Monarch’s own forecasting docs say equity compensation isn’t supported in forecasting yet. Allocate uses the expected vest as income in the plan — it can fund a goal, and the goal is measured against it.

Does Allocate have a household mode?

Not today. Allocate is one person’s accounts and plan. If you and a partner run one budget together, Monarch is the better fit for that.

Which AI assistant is more capable?

They do different jobs. Monarch’s answers questions about your data. Allo-Bot answers questions and can propose changes to your plan — move a goal, size a contribution — which you approve or decline. Neither moves money.

What does Monarch Plus add, and does Allocate have an equivalent?

Plus ($199 a year, annual only, web only) adds long-horizon forecasting with life events and scenarios, and Morningstar fund analysis. Allocate’s plan measures your goals month by month against what comes in; it doesn’t model to age 90.

Which is cheaper?

Monarch Core: $99.99 a year or $14.99 a month; Plus: $199 a year. Allocate: $240 a year ($20 a month paid yearly) or $25 monthly, with 100 Allo-Bot messages a month included.

Sources

We wrote this comparison. We tried to be fair, and every Monarch claim links to where we read it, but we make Allocate, so read it as one side of the argument and try both.