Empower vs Monarch Money in 2026: Which to Pick

Pick Empower if you want a free net worth and investment dashboard, including a look at what fund and plan fees may cost you in retirement, and a one-number budget is enough. Pick Monarch Money if you want flex or category budgeting, separate logins for a household, and you will pay Core or Plus. Price, investments, sharing, privacy, sync, and mobile are the split. FYN (our product) is a short third option at the end. Pro includes unlimited household members. Investment tracking: Not documented on the pricing page.

Features and pricing checked October 28, 2026. Empower figures come from Empower's tools page, the dashboard terms, and Personal Strategy. Monarch figures come from Monarch's pricing page and the help articles in Sources. FYN's numbers are from our pricing page. If a vendor cell was not on those pages, it says Not documented.

Empower is the old Personal Capital dashboard. Empower's transition page says the Personal Capital tools moved over and the dashboard stays free. Monarch is a paid budgeting app that also tracks net worth. The free dashboard is the reason people stay with Empower. The budget and the household are the reason people pay for Monarch.

Empower vs Monarch Money

Disclosure: we build FYN. This page is on FYN's site. The FYN column is a third option for receipts, a free start, and a read-only connector. It is not a claim that FYN wins Empower vs Monarch Money. Scroll the table sideways on a phone. Prices are US list prices. Monarch says an App Store or Google Play checkout can differ from the web price.

Price: free dashboard or a paid plan

Empower publishes the dashboard at no charge. The tools FAQ, read on October 28, 2026, answers "How much does it cost?" with "Nothing! The dashboard experience and financial tools are completely free." Sign-up asks for an email and a phone number. The terms, last updated August 1, 2025, say use of the dashboard is free of charge, and that Empower may change that pricing later. Wealth management is a separate service you can choose, for a fee.

That fee is on the Personal Strategy page. The advisory fee is a percent of assets under management. Investment Services is a $100,000 minimum, at 0.89% a year on $100,000 to $249,999. Wealth Management is a $250,000 minimum, at 0.89% a year on $250,000 to $999,999. Private Client is a $1,000,000 minimum: 0.79% on the first $3 million, 0.69% on the next $2 million, 0.59% on the next $5 million, and 0.49% above $10 million. Empower says the all-in cost also includes ETF expense ratios, and that there are no trade commissions. Each paid column on that page says Schedule a call. You do not pay 0.89% to use the free dashboard. You pay it if you enroll in the advisory service.

Monarch has no free plan. On October 28, 2026 the pricing page showed Core at $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, displayed as $8.33 a month when billed yearly. Plus was $199.99 a year, displayed as $16.67 a month, billed annually. The page's structured data says those prices are in US dollars, plus tax where it applies. Both plan cards say "Free 7-day trial, then" the plan price, and "Payment method required." Cancel in settings before the trial ends. The FAQ also offers a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee and does not say how long that window is. Monarch recommends checking out on the web rather than in the Apple or Google store.

The same page showed code WELCOME for 30% off Core for one year. The footer says the discount is for new users only, valid for the annual Core plan only, cannot be combined with other offers, and may expire or be deactivated at any time.

Budgeting depth

This is the clearest product split. Empower shows spending. Monarch plans it.

Empower's budgeting widget help, updated April 24, 2026, says it is not possible to set specific budgeting goals. You edit one monthly budget. The widget shows what you spent in the past 30 days, compares that with the same point last month, and lists expense categories sorted by amount. The budgeting and cash flow page describes tracking spending and adjusting the budget. It does not document a budget amount per category. Custom categories are for transactions, not for those goals. The category help, updated May 21, 2026, allows a maximum of 30 custom categories, each marked Income, Expense, or Transfer, on the web and on iOS and Android.

Monarch's budget help, updated October 22, 2026, offers two types. Flex budgeting is the default: one flexible bucket, plus fixed and non-monthly groups. Category budgeting assigns an amount to each category. The first budget is filled from the average of the last six months, and you can recalculate it. The budget is monthly cash flow: expected income, then expenses and savings. Monarch says you can still run an envelope or zero-based style if income equals expenses plus savings. It is not required. The help mentions about 60 category options, plus custom groups and categories. There is no free plan, so the budget sits on Core or Plus.

Investment tracking and fees

Empower is built for this. The portfolio analysis page says you can see performance against benchmarks, allocations, and risk level. The Retirement Planner is for testing retirement scenarios. The net worth page defines net worth as the value of assets minus liabilities. Those tools are part of the free dashboard.

The fee tool is the Retirement Fee Analyzer, updated August 25, 2026. It uses fund expense ratios disclosed by the fund providers, a slider for plan administrative and advice fees (the article says those plan fees can range from 0% at large companies to over 1% at smaller ones), and a place to enter unpublished specialty-fund fees, which the article says can range from 0.5% to over 3%. It then graphs estimated retirement savings before and after those fees, using your age, selected balances, contributions, and risk tolerance. That is a view of fees inside the accounts you already hold. It is not the 0.89% advisory fee, which applies only if you hire Personal Strategy.

Monarch tracks investments inside the paid subscription. The investments help says connected accounts bring in holdings, with performance against benchmarks such as the S&P 500, a time-weighted return, and an asset-class breakdown. Prices come from Financial Modeling Prep. If the institution does not send cost basis, the performance chart assumes you held the current securities for the whole range you select. The Plus article, August 31, 2026, says budget, cash flow, goals, net worth, and connected accounts stay on the plan you already have. Plus adds forecasting, business tracking, and advanced investment analysis: gains and losses, and a Morningstar breakdown. The gains and losses article says that view is Monarch Plus, with optional tax lots. Plus features are on desktop web. A tool that graphs retirement savings lost to fund and plan fees, the way Empower's analyzer does: Not documented.

Couples and household sharing

Monarch's household article, updated October 20, 2026, invites one or more people onto a single subscription. Each person has a login and can add accounts. The household shares one dashboard and one budget. You cannot hide a bank account or a transaction once someone is invited. You cannot invite an email that already has a Monarch account. The Plus article says Plus covers the whole household, the same way Core does.

Empower documents a different object. Removing an Additional User, updated January 29, 2026, says Additional Users are removed by the primary user, in Settings, under Additional Users. Updating an Additional User, the same day, says the primary user withdraws access and invites the person again when an email or phone number changes. The verification help says an additional user can register their own device, and that each user can have one device registered for verification. A shared budget, a limit on how many people, and whether an account can be hidden: Not documented. The article titled Adding an Additional User did not load on October 28, 2026, so the invite steps are Not documented here.

Privacy and advisor calls

The free dashboard sits next to a paid advisory business. The terms say you may be eligible for an optional financial consultation from a registered investment advisor. The consultation can be offered directly or through marketing partners. Taking it may result in an offer to enroll in wealth management, which is a separate agreement and a separate fee. The terms also say that, for select users, wealth management may be offered or solicited through an Empower advisor. Section 6 says you may receive calls and texts about account alerts and about promotional offers, including messages sent with an automatic telephone dialing system or a pre-recorded voice. Consent to promotional calls is not required to use the dashboard. You can unsubscribe from promotional calls at 855-823-3040. Unsubscribing does not stop security or authentication calls.

On data sales, Empower's privacy center and the opt-out article, updated December 17, 2025, say Empower does not share personal information with third parties for monetary gain. They also say some state laws treat certain cookies and advertising identifiers as a "sale" or "share," and they tell you how to opt out of that. Read both sentences. The first is not a promise that no cookie is involved.

Monarch's pricing page argues the other model. It says there are never any ads, and "We never sell your financial data." The pricing help, updated March 3, 2026, says Monarch does not make money by selling financial data, and that revenue is the subscription. A page that describes promotional phone calls from Monarch: Not documented.

Account sync

Empower's account linking help, updated April 24, 2026, tracks bank, credit, loan, mortgage, and investment accounts. You search for the institution, or paste its web address, then enter the username and password you use on that site. Empower says it verifies those credentials with the institution and looks for the other accounts you hold there. The tools FAQ lists IRAs, 401(k)s and other retirement plans, investments, mortgages, loans, savings, checking, and credit cards. The OAuth article says some institutions use a newer flow: you log in at the bank, and you do not give Empower the password. Not every institution supports it. The name of the aggregation company behind the link: Not documented.

Monarch's data-provider article, June 9, 2026, names three providers: Plaid, MX, and Finicity. Monarch suggests the provider with the stronger history for that institution, and you can switch. The article says connections can still break, that some institutions are hard to keep synced, and that Monarch never sees your login on an OAuth connection. The download page limits the product to the United States and Canada.

Mobile

Empower's category help includes steps for the web and for iOS and Android. The OAuth help says to download the latest app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. The terms describe the dashboard on a computer, a tablet, or a phone. The web versus iPad article, updated July 10, 2026, says investment performance and alternate Retirement Planner scenarios are on the website. The iPad app can show the default Retirement Planner. Editing a holding's ticker or CUSIP, and opening a new Personal Strategy account, are also website tasks.

Monarch's download page lists web, iPhone, iPad, and Android, in the United States and Canada. The Plus article says Plus features are on desktop web, with only parts of business tracking on mobile. Full mobile support for Plus may come later.

Who should pick Empower, and who should pick Monarch Money

Pick Empower if the job is net worth, holdings, and a fee picture, and you want that at no charge. The Retirement Fee Analyzer, the portfolio view, and the Retirement Planner are the reason to keep the dashboard. Accept the limits that Empower's own pages state: one monthly budget, not category goals, at most 30 custom categories, and investment performance that is fuller on the website than on the iPad. Also accept the commercial context. The terms allow promotional calls, and Personal Strategy is a paid service you can be offered, at 0.89% a year from a $100,000 minimum. The dashboard does not require that enrollment.

Pick Monarch Money if the job is a budget and a household. Core is the tier for cash flow, a budget seeded from the last six months, goals, net worth, and separate logins where nobody hides an account. Pay for Plus if you want forecasting or the deeper investment tools, and plan to use them on the desktop site. The trial is a week, and the plan card says a payment method is required, so decide before it rolls into $99.99 or $14.99. Do not pick Monarch for a free plan. There is not one. Do not pick it for Empower's retirement fee graph. That tool was Not documented on the Monarch pages checked.

Longer lists, if neither of these two fits, are Personal Capital alternatives and Monarch Money alternatives. A price review of Monarch on its own is Is Monarch Money worth it?. The wider table is best budget apps in 2026. The narrower grids, written as FYN next to one app, are FYN vs Empower and FYN vs Monarch.

Where FYN fits

FYN (our product) is the third option, and it is last on purpose. Look here if you want a free start, receipt scanning and forwarding, a shared household on Pro, and a read-only way for an assistant to see your records. Portfolio analysis and a retirement fee analyzer: Not documented on the pricing page. We build it. The limits below are the ones on the pricing page.

The free plan does not expire and does not ask for a card. It includes receipt photos and emailed receipts. Pro is $9.99 a month. Bank sync is Pro only: Plaid, up to 15 accounts. The free plan does not link a bank. The same page lists read-only MCP calls so assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT can read your FYN data. They do not get a bank password. Monarch also publishes a connector, on Core and Plus, read-only unless you allow write. FYN's connector is one read-only option, not an exclusive one.

A retirement fee analyzer, a retirement planner, or portfolio analysis: Not documented on the pricing page. The pricing page lists 1 household member on Free and unlimited household members on Pro. Everyone shares the plan's limits. A shared member can be an owner, a member, or view-only. FYN is free to start.

FAQ

Sources

Checked October 28, 2026. Vendor claims in the table and the FAQ point at these pages. A cell that says Not documented was not on the pages that loaded that day.

• Dashboard and tools are free. Accounts you can connect. Sign-up asks for an email and a phone number: Empower financial tools.
• Personal Capital tools moved to Empower, and the dashboard stays free: Empower Personal Wealth transition.
• Dashboard is free of charge. Promotional calls and texts, including autodialed calls. Unsubscribe at 855-823-3040. Optional consultation that can lead to a wealth-management offer. Terms last updated August 1, 2025, read October 28, 2026: Empower Personal Dashboard terms.
• Personal Strategy fees, minimums, and Schedule a call: Personal Strategy.
• Budgeting and cash flow marketing page: Budgeting and cash flow.
• One monthly budget. Specific budgeting goals are not available. Updated April 24, 2026: Using the Budgeting Widget.
• Up to 30 custom categories. Updated May 21, 2026: Create custom categories.
• Portfolio analysis: Portfolio analysis.
• Retirement Planner: Retirement Planner.
• Net worth as assets minus liabilities: Net worth.
• Retirement Fee Analyzer. Updated August 25, 2026: Retirement Fee Analyzer calculations.
• Account linking. Updated April 24, 2026: Account Linking Tool.
• OAuth linking at some institutions. App Store and Google Play: Linking with Open Authorization.
• Website versus iPad. Updated July 10, 2026: Feature differences, web and iPad.
• Additional Users, removal. Updated January 29, 2026: Removing an Additional User.
• Additional Users, email or phone changes. Updated January 29, 2026: Updating Additional User information.
• One verification device per user, including an additional user: Mobile app verification.
• Privacy center. No sharing for monetary gain, and a cookie opt-out under broader state definitions: Empower privacy center.
• Opt out of sale or sharing. Updated December 17, 2025: How to opt out.
• Monarch pricing, trial, Plus price, and the WELCOME code: monarch.com/pricing.
• Subscription revenue, and no selling of financial data. Updated March 3, 2026: Monarch pricing help.
• Platforms, United States and Canada: monarch.com/download.
• Plus features, desktop, household coverage, and price guidance. August 31, 2026: Monarch Plus tier.
• Budget, flex and category, six-month average. Updated October 22, 2026: Creating your budget.
• Households. Updated October 20, 2026: Monarch for couples and households.
• Bank connections. June 9, 2026: Data providers and connections.
• Investments, holdings, and performance: Investments in Monarch.
• Gains and losses on Plus: Adding gains and losses.
• Monarch connector, Core and Plus, read-only unless you allow write. Updated October 22, 2026: MCP connector.
• FYN plan limits: fyn.fyi/pricing.