Mint
Empower (Personal Capital)
| Feature | Mint | Empower (Personal Capital) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $4.99/mo | Free / from $0.89/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.2 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | budget-beginners, individuals, college-students, families | investors, high-net-worth-individuals, retirement-planners, wealth-builders |
| Founded | 2006 | 2009 |
| Budget Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Bill Reminders | ✓ | ✗ |
| Credit Score | ✓ | ✗ |
| Spending Insights | ✓ | ✗ |
| Goal Setting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Account Aggregation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Alerts | ✓ | ✗ |
| Net Worth Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Investment Checkup | ✗ | ✓ |
| Retirement Planner | ✗ | ✓ |
| Fee Analyzer | ✗ | ✓ |
| Budgeting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cash Flow | ✗ | ✓ |
| Wealth Management | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Mint Pros
- Free comprehensive budgeting and tracking
- Automatic categorization of transactions
- Credit score monitoring included
- Bill tracking and payment reminders
- Syncs with thousands of financial institutions
✗ Mint Cons
- Ad-supported free tier with product recommendations
- Occasional sync issues with some banks
- Limited investment tracking features
✓ Empower (Personal Capital) Pros
- Excellent free investment tracking and net worth dashboard
- Retirement planning calculator (Retirement Planner)
- Fee analyzer identifies hidden investment fees
- Comprehensive portfolio analysis tools
✗ Empower (Personal Capital) Cons
- Wealth management requires $100K minimum
- Sales calls after signing up for free tools
- Advisory fees higher than robo-advisors
The Verdict
Mint is built for budget beginners and individuals, with a focus on budget-tracking and bill-reminders. Empower (Personal Capital) targets investors and high net worth individuals and leads with net-worth-tracking and investment-checkup.
Pricing is close: Empower (Personal Capital) starts at $0.89/mo versus $4.99/mo for Mint — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.