Budget44 vs Monarch: Budget & Track Money
Monarch: Budget & Track Money syncs your bank accounts for $99.99 a year after a 7-day trial. See how it compares with Budget44 on price and privacy.
Disclosure: Budget44 is our app. This comparison is written honestly, including the places where Monarch is the better fit. Ratings and pricing are from the US App Store as of September 2026.
Quick answer
Monarch: Budget & Track Money by Monarch Money, Inc., which its own description shortens to “Monarch”, is a connected-account money app that has been on the App Store since 2020 and runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web. The catch is the price: the store badge says Free, but the listing states it is free to try for 7 days and then billed monthly or annually, so there is no ongoing free tier.
Budget44 is a hand-entered budget and expense tracker for iPhone, iPad and Android. It is free to download with no account, and everything it describes runs offline on the device.
If you want your transactions pulled in and categorized for you, Monarch. If you want to log your own spending without a bank login, a sign-in or a subscription to get started, Budget44.
Side-by-side
| Feature | Budget44 | Monarch: Budget & Track Money |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iOS + Android | iOS + Android |
| US App Store rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 4.9 (109,777 ratings) |
| Last updated | August 2026 | September 2026 |
| Free-tier limits | Free to download, no account. What Pro adds is not stated on the listing | No ongoing free tier. Free to try for 7 days, then a membership |
| Paid plans | Pro at $2.99 a week | $14.99 a month, $99.99 a year, Yearly Plus $199.99 |
| Bank sync | Not stated | Yes, read-only, with auto-categorization |
| Manual entry | Yes, five types: expense, income, transfer, charge, payment | Yes, alongside synced accounts |
| Budgets | Yes, per-category monthly limits, one-off or recurring | Yes, Flex or Category budgeting, with rollover |
| Accounts and net worth | Yes, assets and liabilities with a history chart | Yes |
| Recurring bills and income | Yes, six cadences with an optional end date | Yes for bills and subscriptions. Recurring income not stated |
| Saving goals | Yes, with target, deadline and progress ring | Yes, with contributions inside the monthly budget |
| Investment tracking | Balances only, as an investment asset account | Yes, investment performance on the dashboard |
| Calendar view | Yes, recorded vs projected entries | Yes, for bills and subscriptions |
| Themes | 28 hand-built themes | Light and dark, plus a custom app icon |
| Household members / profiles | Not stated | Yes, at no extra cost, advisors included |
| Export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Languages | 1 (English) | 1 (English) |
| Ads | No | No |
| Account required | No | Yes, an account and connected institutions are the premise |
| Data stays on device | Yes, no account and no cloud sync | No, held server-side and reachable from the web app |
| Privacy label | Data Not Linked to You: Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics, Purchases | Data Linked to You: Financial Info, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics |
Where Monarch: Budget & Track Money wins
It does the typing for you. Monarch’s listing says you connect your accounts and it will auto-categorize your finances, and that the platform is read-only so there is no risk of your money moving. Two 2026 updates went further: receipt scanning got a widget, Siri Shortcut and Quick Action in v2.0.89 (April 2026), and its AI assistant began reporting live progress on requests in v2.0.86 (March 2026). Budget44’s listing describes hand entry only and does not mention bank connections, receipt scanning or an assistant.
Household money is built in at no extra cost. The listing says you can add your partner or other household members and team up on your finances, all at no extra cost, and that you can invite an advisor, financial coach, tax professional or estate planning attorney. A July 2026 update (v2.0.106) added a By owner option to spending and income reports so a multi-member household can compare per person. Recent reviewers back this up, describing how they use it as a couple.
It covers the balance sheet as well as the month. Monarch syncs credit cards and loans and shows statement balances and minimum payment due, tracks investment performance and net worth, and improved its debt paydown charts in v2.0.112 (August 2026). Credit score setup moved to a one-tap handoff to the web app in v2.0.111 (August 2026), and v2.0.96 (May 2026) added filtering accounts by business entity. Budget44 tracks asset and liability accounts and net worth by hand, but its listing says nothing about investment performance or credit scores.
Since 2020, with a lot of ratings. Monarch has been on the App Store since November 2020 and holds 4.9 from 109,777 US ratings, with over half a million Android installs on Google Play. Updates shipped roughly weekly between March and September 2026. Two budgeting modes are on offer, Flex or Category, with rollover amounts reconciled in v2.0.105 (July 2026), and Cash Flow reporting gained a Profit and Loss view in v2.0.104 (June 2026). In recent US reviews, reviewers praise how easy it is to use and describe moving over from Mint. Budget44 has been on the App Store since 2026 and shows 5.0 from 2 ratings, which is not a track record.
Where Budget44 wins
You can actually use it for free. Monarch gives you 7 days and then bills you. Budget44 is free to download, needs no account, and its listing describes the whole feature set without naming a cap: transactions, accounts and net worth, budgets, recurring entries, saving goals, the calendar, stats, 28 themes and reminders. What the Pro purchase adds is not spelled out on the store page.
No sign-in, no cloud sync, no account. Budget44’s listing says all data stays on your device, that it works completely offline, and that there is no sign-in and no cloud sync. Its App Store privacy label carries only a Data Not Linked to You section. Monarch requires an account and connected institutions by design, and its label declares Financial Info and Contact Info linked to your identity for purposes including analytics and the developer’s own advertising or marketing. If handing over a bank login is the thing you do not want to do, that difference is the whole decision. It is also the part of Monarch recent reviewers struggle with most: a recurring complaint in recent US reviews is bank connections dropping or lagging.
Hand entry is the point, and it is detailed. Budget44 logs five transaction types (expense, income, transfer, charge and payment), each with an account, a category and an optional note, and its math is exact to the cent with no rounding errors. Recurring bills and income run on six cadences, daily through yearly, with an optional end date on every series. The calendar marks recorded and projected entries differently and shows a projected end-of-month balance at the top. Monarch’s listing describes a calendar for bills and subscriptions, and never describes a typed-transaction model at all.
The limits, for the record. Budget44 has been on the App Store since May 2026, updated in August 2026, with 2 US ratings. Monarch’s listing covers shared households and investment performance and Budget44’s does not, and neither listing mentions export.
Pricing
- Budget44 is free to download with no account, and the listing does not state what the free version caps. Pro is listed at $2.99 a week with a 7-day trial.
- Monarch: Budget & Track Money is free to try for 7 days, then a membership: $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year in the in-app purchase list, with a Yearly Plus Subscription at $199.99. What separates Plus from the standard yearly tier is not spelled out on the store page.
Over a full year, Budget44 without Pro costs nothing while Monarch costs at least $99.99, and Budget44 Pro billed at $2.99 every week costs more than Monarch’s yearly plan. The free tier is where the saving is.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Monarch: Budget & Track Money if you want accounts pulled in and categorized automatically, you track investments, credit cards and loans alongside spending, you and a partner are budgeting together, or you want a web app and a long review history behind the product.
Pick Budget44 if you would rather not connect a bank at all, you want a budget app that works with no account and no cloud sync, you want to start without a subscription, or you want typed transactions, six recurring cadences and a calendar that separates what happened from what is projected.
If you want to run the numbers before you install anything, our free net worth calculator and monthly budget calculator work in the browser with no download and no sign-in. For a wider look at the category, see our roundup of the best budget apps.
Frequently asked questions
Is Monarch: Budget & Track Money free?
No. It is free to download and free to try for 7 days, and after that its listing says a membership fee is billed monthly or annually. The in-app purchase list shows $14.99 a month, $99.99 a year, and a Yearly Plus tier at $199.99. Budget44 is free to download with no account, and its Pro purchase is listed at $2.99 a week with a 7-day trial.
Does Budget44 connect to my bank like Monarch does?
Budget44's listing says it works completely offline with no sign-in and no cloud sync, and that you log every expense, income, transfer, charge or payment yourself. It does not address bank connections either way, so that row reads Not stated. Monarch is built around connecting accounts, and its listing says the connection is read-only so there is no risk of your money moving.
What does Monarch's Yearly Plus tier at $199.99 add?
The store page does not spell it out. The only evidence the tier exists is the in-app purchase entry named Yearly Plus Subscription at $199.99. Recent reviewers say forecasting sits behind it, but that is review text, not a store fact.
Which app keeps my data on my phone?
Budget44. Its listing says all data stays on your device and no account is required, and its App Store privacy label has only a Data Not Linked to You section covering Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics and Purchases. Monarch's label declares Financial Info, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data and Diagnostics linked to your identity, and your data is reachable from its web app.
Can my partner and I share one budget?
Monarch's listing says you can add your partner or other household members at no extra cost, and a July 2026 update (v2.0.106) added a By owner option so households can compare spending per person. Budget44's listing does not mention households, shared budgets or profiles, so that row reads Not stated.
Which one is rated higher on the US App Store?
Monarch: Budget & Track Money holds 4.9 from 109,777 US ratings. Budget44 shows 5.0 from 2 ratings, which is far too small a sample to compare against six figures of reviews. Both listings were checked in September 2026.