What Mint Users Miss Most, and How to Get Each Feature Back

Mint closed in March 2024, and for many of its users the loss was less about one feature than about a habit. You opened the app, glanced at a screen, and knew roughly where you stood. Rebuilding that habit is easier if you break Mint down into the specific things it did for you, then find a replacement for each.

Here are the features former Mint users mention most, and practical ways to get each one back, with or without a single app that does it all.

1. Every account on one screen

What Mint did: It connected to your banks and cards and showed every balance together, updated automatically.

How to get it back:

• An app with bank sync. Several paid apps connect to banks through aggregation services. This is the closest match.
• Weekly file imports. Almost every bank lets you download transactions as a file (often CSV, QFX or OFX). Ten minutes on a Sunday to download and import from each account keeps an app current without connecting it to your bank.
• A balances sheet. At minimum, a simple spreadsheet with one row per account, updated weekly, gives you the one-screen view.

Many people who tried file imports found they liked the weekly check-in: they looked at their spending once a week on purpose, rather than whenever a notification arrived.

2. Automatic categories

What Mint did: It guessed categories for each transaction, and you could correct it.

How to get it back: Look for an app with rules. A rule says “when the payee contains SHELL, rename it to Shell and file it under Auto: Fuel”. Once you have twenty or thirty rules, most of your regular transactions categorize themselves, and because you wrote the rules, they’re right more often than a guess.

A worked example: building rules in an hour

Take three months of transactions, about 300 of them. Sort by payee and count the repeats. A typical household finds that around 25 payees account for most of the volume: the grocery store, two gas stations, streaming services, the utilities, the pharmacy, a coffee shop. Write a rule for each of those 25. From then on, you’re only categorizing the handful of new or one-off payees each week.

3. A simple budget with colored bars

What Mint did: You set a monthly amount per category and watched a bar fill up, turning red when you went over.

How to get it back: Choose an app that offers category budgets, a plan per category, rather than only envelope budgeting. Envelope budgeting (assigning every dollar before you spend it) is powerful, but if you liked Mint’s lighter approach, start with categories (see category budgets vs envelope budgets). You can always try envelopes later.

A practical starting point: use your last three months of spending. If groceries were $580, $640 and $610, a budget of $610 is honest; then decide whether you want to aim lower.

4. Bill reminders

What Mint did: It reminded you of upcoming bills.

How to get it back:

• Use an app with a bill calendar that lists recurring payments and their due dates.
• Turn on due-date alerts at your bank or card provider. Most offer them free, by email or text.
• At minimum, set calendar reminders three days before each due date.

A good bill tool also notices when a bill goes up. A streaming plan that rises from $15.49 to $17.99 is easy to miss when it’s paid automatically, and it adds $30 a year.

5. Alerts that something is wrong

What Mint did: It flagged unusual spending, large purchases and fees.

How to get it back: Your bank and card issuers can alert you to large purchases and low balances directly, often within minutes. A budgeting app can add alerts that only it can know about: going over a category budget, a bank fee appearing, or spending well above your usual pattern. Pick a few that matter; too many and you’ll start ignoring them.

6. Credit score

What Mint did: It showed a free credit score.

How to get it back: Credit Karma, where Intuit directed Mint users, shows free credit scores. Many banks and card issuers also display a score in their own apps. For your actual credit reports, AnnualCreditReport.com is the official free source in the United States for reports from the three nationwide bureaus; check the site for how often you can get them.

This is one feature where a separate tool is fine. A budgeting app doesn’t need to know your credit score to help you spend well.

7. Net worth and trends

What Mint did: It added up assets and debts and showed spending trends over time.

How to get it back: Look for net worth over time and spending reports by category or payee. If your new app’s history starts only from the day you joined, import older transactions from a Mint export or bank downloads so the charts have something to show.

If you prefer a manual approach, record each account balance on the first of every month in a spreadsheet. After a year you’ll have a net worth chart that’s just as useful.

8. Free

What Mint did: It cost nothing, because it earned money from ads and financial product offers.

How to get it back: Free options still exist, but ask how each one is paid for. Some show offers, some support a paid wealth-management business, and some offer a free plan alongside a paid one. A paid app isn’t automatically better, and a free one isn’t automatically a problem. What matters is that you understand the trade, and that you can export your data if you decide to leave.

Putting it together: two setups

The “one app” setup: a single app with category budgets, rules, bills, alerts and net worth, plus your bank’s own alerts and a free credit score elsewhere. Closest to Mint.

The “light” setup: your bank’s alerts, a monthly balances spreadsheet and a free credit score. No categories or budgets, but you’ll always know your position. Good for people who mostly used Mint to glance at balances.

Most people end up somewhere between the two.

How Kemback covers the list

Kemback covers most of this list today: a category budget (or envelopes, if you prefer) with green, amber and red bars on an overview dashboard; rules and a review inbox; a bill calendar that spots price increases; alerts for overspending, unusual spending, large purchases, bank fees and low balances; and net worth over time. Its Switch from Mint import reads Mint’s transactions export so your history comes with you. Transactions come in by importing your bank’s files, as automatic bank sync is coming with the planned Plus plan. The Free plan is complete, and Kemback doesn’t sell your data. It doesn’t show credit scores, so keep a separate free source for that.

#mint #switching apps #money tools

This article is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. For decisions about your situation, talk to a qualified professional.