When Intuit announced it was shutting down the popular financial tracker Mint on January 1, it left millions of users scrambling for an alternative. Fortunately for them, lesser-known rival Monarch quickly released an open source Chrome extension to let users easily export data from their Mint accounts, ready for import at Monarch or potentially other services.
According to Monarch CEO Val Agostino, the company has already seen an influx of new customers since Intuit announced Mint’s impending closure late last month. Agostino was once director of product at Mint, which Intuit acquired in 2009. “Our signup volume has gone up 20 times since the announcement, so it’s definitely been drinking from the firehose a bit,” he says, adding that Monarch has been expanding server and customer service capacity since Intuit’s announcement. Both Mint and Monarch help users with financial tracking and budgeting, aggregating data on income, spending, and balances from accounts at banks, brokerages, and other financial institutions. Monarch declined to say how many users it has or how many newly signed up, and Mint user numbers are also a bit unclear: The Mint site mentions “25 million users,” but Bloomberg reports the company cited 3.6 million active users in a 2021 presentation.
While Mint does offer its own export tools, Agostino says its extension, which users must install on Chrome and use while visiting the Mint website, is a bit more flexible, able to download a more complete record of a customer’s financial history in just one click, while Mint’s official tools can require multiple steps to download all the data on file. “A lot of people have been using Mint for 10 or in some cases 15 years, and they’re understandably very attached to their financial journey,” he says.
The extension downloads data into CSV files saved on users’ computers, so users can simply open them in spreadsheets or potentially upload them to compatible competing services if they don’t want to use Monarch, which unlike Mint charges a monthly or annual fee. If they do choose to use Monarch, they can upload the files in a few clicks—and take advantage of a Monarch special offering a 30-day free trial and 50% discount on the first year of service.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the final deadline, June 7.
Sign up for Brands That Matter notifications here.
