Personal Capital vs Mint: Which Budgeting App Is Right for You?
If you’re looking for a budgeting app to track your finances, two of the most popular choices are Personal Capital and Mint. Both apps offer an array of features to simplify budgeting, manage investments, and monitor your overall financial outlook.
In this article, we’ll compare the two apps to help you decide which one is the best fit for you.
Overview of Personal Capital and Mint
Before we dive into the details of each app, it’s important to understand the basics of Personal Capital and Mint.
Personal Capital is a financial management firm that offers a free budgeting app to help users manage their finances. It’s geared towards investors who want a tool to track their investments, as well as their overall financial health.
Mint, on the other hand, is a free budgeting app owned by Intuit, the company behind TurboTax and QuickBooks. It’s designed to help users track their spending and create a budget.
Features
Both Personal Capital and Mint offer a variety of features to help you track your finances. Here’s a breakdown of what each app has to offer:
Personal Capital
- Personal finance tracker for all of your financial accounts and investments
- Retirement planner to help you visualize your retirement goals
- Investment analysis and portfolio management
- Financial advisor service for a fee
- Cash flow analysis to see how much money is coming in and going out
Mint
- Automatic budget tracking of all transactions in your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, etc.
- Budget tracker that compares your spending to a budget you set
- Credit score tracking and alerts
- Bill payment reminders to avoid late fees
- Investments tracking and monitoring of paid subscriptions
User Experience
Both Personal Capital and Mint are user-friendly apps designed to help you manage your finances easily. The user experience of each app is slightly different due to the features each app offers:
Personal Capital
Personal Capital offers more in-depth investment analysis and portfolio management features, which cater to users who want to manage their investments through the app.
The app also provides a cash flow analyzer that displays your income and expenses in an easy-to-understand format. Personal Capital’s user interface features color-coded graphs and charts to help you visualize your spending and investment performance.
Mint
Mint is designed to be an all-around budgeting tool, with robust features to track your expenses, create a budget, and monitor your credit score. The app offers colorful charts and graphs to show your spending and budget, as well as the status of your accounts.
One of the app’s best features is its automatic transaction tracking, which records every transaction from your bank accounts and credit cards. Mint’s alerts also notify you of bill payments and unusual spending activity, which is helpful for staying on top of your finances.
Security
When using any financial app, security is a top concern. Both Personal Capital and Mint prioritize security by using bank-level encryption and secure servers to protect user data.
Personal Capital has two-factor authentication, requiring users to log in using two methods: a password and a security token. The app also requires a pin code for mobile access.
Mint also offers two-factor authentication, as well as phone notifications when account balances change, and the ability to deactivate Mint remotely from a desktop device.
Which One is Best for You?
Choosing between Personal Capital and Mint ultimately depends on your financial goals and needs.
If you’re an investor seeking a tool to track investments and monitor your financial health, Personal Capital is a good choice.
For anyone needing a comprehensive budgeting tool with features such as credit score tracking and alerts for bill payments, Mint is a great option.
Both apps offer unique benefits that make them valuable assets for managing your finances and achieving your money goals. With that said, you can also use both apps to complement each other and cover all your bases when managing your personal finances.
