Mint is dead. YNAB costs $14.99/month. Monarch is $10/month. QuickBooks dashboard is $38–$115/month. Helix Vault shows you everything — income, expenses, P&L, budget, balance sheet — in one view. $199 (SIMPL) or $279 (Helix). Once.
Bottom line: After Mint's shutdown, 3.6 million users lost their financial dashboard. YNAB ($180/yr) only does budgeting. Monarch ($120/yr) is closest to what Mint was. QuickBooks ($456–$1,380/yr) has the data but buries it in menus. Vault puts income, expenses, P&L, budget vs actual, and balance sheet on one screen. SIMPL is $199 once. Helix is $279 once. Over 3 years, YNAB costs $540. SIMPL costs $199.
Compare financial tools by cost over time.
Pricing verified March 2026.
Mint was the financial dashboard for a generation. Free, connected to your bank accounts, clean spending overview. Then Intuit shut it down and pushed users to Credit Karma. 3.6 million users lost their data overnight. This is what happens when you don't own your tools.
YNAB is the gold standard for envelope budgeting. The methodology works. But it's $180/yr for budgeting only — no P&L, no balance sheet, no invoicing. And it's subscription-based, so the cost never stops.
Monarch picked up where Mint left off. Financial overview, budgeting, investment tracking, cash flow projections. Best all-around personal finance app. But $120/yr and no business features — no invoicing, no CRM, no P&L for your business.
QuickBooks has all the financial data. The problem: it's scattered across 47 menu items. The dashboard shows a summary, but getting the full picture requires navigating reports, registers, and settings. And you're paying $456–$1,380/yr for the privilege.
Vault is one screen: income, expenses, P&L, budget vs actual, and balance sheet data. Everything you need to know about your business finances, visible at a glance. Not buried in menus. Not scattered across apps. One view. You own it. It can't be shut down.
| Tool | Year 1 | Year 3 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Simple Start | $456 | $1,368 | $2,280 |
| YNAB | $180 | $540 | $900 |
| Monarch Money | $120 | $360 | $600 |
| Mint | Free | Shut down. Data gone. | |
| SIMPL (financial suite) | $199 | $199 | $199 |
| Helix (everything) | $279 | $279 | $279 |
A financial command center: one screen showing income, expenses, P&L, budget vs actual, and balance sheet data. Available in SIMPL ($199 once) or Helix ($279 once).
Mint shut down January 2024, leaving 3.6 million users without their financial dashboard. Users were redirected to Credit Karma. Helix Vault fills this gap — and you own it.
$14.99/mo or $99/yr ($180/yr at monthly rate). Budgeting only. SIMPL is $199 once for budgeting + full accounting.
SIMPL ($199) is the financial suite. Helix ($279) adds CRM, scheduling, time tracking, and client management. Financial-only needs: SIMPL. Service business: Helix.
For solopreneurs, yes. Same data — income, expenses, P&L, budget — in one view instead of 47 menu items. Without the $456-$1,380/yr subscription.
Income, expenses, P&L, budget, balance sheet. One screen. Owned forever.
Calculate Your Savings· Data sourced from official pricing pages