Mint Is Shutting Down – Best Budgeting Alternatives for QuickBooks Users
Intuit is closing Mint. Here are the top budgeting apps for small-business owners and accountants who need a Mint replacement that works alongside QuickBoo
Intuit has announced that Mint, its long-running free budgeting app, will be shut down. For years, many small-business owners and freelancers used Mint alongside QuickBooks to track personal and business spending. With Mint gone, the question becomes: what should you use now? Below we walk through the most practical alternatives, with a focus on tools that integrate with QuickBooks or fill the same gap cleanly.
Why Mint’s closure matters to QuickBooks users
Mint was never a full QuickBooks replacement, but it served as a simple “spending dashboard” that could sync bank transactions and categorize them. Many QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online users relied on Mint for a high-level view of cash flow across personal and business accounts. Its shutdown means those users need a new way to see all their transactions in one place without manually exporting CSVs.
Top alternatives that play well with QuickBooks
1. QuickBooks Online + the built-in budgeting tools
If you already use QuickBooks Online, you can consolidate everything inside QBO. Its budgeting feature lets you set category limits and compare actual spending against a plan. The transaction review screen and bank-feed rules can replace the “categorization from the bank” that Mint offered. It’s not a free solution, but it removes the need for a second app. We have more on QBO budgeting and bank feeds if you need a walkthrough.
2. YNAB (You Need A Budget)
YNAB is a paid app (roughly $15/month) that emphasizes zero-based budgeting. It can link to your bank accounts and credit cards. While it doesn’t sync directly with QuickBooks, you can export QFX or CSV from YNAB and import into QuickBooks Desktop or Online. For small-business owners who want strict personal budget discipline separate from the company file, YNAB is a strong choice. It doesn’t require an Intuit login, so you avoid any cross-account confusion.
3. Monarch Money
Monarch is often described as the closest Mint replacement. It’s subscription-based (~$10/month) and offers transaction categorization, goal tracking, and investment monitoring. Monarch can sync with thousands of financial institutions. It does not natively integrate with QuickBooks, but its clean reporting makes it easy to manually reconcile with your QuickBooks data. Many former Mint users in the QuickBooks community are testing Monarch as a direct swap.
4. Tiller Money
Tiller automatically pulls bank transactions into a Google Sheet or Excel workbook every day. This is ideal if you use spreadsheets to track business finances alongside QuickBooks. You can set up custom formulas, categories, and pivot tables. Tiller’s integration is similar to a continuous CSV import. QuickBooks Online and Desktop both support importing from spreadsheets, so Tiller can feed directly into your company file. It costs about $80/year.
What QuickBooks users should consider before switching
- Do you need personal budgeting separate from business? If yes, choose an app like YNAB or Monarch that lives outside the QuickBooks ecosystem.
- Can you replace Mint’s functionality by improving your QuickBooks workflow? Many users find that QBO’s built-in reporting and recurring transaction rules cover everything they used Mint for.
- Will the new app export data in a format QuickBooks can read? QFX, CSV, and OFX are your friends. Avoid apps that only offer PDF statements.
A practical next step
Before Mint is fully decommissioned, export all your historical Mint data as a CSV file (Settings > Export Data). That file can be imported into Excel, Tiller, or even reworked for a QuickBooks Online import. Then spend a week testing one of the alternatives above with a single checking account. You do not need to move everything overnight. Find the tool that fits your actual workflow — not just the one with the most features.
For help cleaning up import data or troubleshooting a QuickBooks file that has become sluggish after years of disconnected budgeting, our QuickBooks file repair and condensing guides may be useful.