Why Switch from Rocket Money?
Rocket Money, which started as Truebill back in 2015, is a popular tool to track your spending and cancel unwanted subscriptions. It was designed to give you a clear picture of where your cash is going. But it's got some major competitors, and a lot of users are looking for other options than Rocket Money.
While the app got a slightly higher than average score of 3.6 / 5 stars on Trustpilot (as of November, 2025), the negative reviews and Better Business Bureau complaints point to some real frustrations. Users frequently report problems with canceling their premium subscriptions, being charged exorbitant fees for items they did not request or the service contacting people and impersonating you without your permission. There are also multiple complaints about confusion over the fees for bill negotiation. As AI tools get smarter than us, there are now apps better than Rocket Money that do more than just track, they actually take the hassle off your plate.
People are often looking for a switch because of:
- High Product Fees Many users mention the high bill negotiation costs between 35%-60% of savings as well as being charge for services they didn't approve.
- Cancellation Problems: The Better Business Bureau reports of over 200 complaints over the past three years, these pages of complaints from users who struggled to cancel their paid Rocket Money account, getting charged even after they thought they were done or getting random charges for services they never approved.
- Vague Negotiation Fees: The percentage-based fee on savings from bill negotiation can feel steep and, for many, not clearly explained upfront.
What Features to Look for in a Rocket Money Alternative
If you're searching for a replacement, don't just trade one set of problems for another. You want something that actually solves the core issue: does it save you time and money without creating more work?
Look for tools that offer:
- Start-to-finish completion of your financial or personal tasks: Well developed AI can do the work for you, not just identify the problem and possibilities and let you handle the solution.
- Automated negotiation for bills and refunds: Proactively lowers your bills, putting actual savings in your pocket.
- The ability to handle multi-step service issues: Complex cases solved without endless hand holding and back and forth.
- Premium data security and strict user privacy.
- An active focus on saving money or getting refunds: Not just budgets and suggested courses of action.
Best 9 Alternative Options to Rocket Money
Here’s a quick rundown of the top nine Rocket Money alternatives that get the job done differently.
- Pine AI: AI assistant that fully handles tasks for you.
- Monarch Money: A collaborative budgeting tool for partners.
- Copilot Money: Smart, automated expense categorization.
- YNAB (You Need A Budget): A method-based budgeting system.
- Quicken Simplifi: All-in-one view of your finances.
- PocketGuard: Helps you see how much is "in your pocket."
- Trim: Negotiates bills like cable and internet.
- Empower: For tracking spending and investments together.
Quick Comparison: Top 8 App Alternatives to Rocket Money (2025)
| App Name | Category | Key Features | Pricing | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pine AI | AI Bill Negotiator | AI-powered calls & emails, Subscription cancellation, Handles complex service tasks | Pay-per-task model | iOS, Web |
| Monarch Money | Manual Budgeting | Customizable dashboard, Joint finance tracking, Net worth sync | Starts at $14.99/month and $99 a year | iOS, Android, Web |
| Copilot Money | Automated Budgeting | Smart categorization, Investment tracking, Recurring expense detection | $13/month or $95/year | iOS, Mac, Android (beta) |
| YNAB | Manual Budgeting | Zero-based budgeting, Goal tracking, Financial workshops | $14.99/month or $99/year | iOS, Android, Web |
| Quicken Simplifi | Automated Budgeting | Spending plan, Savings goals, Real-time alerts | Starts at $2.99/month | iOS, Android, Web |
| PocketGuard | Automated Budgeting | "In My Pocket" feature, Bill & subscription overview, Debt payoff plan | Free for 7 days, $12.99/mo or $74.99 | iOS, Android, Web |
| Trim | Passively lowering Your Monthly Bills | Cancel Subscriptions, Monitor Spending, Help you Lower Monthly Bills | 15% of Annual Savings | Web |
| Empower | Budgeting & Investing | Net worth tracker, Investment analysis, Retirement planner | Free (Wealth Management has fees) | iOS, Android, Web |
Detailed App Breakdowns
Pine AI
Pine AI showed up in late 2024 to tackle the most annoying part of managing money: actually dealing with companies for you. It isn't another dashboard where you track things yourself. Instead, its AI agent makes calls, sends emails, and handles tedious tasks for you, like appealing a denied insurance claim or getting a refund for a flight cancellation. It's like having a personal assistant, but AI, and good AI. The core idea is to give you back your time. It’s a completely different model. Their focus on start-to-finish task completion is a clear response to the "subscription creep" problem (the gradual, often unnoticed, accumulation of multiple subscriptions and the associated costs that can strain a budget over time), where the average American is spending over $200 a month on subscriptions they barely remember signing up for (C+R Research, July 2024).
We put Pine AI first for a reason: well, it's us, and unlike most apps, we handle the messy, multi-step calls so you walk away with money saved. It's the whole reason we got into the game.
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Best for: Having "someone" else handle every step of a complex financial challenge, like a learning AI assistant, who just keeps getting better as they learn you.
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Key Features:
- AI agent handles calls, emails, and web forms and all responses - basically everything.
- Negotiates to lower bills, especially those with unknown fees (cable, internet, phone).
- Manages subscription cancellations and refund requests, and a lot more.
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Pros:
- Saves you time - period. From sitting on hold with customer service to sending emails or filling forms.
- Built to handle multi-step problems, not just simple tasks. Basically you tell it, "Here is my problem," and it tells you "Problem solved. Here is your solution."
- You only pay when a task is successfully completed.
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Cons:
- It's a newer service, so it's still building its track record. Yes, we say that a lot - but not for long.
- The pay-per-task model is different from a flat subscription fee.
- Currently available on iOS and Web only.
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Pricing: Pay-per-task model where Pine AI takes a percentage of savings for successful negotiations. Source: 19pine.ai as of November, 2025.
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Who it’s for: Anyone who is tired of spending hours on the phone, texting or emailing with customer service for ANY problem in their life and just wants the problem solved.
Monarch Money
Launched in 2020 by former Mint employees, Monarch Money is built for people who want a clean, collaborative way to manage their finances. It’s especially popular with couples and families trying to get on the same page and create a plan. Its main draw is a customizable dashboard that syncs everything from bank accounts to investments without plastering ads all over the place. it helps with tracking, budgeting and planning for the future. Positive praise for the goal-setting feature, genuinely useful for planning big purchases or saving for a family item or event without constant manual entry, is something that can be incredibly tedious with other platforms that require you to categorize every single transaction down to the cent. Though when first trying to sign-up, the flow just wasn’t intuitive, takes some time and at times can be quite frustrating.
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Best for: Couples, partners or whole families managing shared financial goals.
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Key Features:
- Shared dashboard for collaborative tracking.
- Connects to investment and crypto accounts.
- Set and track progress toward joint savings goals.
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Pros:
- No ads, which is always a huge plus.
- Clean, modern interface that's easy to navigate.
- Strong focus on net worth and investment tracking.
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Cons:
- It’s one of the more expensive options.
- Budgeting features are rigid, but less than YNAB.
- Some users report syncing issues with smaller banks.
- It's still a DIY, just a tool - not a solution or an answer.
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Pricing: $14.99 per month or $99.99 annually. Source: Monarch Money as of November, 2025.
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Who it’s for: Partners and families who want a shared view of their finances without a clunky spreadsheet.
Copilot Money
Copilot Money came on the scene in 2020 as a Mac and iOS-only app, which immediately gave it a sleek, design-forward feel. It uses AI to automatically categorize your transactions with surprising accuracy, which is a big step up from apps where you have to manually fix everything. It's built for people who value a beautiful interface and smart automation. Its ability to spot and track recurring charges is a lifesaver, especially with so many services hiking their prices in the name of "shrinkflation." It helps you catch those small increases before they add up. Not for you if you're an Android user.
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Best for: Apple users who want smart, automated expense tracking, but to clarify - TRACKING only.
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Key Features:
- AI-powered transaction categorization.
- Tracks subscriptions and recurring bills.
- Clean interface with customizable categories.
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Pros:
- Beautifully designed and intuitive to use.
- Amazon and Venmo integrations are very detailed.
- The review feed makes checking transactions fast and uncomplicated. It's pretty much an upgraded version of your banking app with a couple cool features.
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Cons:
- No web app or full Android version yet (it's in beta). Only Mac, iPhone and iPad.
- It's read-only, you can't move money within the app.
- Honestly, their home page gives you no idea of what they do - lots of images, no real information - you have to search for it.
- The investment tracking features a bit basic.
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Pricing: $13 per month or $95 per year after a free trial. Source: Copilot Money as of September, 2025.
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Who it’s for: Basically, the iPhone user who wants a smart, good-looking app to manage their daily spending.
YNAB (You Need A Budget)
YNAB has been around since 2004, and it's less of an app and more of a financial philosophy. t’s a tool for self-actualization. Who do you want to be, and how can the money you earn help you get there? It’s built on the principle of zero-based budgeting, where you give every single dollar a "job." This is for people who want to be deeply involved in their finances. It’s not a passive tracking app. Instead, it forces you to actively decide where your money is going, which can be a game-changer for getting out of debt or saving for a big goal, like a down payment or a big vacation after seeing how much you're really spending on takeout or other ridiculous things. I tried it and found the initial learning curve was steep, requiring a real commitment to watching their tutorials and sticking with the method before it finally clicked.
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Best for: Super hands-on budgeters who want to follow a specific method for saving for big purchases or paying down debt and are ready to be super vigilant.
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Key Features:
- Zero-based budgeting system.
- Debt payoff and savings goal tools.
- Extensive educational resources and workshops. Did we say extensive? Ready to be educated?
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Pros:
- The methodology is proven to help people save money, meaning save for a goal not save from present expenses.
- Strong community and customer support.
- Syncs with bank accounts to streamline allocation.
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Cons:
- Requires a significant time commitment to learn and maintain.
- More expensive than many other budgeting apps.
- The strictness of the method isn't for everyone - it's for people who are wanting to be meticulous in their budget planning.
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Pricing: $14.99 per month or $99 annually. Source: YNAB as of November, 2025.
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Who it’s for: The person who wants to go all-in on a structured budgeting plan to radically change their financial habits.
Quicken Simplifi
Quicken is one of the oldest trusted names in personal and small business finance, and Simplifi, launched in 2020, is its modern, mobile-first answer to apps like Rocket Money. It’s designed to give you a simple, real-time snapshot of your finances without the complexity of the full Quicken desktop software. It’s great for getting a quick overview of your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, upcoming bills and investments in one place. It allows you to create a custom spending plan to help you stay on track without the rigid rules of something like YNAB. It’s really useful for avoiding that end-of-the-month panic when you realize you overspent again or gaining insight into actually how to save, what bills to get rid of and more. The app is simple.
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Best for: A simple, consolidated view of your income and expenditures and saving goals without strict rules.
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Key Features:
- A customized spending plan that adapts to your life.
- Watchlists for specific spending categories.
- Projected cash flow to avoid overdrafts.
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Pros:
- Easy to set up and use.
- Less demanding than more intense budgeting apps.
- Consolidates spending, bills, subscriptions, savings goals and investments.
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Cons:
- Investment tracking tools are not as robust as some other apps.
- Some users report syncing issues.
- Doesn't offer bill negotiation or any refund type services. Simply budgeting - one-trick-pony.
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Pricing: Starts at $2.99 per month (billed annually). Source: Quicken Simplifi as of November, 2025.
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Who it’s for: Someone who wants a clear financial dashboard and light budgeting tools without a major time commitment. Basically, you just want something to help you keep track of incoming and outgoing money and any goals you want to set.
PocketGuard
PocketGuard, launched in 2015, is built around one simple question: "How much is in my pocket for spending?" The app calculates this number by looking at your income, upcoming bills, and savings goals. It’s for people who get overwhelmed by complex spreadsheets and just want a straightforward answer about what they can afford to spend today. It automatically sorts your expenses and finds opportunities to save, like flagging a subscription you might have forgotten about after a free trial. The app’s main strength is its simplicity, though I found its constant push for users to sign up for other financial products through their marketplace to be a bit distracting from the core purpose.
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Best for: Getting a quick, simple answer on your income, expenditures and disposable income.
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Key Features:
- "In My Pocket" calculation for guilt-free spending.
- Automated bill and subscription tracking.
- Debt payoff planning tools.
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Pros:
- Very easy to understand and set up initially.
- Helps prevent overspending with a clear daily limit - if you pay attention!
- The free version is quite functional, but only lasts 7 days. So use it, and see if it helps you!
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Cons:
- The free version has ads and limited features and only lasts 7 days.
- Syncing can be slow.
- Because it is so simple, less customization than other apps.
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Pricing: A free version is available for 7 days, then it's $12.99/month, $74.99/year. Source: PocketGuard as of November, 2025.
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Who it’s for: The financial beginner who wants a simple guardrail or what we call "awareness app" to prevent daily overspending, see clearly into income vs expenses and what is possible for savings.
Trim
Also known as Ask Trim, it was started in 2015 as a chatbot that would automatically find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions. It has since evolved to focus more on canceling subscriptions, monitoring spending and negotiating bills - primarily for simple things like cable, internet, and phone services. It works by taking a percentage of the money it saves you. This is for someone who hates the idea of haggling with Comcast but loves the idea of paying less. The service can be a bit hit-or-miss, but when it works, it saves you money for doing literally nothing. It feels like magic. Weirdly, I had a bill successfully negotiated but the confirmation email took nearly a week to arrive, which left me wondering if it had actually worked.
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Best for: Passively lowering your monthly bills without making calls.
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Key Features:
- Negotiates cable, internet, phone, and online bills.
- Finds and cancels unwanted subscriptions.
- Automates savings into an FDIC-insured account.
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Pros:
- It's a "set it and forget it" service.
- You only pay if it successfully saves you money on negotiations.
- Can find savings you wouldn't have known about.
- As crazy and simple as it sounds, it does have many good ratings.
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Cons:
- Requires you to put in your information before anything else, then fees are disclosed, signing up for services are available, etc.
- The 15% success fee can feel high, especially when you are charged for 12 months of the savings once negotiated.
- Negotiation success isn't guaranteed.
- Does not have it's own app or website interface. It works with you though your communications apps (Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, etc) Strange, right?
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Pricing: Bill negotiation is free upfront; Trim takes 15% of the total first year's savings. Source: AskTrim as of November, 2025.
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Who it’s for: The person who would rather give up a small percentage of savings than spend a single minute on the phone with their cable company and wants a simple interface to handle simple tasks.
Empower (formerly Personal Capital)
Empower, originally launched as Personal Capital in 2009, is a beast of a tool focused on wealth management. While it has budgeting features, its real power is in its ability to give you a 360-degree view of your entire net worth, including all your investments, retirement accounts, and property. This is for the person who has moved beyond simple budgeting and is focused on building long-term wealth. Its free dashboard is one of the best out there for tracking your portfolio and planning for retirement. The constant calls from their financial advisors to get you to sign up for their paid wealth management service can get old pretty fast, though.
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Best for: Tracking investments and planning for retirement.
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Key Features:
- A comprehensive net worth and investment tracker.
- Retirement planning and fee analyzer tools.
- Consolidates all financial accounts in one place.
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Pros:
- The free financial dashboard is incredibly powerful.
- Excellent tools for analyzing investment fees.
- Provides a high-level view of your entire financial picture.
- The advanced tools are actually incredibly helpful for the planner/investor, but also somewhat expensive.
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Cons:
- Budgeting tools are basic compared to others on this list.
- Frequent calls and emails to upsell you to their advisory service - which, it's quite possible, you actually need if you are doing all your investing on your own.
- Less focused on day-to-day spending management.
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Pricing: The tracking dashboard is free. Wealth Management services have a fee starting at 0.89% for the first $1 million. Source: Empower as of November, 2025.
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Who it’s for: The investor who is more concerned with their 401(k) allocation, pension and investments than their weekly grocery budget.
How Pine AI could be the alternative solution for Rocket Money
Let's be blunt. Tracking your subscriptions is only half the battle. The real work is canceling them, negotiating better rates, or getting refunds. For unfair bills, the same. For budgeting, the same. For other problems.....? That’s where tools like Rocket Money often just point you in the right direction, leaving you to do the actual work.
Pine AI is different. It's built to finish the job.
I personally dread doing the manual work of sitting on hold, navigating phone trees, and arguing with retention agents. It’s a huge time sink. A 2024 study from ACA found that 43% of customers would rather clean a toilet than call customer support. Now that's funny!
Pine AI's whole purpose is to take that work off your hands. You tell the AI what to do, and it does it. It's less of a tracking app and more of a personal agent that works/fights for you, which is a big reason why it's one of the more interesting Rocket Money alternatives out there.
Methodology: How We Selected the Best Alternatives to Rocket Money
Our list isn't random. To find the best apps that exist currently in 2025, our team evaluated over 15 popular financial apps that could be an alternative to Rocket Money based on four key criteria:
- Effectiveness & User Success: Does the app actually save people time and money? We checked user reviews and focused on apps that complete tasks, not just track them. Many users leave Rocket Money because they still have to do the hard work themselves.
- Ease of Use: How quickly can a beginner get value? We prioritized apps with intuitive interfaces that don't require a week of watching tutorials. An app should simplify your life, not become another chore.
- Security & Trust: Does the app use bank-level encryption and have a clear privacy policy? This is non-negotiable. Your financial data is sensitive, and you need to know it's protected.
- Value for Cost: Is the price justified? Whether it's a monthly fee or a percentage of savings, the cost has to be worth the benefit. We compared pricing to market averages and favored models that align with user success.
Disclaimer about this blog post - Best Rocket Money Alternative Apps in the US (2025)
This article was last updated on November 16, 2025. We do our best to keep our content accurate and fresh, but the digital world moves fast. Information, especially details like pricing and app features, is often sourced from third-party sites and may change without notice.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Rocket Money App
What popular features are there that Rocket Money don’t offer that other competitors do? End-to-end task completion. Many alternatives, like Pine AI, use AI agents to actually make calls and send emails for you, rather than just telling you who to call.
What should I consider when leaving the Rocket Money app? Make sure to export any data you want to keep and, most importantly, confirm your premium subscription is fully canceled to avoid future charges.
What apps to use to replace Rocket Money? It depends on your goal. For only hands-on budgeting, use YNAB. For automated total task completion and bill negotiation, check out Pine AI or Trim.
What apps would complement the Rocket Money app? If you like Rocket Money's tracking but want to add investment oversight, Empower's free dashboard is a great addition.
Are there any security concerns I should be aware of with Rocket Money? Like any app that links to your bank accounts, there's always a risk. Review their terms of agreement and security policies. Users on forums sometimes express concern about sharing so much data with a single company.
Does Rocket Money actually negotiate your bills for you? Yes, but they take a large cut from the savings, typically between 30% to 60%. This fee is often a surprise for users who didn't read the fine print carefully before agreeing to the service.
Sources & References
- Consumer Affairs - Rocket Money Review https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/truebill.html
- Pine AI - Pricing information - https://www.19pine.ai/
- Monarch Money - Pricing information - https://www.monarchmoney.com/pricing
- Copilot Money - Pricing information - https://copilot.money/
- YNAB (You Need A Budget) - Pricing information - https://www.ynab.com/pricing/
- Quicken Simplifi - Pricing information - https://www.quicken.com/products/simplifi/
- PocketGuard - Pricing information - https://pocketguard.com/plus/
- Trim - Pricing information - https://www.asktrim.com/
- Cleo - Pricing information - [suspicious link removed]
- Empower - Pricing information - https://www.empower.com/wealth-management/fees
- Trustpilot - Rocket Money Reviews - https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/rocketmoney.com
- Better Business Bureau - Rocket Money Complaints - https://www.bbb.org/us/md/silver-spring/profile/billing-services/rocket-money-inc-0241-236043013/complaints
- C+R Research - 2024 Subscription Survey -https://www.crresearch.com/blog/subscription-service-statistics-and-costs/
- ACA Study - The US Customer Experience Index, 2024 - https://bradcleveland.com/customer-experience-statistics/



