What is the best Mint alternative that does not link my bank?

Wiggle Budget never asks for a bank login. There is no Plaid connection and no read access to your accounts, so nothing can pull your transactions in the background. You decide what goes in, the financial fields are encrypted before they are stored, and there are no ads or partner offers anywhere in it.

Is there a free Mint alternative?

Yes. There is a free plan you can stay on, and a 30 day Pro Max trial that does not ask for a card. Most people who came from Mint want to know whether they will be nickel and dimed later, so it is worth saying plainly that the free plan is a real plan and not a countdown.

How is Wiggle Budget different from Mint?

Mint looked backwards. It connected to your accounts, sorted what had already happened, and paid for itself with ads. Wiggle Budget looks forwards. You put in the bills and income you know about, and it walks your balance day by day so you can see the tight week coming before you hit it. That is a different job, and it is the one most people were doing in a spreadsheet on the side anyway.

What did bank-feed apps like Mint get wrong about pending payments?

A feed only knows what the bank has told it. You pay for something on Friday, the charge does not land until Tuesday, and for four days the app quietly tells you that money is still yours. In Wiggle Budget you mark the entry processed the moment you pay it, so the number you are looking at is the number you actually have.

I miss the automatic categories. Is manual entry a lot of work?

Less than people expect, because you are not logging every coffee. You add the things that are big enough to change a decision, which is usually rent, bills, debt payments and payday. When it drifts, you type in your current bank balance and everything ahead recalculates from there. That reset is the part former Mint users tend to like most, because it means falling behind costs you thirty seconds rather than an evening.

Mint shut down? A private, no-bank-login alternative that plans ahead

The app says I have money that is already spent

Bank feeds lag. You pay on Friday, it clears Tuesday, and until then the balance is a lie you are making decisions against. Mark an entry processed the moment you pay it. Your spendable number drops straight away rather than waiting on a sync.

I fell behind and now the whole thing is wrong

Most apps expect an unbroken history. Miss two weeks and fixing it means re-categorising hundreds of rows before the numbers mean anything again. Type in your current bank balance and everything ahead recalculates from that point. Falling behind costs you a minute, not an evening.

I do not want to hand over my bank login

Linking an account gives a third party standing read access to every transaction you make, usually so it can be sold back to you as insight. There is no bank connection at all. You enter what you choose, and the financial fields are encrypted before they are stored.

It tells me what I spent, not what I can spend

A category report is a description of the past. It cannot tell you whether Saturday is affordable. Your balance is projected forward by date, so you can see the lowest point it reaches before payday and decide from that.

Every free app turns into a subscription

Free tiers get hollowed out, and the feature you actually came for ends up behind the paywall six months later. The free plan is a plan, not a trial. The Pro Max trial runs 30 days and does not ask for a card.

Budgeting apps assume a steady salary

Envelope systems and monthly budgets fall apart when income is irregular, which it is for a lot of people now. You place income on the dates it actually arrives. If payday moves, you move it, and the projection follows.

Wiggle Budget.

Preparing your view

Wiggle Budget.

Preparing your view

Mint alternative: private, no bank login, forward-looking safe-to-spend Wiggle Budget

Common complaints about budgeting apps

Mint alternative: private, no bank login, forward-looking safe-to-spend Wiggle Budget

Common complaints about budgeting apps