My comparison of Simplifi and Monarch money

tim o

There is a lot to like about Simplifi, I wish they did a budget vs spending plan but you can make that work… the BIGGEST piece missing is smarter rules ..based on account, amount ,etc everything that monarch has… there is other deficiencies but that is the biggest one.. CAN ANYONE SAY WHETHER THAT IS IN THE FUTURE FOR SIMPLIFI.

The main use for this software is to get accurate transactions WITH the right categories.. and give you good reports and ability to drill into the reports ….all the other stuff like credit score (which you can get anywhere) should be relegated to the bottom,

For what its worth here is my comparison

monarch vs simplifi.pdf

UrsulaA

I came from Mint and tried Monarch before getting here. I found that Simplifi is better in connections because my accounts work more consistently here. The connections vary depending on which banks people use.

Regarding rules, below are some feature requests that are in review, meaning that the product team is considering them.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/938/transaction-rules-for-automatically-ignoring-including-transactions-edited-1-merged-vote

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/104/transaction-rules-for-tags-edited-2-merged-votes

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/1340/ability-to-create-transaction-rules-for-amounts-and-accounts-edited-7-merged-vote

Below is an active request, meaning it is open for voting but not reviewed by the product team.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/3483/payee-name-wild-cards-for-transaction-rules-edited-1-merged-vote

Per this Reddit post composed by a Simplifi moderator, rules will be updated this year. Hopefully the enhancement include the feature requests above.

https://www.reddit.com/r/simplifimoney/s/ABYBRMxohz

I also want better rules as I enjoyed that aspect from Monarch. I upvoted and are following the requests above by bookmarking them.

RockLee

Yea, I landed on Simplifi after trying Monarch also. Monarch was fine.. but I liked how Simplifi worked more, regardless of price.

I agree that Simplifi's rules could be improved. But I found that Series and reminders are sufficient in the cases I need to key off of Account and Amount.

It bugged me also that Monarch did not list accounts in the transaction list, and you had to drill down. Also, the list was very spread out. Simplifi scored points with me by providing an obscure toggle in the transactions list to reduce white space!!! A little thing but a big thing.

Monarch's UI is pretty, but Simplifi's utility appeals to me more. I've come to like Simplifi more than Mint but there are still lots of improvement to be made, but it works good enough.

UrsulaA

I agree with @RockLee - the transaction list is better is Simplifi and I use the compact view on it too. I also enjoy that the recurring bills and subscriptions in Simplifi affect cash flow and I can see what I have on my checking account. I keep most of my emergency funds in a high yield money market now and the projected cash flow chart helps me keep just enough on the checking account to fund expenses. I enjoy earning more interest. 🤑

FutureEye

I liked Simplifi and Monarch from a feature perspective. Monarch to me slightly superior.
Visually I liked cleaner interface of Simplifi and price. I can live with the cons of Simplifi and I think they will fix the gaps. Networth porting was the most important which they added so I am sold.

Bishop

lol , u guys know u can customize categories(list, order, icons, etc) to endless means in Monarch? I see what u mean on category but the icon for the category is there… and keeps it cleaner for me.

I just can’t do no rollovers in Simplify. They don’t seem in a hurry either.

Cbarth270

@Bishop they posted on Reddit yesterday that the Rollover feature is nearly ready for GA release.https://www.reddit.com/r/simplifimoney/comments/1bd22zg/yep_rollover_is_almost_here/

DannyB

Monarch, CoPilot (Apple only app), Pocket Money are apps I’ve looked at using their trial periods and, for me, Simplifi wins out every time. (This kind of comparison is by nature mostly subjective, btw, even though I suspect most of us think we are doing an objective comparison.)

I find Simplifi’s Spending Plan to be the “superior” method for organizing personal finance. For me the Spending Plan is simply more intuitive. My personal finances just aren’t that complicated and having a tool set that is straight forward and elegant wins out for me over having lots of bells and whistles that may look good but, in the end, don’t really add much value to what is needed.

Bishop

Here is where it narrowed them all down fo rme……….Simplify, Monarch, and Tiller can import my Mint data(don't get me started on that half thoughtout YNAB transfer). Of those, I'm not paying for an excel spreadsheet in Tiller.

Now what's left is Simplify without a rollover function, medieval UI, poor customization of categories, but from a long standing brand (I was Quicken user for a couple of decades). Monarch has everything you need but is slower on the refreshing transactions and is a funded startup as I understand.

I won't do without the rollover. Simplicity is about to drop the ball on 3.8 million Mint users. Their programmers have been working on this months.

Bishop

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/31511#Comment_31511

saw that, pretty cool, hope it has "reset to 0", "start with balance X" and all the functions of a modern rollover