Mint VS Quicken: Which Is Better For Managing Your Budget & Finances?

Managing personal finances can be hard, and choosing the right personal accounting tool can seem even harder. That’s why we’re here to compare two of the most popular personal finance management tools out there: Mint and Quicken.

Mint is a cloud-based, easy to use finance tool that features expense tracking, investment tracking, budgeting, planning, and more. Mint also offers well-developed mobile apps, so you can easily check your spending on the go. The icing on the cake? Mint is completely free.

Quicken has been the big name in personal accounting from the beginning. Quicken offers an incredible number of features and amazing customer support. Although Quicken is a locally-installed software, there are still mobile apps available.

But which software is better? And more importantly, which is right for you? That’s what we’re here to find out.

Mint VS Quicken

Mint and Quicken are both popular options for managing your personal finances. But which is best for you: the locally-installed Quicken with a long history in the personal accounting space or the newer free cloud-based Mint? Read on to find out!

Mint Overview

Mint brings together all of the details of your personal finances and packs it into one user-friendly cloud-based system. Whether you’re at home or on the go, you can keep tabs on your finances quickly and easily with Mint. And it’s totally free.

Don’t let the free price tag fool you, though. You won’t be burdened with an ad-heavy, hard-to-use program with limited features. Quite the opposite, in fact. Mint has received rave reviews among users for how easy it is to use and how many helpful features it has — features typically reserved for paid software, such as expense tracking, budgeting, and investment tracking. There are, however, a few features that it notably lacks, such as bill pay. Mint also has strong mobile apps that are easy to use on your smartphone or other devices.

Mint is best suited for users that want a quick and easy way to track and manage personal finances. Even users without any prior software experience will find Mint’s cloud-based software and mobile apps easy to set up, learn, and use.

Quicken Overview

Since its introduction in the 1980s, Quicken has grown to become a name synonymous with personal finance software. Quicken is loaded with features you won’t find with other software, helping you track your finances easily both now and in the feature.

Whether you want to set up a budget for this month or plan for the future by tracking your investments or planning ways to quickly pay off your debt, you can get it done with Quicken. Quicken is fairly easy to use, although some features can be a little tricky. Fortunately, Quicken offers excellent customer support to ensure you get the most out of your software. And while you do need to pay a yearly subscription fee, pricing is competitive. There’s even a risk-free guarantee so you can make sure that the software works for you before investing long-term.

Quicken is best for users that want a detailed view of their personal finances through locally-installed hardware. Quicken is most suitable for users that are willing to work with more complex software in exchange for abundant features and detailed personal finance reports.

Features

Both Mint and Quicken have a number of solid features to help you organize and track your personal finances. With Mint, you can track expenses, set bill reminders, create a budget, track investments, and set savings goals. You can even check your credit score for free. Quicken offers the same features but also offers a debt reduction planner, reporting, and other features to help you get your finances in order. Let’s take a closer look at the key features of each so you can determine which is the best software for you.

Bills

Quicken and Mint each support manual uploading of bills, or you can connect to your online billing accounts to automatically have your bills pulled into the software. While Mint does offer a bill payment reminder feature, it lacks any other bill pay capability.

If you’re a Quicken Premier subscriber, you have access to Quicken Bill Pay, which allows you to pay your bills right within the software. If you don’t have a Premier account, you can subscribe to Bill Pay for an additional fee.

Budgeting

Both software options have budgeting features. Mint uses your spending habits to create an automatic budget, which you can then customize to better suit your financial needs. If you go over budget, Mint will send you notifications to help you get back on track. The one drawback is that budgets can only be created for the current month, although there is an option to set up recurring budgeting.

Like Mint, Quicken also evaluates your spending habits to create a budget. This budget can be modified as needed. Quicken allows you to create budgets for the month, quarter, or entire year.

Savings Goals

Saving for something big? Quicken and Mint each have a savings goal feature that will calculate how much you need to save to meet your goal. Simply input how much you want to save and when you want to have it saved, and your software calculates your monthly contribution.

There is a notable difference between how this works on each type of software. Quicken allows you to create as many savings goals as you want. Mint, on the other hand, only allows you to create one savings goal at a time. Another drawback of Mint is that if you attach your savings goal to one of your accounts, such as a savings account, and the amount in that account meets or exceeds your savings goal, the software shows that your goal has already been met.

Investment Tracking

Quicken and Mint each allow you to connect your existing retirement and investment accounts. Mint even has an option for signing up for new accounts.

However, Quicken does offer more in terms of investment tracking if you’re a Premier subscriber. Premier users have access to a number of tools include a tax optimizer and a lifetime planner that helps you calculate how much money you need to retire.

Reports

Want to dive deeper into your financials? With Quicken, you can do so by running financial reports. Quicken has nearly 50 financial reports that can help you budget, plan, and track your finances.

One of the biggest drawbacks of Mint is that it does not offer any reports.

Debt Reduction Planner

If you’re struggling with debt. Quicken’s debt reduction planner can help you figure out how to get out of debt sooner. This tool lets you see how different actions can impact your credit; i.e., how making more than the minimum monthly payment affects your debt. While it isn’t 100 percent accurate, this is still a pretty cool tool to play around with if you want to get serious about tacking debt.

Unfortunately, Mint does not offer a comparable feature.

Property Management

Mint has a property management feature that lets you add your real estate, vehicles, and other property to calculate your net worth.

Quicken also has a property management feature. You can add your personal assets as well as your debt, such as student loans or a mortgage.

Bank Reconciliation

Quicken offers a bank reconciliation feature that lets you reconcile your bank accounts using a paper statement or your online account balance.

Mint does not have a bank reconciliation feature within its software.

Pricing

When it comes to pricing, it doesn’t get much better than Mint. Mint is completely free to sign up, set up, and use for your personal finances. There are no hidden charges or fees — it’s completely no-strings-attached. In order to bring in revenue, though, there are some advertisements on the Mint website and mobile apps, so this is something to keep in mind. One thing to note is that Mint doesn’t go overboard with the advertising, so you can easily use the software without being bombarded by ads.

Though Quicken isn’t free, this software does offer three affordable pricing plans. The basic Starter plan is priced at $35.99/year. If you want additional features like online bill pay, priority support, or features that help you simplify and track taxes and investments, one of the higher-priced plans may better suit your needs. Quicken frequently offers new customer discounts for additional savings. And while a free trial isn’t available, you can try the software risk-free for 30 days.

Ease Of Use

In addition to its free pricing structure, one of the biggest benefits of Mint is how easy it is to use. Even if you’ve never had any prior finance or accounting software experience, you won’t have any trouble setting up and using Mint. It has a modern, well-designed UI that’s easy to navigate. There are also plenty of automations built into the software that help you save time.

Quicken is also fairly easy to use, although it isn’t quite as intuitive as Mint. While it is pretty well-organized, some users have noted that the software could be more streamlined. A few of the features may be a bit challenging to set up and learn, but fortunately, there are plenty of support options available to help you get the most out of the software. Which leads us to…

Customer Service & Support

If strong customer service and support are high on your list of software must-haves, unfortunately, Mint will leave you feeling a bit disappointed. Most notably, Mint lacks phone or email support. Granted, the software is easy to learn and intuitive, but if you encounter any issues, your only support resources are in-software chat, FAQs, and Mint’s blog.

Customer service and support is one area where Quicken really shines. Quicken offers phone support for its customers and also boasts short wait times and friendly, helpful support agents. In addition to phone support, you can also find the help you need through Quicken’s quick start guide, in-software resources, help center, live chat, or community forum.

Reviews & Complaints

Mint has received overall favorable reviews from users on Sitejabber, Google Play, and other sites. The most common praise that the software receives is for its ease of use, the free pricing, and how well Mint simplifies tracking personal finances. There are a handful of negative complaints, though, that are primarily centered on a few key missing features and glitches that occur occasionally when connecting bank accounts.

Quicken also has a very good public reputation, bringing in a number of positive reviews and praise from sites including G2 and GetApp. Users most like the abundant features, competitive pricing, and ease of use. Some of the negative issues pointed out by reviewers include occasional bugs, crashes, and problems with loading transactions and syncing accounts.

The Key Differences Between Mint & Quicken

On the surface, Mint and Quicken look very similar — and in some areas, one is comparable to the other. There are, however, a few key differences between the two that can help you determine which software is the better fit.

1. Cloud-Based VS Locally-Installed: Mint is cloud-based software, so there are no downloads required and you can use the software anywhere provided you have an internet connection. Mint also has mobile apps that make it easy to track finances on the go. Quicken is locally-installed software, meaning that you download it to your device. Mobility isn’t completely restricted, though, as Quicken does have mobile apps that you can add to your phone or tablet.
2. Security: With locally-installed software like Quicken, you are responsible for keeping your data secure. Quicken does use data encryption for the data involved in its online features, and the software offers password protection for your Quicken files, but other than that, you’re on your own. As cloud-based software, Mint has security built-in from the beginning. For most people, the convenience of having security taken care of for you outweighs all of the extra efforts of securing your locally-installed software.
3. Pricing: One of the main differences between Mint and Quicken is the pricing structure. Mint is entirely free to use. Quicken requires an annual fee, although pricing is extremely competitive. Some features are also only included on Quicken’s more expensive plans, so it’s important to evaluate what features you need and what you’re willing to pay each year to access those features.
4. Features: While both programs offer a number of great features to help you better manage your finances, Quicken has more advanced features (specifically, budgeting) and features you won’t find on Mint, like Bill Pay.
5. Ease Of Use: With more advanced features comes a learning curve, which is what you may find when it comes to using some of Quicken’s features. Fortunately, there are a number of resources at your disposal to help you quickly master the software. On the other hand, Mint is easy to use right from the start.
6. Reporting: If you want to analyze your finances with reports, Quicken is the better choice, offering nearly 50 different financial reports. Mint doesn’t have any reports.
7. Customer Support: Mint noticeably lacks phone or email support, which could be a dealbreaker if you want software with strong support. Quicken not only has phone support and more resources, but phone wait times are short and support agents are extremely helpful.
8. Integrations: Mint integrates directly with TurboTax and QuickBooks. It also can be connected to thousands of banks, financial institutions, and lenders for adding your transactions and expenses. Quicken also connects with banks, financial institutions, and lenders so you can add your transactions. Quicken has seven add-ons.

Is Mint Or Quicken Better For Me?

By this point, you should have a good understanding of what Mint and Quicken each bring to the table. But if you’re still not leaning toward one option or the other, keep these things in mind:

Chose Mint If …

• You prefer using cloud-based software
• You want software that’s easy to learn and use
• You need basic personal financing software without more complex features.
• You don’t want to pay for personal finance software

Choose Quicken If …

• You want personal financial software with advanced features
• You prefer using locally-installed software
• You want software that comes with excellent customer support
• You want to analyze your finances with customizable reports

Comparing Quicken VS Mint: The Final Verdict

For people looking for a detailed way to actively manage every aspect of their finances, Quicken is a great choice. It is ideal for users who enjoy the complexity of locally-installed software.  If you want to create multiple budgets, track savings goals, and run reports, Quicken has far more to offer than Mint.

For people who want a simpler way to keep their spending in check and manage the basics of their finances, Mint is the winner. It is ideal for users who like cloud-based software and strong mobile apps that can keep up with a mobile lifestyle.

In the end, it all comes down to the level of detail you want and what type of software you’re more comfortable with.