Monarch Money Pricing in 2026: Core, Plus, and Trial

Monarch Core is $99.99 a year or $14.99 a month as of September 24, 2026, on the pricing page. Plus is $199.99 a year with no monthly switch, and code WELCOME takes 30% off the first year of annual Core. The monthly Core price is what you pay to leave inside the year. Plus is a planning tier, not a better grocery budget, and both plans open on a 7-day trial that needs a payment method.

FinanceRadar data: the categories index lists 4 net worth trackers as of September 24, 2026, and the high-yield savings statistics put the average APY at 3.54% as of September 23, 2026, on the 34 accounts that publish a rate out of 35 tracked. At that average, a balance of $2,824.58 earns one annual Core bill in a year before tax, and only if the rate holds. Tax on the interest comes out of the yield, so cash that matches the fee before tax does not match it after tax.

A balance below that line pays the fee from other household income, not from the interest. The accounts behind the average are in the high-yield savings guide.

Monarch sits in that net-worth set with Copilot Money, Empower, and Kubera. How a second person gets a login is a separate question in Monarch versus Copilot, and the wider field is best budgeting apps.

What the two cards actually charge

The pricing page sells two products, and only Core has a monthly switch. The rows below are the plan cards on that page, checked September 24, 2026. Plus stays on the annual figure when the Core toggle moves. A household that wants one month of the forecast will not find that price on the toggle.

The Canada page, Monarch in Canada, says the app is available there, repeats the trial, and states that all prices are billed in USD. A bank that converts the charge can make the debit differ from the sticker, so a buyer in Canada can owe a different amount than the card shows. The pricing cards themselves do not print a second currency.

The FAQ under those cards still describes only the Core pair. It says Monarch offers a yearly subscription at the annual Core price or a monthly subscription at the monthly Core price. It recommends signing up on the web rather than the Apple Store or Google Play for easier management, and it says you can cancel anytime.

Plus is on the cards above that answer and is missing from the sentence. A reader who stops at the FAQ will price one plan and miss the higher tier. The FAQ is describing the toggle, not the whole menu.

Twelve monthly bills versus one annual charge

A year of the monthly Core price is the cost of keeping a short lease. Twelve payments at that monthly rate total $179.88, and that sum sits $79.89 above the annual Core bill. The pricing page does not print a savings badge the way some competitors do. That gap is what you pay for the option to stop after a month or two without having prepaid the rest.

Someone who already knows they will stay a year pays the lower figure and keeps the difference. Someone who might quit in month three pays for unused months on the annual bill, or pays the higher monthly rate and leaves when the next charge would hit. The trial delays the first charge by a week, and the payment method is already on file, so the free week does not make that choice.

The same twelve-month monthly total is the wrong benchmark for Plus, because Plus has no monthly card. The only Plus bill on the page is the annual one. You cannot buy a single month of the forecast, the business books, or the will and then stop.

The monthly labels do not multiply back to the bill

$8.33 times 12 is $99.96, which is $0.03 under the annual Core charge. The yearly toggle divides that annual charge by 12 and rounds the display to the cent, so multiplying the label leaves you short of what the card will bill. Plus runs the other direction, because $16.67 times 12 is $200.04, which is $0.05 over the annual Plus bill the card says is charged. The charge that matters is the billed figure, not the per-month label beside it.

That rounding is small next to the monthly-versus-annual gap above. It still matters if you copy the label into a spreadsheet and treat twelve labels as the invoice.

Code WELCOME is 30% off one plan, for new users, until it is not

The banner on September 24, 2026 reads 30% off your first year with code WELCOME. The footer limits it to new users, blocks combining it with other offers, and restricts it to the annual Core plan. The code may expire or be deactivated at any time. It does not touch the monthly Core price or Plus, so a monthly subscriber and a Plus buyer pay the full sticker.

That cut on the annual Core price leaves $69.99 for the first year before any conversion a bank adds, if the code still works at checkout. That is $30.00 off the sticker when the discount is rounded to the cent. The second year returns to the full annual Core bill, and a screenshot of the banner is not a price lock.

The same footer says Monarch provides information and tools, not personalized financial, investment, tax, or legal advice, and that projections are hypothetical. A tax professional should review tax exports before filing. Will preparation is provided by Trust & Will, not Monarch, and Trust & Will is not a law firm. Those lines sit under every plan, including Core, which does not include the will.

The trial needs a card, and the guarantee is not printed as a day count

Cancel in settings before the 7 days end, or the card is billed. That instruction is on both plan cards, so the trial is not a look that starts without a payment method. Forgetting the date is how the free week becomes the annual or monthly charge. The pricing FAQ adds that web signup is easier to manage than the Apple Store or Google Play, and that you can cancel anytime.

The same FAQ points to a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee, and the pricing page does not say whether that refund is the whole charge. Monarch's money-back guarantee article refunds the remaining time on the subscription, then cancels it so premium access ends immediately. You can still log in to download history, and institution connections are disconnected 30 days after a subscription ends. The article asks you not to delete the account before requesting the refund.

Six months into an annual bill, remaining time is about half the charge, not the full sticker. A store purchase does not get this refund from Monarch at all, because Apple handles those refunds.

Monarch's cancellation article says a canceled direct subscription keeps access for the time already paid. Direct billing is canceled from Billing Settings on the web, and store subscriptions are canceled in Google Play or in Apple's list. If Monarch does not appear there, the article says you may be on a family plan and need the family manager to cancel.

The pricing cards do not add a per-person price you could turn off on your own. How an invite works is in the comparison linked above.

Plus is $100 more a year, and the launch post used a round number

Plus costs $100 more than annual Core, and you cannot sample it for a single month. The April 20, 2026 launch post introduced the tier and wrote the price as $199 a year. The pricing card on September 24, 2026 shows $199.99 billed annually. Use the card for the bill, because the post is the feature list and the date the tier appeared, not the current invoice.

The card and the post agree on what the extra money is for. Forecasting projects net worth from the income, expenses, and balances already in the account, which is a projection from linked data rather than a second set of books. Business tracking is for sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, freelancers, and rentals, with a profit-and-loss view and a Schedule C export.

The post says the tool does not invoice or run payroll, and that Plus setup belongs on desktop web. Investment tools add Morningstar fund analysis and a gains-and-losses view based on what you paid. Skip the higher bill if you need invoices, payroll, or a setup you can finish on a phone.

The will is the line that is easy to over-read. The launch post called a will through Trust & Will a $299 value, for a limited time, and said it was included with Plus. The pricing card on September 24 still lists a will, and it does not repeat that value. The footer says Trust & Will provides the document and is not a law firm.

Pay the higher bill if you wanted the forecast, the business books, or the will. A household that only needs the month planned is paying $100 a year for tools the Core card already left off.

Monarch's Plus help article says Plus is billed annually through Stripe and is not sold in the App Store or Google Play. A 7-day trial starts when you upgrade, and the charge waits until that trial ends, so the annual bill does not hit on the day you upgrade. Downgrading at the end of the period removes forecasting, business tracking, advanced investment analysis, gains and losses, and estate planning. The article says the budget, accounts, transactions, and history stay, so a downgrade removes tools and keeps the records.

What Copilot, YNAB, Empower, and Kubera charge for a different job

These four are the products we already publish, and none of them copies the Core and Plus split. Prices were read on each company's own site on September 24, 2026, except Kubera's tier split, which is from its help article updated August 12, 2026.

Copilot's year is $4.99 under the annual Core price, which is not the reason to switch, because the jobs differ. Twelve payments at $13 total $156, and that sum minus the yearly price is $61, which is the 39% the homepage prints. Copilot's FAQ includes one month for new users and says the app does not keep business books, so a Schedule C export stays a Plus decision. People who left Mint can start from best Mint alternatives.

YNAB's monthly price matches Core's monthly sticker, and the annual plan is $9.01 above annual Core, so the yearly bill alone favors Core. YNAB's pricing page calls its own monthly-versus-annual gap $70 in savings. Twelve of those monthly payments are $179.88, which is $70.88 above the $109 annual plan, so the badge rounds the arithmetic down. A direct signup does not take a card for the 34 days, and the method is in the YNAB review.

College students with proof of enrollment get one free year, once, and Monarch's pricing page has no student price, so a student is comparing a free year with a paid trial.

Empower's tools FAQ says the dashboard and the financial tools cost nothing, and you start with an email and a phone number. That is a way to see linked accounts, portfolio mix, and a budget view without an annual bill. It is not a priced forecast, a business profit-and-loss, or a will. Net worth across these four is in the four-way comparison.

Kubera's homepage leads with $250 a year and says the price is for software, not a percentage of wealth. The help article puts Essentials at that figure and Black at $2,500 a year, with ownership tags and nested portfolios on Black. Essentials is already more than double annual Core, and that article lists no monthly price, so a one-month test is not a published option.

Which bill fits

Annual Core fits a household that will plan the month and stay the year. The monthly Core price fits a short stay, at $79.89 more if that stay becomes twelve payments. Plus fits a freelancer who will use the forecast, the business export, or the will, and who can pay through Stripe rather than an app store. Skip Plus if the month is the whole job, because that higher bill is only for the extra tools.

Copilot fits an Apple household that wants a longer trial at a yearly price a few dollars under Core. YNAB fits someone who will assign cash before spending and wants the longer card-free trial. Empower fits a picture of accounts with no subscription, and Kubera fits a balance sheet that has outgrown a household budget. Apps that stay free after a trial are in best free budgeting apps, and chat-style help on other products is in best AI personal finance apps.

How we checked

We read Monarch's pricing page and Canada page on September 24, 2026, the April 20, 2026 Plus launch post, the money-back guarantee article, the cancellation article, and the Plus tier article. We read Copilot's homepage and FAQ, YNAB's pricing page, Empower's tools page, and Kubera's homepage plus the Essentials-versus-Black article updated August 12, 2026. The savings average is FinanceRadar's high-yield savings statistics as of September 23, 2026, and the tracker count is the categories index the same week. No account was opened and no bank was connected for this article.

This is general information, not personalized financial advice. A commission on a link, if Financeradar is paid one, does not change the prices or the fit described here (how we make money).

FAQ

How much does Monarch Money cost in 2026?

Core is $99.99 a year, shown as $8.33 a month, or $14.99 a month, on Monarch's pricing page as of September 24, 2026. Plus is $199.99 a year, shown as $16.67 a month, with no monthly option. The Canada page says all prices are billed in USD, so a converted bank debit can differ from those stickers. Twelve monthly Core payments total $179.88, which is $79.89 more than paying annually, and that gap is the price of leaving inside the year. A new-user code, WELCOME, applies only to the first year of annual Core and can be turned off at any time.

Is there a free Monarch Money plan?

There is no permanent free plan, so the only window without a charge is the trial printed on the cards. Both cards include a 7-day trial, and both say a payment method is required and that you should cancel in settings before the trial ends. The pricing FAQ points to a money-back guarantee after purchase. The guarantee article refunds remaining time on the subscription rather than promising the entire charge back, and it excludes Apple App Store purchases. A longer card-free trial exists on YNAB, not on this pricing page, and free dashboards are a different product, covered in best free budgeting apps.

What does the Monarch WELCOME code save?

The pricing page banner on September 24, 2026 offers 30% off the first year with code WELCOME. The footer says new users only, annual Core only, no combining with other offers, and the code may expire or be deactivated at any time. Applied to the annual Core price, that cut leaves $69.99 for the first year. It does not reduce the monthly Core price or the Plus bill, so those buyers pay the sticker even when the banner is up. The second year goes back to the full annual Core price if you stay, which means the code is not a permanent rate.

Does Monarch Plus have a monthly price?

No. The Plus card shows an annual bill only, so you cannot buy the forecast for a month and then stop. The Plus help article says that tier is billed annually through Stripe, not through the App Store or Google Play, so a store subscription is not the checkout for this tier. A 7-day trial starts when you upgrade, and the charge waits until the trial ends. The April 20, 2026 launch post wrote the price as $199 a year, and the pricing card now shows the annual amount with the cents included. The extra tools are a forecast, business income and expenses with a Schedule C export, Morningstar fund analysis, gains and losses, and a will prepared by Trust & Will. The launch post called that will a $299 value for a limited time, and the pricing card no longer prints that figure.

How does Monarch pricing compare with Copilot and YNAB?

Copilot is $95 a year or $13 a month, and the homepage calls the yearly bill a 39% savings against twelve monthly payments of $156. That yearly price is $4.99 under annual Core, and Copilot's FAQ gives new users one month and lists no Android app. YNAB is $109 a year, or the same monthly sticker as Core, plus tax, with 34 days and no card on a direct signup. YNAB's annual bill is $9.01 above annual Core, so the yearly comparison favors Core and the trial is the reason to look at YNAB. Empower's dashboard and tools are free after an email and a phone number. Kubera Essentials is $250 a year and Black is $2,500 a year, with no monthly price in the August 12, 2026 help article.

Can you get a refund after paying for Monarch?

The guarantee article says Monarch refunds the remaining time if you decide after purchase that you do not want the product. It then cancels the subscription so premium access ends immediately, which means the refund is not a way to keep using the paid features. Connections are disconnected 30 days after a subscription ends, and you can still log in to download history before that. Apple App Store subscriptions are refunded by Apple, not by Monarch. Canceling without asking for a refund, on a direct bill, leaves access through the period already paid. If a Play Store or App Store list does not show the subscription, the cancellation article says a family manager may have to cancel it.

Is this Monarch pricing page personal financial advice?

No. It is general information from Monarch, Copilot, YNAB, Empower, and Kubera pages on September 24, 2026, plus FinanceRadar's savings average as of September 23, 2026. Your bank may fail to connect, the code on the banner may already be off, and interest is taxable. The balance that matches an annual Core bill before tax does not match it after tax.

Cite this: FinanceRadar, "Monarch Money Pricing in 2026: Core, Plus, and Trial", September 2026.