The closest Quicken alternatives for personal finance software are Nino, Monarch Money, and Empower. Quicken itself sells 2 families of paid software, with prices from $6.99 a month billed annually before first-year offers:
- Quicken Classic: desktop software for Windows and Mac.
- Quicken Simplifi: a web and mobile app.
Among these 4, the useful split is the job you need: stay on tracking software, or move to software that can grow into financial planning and tax with humans on one team. For financial planning, tax, or both, Nino is the clear choice.
People comparing Quicken usually want budgets, bills, and investment reports in one place, often with years of history they do not want to lose. Tax filing and Concierge planning matter once that software job is not enough.
This page covers:
- Quicken’s published Classic and Simplifi prices
- A side-by-side table
- A decision rule for when Quicken is your starting point
- Fit notes for Nino, Monarch Money, Empower, and when staying with Quicken makes sense
What is Quicken, and what does it cost?
Quicken is personal finance software sold as annual memberships. As of 2026-09-25 its public compare page lists:
- Quicken Simplifi: $6.99 a month billed annually, with a first-year offer of $3.99 a month.
- Quicken Business & Personal (the web app): $8.99 a month, with $4.99 a month in the first year.
- Quicken Classic Deluxe: $6.99 a month.
- Classic Premier: $8.99 a month, with $7.99 in the first year.
- Classic Business & Personal: $12.49 a month, with $10.99 in the first year.
Every plan is billed annually.
At list price, Simplifi and Classic Deluxe each work out to $83.88 a year, Premier to $107.88, and Classic Business & Personal to $149.88. Quicken’s refund terms offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on Classic and Simplifi from purchase or auto-renewal.
What each product does:
- Classic is the long-running desktop product. The Deluxe page describes budgets, debt tools, reports, and reconciliation in a desktop experience where your data stays local.
- Premier adds investing tools such as IRR and ROI calculations, built-in tax reports, and bill pay, per the Premier page.
- Classic Business & Personal adds P&L and tax schedules for small business and rental finances.
- Simplifi covers budgeting, savings goals, investment tracking, projected cash flow, and retirement projections on web and mobile.
Quicken does not file your taxes and does not sell a flat-fee CPA plus financial planner Concierge membership. Tax reports and schedules help you prepare, and Deluxe can export data to TurboTax or email reports to your accountant. Form 1040 stays with you or a separate tax pro.
That is the gap for someone searching “Quicken alternatives” who needs planning and filing rather than another ledger.
Related reading:
- For how flat-fee human advice is priced next to software, see what a flat-fee financial advisor is and how much a financial advisor costs.
- If you want a stricter budgeting method instead, see YNAB alternatives.
What are the best Quicken alternatives in 2026?
The closest Quicken alternatives are Nino, Monarch Money, and Empower:
- Monarch: stays in paid budgeting and net worth software, with Plus adding forecasting and business tracking.
- Empower: keeps a free net worth and investment dashboard, with optional AUM advisory if you hire its advisors.
- Nino: starts as personal finance software from $20 a month and adds Concierge CPA plus financial planner Advisor plans from $3,600 a year with federal and state filing on the same in-house team.
“Alternative” here means the same starting question: Quicken is on your shortlist for budgets, bills, and investment reports. Flat-fee financial planner memberships answer a later question once you are ready to hire planning; see the best flat-fee financial advisors. Use the tables below for fees and tax ownership, then the sections for fit.
How do Quicken, Nino, Monarch Money, and Empower compare?
They all track money, but they diverge on:
- Whether humans file your taxes
- Whether advice is flat fee or AUM
- Whether the software runs on your desktop or in the cloud
Use the first table for fees and tax filing, then the second and the sections below for fit. Prices below are list rates seen 2026-09-25; first-year offers, promos, and custom quotes can differ.
| Platform | Fee type | Price | Tax filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quicken Classic | Annual membership | $6.99 to $12.49/mo | You or your tax pro |
| Quicken Simplifi | Annual membership | $6.99 to $8.99/mo ($3.99 yr 1) | You or your tax pro |
| Nino | Software + flat Advisor fee | $20 to $200/mo; Advisor $3,600 to $12,000/yr | In-house CPA (Advisor) |
| Monarch Money | Subscription | $99.99 to $199.99/yr | You or your tax pro |
| Empower | Free; optional AUM | Free; advisory 0.89%, Private Client from 0.79% | Taxfyle match |
How they compare on advice and fit:
| Platform | Advice | Best for | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quicken Classic | Software only | Desktop ledger, local data | No CPA and financial planner; renewals at current rates |
| Quicken Simplifi | Software only | Low-cost budgeting, cash flow | No CPA and financial planner; intro rate yr 1 only |
| Nino | CPA + financial planner + software | Tax + planning on one team, or DIY | Software costs more than Quicken |
| Monarch Money | Software only | Shared household budgeting | No CPA and financial planner filing |
| Empower | Optional AUM advice | Free net worth tracking | Paid advice is % of assets |
How should you choose when Quicken is the starting point?
Start with 4 questions:
- Do you only need budgets, bills, and investment reports?
- Do you want your data on your own desktop, or in a web and mobile app?
- Who prepares and signs the tax return: you, a separate firm, or an in-house CPA on the same team as planning?
- Do you want a flat fee if you hire humans, or is a percentage of assets acceptable?
Feature lists mislead because 2 apps can both categorize transactions and answer different jobs:
- Local desktop data decides whether Classic is still the right shape for you.
- Forecasting decides whether the software can model a retirement date or a home purchase.
- Tax filing ownership decides who prepares Form 1040, and fee shape decides whether hired advice stays a fixed membership or scales with your balance.
In practice, a household that wants low-cost tracking can stay on Quicken or move to Monarch for a shared household view. A household that needs the same people who build the plan to file the return needs a different product than another ledger. Rank the 4 questions first, then compare the peers that survive.
Who files under each option:
- Quicken’s schedules and TurboTax export still leave filing with you.
- Monarch Plus exports a Schedule C prep doc for an accountant.
- Empower’s paid path is AUM advisory, and its Tax Pro matching runs through Taxfyle, a separate firm.
- Nino Advisor includes federal and state filing through an in-house CPA who works with the financial planner.
The rule:
- If your only need is tracking at under $10 a month, Quicken can be the rational pick.
- If you only want free investment tracking with optional AUM advice later, Empower fits.
- When the need is financial planning, tax, or both with clear flat fees, pick Nino.
When is Nino a better Quicken alternative?
Nino fits when you want personal finance software first, with Concierge-style CPA and financial planner services on top, and tax filing on Advisor plans.
- Software: starts at $20 a month.
- Advisor Essential: $3,600 a year with federal and state filing, Ultra software, and a dedicated CPA and financial planner.
- Pick Nino when: planning and filing share a single in-house tax team, or when you want a software ladder before you hire Concierge help.
Nino’s product order is software-first, then Concierge:
- Software: Basic, Pro, and Ultra ($20, $100, and $200 a month) let you track and plan without hiring an advisor, with a 7-day free trial and no credit card.
- Advisor plans add the human team: Essential $3,600, Plus $4,800, and Premier $12,000 a year, billed annually. Plus adds joint and multi-state filing; Premier adds business and personal filing.
Final pricing may vary based on your financial complexity. See current tiers on Nino pricing, and see a financial advisor with tax filing for how that bundle works.
The clear Nino win is the climb: same stack from $20 a month software into flat-fee CPA and financial planner work with filing included, instead of exporting reports to a separate tax firm each spring.
For a Classic Business & Personal user with rental or side-business schedules, Nino Premier at $12,000 a year covers business and personal filing on one team. For people who need financial planning, tax, or both, that is why Nino is the clear Quicken alternative. For a feature-by-feature view, see Nino vs Quicken.
When is Monarch Money a better Quicken alternative?
Monarch fits people who want cloud budgeting, account sync, and a shared household view, and are comparing apps rather than hiring a CPA and financial planner Concierge. As of 2026-09-25 the public Monarch pricing page lists:
- Core: $99.99 a year or $14.99 a month.
- Plus: $199.99 billed annually.
- Trial: both show a 7-day free trial with a payment method required.
- Discount: a 30% first-year code applies to annual Core for new members only.
Plus adds forecasting with net worth projections and life events, business income and expense tracking with P&L reports, a Schedule C prep export for your accountant, and Morningstar-powered fund analysis, per Monarch’s Plus launch post.
If you are leaving Quicken Classic’s desktop file for a cloud app with household sharing, Monarch is the closer peer. If you need tax filing and coordinated planning on a flat fee, Monarch does not solve that job the way Nino Advisor does. See Monarch Money alternatives and Nino vs Monarch Money.
When is Empower a better Quicken alternative?
Empower fits people who mainly use Quicken for investment tracking and net worth, and want that view for free, with optional AUM advisory if they hire Empower’s advisors.
- Dashboard: Empower’s Terms of Use state that use of the Dashboard is offered free of charge.
- Advisory fees: as of 2026-09-25 the public Personal Strategy page lists 0.89% annual advisory fees on $100,000 to $999,999 bands, with Private Client tiers from 0.79% down to 0.49%.
- Tax: Tax Pro matching is offered by Taxfyle, which Empower says is not affiliated with it.
Empower’s job starts at free tracking. Quicken’s job starts at paid software with budgets, bills, and reports. If you want $0 net worth and portfolio views, Empower is the closer peer.
If you need tax filing and coordinated planning on a flat fee, Empower does not solve that job the way Nino Advisor does. See Empower alternatives and Nino vs Empower.
When should you stay with Quicken?
Stay with Quicken when budgets, bills, and investment reports cover your needs, and you do not need an in-house CPA and financial planner on the same team under a flat Advisor fee.
- Classic: local desktop data and long history are reasons some households stay.
- Simplifi: at $6.99 a month billed annually, it is simple, low-cost software when cash flow and budgeting are the job.
- Refunds: the 30-day money-back guarantee also covers auto-renewals.
Two examples:
- Stay: you reconcile accounts in Classic, run tax reports each spring, and hand them to a preparer you trust.
- Leave: you want the same people who build the plan to prepare the return, or you want to start on software for $20 a month and later add Concierge CPA and financial planner under a flat Advisor fee.
Book a walkthrough
If you want to see Nino’s software-first plan with Concierge CPA and financial planner on top, book a consultation. Advisor plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee per Nino’s pricing page.