Monarch vs. EveryDollar: Which Budgeting App Is Best?

You’ve read the reviews about budgeting apps. You’ve watched the videos. You’ve opened approximately 47 browser tabs. Okay, maybe not 47.

But you’ve done your homework, and now you’re down to Monarch and EveryDollar. So which budgeting app will actually help you make progress with your money?

So, let’s take a closer look at Monarch and EveryDollar and see how they compare on method, features, price and more.

What Is Monarch?

Monarch is a paid personal finance app that helps you keep tabs on your bank accounts, credit cards, loans and investments in one place. It includes budgeting and net worth tracking, but it doesn’t offer a free plan or follow one specific budgeting method.

Basically, Monarch gives you a wide-angle view of your financial life. That can be useful, but it's not enough if you really want to take control of your money.

What Is EveryDollar?

EveryDollar is Ramsey Solutions’ budgeting app built on the zero-based budgeting method. It helps you tell every dollar where to go—giving, saving or spending—so you can find margin, pay off debt, and build wealth with a simple budget.

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What's the Difference in Budgeting Approach Between EveryDollar and Monarch?

The biggest difference is the budgeting method: EveryDollar uses zero-based budgeting, while Monarch offers multiple budgeting styles but doesn’t require you to follow any of them. Monarch can help you see everything your money is doing, but that isn’t the same as deciding what your money should do.

Here’s how that shakes out:

Monarch gives you more ways to track and manage your overall financial picture, while EveryDollar keeps budgeting front and center. So if your main goal is to be intentional with the money coming in and going out each month, EveryDollar takes a more focused approach.

How Do EveryDollar and Monarch Handle Transaction Entry and Bank Syncing?

Both apps let you connect your bank accounts to import transactions automatically, and both allow manual entry if you’d rather not link your accounts. The biggest difference is what you do with those transactions once they show up.

With EveryDollar, you build your budget first, then track transactions throughout the month to stick to the plan you made. Here’s what that could look like for a household bringing home $5,000 a month:

1. Enter your monthly take-home pay: $5,000.
2. Create your categories for giving, saving, necessities (aka the Four Walls) debt payments and any other spending.
3. Assign every dollar a job—$500 to giving, $3,200 to the Four Walls, $1,000 to the debt snowball, and $300 to other spending—until income minus expenses equals zero.
4. Track your spending throughout the month as transactions come in, adjusting the budget as needed.

With bank connection, transactions automatically show up in EveryDollar so you can track them to the right budget categories. You can also enter transactions manually as you spend.

Monarch imports your transactions—and automatically categorizes them too. This sounds convenient, but it takes you out of the driver’s seat. An app doesn’t know whether your Amazon purchase is candy for your Fun Money line or toilet paper for your Home Goods line. But you do.

So while both apps can take some of the work out of tracking transactions, EveryDollar connects that tracking back to your zero-based budget.

How Do EveryDollar and Monarch Compare on Price?

EveryDollar starts free and tops out at $79.99 a year for premium, while Monarch starts at $99.99 a year and doesn’t offer a free plan.¹

New EveryDollar users find an extra $395 in their budget and cut monthly expenses by about 9% in their first month. That’s real progress!

But like YNAB, Rocket Money and other budgeting apps, EveryDollar and Monarch offer different features at different price points. So, what will each one actually cost you?

How Does the User Experience Compare?

EveryDollar keeps your monthly budget on one screen, while Monarch’s broader financial dashboard spreads your accounts, investments, budget and net worth across several views. With EveryDollar, you can quickly see what’s coming in, what you planned to spend, what you’ve spent and what’s left.

Neither approach is complicated—they just have different priorities.

EveryDollar puts the focus on the spending decisions you make every day. Because yes, knowing your net worth is useful. But knowing you have $83 left in the restaurant category when somebody suggests Mexican food Friday night? That’s useful right now.

That’s what a budget does: It turns your bigger financial goals into a plan you can follow.

Who Should Use EveryDollar vs. Monarch?

Here’s the short answer: Choose EveryDollar if you want to build a budget, work the Baby Steps, and make a plan for every dollar before you spend it. Monarch can give you a big-picture view of your accounts, but it’s not Ramsey’s recommended budgeting solution.

And here’s the slightly longer answer. (You knew there had to be one.)

EveryDollar is a good fit if:

• You want a clear budgeting method that helps you decide what to do with your money—not just see where it went.
• You’re working the Baby Steps and want a budgeting tool that fits the plan.
• You want to start budgeting for free and decide later if you need the paid features.
• You want a simple monthly budget that helps you stay intentional with your spending, even when you’re on the go.

Monarch may be helpful if:

• You’re mainly looking for a big-picture view of your finances (but you’ll still need a plan for what to do with your money each month).
• You want to track investments, retirement accounts and net worth alongside your spending.
• You want more financial tracking and forecasting tools and don’t mind paying a pretty penny for them.

Monarch gives you the ability to monitor your financial picture, but if you actually want to take control of your money, choose EveryDollar.

What Happens When Real Life Hits the Budget?

When life throws your budget a curveball, a zero-based plan helps you decide what to do with your money next.

Picture a household bringing home $5,200 a month. They’re on Baby Step 2 and attacking their debt with the debt snowball.

Before the month begins, they sit down together and build their EveryDollar budget. They cover giving and the Four Walls, plan for upcoming expenses, and send every extra dollar they can find toward their smallest debt.

Then a $200 insurance overpayment refund hits their account.

Without a plan, that $200 can disappear pretty fast. A few dinners out. An Amazon order. A quick Target run for “just toothpaste” that somehow ends with two throw pillows, a candle and $137 missing from the checking account. (We all know how this works.)

But with EveryDollar, they already have a framework for deciding what happens next. They open the budget, give that $200 a job, and send it toward their smallest debt.

In Monarch, that same $200 would show up alongside the rest of their financial picture. They could choose what to do with it, but Monarch’s budgeting approach doesn’t require them to assign every dollar or point them back to the Baby Steps.

Why Does Ramsey Recommend EveryDollar Over Monarch?

Ramsey recommends EveryDollar because it helps you make intentional decisions with your money before you spend it. You make a plan based on your income, expenses and where you are in the Baby Steps. Then, when an unexpected expense pops up or your plans change, you adjust the plan and keep moving.

The Baby Steps give you a clear path for what to do with your money as you get out of debt, save for emergencies, invest for the future, and build wealth. And your budget helps you put that plan into action one month at a time.

As Randi shared in THE Ramsey Baby Steps Community Facebook group:

“I’m the planner and the dreamer and I could see how the Baby Steps were going to work and how we could go from simply surviving to thriving. I’m so thankful for a supportive husband who thought I was (maybe) a little crazy but was willing to come alongside me. We worked our butts off to reach our goals and I’m so stinkin’ proud of us!”

“I’m the planner and the dreamer and I could see how the Baby Steps were going to work and how we could go from simply surviving to thriving. I’m so thankful for a supportive husband who thought I was (maybe) a little crazy but was willing to come alongside me. We worked our butts off to reach our goals and I’m so stinkin’ proud of us!”

–Randi

That’s the kind of progress a plan can help you work toward.