Mint is free, and gets you up and running with your budget and account views within minutes thanks to their step-by-step tutorial when you sign up. After you set up your accounts, Mint imports the last 3 months of transactions. Mint's predefined categories are applied to each transaction and, based on these categories, it automatically creates a budget for you. You can add as many sub-categories as you like and Mint will remember these assignments going forward. Mint.com is one of the most popular personal finance sites on the internet. It automates nearly every aspect of making a budget and tracking your spending. Some of Mint's highlights include:

Free
Quick set up
Past transactions
Automatic budget creation
Customizable
Goal setting
Versatile home page
Free credit score
Triple layer security
Mobile access

Also, you're not stuck with the initial automatic budget; you can tinker with it to your own liking. In addition to budgeting, Mint also allows you to set up goals like paying off your credit card or saving up for a big purchase, and tracks your progress toward those goals. Since Mint can capture all of your accounts, the dashboard home page makes it simple to see your financial health at-a-glance, including:

Recent transactions
Spending by category
Budget tracking
Alerts
Advice and tips
Account balances
Net worth

Alerts can be customized based on your preferences. Mint will send notifications through email or text message informing you of a low balance, unusual spending, fees incurred or goals reached. The design is colorful and easy to read and you can customize it by adding or removing charts and widgets. Mint also supports mobile access, providing apps for:

iOS
Google Play
Windows Phone
Amazon

Mint is the only personal finance site to offer free credit score tracking, provided via Equifax - not even a credit card required. This feature is critical if you're saving for a big purchase like a home or a car. You can even opt to display your score on your home dashboard page so that you can keep constant tabs on it. To ensure high levels of security, Mint operates on a "triple layer security" system. Additional security authentication is required on mobile devices with a 4-digit pin for its mobile apps - or you can opt to use Touch ID fingerprint verification for iOS.

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The Bad

Manually add accounts
No demo
Too simplistic for some needs

While Mint gives you a detailed view of your financial past and present, it falls short on forecasting your future balances. You can't manually add accounts, which some people prefer instead of handing over their account information to automatically sync bank and credit card transactions. Mint also doesn't offer functionality to reconcile your bank statements (what we used to call "balancing your checkbook") either. Some common concerns regarding Mint include:

Advertising
Little pre-sign up info
Lacks forecasting
No reconciling
Few investment tools

Mint offers it's services for free, which means they have included advertising on the site. Although it's simple to get set up Mint with the tutorials provided after you register, there is little pre-signup information offered on the website. Some people may feel uncomfortable signing up for a product they can't demo or even see in a video ahead of time. If you're a high-end user of investment and wealth management tools, Mint will probably seem too simplistic for you. It also doesn't support many financial institutions outside of the U.S. In fact, there isn't even an option to purchase an upgrade to get this type of functionality.

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The Bottom Line

Mint.com is one of the most popular online personal finance sites - and for good reason. It excels in helping you create and stick to a budget and keeps you on track with your financial goals across a wide variety of devices. Mint's free credit score tracking is a killer app which is unique among its competitors and this feature alone would be a good reason for choosing Mint. Its security pedigree, hailing from its parent company, Intuit, is solid and trustworthy. Those that use Mint can expect the following from their service:

Free software
Quality financial management tools
Advertising on the app

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