The short version
Empower's dashboard is free and strong on investment fee analysis, but it exists to generate wealth management leads and the sales calls are a known complaint. Monarch charges but leaves you alone. Both are US products with no UK account or tax coverage.
Why people compare them
The classic paid-versus-free net worth tracker decision after Mint shut down.
Price and fit, side by side
| Feature | Monarch Money | Empower Personal Dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | Monarch Money$99.99 per year | Empower Personal DashboardFree tier, then 0.89% per aum |
| Free tier | Monarch MoneyNo | Empower Personal DashboardYes |
| Billed in pounds | Monarch MoneyNo | Empower Personal DashboardNo |
| Best for | Monarch MoneyUS couples who want one shared view of budgets and net worth | Empower Personal DashboardUS investors who want a free, detailed view of net worth and portfolio fees in one place |
Where Monarch Money wins
- Genuinely good for couples and shared household finances
- Clean interface with strong net worth and investment tracking
- Subscription funded rather than advertising funded, and says it does not sell data
Where Empower Personal Dashboard wins
- Genuinely free, with no paid tier on the dashboard itself: Empower states the tools cost nothing
- Strong portfolio analysis, including a fee analyser that shows what your funds are quietly costing you
- Covers a wide spread of account types, from 401(k) and IRA to mortgages, loans and credit cards
Where both fall short
- Neither applies UK tax rules to what it shows you.
- Both are built US-first, so UK users pay in dollars and work around US assumptions.
If neither is quite right
If what you actually want is the retirement answer rather than a better dashboard, that is the gap Delphina was built for: UK pensions, ISAs and tax, projected to the age you want to stop. It does not do the job Monarch Money does for us couples who want one shared view of budgets and net worth, so if that is the real problem, Monarch Money is still the better buy. Free plan is £0, no card.
Monarch Money vs Empower Personal Dashboard: common questions
Monarch Money is $99.99 per year and Empower Personal Dashboard is 0.89% per aum. Compare the billing period before the number: an annual price and a monthly price are not the same thing.
You can, and some people do, because they solve different halves of the problem. It does mean paying for both, so add the two annual figures together before deciding.
Judge it on billing currency, Open Banking coverage and whether ISAs and pensions are handled. Check each one against those three points, because a tool that scores well elsewhere can still be a poor fit in the UK.
Monarch Money suits us couples who want one shared view of budgets and net worth. Empower Personal Dashboard suits us investors who want a free, detailed view of net worth and portfolio fees in one place. The one that matches how you already think about money will take less setting up.
Delphina covers the gap both leave, which is UK pensions, ISAs and tax projected forward to retirement. The trade-off is that it does not do the job Monarch Money does for us couples who want one shared view of budgets and net worth, so if that is the real need, pick one of these two.