Empower alternative
Looking for a Empower alternative?
Piggey shows you where your money goes — AI does the categorizing, no bank login, no budgeting homework. Free to start.
Try the alternative freeWhy people look for Empower alternatives
People leave Empower's dashboard for two reasons: the spending/budgeting tools are clearly the neglected corner of an investment product, and the advisor calls — link six figures of assets and the wealth-management outreach begins. It's a fair trade for a free tool (that's the business model), but if you came for spending insight, you're using the wrong end of the product.
- Spending tools are rudimentary — it's an investment product
- Advisor sales calls when you link significant assets
- No subscription detection, weak categorization
- Requires linking everything for the dashboard to be useful
What to look for in an alternative
Does it need your bank password?
Most finance apps only work if you hand your bank credentials to a third-party aggregator. If that's the part that makes you uneasy, look for an app that works from data you export yourself.
How much work does it demand?
Budgeting apps fail when the maintenance burden wins. Be honest about whether you'll do weekly check-ins — and if not, pick a tool where the insight is automatic.
Who does the categorizing?
Categorization is where spending clarity lives or dies. Rule-based systems miscategorize constantly; manual systems get abandoned. AI that reads real bank descriptions is the difference between a chore and a dashboard.
Piggey vs Empower, side by side
Empower's dashboard is genuinely free and genuinely good — for investments and net worth. Spending tracking is the afterthought, and the business model is upselling you to managed wealth services (with advisor calls once you link >$100k). Piggey is the inverse: spending clarity is the whole product, and nobody will ever call you.
| Piggey | Empower | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, or $16/mo Pro — first month free | Dashboard: free. Wealth management: 0.49–0.89% AUM |
| Free plan | Yes — a real one, forever | Yes — the whole dashboard |
| Bank login | Never. Import a CSV — your credentials stay at your bank | Required |
| Budgeting required | None required | Basic |
| AI categorization | Automatic — AI tags your whole history at once | Basic automatic |
| Subscription detection | Yes (Pro) — flags the charges worth cancelling | No |
| AI assistant | Penny — ask anything about your money in plain English | No |
| Setup time | ~5 minutes | ~20 minutes |
| Platforms | Any browser | Web, iOS, Android |
| Privacy | No bank credentials, no data selling | Free because it feeds a wealth-management funnel |
Switch to Piggey if…
People whose actual question is "where does my money go each month?" — Empower barely tries to answer that. Piggey's AI answers it automatically, without bank linking, and without anyone trying to manage your wealth.
Stick with Empower if…
Investors who want a free consolidated view of portfolios, fees, and net worth — it's the best free tool for that job, sales calls notwithstanding.
Making the switch
Keep Empower for investments if you like it — plenty of people run both. For the spending side, export bank CSVs into Piggey and let the AI build the picture Empower never did.
- 1Export a CSV from your bank (or from Empower, if it offers exports)
- 2Drop it into Piggey — the AI categorizes your whole history at once
- 3Review the dashboard, correct anything the AI got wrong (it learns)
- 4That's it. Repeat monthly — about five minutes
Other Empower alternatives worth knowing
Piggey isn't the right fit for everyone — different tools suit different people. Here are the other serious options, with honest one-liners:
- Mint
The free budgeting pioneer that Intuit shut down in 2024, sending millions of users looking for a new home.
- YNAB
The envelope-budgeting methodology with devoted fans, a real learning curve, and a $109/yr price tag.
- Monarch Money
The polished heir to Mint's throne — full-featured, household-friendly, $99.99/yr, and built around bank linking.
- Rocket Money
The subscription-cancellation app with a concierge service — and a cut of your savings.
- Copilot Money
The prettiest finance app in the room — genuinely smart ML categorization, but Apple-only and $95/yr.
- PocketGuard
The "In My Pocket" app — boils your finances down to one spendable number, behind a bank link and a $74.99/yr Plus tier.
Frequently asked questions
Is Piggey a replacement for Empower?
Only on the spending side. Empower is an investment/net-worth dashboard with weak spending tools; Piggey is a spending-clarity tool with no investment tracking. Many people use both.
Will Piggey try to sell me wealth management?
No. Piggey's business model is the Pro subscription ($16/mo, first month free). No advisors, no calls, no AUM fees.