Monarch: Budget & Track Money

What it does

Monarch is a comprehensive personal finance tool designed to give users a unified view of their financial life. It allows users to connect bank accounts, track spending and income, monitor their net worth, set and track savings goals, and create detailed budgets. The app aims to replace traditional spreadsheets and multiple banking apps with a single, intuitive dashboard.

Where it shines

Monarch excels at guiding new users through what can be an intimidating setup process. Immediately after a thorough onboarding, a 'Getting Started' widget appears on the dashboard (01:36), breaking down the setup into four clear tasks. This turns a complex process into a manageable checklist. The goal-setting flow is another highlight. At 03:26, it uses a visual, card-based interface for selecting goals like saving for a house or a car, making abstract financial targets feel more tangible and motivating.

UX highlights

Guided Setup: The persistent 'Getting Started' checklist (01:36) effectively serves as a secondary onboarding, ensuring users engage with core features.
Manual Account Flexibility: The app provides a clear path for adding accounts manually (01:55), catering to users who are privacy-conscious or have unsupported institutions.
Visual Goal Prioritization: After selecting goals, users can drag and drop them to set priorities (03:47), a simple interaction that adds a powerful layer of personal control.
Structured Progress Review: The app offers a story-like monthly progress report (06:35), breaking down complex data into digestible screens like cash flow and net worth changes.
Contextual Financial Education: Throughout the goal and budget setup, the app explains the 'why' behind each step, subtly educating the user on financial planning.
Clean Data Visualization: Even with no data entered, the dashboards for net worth, spending, and budgets are cleanly laid out and easy to understand.

Monetization & growth

Monarch uses a hard paywall with a 7-day free trial, a strategy common for apps that require significant user setup to demonstrate value. The paywall screen (01:11) is presented before any features can be accessed. It effectively uses social proof, including press mentions from sources like Fast Company and a '1,000+ reviews' badge. The annual plan is highlighted with a 'SAVE 44%' tag and a price broken down by month ($8.33/mo) to make it seem more affordable than the standard monthly rate.

Who it’s for

Monarch appears to be for individuals or couples who are serious about taking control of their finances and are willing to invest time in setup. The feature set, which includes net worth tracking, investments, and detailed goal planning, suggests a target user who is moving beyond simple expense tracking. They are likely looking for a holistic view of their financial health and a tool to help them plan for major life goals like buying a home or saving for retirement.

Notes & opportunities

While the guided setup is excellent, the initial onboarding is quite long and requires a subscription commitment before the user can see the interface. This could be a significant drop-off point. At 04:30, the app shows that a linked savings account is already assigned to a different goal, which could be confusing for a first-time user. The app could provide a clearer explanation or a more flexible way to assign funds from a single account to multiple goals. Lastly, the app's powerful features might benefit from short, embedded tooltips or video tutorials within each section to reduce the learning curve.