Mint.com is owned by INTUIT Corporation.
Eventually, it too will no longer be FREE.
I'm not a fan of iBank pricing which has already been discussed, especially the yearly fee, but don't expect INTUIT to continue this freebie forever.
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'iBank for iPad' Arrives in App Store
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Mint.com is owned by INTUIT Corporation.
Eventually, it too will no longer be FREE.
I'm not a fan of iBank pricing which has already been discussed, especially the yearly fee, but don't expect INTUIT to continue this freebie forever.
Intuit bought Mint.com years ago and there's been no indication that they're going to start charging for it. Plus it's already successfully monetized, starting to charge a fee for it now would not only be suicide, but it wouldn't make any business sense.
This is your assumption. What will determine if it is free or not is if they generate enough revenue from their partner referral business. If this continues to prove successful, I don't see why they would risk a working business model.
Boggle boggle
I love all the people saying 'WHY PAY FOR THIS??? MINT IS FREE!!1!'
Why pay for the Mac OS? Linux is free.
Mint has an awful user experience. "Oh, you got a new AmEx, so now you have two? Gee, well, we used to automatically detect that. But we turned it off about six months ago, because it corrupted people's data about one percent of the time. So now what you have to do is, delete your AmEx account entirely, thus DELETING ALL THE DATA ASSOCIATED WITH IT (including split transactions, categorizations, etc etc etc), and re-add it, then redo all of that yourself.' So basically, 'we decided that rather than have one percent of the people who added new cards get screwed up data, they we are going to force everyone who adds a new card to corrupt their own data.' And they've had six months to fix the problem. Mint is totally a development afterthought to Intuit, and they have no real interest in even maintaining it well, let alone improving it.
Or, hey, one of my (non-standard access, admittedly) accounts they have been consistently hitting it wrong somehow, which has resulted in my having to reset the password four times in the last several months. When I removed the account from their system, the problem stopped. Their response? 'Sorry, that can't be us, it's impossible.' I re-add Mint, and it happens again, the next day. I remove them, it stops again. 'Nope, can't be us.' Uh huh. Okay.
Or the fact that they are somehow incapable of detecting that I paid my bills. Yes, sure, I transferred $2118.33 to my AmEx last week, but that MIGHT not have been payment in full for my $2118.33 AmEx bill, so they're going to alert me about the bill over and over again anyway. And so I become desensitized to their alerts, which means if I really do forget to pay it, their alerts won't help any.
I have another half-dozen issues of similar type. The only reason I've used them for as long as I have is because I have two accounts that literally no other financial software can connect with, it appears. Including iBank. But make no mistake: I don't consider Mint to be worth what I'm paying for it. Many times, it's actually slower and more irritating than doing everything by hand, despite the fact that I have half a dozen different bank accounts and several credit cards.
I love all the people saying 'WHY PAY FOR THIS??? MINT IS FREE!!1!'
Why pay for the Mac OS? Linux is free.
Mint has an awful user experience. "Oh, you got a new AmEx, so now you have two? Gee, well, we used to automatically detect that. But we turned it off about six months ago, because it corrupted people's data about one percent of the time. So now what you have to do is, delete your AmEx account entirely, thus DELETING ALL THE DATA ASSOCIATED WITH IT (including split transactions, categorizations, etc etc etc), and re-add it, then redo all of that yourself.' So basically, 'we decided that rather than have one percent of the people who added new cards get screwed up data, they we are going to force everyone who adds a new card to corrupt their own data.' And they've had six months to fix the problem. Mint is totally a development afterthought to Intuit, and they have no real interest in even maintaining it well, let alone improving it.
Or, hey, one of my (non-standard access, admittedly) accounts they have been consistently hitting it wrong somehow, which has resulted in my having to reset the password four times in the last several months. When I removed the account from their system, the problem stopped. Their response? 'Sorry, that can't be us, it's impossible.' I re-add Mint, and it happens again, the next day. I remove them, it stops again. 'Nope, can't be us.' Uh huh. Okay.
Or the fact that they are somehow incapable of detecting that I paid my bills. Yes, sure, I transferred $2118.33 to my AmEx last week, but that MIGHT not have been payment in full for my $2118.33 AmEx bill, so they're going to alert me about the bill over and over again anyway. And so I become desensitized to their alerts, which means if I really do forget to pay it, their alerts won't help any.
I have another half-dozen issues of similar type. The only reason I've used them for as long as I have is because I have two accounts that literally no other financial software can connect with, it appears. Including iBank. But make no mistake: I don't consider Mint to be worth what I'm paying for it. Many times, it's actually slower and more irritating than doing everything by hand, despite the fact that I have half a dozen different bank accounts and several credit cards.
iBank? Mint? they're different
I want to chime in here to clear up some ambiguity, but not without mentioning my institutional bias: I work for IGG.
iBank for iPad isn't a free app for a few reasons, but if the comparison is with Mint, we believe iBank offers a more robust feature set, including a more advanced interface, better investment tracking, superior budgeting, and a full set of capabilities for managing transactions (to split, reconcile, categorize, schedule, etc.) - among other tools. If those things are worth paying for, we hope people will be interested in the product.
As noted elsewhere in this thread, we don't sell customer info or account data, or market anything to users. So while the point of charging for automated downloads is to provide a valuable, convenient service, it also means we to get to run a business without selling out our users. Note that there is no requirement to subscribe to Direct Access at all; you can manually enter data into the app, and users of our desktop version of iBank can simply sync their account data to the iPad version.
There are lots of "free" services that people use daily, including Google, Facebook and Mint. But as someone said to me recently, if you don't pay for the product... you ARE the product. That's just a different business model, and one we consciously aimed to avoid.
I want to chime in here to clear up some ambiguity, but not without mentioning my institutional bias: I work for IGG.
iBank for iPad isn't a free app for a few reasons, but if the comparison is with Mint, we believe iBank offers a more robust feature set, including a more advanced interface, better investment tracking, superior budgeting, and a full set of capabilities for managing transactions (to split, reconcile, categorize, schedule, etc.) - among other tools. If those things are worth paying for, we hope people will be interested in the product.
As noted elsewhere in this thread, we don't sell customer info or account data, or market anything to users. So while the point of charging for automated downloads is to provide a valuable, convenient service, it also means we to get to run a business without selling out our users. Note that there is no requirement to subscribe to Direct Access at all; you can manually enter data into the app, and users of our desktop version of iBank can simply sync their account data to the iPad version.
There are lots of "free" services that people use daily, including Google, Facebook and Mint. But as someone said to me recently, if you don't pay for the product... you ARE the product. That's just a different business model, and one we consciously aimed to avoid.
Thanks for your transparency and for clearing some things up. The NPR quote is right on the money.
I'll recommend iBank. Use the Mac and iPhone app myself. I manually enter my transactions though (don't really see the point in the auto-updating thing....might as well just look at my online banking app). Hopefully we'll see an update soon that utilizes iCloud to sync that data instead of having to rely on Bonjour and wifi syncing.
I highly like iBank. It has worked very well for me for years. I have also used their iPhone app to sync my accounts with my desktop to have my info and accounts on hand in case I need to look at my balance or add something on the go or on vacation so I don't have reciepts clogging up wallet.
They said in the article that you can pay for the service to sync but they also said you can do it via wifi for free to sync to desktop. Which on the desktop client you can setup your online accounts and download account statements for free.
I am happy paying for the desktop software for iBank cause it works for me and is worth the money to keep track of my money and spending.
They said in the article that you can pay for the service to sync but they also said you can do it via wifi for free to sync to desktop. Which on the desktop client you can setup your online accounts and download account statements for free.
I am happy paying for the desktop software for iBank cause it works for me and is worth the money to keep track of my money and spending.
Don't people also realize that some people live outside the US?
I personally am thrilled about this app.
"Mint is not yet available in Australia. You can sign up to get an email if theres any news."
One day American's will realise they are not the only people on this earth...
This is something that I would also love to see (along with many others), but don't hold your breath: IGG have stated that have no intention of building-in iCloud support to the iBank suite.
As an alternative.
Parallels, Windows, Quicken.
Mint is useful for review and tracking accounts.
Its nothing like Quicken.
If iBank would be like quicken (any account can be tracked) and have a billpay service for $ 10 a year, I would use it.
I am a heavy user of quicken billpay for which I do pay monthly to use. I get the ability to link my family's accounts to one place and move money from account to account. No bank, or any other service gives me this flexibility (and the limits for moving are very high). And, I can pay any bill (into the future) without a visit to the post office. $9.95/month
There is no sense fighting it, if iBank want to be a contender they have to start where quicken for PC is today.
On the flip side, Intuit is just plain stupid for not having a full featured product on Mac, and iPad. Even a successful company can be full of idiots.
Parallels, Windows, Quicken.
Mint is useful for review and tracking accounts.
Its nothing like Quicken.
If iBank would be like quicken (any account can be tracked) and have a billpay service for $ 10 a year, I would use it.
I am a heavy user of quicken billpay for which I do pay monthly to use. I get the ability to link my family's accounts to one place and move money from account to account. No bank, or any other service gives me this flexibility (and the limits for moving are very high). And, I can pay any bill (into the future) without a visit to the post office. $9.95/month
There is no sense fighting it, if iBank want to be a contender they have to start where quicken for PC is today.
On the flip side, Intuit is just plain stupid for not having a full featured product on Mac, and iPad. Even a successful company can be full of idiots.
I've used the mobile iBank app for a couple years because it's the easiest thing to enter transactions into on the fly. I still use cash a lot (how antiquated, I know, but damned if it doesn't keep me out of debt) and this has been a good way to keep track. I would use YNAB, but it seems it's very US-centric, but I digress.
The point is I was hoping for this for a while and ultimately disappointed because the mobile app apparently won't sync to the iPad version. Totally idiotic, and makes this useless for me. The minute I find something better, I'm kicking this iBank thing to the curb. Good software, but truly awful cross-platform support.
The point is I was hoping for this for a while and ultimately disappointed because the mobile app apparently won't sync to the iPad version. Totally idiotic, and makes this useless for me. The minute I find something better, I'm kicking this iBank thing to the curb. Good software, but truly awful cross-platform support.
I was suckered into paying $5 for their iPhone app that is too vanilla to be of any use. No way am I going to shell out $15 to try out their iPad version.
I always thought it more of a companion app for the desktop software than a standalone.
I use it a lot for on the go putting in of transactions and during vacations when not near my desktop.
Makes people spend money they don't need to.
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Wanna bet? They make their money by recommendations / ads.
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I've heard this rumor before.... until I have concrete proof there is life outside the US I'm not believing it..
I appreciate your honesty in who you are and the views you've shared with us. However, as noted in Mint.com's privacy notice (which you can see here: Mint.com Privacy Notice), they do not and WILL NOT sell any of your personal information for any reason, at any time. Also stated, certain information will be transferred if you click on a link to buy/trial a service they feature, otherwise they will not share or sell your information. They do not "sell out" their users unless using one of their featured advertisements. Clear as day.
I took care in my original post to make a direct comparison between iBank and Mint in terms of features and pricing only. But we do consider an absence of third-party marketing a "feature" of iBank worth paying for in our iPad app.
As such I welcome your explanation of Mint's policies, though I have to emphasize the use of the words "if," "otherwise" and "unless." Some customers don't have a problem with those caveats and accept that as the "price" of a free product. Other users don't consider that "clear as day" by any means, and prefer our unambiguous approach to customer privacy. In any case, it's good to have a marketplace with distinct choices.
iBank for iPad international availability
We're rolling iBank for iPad out slowly for a variety of mundane reasons. Initial release this week was US/Canada only; two days later we made it available in the UK and Australia. Worldwide release will follow soon thanks to everyone who's been patient about this.
We're rolling iBank for iPad out slowly for a variety of mundane reasons. Initial release this week was US/Canada only; two days later we made it available in the UK and Australia. Worldwide release will follow soon thanks to everyone who's been patient about this.
Thanks for your response, and I can understand your viewpoints on this, and I agree having choices for customer's needs. Even though I don't have an issue with Mint.com's choice of advertising, I can see how others would, and iBank would be an option for them. Nice to have someone from the company responding about this.
Any plans on implementing a 2 step checkbox for transactions so I can clear a transaction but not yet reconcile it?
I like to enter transactions into the register before they happen and I would use it to separate which entries have cleared and which have taken place but not yet cleared (and keep them separate from the entries that have been entered but not yet taken place or cleared).
I like to enter transactions into the register before they happen and I would use it to separate which entries have cleared and which have taken place but not yet cleared (and keep them separate from the entries that have been entered but not yet taken place or cleared).