Okane vs Mint: A Better Alternative
Mint was the go-to free budgeting app for millions — until Intuit shut it down in March 2024 and pushed users to Credit Karma. If you’re looking for a Mint replacement that respects your data, Okane is it.
What Happened to Mint?
Mint shut down in March 2024 after 17 years. Users lost access to their budgets and transaction history. The lesson? When your data lives on someone else’s servers, it can disappear overnight.
Why Okane Won’t Pull a Mint
📊 Your Budget Lives in Google Sheets
Your budget isn’t stored on our servers — it’s a Google Spreadsheet in your Google Drive. Even if Okane disappeared tomorrow, your budget stays.
🆓 Free Core Features
Like Mint, Okane’s core budgeting is free. Unlike Mint, we don’t monetize your data with ads or credit card offers. Premium ($5/mo) adds bank sync and AI features.
🔒 No Ads, No Data Selling
Mint made money by selling your financial data to advertisers and showing you credit card offers. Okane doesn’t show ads and doesn’t sell your data. Period.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Okane (Free) | Okane (Premium) | Mint (Discontinued) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $60/yr | Free (ad-supported) |
| Envelope budgeting | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ (category tracking) |
| Data ownership | ✅ (Google Sheets) | ✅ (Google Sheets) | ❌ (Intuit servers) |
| Bank sync | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| AI categorization | ❌ | ✅ (on-device) | Basic |
| Ads | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ (heavy) |
| Data selling | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Still operational | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ (shut down) |
Switching from Mint
If you used Mint, here’s what to expect with Okane:
- Envelope budgeting — Mint tracked categories; Okane lets you actively budget with envelopes
- Google Sheets — Export-friendly from day one. Your data is always accessible
- Manual + automatic — Free tier is manual entry; Premium adds bank sync via Plaid
- No surprises — We don’t show you credit card offers or sell your spending data
The Bottom Line
Mint proved that free apps funded by data selling aren’t sustainable. Okane takes a different approach: free core features, optional premium, and your data stays in your Google Sheet forever.
