Sortlumo vs Mint (and post-Mint alternatives) — honest comparison.
Mint shut down in 2024, leaving millions of users looking for a replacement. The mainstream replacements (Credit Karma, Rocket Money, Empower) all rely on bank-aggregator connections — same model as Mint, same data-sharing surface area. Sortlumo takes a different approach: you upload statement PDFs, we categorize them locally to your account, and your banking credentials never leave your bank.
TL;DR — Mint shut down in March 2024. If you're looking for the closest replacement, Sortlumo is for people who liked Mint's categorization but didn't love handing their bank credentials to a third-party aggregator. We'll lose to Mint-style apps on real-time updates — we win on privacy and on cost.
Where Sortlumo and Mint actually differ.
| Dimension | Sortlumo | Mint |
|---|---|---|
| Bank linking required | Never. Upload PDFs. | Yes, via Plaid or similar. |
| Real-time updates | Monthly, when you upload. | Live, within hours of posting. |
| Categorization | 22 categories, server-side AI, manual overrides stick. | Auto, with manual overrides. |
| Subscription detection | Automatic, with annualized cost. | Yes (Mint had this). |
| Excel export | Included on every plan. | Limited or paywalled. |
| Data ownership | Your account, encrypted, deletable. | Shared with aggregator + bank. |
| Cost | Free for 3/mo. $5.75/mo or $11.58/mo paid. | Free, ad-supported (data product). |
| Credit score / FICO tracking | No. | Yes. |
| Multi-account view | Yes, free=1, personal=5, pro=unlimited. | Yes. |
Pick Sortlumo if…
- You want a categorized view of your spending without giving Plaid or Yodlee your bank password.
- You're OK doing a 30-second monthly upload in exchange for not being a data product.
- You want Excel export and ownership of your historical data — not a vendor lock-in.
- You want to track multiple accounts (checking, savings, 3 credit cards) in one place without bank-linking each one.
Pick Mint if…
- You need real-time transaction sync the moment a charge posts.
- You want auto-import without any monthly upload step.
- You're fine with the privacy tradeoff of a bank aggregator in exchange for convenience.
- You need credit score monitoring as part of the same product.
Common questions on this comparison.
Is Sortlumo really a Mint replacement if I have to upload statements?
It's a replacement for the categorization, subscription tracking, and historical view parts of Mint. It's not a replacement for the real-time alert side. Most former Mint users we've talked to didn't actually use the real-time features and were paying with their data without realizing it.
How does Sortlumo compare to Rocket Money or Empower?
Rocket Money and Empower both use Plaid-style bank linking. They're closer to Mint's model. Sortlumo is for people who specifically don't want that model — the tradeoff is the monthly upload step.
Can I import my old Mint data?
Yes — Mint let you export a CSV before it shut down. We're adding CSV import next quarter. In the meantime, you can upload past PDF statements (banks keep 7 years) to rebuild your history.
What about Monarch Money?
Monarch is excellent if you want the bank-aggregator model done well. We use a different model — no aggregator, no real-time. Different choice for a different person.