Find the system that fits you.
Six ways to get a handle on your money, side by side — MoneyBricks and the five tools people ask us about most. Every one of these pages says when the other product is the better pick, and means it.
Any system beats no system.
The distance between a working person with a plan and a working person without one is enormous. The distance between two decent plans is small. So we would rather you pick one of these and stick with it than read six comparisons and do nothing.
If envelope budgeting is how your brain works, use YNAB. If your employer already pays for a coach, go talk to the coach. If forgotten subscriptions are the whole problem, go cancel them. None of that is a loss for us — and if the thing you picked stops working, we will still be here.
No trash talk, no invented stats, no made-up ratings. Every price below was read off that company’s own pricing page, and we print the date we read it.
All six, at a glance
The four things people ask about first. Each line is the short version of a full answer on that comparison page.
MoneyBricks
- What it is
- An AI coach (Brix) plus a 30-brick money curriculum
- What it costs
- Free plan. Core $10/month — $7 at the founding rate
- Coaching
- Brix answers instantly, any hour. Education, not advice
- Bank login
- Not required — nothing links to your accounts
YNAB
- What it is
- A budgeting app built on the envelope method
- What it costs
- $109 per year, after a free trial. No free tier
- Coaching
- No built-in coach. Help docs, workshops, a strong community
- Bank login
- Built around linked accounts. Manual entry supported
Ramsey
- What it is
- A method, a budget app, and a huge content ecosystem
- What it costs
- EveryDollar has a free tier. Premium is $79.99 per year
- Coaching
- Broadcast advice. One-on-one coaching costs extra
- Bank login
- Manual on the free tier. Syncing is a premium feature
Rocket Money
- What it is
- Finds and cancels subscriptions, negotiates your bills
- What it costs
- Free tier. Premium roughly $7–$14/month, plus a cut of what it negotiates
- Coaching
- No coach. It automates tasks rather than teaching skills
- Bank login
- Required. The core features only work with linked accounts
SmartDollar
- What it is
- An employer-paid bundle: budget app, coaching, tax filing
- What it costs
- Custom employer quote; free to employees
- Coaching
- Unlimited one-on-one and group coaching with a human, by appointment
- Bank login
- Manual entry supported. Sync features connect your bank
Your Money Line
- What it is
- An employer-paid app plus unlimited human coaches
- What it costs
- Custom employer quote; free to employees
- Coaching
- Unlimited certified human coaches by call, text, or email
- Bank login
- Net worth and credit tracking typically means linking accounts
Prices verified against each company’s own page — YNAB, Ramsey, Rocket Money, SmartDollar, and Your Money Line. Prices change. Check for yourself before you decide — we would rather you did.
Start here if this sounds like you
Read down the list and stop at the one that describes your week. That is your answer, whichever name is on it.
Go with YNAB if…
A budgeting app built on the envelope method.
- You love hands-on envelope budgeting and want the deepest tool built for that method today.
- You want a mature, fully shipped product right now — MoneyBricks is in early access, and YNAB has years of polish behind it.
- You budget with a spouse or partner and want proven shared-budget workflows.
Go with Ramsey if…
A method, a budget app, and a huge content ecosystem.
- You want a huge community behind you — the radio show, the podcasts, the debt-free screams, the live events. MoneyBricks cannot match that ecosystem today.
- One fixed order of steps is exactly what you want: no decisions, no customizing, the same path millions have walked.
- The tough-love accountability style genuinely motivates you.
Go with Rocket Money if…
Finds and cancels subscriptions, negotiates your bills.
- Your main problem is forgotten subscriptions bleeding your account — Rocket Money is built exactly for that, and it works today.
- You want someone else to negotiate your cable, phone, or internet bill so you do not have to make the call.
- You want hands-off, automated spend tracking and you are comfortable linking your bank accounts.
Go with SmartDollar if…
An employer-paid bundle: budget app, coaching, tax filing.
- Your employer already offers SmartDollar, and unlimited live human coaching matters more to you than a self-serve tool.
- You want budgeting software, free tax filing, and coaching bundled into one employer-paid package.
- You want a mature, long-established platform from a well-known personal-finance brand.
Go with Your Money Line if…
An employer-paid app plus unlimited human coaches.
- Your employer already offers Your Money Line, and unlimited human coaching by call, text, or email matters more to you than a self-serve app.
- You want net worth and credit monitoring bundled with your coaching, and you are comfortable linking accounts for it.
- You would rather listen to a personalized podcast than work through a structured curriculum.
Go with MoneyBricks if…
An AI coach named Brix plus a 30-brick money curriculum, in plain language, built for working people.
- You want someone to walk you through money step by step — a coach, not a tool you configure alone.
- You have felt judged or shamed by money advice before, and it made you avoid the subject instead of facing it.
- You do not want to hand any app your bank login. MoneyBricks never asks for it.
- You want a free starting point — the BrickScore Assessment costs nothing.
MoneyBricks is in founding-member early access. The five above are further along, and the comparison pages say where.
Not sure which problem you actually have?
The BrickScore Assessment is free and shows you where you stand — including which of these tools would help most. No credit card, no bank connection.