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Alternative for self-directed investors
An Empower alternative without the advisory sales calls
Empower's free dashboard comes with persistent advisory upselling and up to 0.89% AUM fees. Clarity is $99/year flat — no advisors, no percentage fees, no sales calls.
Category page
Money Tracking App
The category-center page for people who need spending, net worth, investing, crypto, and taxes in one system.
- Built for fragmented finances, not one-account simplicity
- Spending, portfolios, crypto, and taxes together
- NFT gallery with collection grouping, floor prices, and collectible tax treatment
- The clearest category entry into the full product story
Explore money tracking
Investor wedge
Personal Finance App for Investors
A sharper wedge for self-directed investors and complex households who need cash flow and portfolio context together.
- Cash flow plus portfolio, allocation, and tax visibility
- Full DeFi dashboard with health factor monitoring and yield optimization
- Designed for people who outgrew budgeting-only apps
- The strongest fit page in the flagship cluster
See the investor angle
Aggregation promise
Track All Your Money
See every account in one place across banks, brokerages, retirement accounts, exchanges, wallets, and planning workflows.
- One system across account types, entities, and weekly reviews
- Useful for weekly reviews, planning, and tax prep
- Pre-filled IRS Form 8949, Schedule D, and Schedule 1 PDF generation
- Turns fragmented financial data into operational context
See all-account tracking
Net worth
Net Worth Tracker
Track net worth with cash, liabilities, portfolios, retirement accounts, and crypto in one operating view.
- Net worth with allocation, spending, and portfolio context
- Useful for reviews, planning, and tax-aware decisions
- Stronger than a bank-only or brokerage-only snapshot
Explore net worth tracking
Spending
Spending Tracker
Track transactions, recurring bills, merchants, budgets, and cash-flow shifts with the wider financial picture attached.
- Transactions, merchants, recurring, and budgets together
- Better for operational finance than a static bank feed
- Connects day-to-day spending back to the bigger system
Explore spending tracking
Why people switch from Empower (Personal Capital)
- Advisory fees of up to 0.89% AUM ($100K minimum) — over $4,000/year on a $500K portfolio
- Aggressive advisory sales calls after signup — users with $100K+ in linked assets report persistent, years-long upselling
- Free dashboard exists to funnel users into the paid advisory business
- No crypto exchange connections or on-chain wallet support
- US-only with no multi-currency support
- Minimal budgeting features
Where Clarity is the better fit
- Transparent, flat-fee tracking across traditional and crypto assets without advisory pressure.
- Banks + crypto exchanges + on-chain wallets in one dashboard
- AI-powered categorization with bring-your-own-key (BYOK) so users can route model traffic through their own provider
- Complete data deletion on account closure — your data is fully purged, not archived
Start from the Clarity page that best replaces Empower (Personal Capital)
The best switch path depends on why the current product stopped being enough.
You need a stronger money tracker
Use the broad money-tracking page if your current tool covers only one slice of your financial life.
You need investor-grade context
Use the investor page if the gap is portfolio visibility, tax workflow, crypto coverage, or all-account net worth.
You want proof before switching
Validate integrations, product surfaces, and related comparisons before moving your workflow.
Side-by-side comparison
Scored across 9 criteria. Sources linked where available.
| Criterion | Clarity | Empower (Personal Capital) |
|---|---|---|
| Account Coverage | 5/5 Banks, brokerages, crypto exchanges, and on-chain wallets all supported. | 3/5 Strong on banks and brokerages. No native crypto exchange or wallet integration. |
| Sync Reliability | 4/5 Queue-based sync with automatic retries. Plaid-backed for traditional accounts. | 4/5 Mature platform with Plaid and Yodlee connectivity. Coverage is broad, though smaller institutions can be less predictable. |
| Pricing Predictability | 4/5 Flat subscription fee regardless of account count or asset value. | 2/5 Free dashboard tools, but advisory service charges up to 0.89% AUM (over $4,000/year on a $500K portfolio). The product model also includes a clear advisory upsell. |
| Data Freshness | 4/5 On-demand and scheduled syncs. Crypto prices update in near real-time. | 3/5 Daily sync for most accounts. Investment prices update with market hours but can lag for less common holdings. |
| Historical Depth | 3/5 Daily net worth snapshots and full transaction history from connected accounts. | 4/5 Years of net worth history with detailed investment performance charts. Historical depth is a meaningful part of the product. |
| Export & Reporting | 4/5 CSV and PDF exports. Crypto cost-basis tracking included. | 3/5 Investment performance reports and spending summaries available. CSV export options are limited compared to dedicated tools. |
| Privacy & Security | 4/5 Read-only connections, encryption at rest, no ad tech, no data sales, and no advisory upsells. BYOK AI keeps model traffic under user control, and closing an account triggers full data purge. | 2/5 Empower blends free tracking with an advisory business, so the product naturally carries more sales and conversion pressure than a pure tracker. |
Who should switch (and who shouldn't)
Choose Clarity if…
Transparent, flat-fee tracking across traditional and crypto assets without advisory pressure.
- Hybrid investors with both traditional and crypto assets
- Privacy-conscious users who want BYOK AI and full data deletion
- Users who need a single net worth view across all accounts
- Crypto holders who need cost basis tracking for taxes
Choose Empower (Personal Capital) if…
Free financial dashboards with optional professional retirement planning and wealth management services.
- Pre-retirees and retirees focused on retirement planning
- High-net-worth individuals who want human advisory
- Users who want free investment tracking without budgeting
What users say
"Empower kept calling me about their advisory service. Clarity just tracks my money without the sales pitch."
"I wanted crypto alongside my brokerage accounts. Empower couldn't do that, so I switched to Clarity."
How to switch
easy10-15 minutes
- 1Sign up for Clarity and connect your bank and brokerage accounts via Plaid Link.
- 2Add crypto exchanges using read-only API keys if applicable.
- 3Compare net worth totals between Clarity and Empower to verify accuracy.
- 4Keep Empower's free tools as long as you like since there is no cost to maintain both.
Frequently asked questions
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Ready to move on from Empower (Personal Capital)?
14-day free trial. No credit card. Connect your accounts in under 5 minutes and see your real net worth across banks, crypto, and investments.
See the product
Try Clarity before you switch
Explore the interactive demo with sample data. No signup needed.
Ready to move on from Empower (Personal Capital)?
14-day free trial. No credit card. Connect your accounts in under 5 minutes and see your real net worth across banks, crypto, and investments.