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Clarity vs Monarch: pricing, features, and fit
Monarch is for couples budgeting on Plaid accounts. Clarity is for individuals whose money also lives on exchanges, wallets, and tax forms.
MonarchPaid · 7-day trial · no free tierClarity Pro$19/mo or $179/yr
30-day money-back guarantee. Read-only — Clarity never moves your money.
Best fit for Clarity
Banks + brokerages + 130+ crypto exchanges + 40+ chains. One read-only workspace.
Best fit for Monarch
Couples and households. Partner and advisor invites included.
Score at a glance
Average across 7 criteria — every cell dated and sourced below.
- Clarity4.3
- Monarch3.6
Where Clarity goes further
130+ crypto exchanges + 40+ chains
Monarch: Coinbase only — no direct-exchange APIs, no on-chain wallet reads.
Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, MetaMask, Phantom, Ledger — direct APIs and on-chain reads.
Lot-level cost basis + Form 8949
Monarch: No documented tax-lot workflow or Form 8949 export for crypto.
FIFO/HIFO/LIFO across exchanges and wallets; wash-sale flags; tax-ready exports.
Life-event planner with mutable budget state
Monarch: Goals UI with target dates; no scenario planning against real cash flow.
Model a job change, baby, or home purchase — forecast cash flow against real accounts.
Merchant-level analytics
Monarch: Category-level reports and a Sankey view; no merchant-rollup analytics across years.
Amazon, DoorDash, Spotify normalized and rolled up across years — beyond category averages.
No advertising data trail
Monarch: Ad-free but uses cookies and analytics for advertising-related purposes.
No ad business model, no analytics-for-ads cookies, no de-identified data sharing.
AI grounded in your real transactions
Monarch: AI is present but not transaction-cited.
Every answer cites the underlying transaction; nothing fabricated.
Clarity AI in action
Four questions Clarity can answer beyond household spending
Monarch handles household spending and a light net-worth roll-up. Clarity adds lot-level cost basis, on-chain wallets, and a tax workflow that prints clean Form 8949 — across every account a household actually has.
Household net worth
You: How did our household net worth change this quarter?
+$28,400 across both partners — investments did most of it.
Spouse A +$19,200 (401(k) match + market). Spouse B +$11,400 (Roth + brokerage). Cash flat. HSA +$2,100. House valuation steady. Per-account contributions broken out.
Tax-loss harvesting
You: Anything worth harvesting before Dec 31?
$9,400 in losses · ~$2,250 saved at your bracket.
VXUS −$3,200 LT (replace with IXUS, avoids wash). BND −$2,100 LT (AGG ok). ETH lot from Mar 2024 −$1,400 ST. Crypto exempt from wash-sale today. Lot citations included.
Cost basis across venues
You: What's my cost basis on AAPL after the Schwab transfer?
$182.40 average (FIFO) across 312 shares.
218 shares from Schwab (transferred basis preserved) + 94 shares purchased at Fidelity. Lot table linked. Wash-sale check clean.
On-chain risk
You: Is my Aave loan close to liquidation?
Health factor 1.42 — 28% buffer to liquidation.
3.2 ETH supplied (Base) · $4,200 USDC borrowed. Liquidation price $1,640 vs spot $2,278. Refreshed 4 min ago. Alert threshold set at 1.20.
Every answer cites the underlying transactions, lots, or positions. Read-only — Clarity never moves money, never trades, never trains on your data.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Clarity | Monarch |
|---|---|---|
| Account Coverage Range of financial accounts and asset types supported. | Leads, score 5 out of 5 Banks · brokerages · 130+ crypto exchanges · 40+ chains · manual assets. May 2026 | Behind, score 3 out of 5 13,000+ institutions via Plaid + MX. Crypto: Coinbase. No on-chain wallets. May 2026 ↗ |
| Sync Reliability How consistently account data syncs without errors or manual intervention. | Tie, score 4 out of 5 Automatic retry · connection-health monitoring · explicit error states. May 2026 | Tie, score 4 out of 5 Plaid + MX redundancy for traditional accounts. May 2026 ↗ |
| Pricing Predictability How transparent and stable the pricing is over time. | Leads, score 5 out of 5 Pro $19/mo · $179/yr · 30-day money-back · no AUM %. May 2026 | Behind, score 3 out of 5 Paid only · 7-day trial · no free tier. May 2026 ↗ |
| Data Freshness How quickly new transactions and price changes appear. | Tie, score 4 out of 5 Multi-sync daily · on-demand refresh · real-time crypto prices. May 2026 | Tie, score 4 out of 5 Bank data fresh throughout the day. May 2026 ↗ |
| Historical Depth How far back transaction and portfolio history extends. | Behind, score 3 out of 5 ~24 months from Plaid. Daily net-worth snapshots after sign-up. May 2026 | Leads, score 4 out of 5 Multi-year via CSV import from Mint/YNAB. May 2026 ↗ |
| Export & Reporting Ability to export data and generate financial reports. | Tie, score 4 out of 5 CSV · net-worth · portfolio performance · Form 8949–ready crypto exports. May 2026 | Tie, score 4 out of 5 CSV · Sankey · cash-flow reports. No tax-form exports. May 2026 ↗ |
| Privacy & Security Data protection practices, encryption, and privacy controls. | Leads, score 5 out of 5 Read-only · encrypted at rest · no ad model · no ad cookies · deletion ≤30 days. May 2026 | Behind, score 3 out of 5 Ad-free, but permits cookie analytics, ad-related device data, and de-identified sharing. May 2026 ↗ |
Where Monarch genuinely wins
Monarch is the best household-spending tracker since Mint shut down — clean UX, real partner shared views, light AI. If your money lives entirely in U.S. banks and brokerages, Monarch is genuinely well-built.
What we verified
- Crypto coverage = Coinbase
- Monarch's public materials reference Coinbase. No documented direct-exchange APIs or on-chain wallet support. Monarch pricing ↗
- Partner + advisor invites included
- Monarch invites a partner or financial professional at no extra seat cost. Monarch product ↗
- Ad-free ≠ no advertising data
- Monarch's privacy policy permits cookie analytics, advertising-related device data uses, and de-identified data sharing. Monarch privacy policy ↗
Deeper, if you want it
How to get started with Clarity
easy·15 minutes (plus a 30-day overlap if you want one)
- 01Export your Monarch data from Settings → Data export (CSV of transactions, accounts, and balances).
- 02Sign up for Clarity and re-add the same Plaid bank and brokerage connections — balances appear immediately.
- 03Add the crypto exchanges and wallet addresses Monarch couldn't track (Coinbase API key, MetaMask address, etc.).
- 04Run both side-by-side for 30 days; cancel Monarch once your Clarity dashboard reconciles.
Frequently asked questions
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Add your crypto to the household ledger.
Banks, brokerages, crypto, and DeFi together. 30-day money-back guarantee — a full refund if Clarity isn't for you.
Sources
Trademarks belong to their owners. Clarity is independent and not affiliated with Monarch. Comparison reflects publicly available info as of 2026-05-18; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.