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posted on June 23, 2025 by Carley Clark

Why Lunch Money Is a Great Credit Karma Alternative

Mint’s closure left users scrambling for a replacement, and Credit Karma wasn’t it. While it’s useful for credit monitoring, Credit Karma lacks many essential budgeting features. Lunch Money brings back the control and flexibility Mint users loved, with a cleaner design and better insights.

Millions of Mint users were shocked when the popular budgeting app shut down in 2024. 

At first, there was a glimmer of hope when Intuit announced that Mint moved to Credit Karma. It sounded like a smooth transition since the service would still be free and a part of Intuit. 

But for those who relied on Mint’s full-featured budgeting tools, the switch quickly turned into a letdown, leaving many users searching for a Mint/Credit Karma alternative.

Let’s examine why Credit Karma isn’t the budgeting app people were looking for and why Lunch Money may be a better fit.

Credit Karma is not a budgeting app 

While Credit Karma can track your spending, it lacks many of the core features of a true budgeting app (including the ability to actually build a budget!).

Credit Karma’s main function is to monitor your credit health. It shows your credit score with Equifax and TransUnion, breaking down different aspects of your report, such as your accounts, credit utilization, and hard inquiries. 

This free service can be especially useful if you want to monitor your report for suspicious activity or find ways to boost your score. 

Although Credit Karma shines as a credit monitoring service, its lack of budgeting tools has left many Mint users on a desperate search for an alternative to Credit Karma. 

Credit Karma vs. Lunch Money 

Let’s take a closer look at what features you should look for in a budgeting app and why Lunch Money is better than Credit Karma. (Yes, we’re biased — but it’s also true!)

1. Budget creation

You may be shocked to hear this, but your budgeting app should actually let you create a budget — gasp

A key part of successfully managing your finances is making a plan for where you want your money to go. That usually means setting limits across spending categories so you can allocate more toward savings, investments, or extra debt payments. 

While Credit Karma tracks and categorizes your past spending, it doesn’t let you set a budget you can follow for the upcoming month (or whatever budgeting period you use). 

Lunch Money, on the other hand, not only lets you set limits for different spending categories, but it also supports multiple budgeting methods, including zero-based budgeting, the 50/20/30 rule, and cash stuffing

2. Customizable budget categories

Both Lunch Money and Credit Karma pull transaction data from your synced accounts and automatically sort it into budget categories like groceries, utilities, and rent. 

There are some important differences in how they handle your transactions, though. For example, Credit Karma doesn’t let you split a purchase between multiple categories. 

So, if you spend $100 at Walmart, with 60% on groceries and 40% on home supplies, you’re forced to categorize the entire purchase as just one or the other. This can throw off your budget and make it harder to track your spending over time. 

You also can’t create your own budget categories in Credit Karma — you’re stuck using its pre-made ones. 

Lunch Money, however, lets you split your transactions across multiple categories to keep your budget accurate. Plus, you can create unlimited custom categories (and subcategories!), which gives you more flexibility to design a budget that works for you. 

3. Net worth tracker (done right!)

Your net worth shows the difference between your assets and liabilities. It provides a snapshot of your overall financial health and can help you spot ways to improve it. 

Both Lunch Money and Credit Karma let you connect your debts, bank account, and other assets to track your net worth, but Lunch Money offers a much more detailed view. 

Lunch Money breaks down your assets and liabilities on its chart so you can see what factors are helping — or hurting — your net worth over time. Credit Karma, however, only shows you a basic graph of your assets and debts (although you can see a breakdown of your current assets and liabilities below the chart). 

4. Exclude transactions from your budget or totals

Life happens — one big expense, like a medical bill or home renovation, can completely throw off your budget. 

Lunch Money gives you the option to exclude specific transactions from your budget or net worth totals, so you can keep an accurate view of your everyday cash flow. Credit Karma doesn’t offer this feature, which can make your spending insights look way more chaotic than they actually are. 

For example, if you bought a car last month and made a sizable down payment, there’s no way to hide it in Credit Karma. The app treats it like regular spending, making it look like you went hog wild with your budget that month. 

5. Collaborative budgeting and multi-currency support

One reason Lunch Money stands out from other budgeting apps — including Credit Karma — is its multi-currency support

Whether you’re a digital nomad, freelancer, or just someone who loves to travel, Lunch Money lets you track your expenses and income in the currency of your choice (with over 90 currencies supported!).

Lunch Money also makes collaboration easy. When you invite your spouse, family member, or even a financial coach, you can give them a separate login and password. Collaborators can change the budget, categorize transactions, and create their own budgets if needed. 

6. Clean, minimalist user interface

You’ve probably heard the saying: If a service is free, it’s because you’re the product. 

With Credit Karma, it means getting bombarded with advertisements for credit cards, loans, and other financial products. 

Not only does this encourage debt, but it also clutters the interface with constant distractions. When you’re trying to focus on managing your budget, all those ads and upsells can lead to overwhelm. 

Lunch Money takes a different approach. Its sleek, ad-free interface helps keep you focused on managing your finances. With no clutter or distractions, budgeting feels a little less like a chore (it might even make budgeting fun!).

Feature Credit Karma Lunch Money
Budget creation
Customizable categories
Net worth tracker
Credit score tracker
Multi-currency support
Collaboration features
No ads ever

Why Lunch Money Is a Better Mint Alternative than Credit Karma 

If you’re looking for a budgeting app to replace Mint, Lunch Money will be a better fit than Credit Karma. While Credit Karma may be helpful for monitoring your credit health, it doesn’t cut it as a full budgeting app. 

Although it does some basic spending data, Credit Karma does not track transactions with the depth and flexibility that many budgeters need. It lacks essential features, including:

  • Spending limits
  • Customizable categories
  • Multi-currency support
  • Transaction exclusion and splits

With Lunch Money, you can actually build a budget rather than just look at your past spending. It also supports multiple currencies, collaboration, and unlimited customizable categories — all while providing a clean, ad-free experience. 

If you’re looking for the best Credit Karma alternative, sign up for a free 30-day trial of Lunch Money and give it a try!

FAQs 

Who is Credit Karma’s biggest competitor? 

Credit Karma excels as a credit reporting service; some top Credit Karma alternatives include Experian, MyFICO, and Credit Sesame.

What are the cons of Credit Karma? 

It lacks some of the most basic features of a budgeting app, including setting spending limits, splitting transactions, and creating custom budget categories

What credit score does Credit Karma use? 

Credit Karma shows your credit scores with Equifax and TransUnion, two of the three major credit bureaus (Experian score not included).

Carley Clark is a financial writer with 5 years of experience creating content for brands like CNN Underscored, FinanceBuzz, ConsumerAffairs, and more. She holds a bachelor's degree in business and previously worked in the finance department of a casino. Her goal is to offer practical advice that helps readers manage their money effectively and make informed financial decisions.

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