If you’re like me, you probably have like half a dozen subscriptions you pay for on a monthly basis. The question is, do you actually need them all?
Cancelling subscriptions you don’t need anymore can help you save money and redirect that cash toward other goals. And, sure, you can manually comb through your bank and credit card statements to figure out what subscriptions and memberships you’re paying for, or you can use a subscription tracking app like Rocket Money to do the heavy lifting for you.
Below, we break down what you need to know about Rocket Money, including its fees, features, ratings and more.
Rocket Money
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Cost
The basic plan is free. Rocket Money Premium is $7 to $14 a month with a 7-day free trial. Bill negotiation services cost 35% to 60% of the first-year savings, if the negotiation is successful.
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Standout features
Easily cancel unwanted subscriptions, track your spending and credit score, automate savings and get help lowering bills. Rocket Money Premium includes additional services like net-worth tracking, credit reports and a subscription cancellation concierge service
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Security
Rocket Money accesses transaction data via an encrypted token, uses Plaid API so user credentials are never stored, provides bank-level 256-bit encryption and hosts servers on Amazon Web Services
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Availability
Offered online and on both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android)
Pros
- Allows you to easily view and cancel unwanted subscriptions
- Offers a free version
- A+ from Better Business Bureau
Cons
- Nonrefundable bill negotiation fee can be up to 60% of savings
- Premium pricing varies
How to use Rocket Money
Rocket Money links directly to your bank accounts, credit cards and investment accounts to sync data and allow you to see all your financial accounts in one place. It offers several tools to not just help you cancel unwanted subscriptions, but to also track your transactions and be more aware of where your money is going.
Subscription tracking and cancellation
The platform analyzes your transactions and identifies recurring subscriptions and bills. This is available with the free version of Rocket Money, but if you want the platform to actually cancel the subscription for you, you’ll need to upgrade to the premium plan.
Personally, I’ve upgraded to the premium plan in the past for this exact reason and it was worth it to have Rocket Money handle some cancellations for me. However, it wasn’t able to cancel everything I didn’t want anymore; there are some subscriptions that require you to cancel yourself so, in this case, Rocket Money will provide brief instructions for how to go about canceling that subscription yourself.
Track your spending
Because you’ll have to connect your financial accounts, it becomes easier and more convenient for you to get a good look at all of your account balances from one place. When you have to log in to multiple accounts separately to look at your balance, all these extra steps may make it feel like too much of a hassle. But logging in once and getting to see the full picture is a lot less mentally taxing for many people.
Bill negotiation
Rocket Money offers a “concierge” service that negotiates bills on your behalf and helps you get lower rates on things like your cell phone or cable bills and car insurance. It can even help you get a refund for overdrafts on your bank account.
Budgeting
You can create a budget directly in the app and monitor different spending categories. The platform also helps you calculate how much money you have to spend and will send you alerts if you’re about to hit your spending limit in any categories.
Perks
Rocket Money offers a learning center on its website that’s packed with blog articles educating customers on all things money — including budgeting, saving, taxes, spending and more.
Safety
Rocket Money protects your data with 256-bit AES encryption, which is the industry standard for protecting sensitive financial information, as well as TLS protocols.
Pricing
Rocket Money offers a free tier and a premium tier. The free plan lets you use features like subscription tracking, budgeting, bill negotiation and bill reminders. With bill negotiation, though, it’s free for you to use the feature and have them to attempt to lower the bill, but if they are successful, you’ll pay a fee of 35% to 60% of the total first year savings. If they are unable to lower your bills, you won’t pay anything.
For the premium tier, Rocket Money offers a unique pricing model. The platform lets users pay what they think is fair and fits their budget. Yes, you read that right, but there are a few caveats: The “pay what you think is fair” applies to a range between $7 and $14 per month. So, at a minimum, you can pay $7 per month. This sliding scale is subject to change. Premium members also get a 7-day free trial so they can peruse the platform.
Availability and ratings
Rocket Money is available for iOS and Android, and it’s also available as a web version.
The app, at the time of writing, has an average 4.5- out of 5-star rating, out of 330,000 ratings on the App Store. On Google Play, it’s rated an average 4.5 out of 5 stars with 127,000 reviews.
Alternatives to Rocket Money
Rocket Money is an all-in-one budgeting platform and bill negotiation/subscription tracking platform. But if you don’t care for the subscription tracking and bill negotiation features, there are other platforms you can consider.
Monarch offers robust expense tracking, budgeting and savings features, including the ability to create and track multiple savings goals and track your overall net worth in the dashboard. It costs $99.99 per year.
Monarch
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Cost
$8.33/month (billed $99.99 annually); $14.99/month (billed monthly) – get 50% off your first year with code CNBC50
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Free trial
7-day free trial is available before subscribing
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Standout features
Net worth tracker, investment portfolio tracking, goal creation and progress tracking, budgeting and expense tracking
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Categorizes your expenses
Yes, but users can modify
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Links to accounts
Yes, bank and credit cards, as well as IRAs, 401(k)s, mortgages and loans
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Availability
Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android); web version also offered
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Security features
Utilizes industry-leading security practices, according to Monarch’s website
Pros
- Easy-to-navigate money-tracking dashboard, including a net-worth tracker
- Easily syncs to your bank, credit cards and other financial accounts
- Users can add collaborators for free
- Seven-day free trial
Cons
- Subscription is pricier than competitors
- Recommendations in the “advice” tab are generic
You Need A Budget (YNAB) is another highly-lauded platform for tracking and categorizing your spending. It operates on the zero-based budgeting method where you must assign every single dollar a job in your budget so everything gets used intentionally. YNAB costs $109 per year.
You Need a Budget (YNAB)
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Cost
34-day free trial then $109 per year ($9.08 per month) or $14.99 per month (college students who provide proof of enrollment get 12 months free)
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Standout features
Instead of using traditional budgeting buckets, users allocate every dollar they earn to something (known as the “zero-based budgeting system” where no dollar is unaccounted for). Every dollar is assigned a “job,” whether it’s to go toward bills, savings, investments, etc.
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Categorizes your expenses
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Links to accounts
Yes, bank and credit cards
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Availability
Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android)
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Security features
Encrypted data, accredited data centers, third-party audits and more
Pros
- Offers a 34-day free trial, and college students get 12 months free
- Designed to help you get out of debt
- YNAB website claims average user saves $600 in their first two months and $6,000 in their first year
- Syncs to your bank accounts and credit cards
- Users can set goals, customize spending categories
- Offers educational resources, such as budgeting advice and free, live workshops
- Personal customer support
- Security features include encrypted data, accredited data centers, third-party audits and more
Cons
- Costs $109 per year or $14.99 per month
- Customer reviews note that it takes longer to set up than other apps
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