Short answer
Empower Personal Dashboard, the free tool formerly called Personal Capital, is the better pick for investment and retirement accounts you link. Finman is the better pick for budgets, bills, debts and a cash-flow forecast built from bank statement files, with an AI CFO on your own numbers; it is free during its open beta.
Personal Capital is now Empower
Empower bought Personal Capital in 2020 and moved its free tools to the Empower name; the product is now called Empower Personal Dashboard. Empower says the dashboard and its features remain free, and former users log in at empower.com with their Personal Capital credentials. Anything you find under “Personal Capital” today, including its old blog posts, refers to this Empower product.
Sources: Empower press release, 2020; Empower: Personal Capital tools move to Empower; Empower financial tools. Checked 30 Oct 2026.
Finman vs Empower side by side
| Empower Personal Dashboard | Finman | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | Investments, retirement and net worth from linked accounts | Day-to-day money: budgets, bills, debts, goals and cash flow, with net worth and investments in the same picture |
| Price | Dashboard and tools free | Free during the open beta; after it Free $0, Pro $9/mo, Family $19/mo |
| Tools | Retirement Planner, Net Worth, Budgeting & Cash Flow, Portfolio Analysis, Savings Planner, Debt Paydown, Emergency Fund, Transactions | Budgets with rollover and alerts, savings goals, debt payoff tracking, recurring charges, investment tracker with FIRE projection, net worth, cash-flow forecast, AI CFO |
| Where data comes from | Accounts you link | CSV, OFX and QFX statement files; monobank by API token; manual entry; investment holdings added by hand |
| On a Mac | In the browser at empower.com | In the browser at app.finman.money, installs to the Dock or home screen |
Empower tools as listed on Empower financial tools; Finman from features and pricing. Checked 30 Oct 2026.
Where Empower wins
Empower is the better tool when most of your money sits in investment and retirement accounts. The dashboard is free, its Retirement Planner and Portfolio Analysis work from the accounts you link, and balances update without you downloading files. If the question you ask most is “am I on track for retirement?”, start with Empower.
Where Finman wins
- 01No bank login needed. Finman works from statement files you download from online banking, or from transactions you type in. You never give it a bank password. Formats for RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC, Tangerine, Wealthsimple Cash, EQ Bank, Revolut and Wise are recognised automatically.
- 02Budgets that warn you early. Finman flags a budget at 80% spent and when the current pace will break it before the period ends. Rollover carries unspent money into the next period.
- 03Next month, not just retirement. The cash-flow forecast projects your balance up to 90 days ahead from income, recurring bills and spending, so a shortfall shows up before it happens. Each debt keeps its remaining balance and target date.
- 04An AI CFO on your own numbers. Ask “if I pay $200 more on the car loan each month, when is it gone?” and the answer comes from your own debts, balances and budgets. The same model writes a monthly summary and a savings plan.
- 05Household and currencies. The Family plan takes up to 5 members, each with a private view plus shared household accounts and budgets. Accounts can be in different currencies; net worth adds them up.
Looking for an Empower or Personal Capital alternative on a Mac?
Finman runs in Safari, Chrome or any modern browser on a Mac, and you can add it to the Dock like an app. The same account opens on your iPhone or Android phone. Store versions for the App Store and Google Play are not published yet. To track investments the way Empower does, add your holdings to Finman’s investment tracker: stocks, ETFs, bonds, crypto and other assets, with prices refreshed from free Stooq quotes. More options are in the best investment tracking apps and the best net worth tracker apps.
Who should pick which
| If you | Pick |
|---|---|
| hold most of your money in brokerage and retirement accounts | Empower |
| want a free retirement planner fed by linked accounts | Empower |
| want budgets, bills and debts to drive the plan | Finman |
| prefer statement files to giving out bank logins | Finman |
| run money with a partner or family | Finman Family plan |
You can also use both: Empower for the portfolio, Finman for the monthly budget. Other side-by-side pages are in Finman comparisons; Mint users can also read the best Mint alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to Personal Capital?
Empower bought Personal Capital in 2020 and later moved its tools to the Empower name. The free dashboard is now Empower Personal Dashboard, and Personal Capital users log in at empower.com with their old credentials.
Is Empower Personal Dashboard still free?
Yes. Empower says the dashboard experience and financial tools are completely free. The tools include a retirement planner, net worth, budgeting and cash flow, portfolio analysis and debt paydown.
What is a good Empower Personal Capital alternative?
For budgets, bills, debts and cash flow, Finman: free during its open beta, works from bank statement files and has an AI CFO that answers from your own numbers. For investment-heavy tracking from linked accounts, Empower itself remains the stronger free tool.
Is there an Empower alternative for Mac?
Finman runs in any browser on a Mac and can be added to the Dock like an app. The same account works on iPhone and Android in the browser.
Does Finman track investments like Empower?
Finman’s investment tracker holds stocks, ETFs, bonds, crypto and other assets, refreshes prices from free Stooq quotes and shows allocation and a FIRE projection. Holdings are added by hand; Empower pulls them from linked accounts.
Can I use Empower and Finman together?
Yes. One workable split is Empower for retirement and portfolio views and Finman for the monthly budget, debts and cash-flow forecast. Finman needs no bank login, so the two never share credentials.
Add the monthly side to your portfolio view
Free during the open beta, no card. Import a month of statements and see your budgets, debts and forecast next to your net worth.
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