Here are the features you can look forward to using with each of these budget apps.
Viewing all your accounts
Both Monarch Money and Rocket Money let you connect all your financial accounts (bank accounts, credit cards, brokerage accounts, etc.) to the app so you can see all your money and debt at a glance. This lets you manage your finances in a holistic way, and stay on top of recent transactions and upcoming bills due to be debited out of your checking account.
Subscription and billing help
Rocket Money is the winner here -- Monarch Money will not help you cancel unwanted subscriptions. Rocket Money shows you a list of your active subscriptions, making it easy to tell what you're paying for. And if you decide you want out, Rocket Money can reach out on your behalf.
Similarly, Rocket Money also offers a service to negotiate your bills, such as internet or cellphone service. You'll be charged a percentage of the savings (you choose between 35% and 60%) as a success fee, and if Rocket Money can't save you money, you won't be charged at all.
Sign up for a Rocket Money account
Shared access
Both apps allow more than one person to access household finances in the app with separate login credentials. This feature is only available with the paid (Premium) tier of Rocket Money. This is really handy if you want to collaborate with a partner to whip your finances into shape and get better at budgeting.
Automated savings
Automating your savings contributions is a good way to ensure they happen without your direct intervention. Monarch Money does not offer this service, but Rocket Money does.
You set up a savings plan through the app (offered by a third-party bank with FDIC insurance), and can opt for either regular contributions from your linked checking account or let Rocket Money's AI tool Smart Savings analyze your finances and arrange small transfers every few days.
If you use this function, it's a good idea to transfer those contributions to an outside high-yield savings account to earn as much interest as possible.
Credit monitoring
Monarch Money doesn't offer credit score monitoring, but Rocket Money does. This may or may not be a crucial feature for you -- it's certainly convenient to have access to more of your financial life within a single budgeting app. But the odds are good you already have access to free credit score monitoring via a bank or credit card account.