Budgeting first. Investments optional. Empower wants to manage your investments. Warm just tracks spending.
Empower (formerly Personal Capital) offers free account tracking, but their goal is to convert you to their wealth management service. Warm is focused purely on budgeting and spending - no investment sales pitch.
Empower Pain Points
- Primary goal is selling wealth management services
- No category budgets or spending limits
- Limited manual transaction support
- Financial advisor calls can feel pushy
How Warm Helps
- Warm is a budgeting app, not an investment platform
- Full category budgets with merchant-level control (Pro)
- Manual transactions and CSV import included
- No sales calls - just your finances
Why Choose Warm Over Empower
Key advantages that make the difference
Real budgeting features - not just account aggregation
Savings goals with account linking (Plus)
Bill calendar and recurring detection (Plus)
No wealth management upsell
What Makes Warm Different
A calmer approach to personal finance
Actual category budgets - Empower only aggregates accounts
Savings goals with account linking and progress history
Bill calendar shows upcoming payments (Plus)
No sales calls, no wealth management pitch - ever
Warm is Best For People Who...
Honest assessment: is Warm right for you?
People who want budgeting, not investment management
Users tired of financial advisor sales calls
Those who need real spending limits, not just tracking
Anyone who wants savings goals with progress tracking
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Warm from $0 | Empower Free |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & Value | ||
| Free tier available
Unique
| | |
| Starts under $60/year | | |
| No account limits | | |
| Transparent pricing | | |
| Platform Availability | ||
| iOS app | | |
| Android app | | |
| Web app | | |
| Account Management | ||
| Bank sync via Plaid | | |
| CSV & OFX import | | |
| Manual transactions | | |
| Auto-categorization | | |
| Smart transaction tags | | |
| Budgeting | ||
| Category budgets | | |
| Merchant-level budgets
Unique
| | |
| Savings goals | | |
| Goal account linking | | |
| Bills & Subscriptions | ||
| Recurring detection | | |
| Bill calendar | | |
| Bill reminders | | |
| Cancel link library
Unique
| | |
| Wealth & Assets | ||
| Net worth tracking | | |
| Investment tracking | | |
| Crypto tracking | | |
| Manual asset tracking | | |
| Analytics & Insights | ||
| Spending by category | | |
| Spending by merchant | | |
| Cash flow analysis | | |
| Financial health score
Unique
| | |
| Spending anomaly alerts
Unique
| | |
| Advanced Features | ||
| Transaction enrichment | | |
| Cash flow forecasting | | |
| Household sharing | | |
| Reports & export | | |
| AI financial assistant | | |
Common Questions
Does Warm have real budgets unlike Empower?
Yes. Empower is primarily an account aggregator without true budgeting. Warm Plus includes category budgets with weekly, biweekly, or monthly periods and optional rollover. Warm Pro adds merchant-level budgets for specific stores.
Will Warm try to sell me investment management?
No. Warm is purely a budgeting and tracking tool. We don't offer wealth management services and will never call you to pitch investments. Empower's free dashboard exists to convert users to their fee-based advisory service.
Can I track investments in Warm without the sales pitch?
Yes. Warm Pro includes investment tracking that shows holdings, balances, and gain/loss percentages. We display your investment data without trying to manage it for you.
Does Warm have savings goals like Empower should?
Yes. Warm Plus includes savings goals that Empower lacks. Create goals, link them to accounts, and track progress with visual history. Empower focuses on retirement projections, not actionable savings goals.
How is Warm different from Empower for everyday budgeting?
Warm is built for daily spending management while Empower targets high-net-worth investors. Warm has spending alerts, bill calendars, subscription tracking, and category budgets - features Empower essentially lacks.