Forbidden Finance · Comparison
Forbidden Finance vs Rocket Money
Rocket Money is a US-only freemium app focused on subscription tracking and cancellation, bill negotiation, and light budgeting. It is owned by Rocket Companies (the Rocket Mortgage family), which acquired it as Truebill in 2021 for $1.275B.
Rocket Money is best for: People whose main problem is subscriptions and bills they want someone else to handle.
Facts about Rocket Money were checked against their published pages in August 2026; every cell links its source. Spot something out of date? Tell us at support@403fin.io and we'll fix it.
At a glance
| Dimension | Forbidden Finance | Rocket Money |
|---|---|---|
| The basics | ||
| Price | Free tier forever; paid plans $4.99–$14.99/mo. No free trial — 30-day money-back guarantee on web purchases. | Free tier; Premium is choose-your-price $7–$14/mo with a 7-day trial. Bill negotiation costs 35–60% of first-year savings.↗ |
| Business model | Subscriptions only. No ads, no data sales, no cross-sells. | Freemium subscription + bill-negotiation success fee (35–60% of first-year savings) + cross-sell into Rocket Companies’ lending products.↗ |
| Security & privacy | ||
| Data selling & ads | We never sell user data, share it with advertisers, or build behavioral profiles for third parties. | GLBA notice: shares personal data for its own marketing, joint marketing with other financial companies, and affiliate purposes — the notice says those three cannot be limited. Does not share with nonaffiliates to market to you.↗ |
| Bank credentials & tokens | Bank credentials never touch our servers (entered with regulated aggregators); sensitive tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage. | TLS in transit, 256-bit AES at rest; bank connections via Plaid (plus Akoya for some institutions); bug bounty program.↗ |
| Encryption inside the database | Sensitive financial fields are sealed under encryption keys unique to each account before they reach the database; keys live in a separate key service. Amounts are aggregated in memory after decryption, so financial values never need to sit readable in the database. | Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Database-level isolation | PostgreSQL row-level security enforces per-account isolation inside the database engine itself. | Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Deletion & export | Self-serve: 30-day recovery window, then permanent deletion and destruction of the account’s encryption keys. Full data export on every tier. | In-app self-serve deletion, permanent and irreversible; CSV export of transactions is Premium-gated.↗ |
| Sign-in security | Passkeys, authenticator-app (TOTP) MFA, biometric unlock, session management. | Per-user MFA preferences documented for shared accounts. Passkeys: not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗ |
| Security testing & audits | Built by a founder with a professional penetration-testing background; an independent, human-led penetration test is scheduled ahead of full launch. Not yet SOC 2 certified — we say so plainly. | Active bug-bounty program; "routinely evaluated by independent third-party auditors" — no certification named on the page.↗ |
| Features | ||
| Bank sync | US & Canada via regulated aggregators (daily + updates when your bank reports changes); UK/EU via bring-your-own open-banking connections; CSV & JSON import. | Plaid (primary) + Akoya for some institutions; US banks only; manual accounts on mobile only.↗ |
| Budget methods | All 8 methods: 50/30/20, Pay Yourself First, Zero-Based, Envelope, Kakeibo, FIRE, Values-Based, Custom. | One category-based approach with spending-history suggestions; free tier capped at 2 custom categories.↗ |
| Investment tracking | Brokerage connections with holdings, activity & cost basis (Pro+); per-lot detail and tax-lot CSV export (Premium). | No portfolio tracking — assets appear only as net-worth balances.↗ |
| Multi-currency | 1 / 3 / 10 / unlimited currencies by tier, with exchange-rate conversion. | US only; no multi-currency support documented.↗ |
| Partner / household | 1 partner (Pro) or up to 5 users (Premium). You choose exactly which accounts to share; partners work in a shared budget while each also keeps a private budget; connection slots can be lent. | Two people (primary + one partner), each with their own login; Premium-only.↗ |
| Platforms | Web (installable PWA), iOS, Android. Android direct download available today; app-store listings Coming Soon. | iOS, Android, Mac, Apple Vision; web access is Premium-only (free tier effectively mobile-only).↗ |
| Open source / self-host | Proprietary, not self-hostable. The exit stays open: full data export on every tier. | Proprietary, no self-host.↗ |
Security, side by side
We compare only what Rocket Money publicly documents. "Not publicly documented" means exactly that — it is not an accusation, and plenty of solid engineering never makes it to a marketing page. Here's what each side is willing to put in writing.
What Forbidden Finance puts in writing
- Data selling & ads: We never sell user data, share it with advertisers, or build behavioral profiles for third parties.
- Bank credentials & tokens: Bank credentials never touch our servers (entered with regulated aggregators); sensitive tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage.
- Encryption inside the database: Sensitive financial fields are sealed under encryption keys unique to each account before they reach the database; keys live in a separate key service. Amounts are aggregated in memory after decryption, so financial values never need to sit readable in the database.
- Database-level isolation: PostgreSQL row-level security enforces per-account isolation inside the database engine itself.
- Deletion & export: Self-serve: 30-day recovery window, then permanent deletion and destruction of the account’s encryption keys. Full data export on every tier.
- Sign-in security: Passkeys, authenticator-app (TOTP) MFA, biometric unlock, session management.
- Security testing & audits: Built by a founder with a professional penetration-testing background; an independent, human-led penetration test is scheduled ahead of full launch. Not yet SOC 2 certified — we say so plainly.
The full story, including what we're NOT certified for, is on the Security & Privacy page.
What Rocket Money documents
- Data selling & ads: Sharing of creditworthiness data with affiliates and affiliate marketing CAN be limited (email security@rocketmoney.com). The notice also states sharing continues "when you are no longer a customer."↗
- Bank credentials & tokens: "Our security practices are routinely evaluated by independent third-party auditors" — no specific certification named on the page.↗
- Encryption inside the database: 256-bit AES at rest is documented generally; per-user encryption keys are not.↗
- Database-level isolation: Not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Deletion & export: Premium, active bill negotiations, and financial goals must be cancelled first. The CSV export arrives by email and "can only be accessed and viewed on a desktop or laptop."↗
- Sign-in security: Per-user MFA preferences documented for shared accounts. Passkeys: not publicly documented (as of 2026-08).↗
- Security testing & audits: Active bug-bounty program; "routinely evaluated by independent third-party auditors" — no certification named on the page.↗
Where Rocket Money is a better fit
An honest comparison cuts both ways. If these match what you need,Rocket Money is a fine choice — we'd rather you pick the right tool than churn out of the wrong one.
- You want unwanted subscriptions cancelled FOR you — Rocket Money detects recurring charges and Premium cancels them on your behalf, a concierge service we don’t offer.
- You want bills negotiated no-win-no-fee: cable, internet, and phone bills negotiated for a one-time 35–60% cut of first-year savings, only on success.
- You want credit monitoring built in: credit score and full Experian report tracking with change alerts.
- You want automated savings: Premium’s Smart Savings learns your habits and moves money toward goals automatically.
- You want a $0 way to track subscriptions and upcoming bills — the free tier covers that core use case, and bill negotiation is available to free users too.
Trade-offs to know about Rocket Money
- No investment tracking at all — balances only in net worth
- US-only, no multi-currency
- GLBA notice: sharing for its own, joint, and affiliate marketing "cannot be limited"
- Web access and CSV export are Premium-gated; budgeting caps at 2 free categories
Why pick Forbidden Finance over Rocket Money
Shipped today
- Subscriptions are our whole business model — no mortgage/loan affiliates to market you toward, and nothing in our policy says data sharing "cannot be limited."
- A real budgeting product: all 8 methods versus a two-category free budget.
- Investment tracking with holdings and cost basis; Rocket Money has none.
- Web, iOS, and Android on every tier — Rocket Money paywalls the web app.
- Per-account encryption inside the database with key destruction — Rocket Money documents AES-256 at rest, not row-level protection.
- 30-day money-back guarantee on web purchases instead of a trial that auto-converts.
On the way
- Flexible budget periods — pick your own start date and frequency, or alternate phases: run a 6-month budget, or three high-income months followed by three lean ones, the way contractor income actually works Coming Soon
- AI-powered insights (privacy-gated, on open models) Coming Soon
- API access Coming Soon
- MCP connector for AI assistants Coming Soon
- Dedicated FIRE planning tools Coming Soon
- Debt payoff tools Coming Soon
Unshipped features stay labeled until they're real — that's the same honesty rule the rest of this page runs on.
Switching from Rocket Money?
Export your data from Rocket Money, then bring it in with Forbidden Finance's CSV & JSON import — available on every tier, including Free, so you can test-drive with your real data before paying anything. The help docs walk through imports step by step.
Common questions
Rocket Money has a free tier and a Premium plan where you choose your price on a sliding scale — the vendor’s page states $7 to $14 per month — plus a separate bill-negotiation fee of 35–60% of first-year savings when a negotiation succeeds. Forbidden Finance runs $0 to $14.99/month with no success fees and no cross-sells.
Its GLBA privacy notice says it does not share personal information with nonaffiliates for their marketing — and also that it shares for its own marketing, joint marketing with other financial companies, and affiliate purposes, and that those three "cannot be limited." Its affiliates include Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Auto, and Rocket Loans. Forbidden Finance has no affiliates to cross-sell and never shares user data for marketing.
No — assets appear only as balances in the net-worth dashboard; there is no holdings, cost-basis, or performance tracking. Forbidden Finance includes brokerage connections with holdings, activity, and cost basis from the Pro tier.
No. Rocket Money states it does not support international banks and is only available to users in the United States with US-based banks. Forbidden Finance supports US and Canadian bank sync plus a UK/EU bring-your-own-connection rail, with multi-currency conversion.
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