Monzo price rise 2026: what UK money apps cost
If you are on a paid Monzo plan, your price changes on your first billing date on or after 14 October 2026 — and Monzo has waived its usual cancellation restrictions until 13 October. This page sets out what is changing and what the alternatives genuinely cost, including where a competitor is the better answer.
What Monzo is changing, and when
Monzo Perks rises from £7 to £9 a month, Monzo Max from £17 to £19 a month, and Monzo Max Family from £22 to £23 a month. The free account and Monzo Extra (£3 a month) are not affected.
Anyone signing up on or after 13 August 2026 already pays the new price. If you were already on a plan, the new rate applies from your first regular monthly billing date on or after 14 October 2026.
Until 13 October 2026 Monzo has relaxed the usual rules so people can leave without penalty: the three-month minimum term on Max and Max Family is waived, cancellations take effect immediately rather than at the end of the billing cycle with a refund for unused days, and the £5 card replacement fee is waived if you cancel during the 14-day cooling-off period.
That gives you a window rather than a deadline. It is worth using it to ask whether you were paying for budgeting tools, for perks and insurance, or out of habit — because the answer changes what you should do next.
What UK money apps cost right now
Every figure below was checked against the provider’s own pricing or help page on 7 September 2026. Monzo’s column shows the new prices, since those are what you will be paying from October.
| App | Free tier | Paid from | What the paid tier is really for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monzo | Yes — full current account | £3 (Extra), £9 (Perks), £19 (Max) | Perks and insurance, plus budgeting extras. Bills Pots are on the free account. |
| Starling | Yes — full current account, no monthly fee | No paid personal tier | Nothing to buy. Spaces and Bills Manager are included free. |
| Snoop | Yes | £5.99 (Snoop Plus, or £47.99/year) | Deeper spending analysis and bill-switching prompts across your accounts. |
| Emma | Yes | £4.99 (Plus), £9.99 (Pro), £14.99 (Ultimate) | Tracking and categorising spending across every account in one place. |
| Plum | Yes | £2.99 (Pro), £4.99 (Ultra), £9.99 (Premium) | Automated saving rules, better savings rates and investing. |
| YNAB | No — 34-day trial | $14.99/month or $109/year, billed in US dollars | Zero-based envelope budgeting. Effective, but it is a method you have to work at. |
| Lanhorz | Yes | £4.99 (Protected), £9.99 (Full Protection) | Holding a set share of your money out of your safe-to-spend number. |
If you are leaving a Monzo plan, here is the honest answer
If you were paying for the budgeting features, downgrade to the free Monzo account. Bills Pots are on the free tier, so you keep the part most people actually use. Starling is the same story — a full current account with Spaces and Bills Manager at no monthly cost. Neither of those is us, and for a lot of people that is the correct outcome.
If you were paying for the travel insurance, phone cover or partner perks, no budgeting app replaces those. Price the cover separately and compare it against £9 or £19 a month. That is an insurance decision, not an app decision.
If what you wanted was to see everything you spend across several accounts, Snoop and Emma both have free tiers that do it, and you can decide later whether the paid analysis is worth it.
If you want a real budgeting method and will put the hours in, YNAB is the serious option. Be aware it is billed in US dollars, so the sterling amount moves with the exchange rate.
The thing none of them do
Every app above shows you your money. Monzo, Starling, Snoop and Emma all have a bills view, and they are all good at it. What none of them do is stop you reaching the money once you have seen it.
That is the gap Lanhorz is built for. You set a protection level, and a set share of what is left after bills is taken out of your safe-to-spend number — so the figure you see is what is genuinely yours to spend, not what is sitting in the account. The promise is that it is already gone, so you cannot spend it.
This is aimed at one situation in particular: you have already tried a budgeting app, you can see exactly where the money went, and you still finished the month at zero. Seeing the problem more clearly was never the missing piece.
Honest limits, stated plainly
Lanhorz connects to UK banks through read-only Open Banking. It does not move money at your bank, it does not initiate payments, and it cannot block your card. The protection happens inside Lanhorz — money is held back from the number you are shown, not moved out of your account.
That means the protection is a strong nudge, not a physical barrier. If you are determined to spend it, your bank card still works. We would rather say that here than have you find out after paying.
Lanhorz is also early. It is in open early access with a small number of users, on a free tier plus £4.99 and £9.99 plans. If you need a settled product with years of track record behind it, one of the apps in the table above is the better choice today.
If money is genuinely tight right now
If you are behind on bills or struggling with debt, no subscription app is the right answer and you should not be paying for one. National Debtline gives free, independent and confidential debt advice on 0808 808 4000. MoneyHelper, backed by the government, has a free Bill Prioritiser and Budget Planner.
Lanhorz is not a bank, is not a debt adviser, and does not provide regulated financial advice.
See Lanhorz plans | View the public demo | Create early access account