NerdWallet has quickly leapt into the top echelon of personal finance websites in the United States. Launched in 2009 by founder and CEO Tim Chen, the site has become a juggernaut in the very competitive personal finance space, surpassing older and more established players like BankRate. According to Inc. Magazine, the company is worth a staggering $500 million, and that number is probably off by today’s frothy valuation standards. Not too shabby for a blog that got its start in the midst of the 2009 recession with $800 in initial capital. That kind of success is sure to attract a myriad of competitors, which begs us to ask the question: Who are the top NerdWallet competitors? In this article, we review the 10 best alternatives to NerdWallet in 2024.

The 10 Best NerdWallet Alternatives and Competitors

Below, we’ve reviewed 10 personal finance websites that are alternatives to NerdWallet. These sites are all reputable sources of information that help consumers make more informed decisions about their money. They provide articles with important information, interviews with industry leaders, free financial tools, workshops and how-to guides on different topics ranging from insurance to mortgages.

Bankrate

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Headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Bankrate is one of Nerdwallet’s most powerful competitors. Originally founded as a print publication in 1976, it wasn’t until 20 years later that the company launched its website bankrate.com in 1996. Bankrate’s vision of helping you “Maximize Your Money” has led them to provide a plethora of helpful financial information and tools for readers, including more than 200 personal finance calculators. Bankrate’s content gives readers a comprehensive overview of important financial topics, including home equity loans, mortgages, banking, and personal loans. The company has been a prime target for private equity investors and has gone public, and subsequently been taken private, twice. Today, the company employs more than 500 people and is being led by its current CEO Scott Kim.

Who owns bankrate.com?

Red Ventures, an American media holding company, owns Bankrate, which it acquired in 2017 for $1.24 billion. Bankrate was founded in 1976 by Robert Heady.

Bankrate
Company Type Private
SimilarWeb Finance Rank #12
Estimated Monthly Visits 13.86 million
Revenue $434 million (2016)
Topics Mortgage calculators, mortgage refinance, credit cards, personal loans, insurance
Notes Acquired by Red Ventures in 2017 for $1.4 billion

Sources: SimilarWeb, Bankrate, Wikipedia

The Balance

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The Balance was founded in 2016 and specializes in broader topics affecting the U.S. economy, as well as more personal finance topics, such as banking, loans, and credit cards. Much of The Balance’s content came from the now defunct About.com, and it eventually became a standalone publication in 2016. Based in New York City, The Balance has a team of more than 50 financial experts that write content to help consumers with all of their financial endeavors. According to SimilarWeb, The Balance receives an average of 13.51 million visits a month. Readers can access over 9,000 articles, including over 2,000 financial product reviews. In addition to The Balance, consumers can also visit The Balance Careers and The Balance Small Business for more specialized content. The Vice President and General Manager of The Balance is Lauren Silbert.

Who owns thebalance.com?

The Balance is part of the IAC-owned company Dotdash. Investopedia, Lifewire, ThoughtCo, and TripSavvy are also part of the Dotdash publishing family. According to TechCrunch, Dotdash increased its revenue by 44% in 2019 to $131 million. The current CEO of Dotdash is Neil Vogel.

The Balance
Company Type Private
SimilarWeb Financial Planning & Management Rank #12
Estimated Monthly Visits 13.51 million
Revenue Unknown
Topics Taxes, U.S. economy, banking, loans, budgeting, credit cards
Notes The Balance and Investopedia are both part of the Dotdash publishing family

Sources: SimilarWeb, Investopedia, The Balance

SmartAsset

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Headquartered in New York City, SmartAsset is one of the newer alternatives to NerdWallet. The site specializes in helping people find financial advisors, retirement information, and investing. SmartAsset self-identifies as a “financial technology company” that provides users free tools to help them make sound financial decisions. The company is heavily backed by venture money with a total 19 investors according to their Crunchbase profile. SmartAsset has most notably received attention for its successful fundraising. In 2018, SmartAsset raised $28 million in a Series C funding round. It has raised a total of $51.4 million in six funding rounds. SmartAsset tends to focus more on the investment side of things, helping its readers find a financial advisor and selling the RIA leads to financial institutions. According to SimilarWeb, SmartAsset has an average of 11.31 million monthly visits, which puts it in fifth place on SimilarWeb’s list of financial planning and management websites. Like two other sites on this list (EverQuote and ThePennyHoarder) SmartAsset uses native ads advertorials to promote their brand. Trying to take a page from the EverQuote playbook they sometimes try to create controversial ads to increase engagement on their creatives. One ad in particular that I personally saw involved a picture of two of their employees with the company's logo on the background and the letters E and T seemed to have been cut on purpose from their name SmartAsset. I couldn't make this stuff up. It was a Taboola native advertorial.

Who owns smartasset.com?

SmartAsset was founded in 2012 by Michael Carvin and Philip Camilleri. The current CEO is Michael Carvin. 

SmartAsset
Company Type Private
SimilarWeb Financial Planning & Management Rank #5
Estimated Monthly Visits 11.31 million
Revenue Unknown
Topics Financial advisors, retirement, investing
Notes In 2018, SmartAsset raised $28 million in Series C funding

Sources: SimilarWeb, Business Wire

The Points Guy

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Brian Kelley started The Points Guy because of his expertise on maximizing credit card rewards and airline miles to travel. Because of this, The Points Guy is different from other NerdWallet competitors. The Points Guy focuses its content on how you can optimize credit card and airline rewards to travel cost-effectively. For example, users can read about the best airline credit cards, recent travel deals, a beginner’s guide to points and miles, and more. Additionally, The Points Guy is also a great resource for reviews on flights, hotels, travel gear, and more. According to Entrepreneur, Capital One is one of The Points Guy’s major partners. SimilarWeb reports that The Points Guy receives an average of 7.65 million monthly visits, making it no. 11 on SimilarWeb’s list of top travel and tourism websites. 

Who owns thepointsguy.com? 

From 2010 to 2012, founder Brian Kelley owned ThePointsGuy.com. In 2012, Brian Kelley sold majority ownership to Bankrate for an undisclosed amount of money. Subsequently, Red Ventures acquired Bankrate.

The Points Guy
Company Type Private
SimilarWeb Travel and Tourism Rank #11
Estimated Monthly Visits 7.65 million
Revenue Unknown
Topics Credit cards, travel tips and reviews, hotels
Notes In 2012, The Points Guy was acquired by Bankrate, which was then acquired by Red Ventures

Sources: SimilarWeb, The New York Times

ValuePenguin

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Now 8 years old, ValuePenguin is an alternative to NerdWallet that focuses on presenting valuable data and comparison tools so that consumers can make smart financial choices. On ValuePenguin, consumers have the option to compare various types of insurance and credit cards. According to ValuePenguin, the website reached a total of 16 million users in 2018. A lot of the personal finance sites on our list are private and don't reveal their internal numbers. However, in 2019 ValuePenguin was acquired by publicly traded LendingTree  (Nasdaq:TREE). LendingTree revealed that in for the first nine months of 2018, ValuePenguin had $12.5 million dollars in revenue and $9 million en EBITDA. Pretty impressive margins!

Who owns valuepenguin.com?

In 2013, three veteran financial analysts—Jon Wu, Ting Pen, and Brian Quinn—started ValuePenguin to equip readers with valuable research and data. In 2019, LendingTree acquired ValuePenguin for $105 million. 

ValuePenguin
Company Type Private
SimilarWeb Insurance Rank #78
Estimated Monthly Visits 2.38 million
Revenue $12.5 million (first 3 quarters of 2018)
Topics Research, data, insurance, credit cards
Notes Acquired in 2019 by LendingTree, Inc. for $105 million

Sources: SimilarWeb, Lending, Tree, Inc.

The Penny Hoarder

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Kyle Taylor founded The Penny Hoarder in 2010 in St. Petersburg, Florida. According to The Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Taylor started The Penny Hoarder to discuss how he was effectively managing money while paying off $50,000 worth of student loans and credit card debt.The Penny Hoarder offers coverage of an expansive selection of financial topics, including home buying and credit scores, but it’s primary focus tends to be on making and saving money. Readers can also learn from The Penny Hoarder Academy, which offers guides and tips on common financial topics like budgeting, credit cards, and job hunting. ThePennyHoarder employs a traffic strategy that is similar to that of companies; such as EverQuote, which is namely, blasting the entire web with sensationalist native ads. The strategy seems to be working as the website has 17 million readers, 6.9 million Facebook fans, and 1.2 million email subscribers. 

Who owns thepennyhoarder.com?

In 2021, Sykes Enterprises acquired The Penny Hoarder for $102.5 million.

The Penny Hoarder
Company Type Private
SimilarWeb Finance Rank #37
Estimated Monthly Visits 4.63 million
Revenue Unknown
Topics Budgeting, debt, banking
Notes Acquired in 2021 by Sykes Enterprises for $102.5 million

Sources: SimilarWeb, Tampa Bay Times

WalletHub

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In 2012, founder and CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou launched WalletHub, a Washington, D.C.-based personal finance website that helps consumers improve their “WalletFitness” with helpful tools about credit and money management. Before WalletHub, Papadimitriou previously started CardHub, which offered credit card comparison tools. In 2016, those tools were integrated into WalletHub. Today, one of WalletHub’s main objectives is to provide consumers with personalized and data-backed tips on how they can improve their credit. Additionally, Wallethub strives to improve people’s financial literacy. According to SimilarWeb, WalletHub receives an average of 6.11 million users a month. 

Who owns wallethub.com?

WalletHub is owned by Evolution Finance, Inc. 

WalletHub
Company Type Private
SimilarWeb Finance Rank #38
Estimated Monthly Visits 6.11 million
Revenue Unknown
Topics Credit cards, loans, banking
Notes Wallethub launched in 2013 and is owned by Evolution Finance, Inc.

Sources: SimilarWeb, Wallethub

Money Under 30

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An independent site, Money Under 30 directs its personal finance advice specifically toward young adults. In addition to producing informative articles, Money Under 30 also allows readers to use free personal finance tools, including a monthly budget spreadsheet and a home affordability calculator. One feature that makes Money Under 30 stand out from other NerdWallet competitors is its podcast series. Money Under 30’s podcast series, MU30-In-Person, regularly features some of the financial industry’s biggest names and experts. These conversations give listeners an insightful look into the minds of industry leaders. Some of the most recent guests include the CEO of Gabi, Hanno Fichtner, and the Chief Insurance Officer of Bestow, Jackie Morales. 

Who owns moneyunder30.com?

In 2006, David Weliver founded Money Under 30. According to Money Under 30, Weliver began the website after successfully paying off $80,000 worth of debt over the course of three years. 

Money Under 30
Company Type Private
SimilarWeb Financial Planning & Management Rank #45
Estimated Monthly Visits 3.02 million
Revenue Unknown
Topics Insurance, investing, loans
Notes Money Under 30 is independent

Sources: SimilarWeb, Money Under 30

EverQuote

You've probably seen their ads everywhere on display and native platforms. For those of you who sometimes can't tell the difference between advertorials and real articles; you've probably clicked on one of their ads curious to read about how two young asian geniuses are disrupting the insurance industry.  Funny, misleading, or not; EverQuote has found a way to serve more than 5,000 insurance companies and agencies and build a base of 5 million monthly active users. They focus on providing insurance comparison services and some editorial content for their audience. The company is based in Cambridge, MA and it's publicly traded on the Nasdaq (Nasdaq:EVER). EverQuote is growing very rapidly. They reported revenues of $126 million in 2017, $163 million in 2018, and $248 million in 2019. For 2020 They expect to do over $300 million in revenue. So those two asian geniuses are doing something right afterall.

Who owns everquote.com?

EverQuote is a public company with a market capitalization of $1.1 Billion. It was founded by Seth Birnbaum and Tomas Revesz

EverQuote
Company Type Public
SimilarWeb Finance>Insurance #42
Estimated Monthly Visits 4.7 million
Revenue $300 million (2020)
Topics Insurance
Notes EverQuote was founded in 2008 as AdHarmonics subsequently changing its name to EverQuote

Sources: SimilarWeb, Money Crashers

Surfky Finance

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Just as TV contributors can’t go on TV without plugging their own book, we couldn’t write an article about the best NerdWallet alternatives without talking about our own site. Part of the Bidwise Media family, Surfky.com reports on personal finance topics like insurance, credit cards, mortgages, and small businesses. The site sole focus isn't finance though. Surfky Magazine covers various areas that appeal to all consumers, including lifestyle, and education. We're not like SmartAsset, or any of the companies above for that matter, we have our own identity and are thrilled to bring a unique perspective to the industry.

Final Thoughts

Financial management sites are a quick and easy way to find the answers to your biggest financial questions, and NerdWallet is one of the most prominent resources. NerdWallet has set a pretty high bar as the ultimate insurtech giant and a resource for guiding their audience through the challenges of personal finance. To learn from experts and gain insightful information that will shape your financial future, check out one of these 10 NerdWallet alternatives. 

The responses below are not provided, commissioned, reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any financial entity or advertiser. It is not the advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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