Is Personal Capital Free? What Empower Charges For

Updated September 26, 2026.

Yes. Personal Capital, now Empower Personal Dashboard, offers free financial tools. Its paid professional services are separate. You should not be told that using the dashboard automatically means paying an assets-under-management fee. Empower financial tools

The useful follow-up question is what you want the service to do. A dashboard helps you see and analyze information. Professional advice and portfolio management may add responsibilities, access and implementation. An AI advice subscription offers another workflow. Those are different purchases.

This guide explains how to compare them without turning a legitimate free product into a misleading “hidden fee” story.

What the free dashboard includes

Empower's financial tools cover net worth, cash flow, budgeting, savings and retirement planning. Its investment tools include portfolio analysis and Investment Checkup. A person looking for a consolidated overview may find those tools sufficient. Empower tools and portfolio analysis

“Free” describes the price of that offering. It does not mean every product sold by the same company is free, and it does not mean a free product is necessarily inadequate. Evaluate the actual features you use.

It also does not settle your privacy preferences. Before connecting any financial app, review its privacy notice and permissions. This guide does not rank competitors' security or privacy from their pricing model, and it does not establish that one product will never contact you.

Where paid Empower services begin

Empower offers Personal Strategy separately, with financial planning and portfolio management under its applicable terms. Its investment-accounts page advertises a $100,000 minimum and advisory fees starting at 0.89% for that offering. Verify your proposed engagement and fee schedule rather than applying those figures to every Empower account. Empower investment accounts

A minimum for a managed service is not the minimum required to use a free dashboard. Likewise, a managed-advice fee does not appear simply because you linked an outside account to a tracking tool.

Before considering a professional engagement, identify the deliverables. Will someone help develop a plan? Who will implement investment decisions? What access do you receive? What falls outside the agreement? Those answers determine whether the service meets your needs.

Convert percentage fees into dollars carefully

An assets-under-management fee is based on the assets covered by the agreement. At a hypothetical constant 0.89% annual rate:

These examples multiply a fixed balance by a single annual rate. They are not quotes for a particular customer or a complete fee schedule. Actual billing may depend on changing balances, tiers and the agreement; fund expenses and other costs may also apply.

Do not extend a starting rate indefinitely across every portfolio size without checking the schedule. Do not treat a multi-decade compounding illustration as an amount an individual is guaranteed to save. A service comparison also needs to explain what work would disappear and what the investor would take on.

How Mezzi's pricing differs

Mezzi offers a free financial view with limited AI insights, family collaboration and Exposure X-Ray. Advisory is $399 annually and Concierge is $999 annually. Paid plans expand advice and support capacity rather than charge a percentage of the connected balance. Mezzi plans

If you currently use only Empower's free tools, moving to Advisory adds a subscription expense. If you are considering replacing paid management, the subscription cost may be lower, but Mezzi does not take over the same implementation responsibilities.

For example, the simplified $250,000 fee illustration above is $2,225. Compared with $399, the difference is $1,826 annually before other costs. That arithmetic is not proof of equivalent-service savings. The managed service includes work that a guidance subscription may leave to you.

What you would pay Mezzi to help with

Mezzi's financial picture includes Investments, Banking, Other Assets and Liabilities. Supported checking, savings, credit cards and investment accounts can inform the discussion, with assets such as real estate entered manually. Mezzi account groups

AI Personalization allows you to explain goals, preferences and constraints. Exposure X-Ray helps investigate underlying exposure in supported funds. A paid advice plan may be useful when you want to discuss the implications of that information rather than simply view it.

For example, you may want to explore what information is needed before directing new savings toward a goal. A useful conversation should recognize the reserve you intend to keep, your liabilities, existing investments and missing data. It should help you understand the reasoning and any limits.

That is a specific job to evaluate. It is more meaningful than assuming AI will generate enough tax savings to reimburse the subscription. No such outcome is guaranteed.

Compare total cost, including the work you keep

A clear evaluation has four lines:

1. Subscription or advisory charges. Use the plan and fee schedule that apply to you.
2. Investment and account costs. Identify expenses that remain at your brokerage or inside funds.
3. Professional work you still need. Tax filing, legal advice or other services may remain separate.
4. Your implementation responsibility. Establish who will make and carry out decisions.

The lowest software price is not automatically the lowest cost for the household. A person who wants managed implementation may reasonably pay more for it. A self-directed investor may prefer an advice subscription and control of execution.

Your preference can change over time. A period with complex decisions may justify more professional support, while a stable routine may require less. Evaluate the current need rather than treating one arrangement as permanently correct.

What to check before paying for an alternative

Start with the free tools you already have. Write down the unanswered question and the features you genuinely need. Then test the candidate product with supported accounts and verify a sample of the information against institution records.

Do not connect an incomplete picture and judge advice as though it saw everything. Missing liabilities, stale manual values or absent tax lots can affect the output. Ask the tool to identify assumptions rather than supply false precision.

Next, review renewal terms, cancellation terms and the exact limits of the selected plan. Annual billing and a monthly equivalent are not the same as a monthly-payment contract. Promotions can also differ from ongoing pricing.

Finally, choose whether the new service replaces anything or adds a separate capability. Keeping a free dashboard while testing advice can be sensible, but a new subscription should have a purpose you can name.

Compare the bill with the relationship you actually have

For someone using only Empower's free dashboard, the current dashboard subscription bill is $0. Adding Mezzi Advisory changes that line to $399 annually. There is no advisory-fee saving to claim unless a separate paid service is actually being replaced.

For a household considering paid management, list the managed balance and the exact fee schedule from the proposal. If $150,000 of a $500,000 household portfolio is covered by an agreement, a percentage applied to the full $500,000 will misstate that proposal. Likewise, fund expenses inside both arrangements are not automatically eliminated by changing the advice provider.

The answer can favor the free dashboard. It can also favor paying for guidance when a repeated question—such as combining tax-sensitive investment choices with a near-term cash need—remains unresolved. Judge Mezzi by whether that additional work is useful enough to justify the subscription. The free Empower dashboard remains a separate, zero-dollar option.

The decision is about the service

Use Empower's free dashboard if it meets your tracking and planning needs. Consider Mezzi if you want financial guidance grounded in a connected picture and personal context. Compare managed-advice engagements if you want someone to take on defined professional and implementation work.

For a direct product comparison, read Mezzi versus Empower. For several alternatives, see the Empower alternatives guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is Personal Capital still free under Empower?

Empower Personal Dashboard offers free financial tools. Paid professional services are separate products with their own terms.

Does linking an account create an advisory fee?

A dashboard connection and a paid managed-advice agreement are different arrangements. Review the terms of the product you enroll in rather than assuming a linked balance is managed.

Is Mezzi cheaper than the free Empower dashboard?

No paid plan can be cheaper than a zero-dollar dashboard. Mezzi also offers Free; evaluate paid advice based on the additional work you want it to support.

Does a lower subscription replace all advisor services?

Not necessarily. Compare planning, implementation, professional access and scope. Identify who will handle every responsibility you still need.