John At The Center

In the battle for the online personal finance market, free has become the status quo. Both startup Mint.com and rival Quicken Online have amassed more than one million members each by charging zilch for their services. Now, though, both companies are seriously exploring charging for some features. Quicken Online GM Todd Stanley (pictured left) says he believes consumers will be willing to ante up to monitor their investments online or to track their finances via their phones. For its part, Mint, which has set hefty revenue goals for itself, says it, too, is considering introducing some premium, fee-based options. One example, according to CEO Aaron Patzer: a service that lets users pull multiple credit reports directly into Mint and then tracks their credit scores (For more on Mint, see this interview we ran with Patzer).

via How The Free vs. Paid Debate Is Playing Out With Personal Finance Online | paidContent.