Yes, Empower is safe to use. Empower's own cybersecurity page says your data is encrypted with AES-256, protected by multifactor authentication, covered by a clean annual SOC 2 Type II report, stored in the United States and never sold, and the Empower Personal Dashboard (formerly Personal Capital) is free. The catch is not security, it is the business model: the free dashboard is the front door to a paid advisory business that starts at $100,000, and Empower's own footnote discloses that advertising cookies can count as "sharing" under some state laws.
This post covers Empower the US financial company, the one behind the Personal Dashboard, workplace retirement plans and wealth management. It does not cover the unrelated ride-service app that shares the name (more on that below). Every claim here comes from Empower's own pages, read on October 5, 2026, with the exact page named so you can check it yourself.
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Is the Empower budgeting app safe?
The Empower Personal Dashboard is safe by the standards that matter for a money-tracking app, because it is built to show you your accounts rather than move your money. Empower's financial-tools FAQ says it "uses multiple layers of security in every component of our systems to keep your information private, including encryption and multi-factor authentication." That is a general statement, so the specifics matter more than the sentence.
Empower's cybersecurity page lists them. Data is encrypted with "AES-256 multifactor key management, including user specific keys and salts." Empower says it uses multifactor authentication "to reduce the chance of account takeover." It states a "clean, comprehensive annual SOC 2 Type II report with no exceptions," meaning an outside auditor tested its controls over time and found nothing to flag. It says its controls are aligned to NIST 800-53 and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, that it does penetration testing, and that it keeps all your data in the United States.
One honest gap: none of the Empower pages I read use the words "read-only" to describe how the dashboard connects to your bank. That does not mean it can move your money, and the Personal Dashboard is a tracking tool, but if that distinction matters to you, check what permissions the connection screen shows before you link anything.
What does Empower say it does with my data?
Empower says it does not sell your data, with one footnote that matters. The cybersecurity page states "We do not sell your data" and "Our business is built on protecting your privacy, not profiting from it." The Privacy Center puts the principle as "We use your data to serve you, not for monetization."
The footnote is where the detail lives. Empower's footnote reads: "While we do not share your personal information to third parties for monetary gain, some state laws have a broader definition of 'sale' and 'share' that may be applicable to use of certain third-party cookies, tags, pixels, or web beacons." In plain English, Empower and its advertising partners use cookies and your device's advertising identifier, and some states would call that sharing. It is standard across consumer finance, and Empower gives you an opt-out through its "Manage cookies" link and the Privacy Center, but it is not the same as "nothing leaves the building."
| What people ask | What Empower says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Is my data encrypted? | AES-256 with user-specific keys and salts | empower.com/individuals/about-empower/cybersecurity |
| Is two-factor on? | Multifactor authentication is used to reduce account takeover (the pages do not say whether it is mandatory for every user) | Cybersecurity page; financial-tools FAQ |
| Is it audited? | Annual SOC 2 Type II, "no exceptions" | Cybersecurity page |
| Is my data sold? | No sale for monetary gain; advertising cookies disclosed in a footnote | Cybersecurity page footnote 4; empower.com/privacy |
| Where is data stored? | United States | Cybersecurity page |
| Does the dashboard cost anything? | "Nothing! The dashboard experience and financial tools are completely free" | empower.com/tools |
Is the Empower app legit?
Yes, Empower is a legitimate company: its pages describe helping "over 20 million people," it is an SEC-registered investment adviser for its advisory arm, and its workplace retirement business is regulated by the SEC, FINRA and the Department of Labor, according to its cybersecurity page. Legitimate does not mean flawless, though, and two things in the search results are worth separating.
First, Empower's Trustpilot listing for its retirement-plan site shows a very low score, around 1.2 out of 5 across roughly 490 reviews at the time of writing. That is a listing for the workplace retirement product, a different service from the free Personal Dashboard, and the complaint that surfaces in search results concerns a retirement plan, not a data breach. I am not treating it as evidence about dashboard security in either direction, but you should know it exists if you have a 401(k) with Empower.
Second, I did not find a breach announcement in the pages I checked, and I am not claiming there has never been one. Check the company's current security notices before you decide.
Is the Empower app illegal to use?
No, and this question comes from a name collision. A separate ride-service app also called Empower has been the subject of licensing warnings in local driver groups, and its owner is unrelated to the financial company covered here. If your search for "is Empower safe" was about a rideshare app, nothing in this post applies to it, and you should check with your local taxi and limousine regulator instead. The financial Empower is the one with the SOC 2 report, the SEC registration and the free dashboard.
What is the catch with a free dashboard?
The catch is that "free" is how Empower finds advisory clients. The dashboard costs nothing, and Empower's financial-tools page is explicit about that. The wealth-management page is explicit about the other half: Empower charges "an annual advisory fee as a percentage of your total assets under management (AUM) using a tiered fee structure," and Personal Strategy advisory services "are available when you invest more than $100,000," with higher tiers at more than $250,000 and more than $1,000,000. The average ETF expense ratio it publishes is 0.08%, on top of the advisory fee.
That is a fair trade for many people, and our Monarch Money vs Empower comparison goes through it in detail. But it is why a safe, free tool can still feel pushy: you are the audience for a wealth-management funnel, and your connected balances tell Empower how likely you are to qualify. If you only want to look at your net worth, you can ignore the advisory pitch. If sales follow-up is something you want to avoid, decide that before you connect your investment accounts.
How to use Empower more safely
Four habits cover most of the risk, and none takes long.
Use a password you have never used elsewhere, and turn on every multifactor option the account offers, because Empower's pages describe the control without promising it is enforced for everyone. Opt out of cookie-based sharing through the Manage cookies link if the footnote above bothers you. Connect only the accounts you actually want tracked, since the dashboard is more useful with investments but does not need every account to work. And if you leave, send a deletion request through a Personal Dashboard support ticket, which is the route the Privacy Center names for dashboard users.
Is Empower the right tool if you hate budgeting?
Empower is the right tool if what you want is a clear picture of net worth and investments, and it is not designed for the daily "where did my money go" question. Its budgeting and cash-flow views exist, but the product is built around retirement planning and portfolio analysis.
That is where Spendalyst fits, honestly. Spendalyst is a spending-clarity tool for people who tried budgeting apps and quit: it connects to your bank through a read-only Plaid connection (Chase, Wells Fargo and 12,000+ other banks), and it also works with manual entry or CSV import if you would rather not link anything. A coach card arrives every Monday with specific dollar figures, there is a six-month spending trend, and you can export your data as CSV or JSON. The 14-day free trial needs no credit card and pauses at the end rather than charging you, then it is $10.99 a month or $89.99 a year. It does not model your retirement or analyze your portfolio, so if that is your need, use Empower and enjoy that it is free.
If safety is your main worry about linking accounts at all, our guide to whether it is safe to link a bank account to a budgeting app explains the aggregator model every one of these apps shares, and the is Monarch Money safe and is Copilot Money safe breakdowns apply the same checklist to the two paid alternatives. If the real issue is that tracking feels like a chore, how to manage money without budgeting is the better starting point.
The verdict on "is Empower safe"
Empower is safe. Its encryption, audit and data-storage claims are specific and sit on its own pages, the dashboard is free, and the privacy disclosures are more candid than most because the cookie footnote is right there. What you are really deciding is whether you are comfortable being the top of an advisory funnel that starts at $100,000. If you are, connect your accounts, turn on every security option, and use it. If you are not, you can use a different tracker, or none at all.