A Monarch referral link is 50% off year one. Monarch’s own public code is 30%, and you cannot use both.
The gap between Monarch’s two discounts is twenty percentage points. Its referral page now reads “Get 50% off your first year with a valid referral code.” Its referral terms say referred users “get 50% off their first year of the Core annual plan.” A banner across the rest of the site offers “Get 30% OFF Core for one year with code WELCOME”. The link wins. The fine print under both reads “Cannot be combined with other offers.” So these are alternatives, not layers.
- Through a subscriber’s referral link, annual Core, paid on the web50% off year one
- With the WELCOME code Monarch shows everyone30% off year one
Both cover the first year only, and Monarch’s fine print says the discount cannot be combined with other offers.
The whole offer turns on one sentence, and Monarch rewrote that sentence in August. It is the asterisked note printed under the discount banner on monarch.com, and it no longer talks about your phone. It talks about who takes your money.
Quoted from Monarch
“New members only. Cannot be combined with other offers. Promo codes only valid on annual Core plan subscriptions billed directly by Monarch (not Apple or Google).”
What pays what
| You, new member, through a subscriber’s link, annual Core, billed by Monarch | 50% off year one |
|---|---|
| You, with Monarch’s own public WELCOME code, no link needed | 30% off year one |
| Both together | Cannot be combined |
| You, billed by Apple or Google rather than by Monarch | Not valid |
| You, on monthly billing rather than annual Core | Not valid |
| Anyone who has had a Monarch account before | New members only |
| A referred friend living in Quebec, or outside the United States or Canada | Not eligible |
Monarch is not hiding the 30%: the WELCOME banner sits on its home page, its referral terms, its press room, its pricing page, its own promo-codes page and the landing page it sends paid traffic to. Read October 26, 2026, the referral page no longer shows it.
Monarch’s own “Official Monarch Promo Codes” page, at monarch.com/promo-codes, shows one code: “Save 30% on your first year with promo code WELCOME”. It offers no 50% code.
Do this, in this order
- Decide you want a paid budgeting app before you go near a discount. This is a subscription, the offer is 50% off your first year, and year two arrives at the ordinary price. Half off a tool you abandon in March is not a saving, it is a smaller mistake.
- Ask a person, not a website, for the link. Monarch issues referral links to its own paying or trialing subscribers. In the help center’s words, “Each household gets one unique link…” The only way to get one is to know somebody who pays for Monarch.
- If you cannot find a link, take the public code and stop hunting. WELCOME is 30% off year one, shown by Monarch to everyone. Twenty points is worth one text message to a friend, not an afternoon of coupon sites.
- Let Monarch bill you, not an app store. Monarch’s note now says promo codes are “only valid on annual Core plan subscriptions billed directly by Monarch (not Apple or Google),” and its referral terms separately require the friend to sign up on the web and pay “through web billing” for the plan. Subscribing in the browser satisfies both. If you buy inside the iOS or Android app and the App Store or Google Play is the one charging you, that is not a subscription billed directly by Monarch, which is the thing the note excludes.
- Pick annual Core, and do not try to stack anything. Promo codes are “only valid on annual Core plan subscriptions,” and the note opens “New members only. Cannot be combined with other offers.” Do not layer the code on the link, and do not expect a monthly or Plus plan to carry it.
Why this page has no Monarch link for you
The terms also list posting a referral link on coupon or deal sites as fraud. Monarch publishes no affiliate program for websites either, and a publisher link would most likely show you the public 30% instead.
Is it worth your time?
As a discount, yes. The twenty-point gap costs the effort of asking one friend who already pays for the app. Do it on a computer, on the annual Core plan, as a genuinely new user, and you have taken the best price Monarch offers. Remember that the discount covers one year and the second year is the real decision.
If you later share your own Monarch link, that reward is separate. The terms tie it to the reward shown in your account when your friend signed up. The help center, read October 26, 2026, names a figure: “You earn a $30 reward for each person you refer”, sent by email about 30 days after their first payment. It can be a gift card or cash, and the $480 yearly cap now covers your whole household, not just you. You must still have an active subscription when it is sent, and Monarch can revoke it for fraud or misconduct.
Each Monarch household can earn up to $480 in Payouts per calendar year, based on the Payout Date.
