OptiVault vs Origin vs Cleo: Best AI Finance App 2025

1. Cleo: The Chatbot Budget Buddy

"Money talks. Cleo talks back."

What it is: Cleo is an AI chatbot that connects to your bank accounts and provides spending insights through conversational messaging. It's famous for "Roast Mode," where the AI insults your financial decisions to motivate behavior change.

Key Features:

• Chatbot interface – Text with Cleo like you'd text a friend for financial advice
• Roast Mode – Get brutally honest feedback on your spending ("You spent $400 on takeout this month. Are you okay?")
• Spending insights – AI categorizes transactions and shows spending patterns
• Savings goals – Set targets and let Cleo automatically save small amounts
• Bill prediction – AI predicts upcoming bills to avoid overdrafts
• Subscription tracking – Identifies recurring charges

Pricing:

• Cleo Basic – Free (with ads and limited features)
• Cleo Plus – $5.99/month ($72/year)
• Cleo Builder – $14.99/month ($180/year) with credit building and advanced features

Best For:

College students, young professionals, and anyone who needs help controlling discretionary spending and building their first $1,000-$5,000 in savings. If you're just starting your financial journey and want a fun, low-pressure way to learn budgeting, Cleo is excellent.

Not Ideal For:

Investors, tax optimization seekers, or anyone with significant assets looking to maximize wealth growth. Cleo doesn't offer tax-loss harvesting, investment tracking, or advanced financial planning.

2. Origin: The Premium Workplace Solution

"Your personal AI financial advisor + certified human CFPs"

What it is: Origin combines AI-powered financial planning with access to certified financial planners (CFPs). It's often offered as an employee benefit by forward-thinking companies, though individuals can subscribe directly.

Key Features:

• AI financial planning – Comprehensive budget, investment, and retirement projections
• CFP access – Schedule calls with human certified financial planners for complex questions
• Investment tracking – Monitor 401(k)s, IRAs, brokerage accounts, stocks, and crypto
• Scenario modeling – "What if I retire at 55?" or "Should I buy this house?" forecasting
• Net worth dashboard – Track your complete financial picture across all accounts
• Couples features – Shared finances for partners with joint goals
• Subscription management – Identifies recurring charges (manual cancellation)

Pricing:

• Employer-sponsored – Free if your company offers it as a benefit
• Individual subscription – $13/month ($156/year)

Best For:

Professionals whose employers offer Origin as a benefit (making it free), couples managing shared finances, or anyone who values human advisor access for behavioral coaching and complex planning questions. If you're making major life decisions (buying a home, changing careers, planning retirement), the CFP access is valuable.

Not Ideal For:

DIY investors who want automated tax optimization without paying for human advisor access they won't use. Origin charges $156/year for features that OptiVault offers for $100/year—plus OptiVault adds daily tax harvesting that Origin lacks entirely.

3. OptiVault: The Automated Wealth BuilderOUR PICK

"The AI financial advisor for serious wealth building"

What it is: OptiVault is built for one purpose: maximizing your net worth. While Cleo focuses on spending awareness and Origin adds human advisors, OptiVault uses AI to automate the sophisticated strategies that traditionally required expensive wealth managers—daily tax-loss harvesting, automatic budget optimization, subscription cancellation, and investment tracking—all for a flat $100/year.

Key Features:

• Daily automated tax harvesting – OptiVault's AI monitors your taxable accounts every day, identifying opportunities to harvest losses and save thousands in taxes annually (this feature alone can save $5,000-$10,000/year on a $1M portfolio)
• Smart budgeting with daily adjustments – Unlike static budgets, OptiVault's AI adjusts your safe-to-spend amount every day based on income, upcoming bills, and spending patterns
• Automatic subscription cancellation – AI detects all recurring charges (even forgotten free trials) and cancels them with one tap, saving the average user $200-300/month
• Instant financial health check – Connect accounts via Plaid and get an immediate AI analysis of your net worth, debt ratios, spending patterns, and optimization opportunities
• Complete investment tracking – Monitor 401(k)s, IRAs, brokerage accounts, crypto, and individual stocks in one dashboard
• 24/7 AI financial advice – Ask questions anytime ("Can I afford this car?" "Should I pay off debt or invest?") and get instant data-driven answers
• 256-bit encryption – Bank-level security via Plaid (same infrastructure as Venmo, Robinhood)

Pricing:

• $100/year flat fee – No percentage of assets, no minimums, no hidden costs
• Compare: Origin charges $156/year, Cleo charges $72-$180/year, traditional advisors charge $10,000/year on a $1M portfolio

Best For:

Serious wealth builders who want to maximize after-tax returns through automated tax-loss harvesting, investors tired of paying 1% advisory fees, professionals who value 24/7 AI access over scheduled human appointments, and anyone looking to cut wasted subscriptions while optimizing their complete financial picture.

If your goal is building wealth efficiently—not just "being aware of spending"—OptiVault is objectively the best choice.

Not Ideal For:

Those who need hand-holding during market volatility (OptiVault is AI-only, no human CFPs), people with ultra-complex estate planning needs (multi-million-dollar trusts, business succession), or anyone uncomfortable with technology and mobile apps.