VentureBeat

Green Sherpa, a personal finance site, launched its paid service publicly today to help consumers manage their cash flow and spending habits.

Like competitor Mint, the Santa Barbara-based company syncs data from different bank accounts to give users a picture of their spending and saving habits. However, to distinguish itself, it puts more focus on letting you share your data with a family member or financial planner. For example, that might help in case you’re a couple trying to save for a first home or for retirement. If you want to have a discussion with someone else about spending, you can flag items and comment on them within the site.

Instead of monthly budgets, Green Sherpa focuses on cash flows, projecting how your overall wealth might change based on your prior spending habits and future expected expenses. (Mint recently added functionality to analyze how your total wealth and assets evolve over time.)

The site has a few hurdles to clear. It’s arriving late to the game. Mint.com has blown past 1.4 million users, and is moving beyond monthly credit and debit card spending into more sophisticated financial products including individual retirement accounts and mortgages. There are also other competitors in the space including Wesabe, which has expressed more openness than Green Sherpa to using its technology to power offerings from banks. There’s also BillShrink, which hones in on identifying savings in recurring expenses like gas and phone bills.

Most of all unlike Mint, Wesabe and BillShrink, Green Sherpa is not free. It’s $7.95 a month, or $5.95 per month if you sign up for an annual plan.

Here’s a talk from CEO Massen Yaffee and founder Erin Lozano at DEMO:

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