Anthropic announced that Claude is getting a new tool called Personal Finance, designed to help users keep track of their money. The tool lets users connect bank and credit card accounts through Plaid and then ask Claude questions about their finances. Anthropic says access is read-only, meaning Personal Finance cannot move, manage, or invest users’ money. By connecting directly to financial accounts, Anthropic is positioning Claude as a financial companion that can help people understand their spending and make sense of their money rather than only offering generic advice.

The launch puts Claude in direct competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which introduced similar personal finance tools in May that also connect financial accounts and answer questions about spending patterns and long-term financial planning. In a blog post, Anthropic wrote that Claude gives answers in everyday language, from balances and transactions, and explains any term that’s new to the user. The company also emphasizes that Personal Finance has no ads or sponsored recommendations and doesn’t offer credit cards, loans, or savings accounts of its own, so money questions get a straight answer.

For example, at the end of the month a user could ask, “Where did my money go this month?” Claude would add up spending across connected accounts and sort it into categories such as rent and utilities, food and drink, and shopping. Users can follow up with questions like “Is that more than usual?” or “Anything else I’m missing?” Anthropic says the tool goes beyond basic summaries by analyzing transactions for potential issues like duplicate charges, unexpected fees, and steadily increasing bills. Users can also ask whether they’re spending more than they earn, ask for explanations of financial concepts like APR, and see calculations of how much interest they paid over the past year.

On privacy, Anthropic says Claude’s access is limited to each connected bank’s name, account name and type, the last four digits of the account number, balances, credit limits, and up to two years of transaction history. The company also notes that conversations in the Personal Finance hub are not used to train its models.

Personal Finance starts rolling out in beta this week to users on the Pro, Max, and Ultra plans in the U.S. The announcement continues Anthropic’s expansion into verticals, following the launch of Claude for Legal and Claude for Financial Services earlier this year.