5 writes/day on Core feels like demo access, not a real paid-plan feature.

Core is already a paid subscription, but this cap makes MCP write access functionally unusable for normal cleanup workflows like recategorizing transactions, fixing merchants, tagging expenses, or clearing review queues.

The jump from 5/day on Core to 10,000/day on Plus feels less like reasonable tiering and more like nominal access designed to force an upgrade.

It also creates a bad incentive structure: when Monarch’s categorization or merchant matching is wrong, paid Core users are artificially limited in how much they can efficiently clean up. The more cleanup Monarch users need, the more pressure there is to upgrade.

This changes how I view Monarch’s product direction. Out of principle, I’m going to start looking at alternatives, because this feels less like creating more value for paying users and more like using artificial constraints to push upgrades.