DIY finance users struggle to find apps that fit and last
People managing their personal finances want software that is easy to use, flexible enough for their needs, and dependable over time. Some fall back to spreadsheets because apps feel tedious or incomplete, despite the manual work; another user worries that a subscription service could close and take their work with it. A standalone, portable finance tool could address much of this, though it cannot fix a bank's own app performance or make search results better.
For DIY personal finance managers. Mentioned from Mar 2024 to May 2026 on Hacker News.
5 different people described this problem in 5 separate discussions.
- Indie fit
- 4.0/10
- Pain
- 5.6/10
- Frequency
- 6.5/10
- Willingness to pay
- 0.0/10
- Momentum
- 5.0/10
- Who pays
- Consumers
- Competition
- High
- Build difficulty
- Medium
What people said
Quoted word for word. Follow a link to read the whole discussion.
Same here. I still haven’t found a single app that does everything I need, so I end up using a spreadsheet and updating it manually. It’s flexible and transparent, but also tedious, which is why I keep looking for a better tool that doesn’t get in the way
You play the good customer, pay for years, and then it closes down and you have nothing to show for it. Garbage. Excuse me while I slink back to my spreadsheet
Build brief
See what to build and who will buy it
- 1 product idea with the smallest useful version and pricing
- 4 places to find your first customers
- 3 more quotes from people who have this problem
- Current workarounds, existing solutions and risks