Alternatives
Products that do what Cadence Money – a budgeting app with no AI features, just an MCP server does
I thought I could make a personal finance app that was simpler, smarter and more privacy-focused than Monarch, YNAB and Copilot. I believe I have, but today that's up to you. While the classic story of using a variety of "analog" tools to manage money does apply to me, the main pillars that pushed me to build Cadence Money were: - Pay for the level of syncing that's used including none - No built-in AI - Fully cross-platform including mobile browsers - Passkeys available day one - Proper Canadian support - No ads even for a book After seven years at 1Password as a Lead PM, I can safely say…
- 1WI
Everyone’s chasing AI hype. I built a Google Sheet and it quietly took off. In 2020, I made it to track my own finances for income, expenses, savings, yearly summaries etc. I shared it once on Reddit, forgot about it for a year… When I checked back, it had over 130k views and I was honestly stoked! No launch. No funding. No AI. Just a spreadsheet people actually stick with and find useful. I finally gave it a proper home: write-it-down.com Now, more than 2,300 people use it. It’s intentionally boring and that’s why it works. People don’t always need AI. They just need something that actually…
Oct 2025 · write-it-down.com
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- 4MS
For years, I have struggled to understand my cash flow and save for the future. In addition to that, my wife has many credit cards and accounts that complicate matters. I am building a tool that connects all our accounts, helps us create a budget, and tracks and adjusts expenses on the fly. I am also sprinkling some AI magic on it for financial suggestions. I am looking for feedback on the implementation. More importantly, I am looking for more beta testers to improve the product.
2023 · financemadelovely.com
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Minimal, private money manager for iOS — no ads, no payments
Feb 2026 · apps.apple.com
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Try zero-based monthly budgeting in 5 min. 100% free!
Jan 2026
- 8YP
Care to share a screenshot and the 'killer feature' of any of your personal, self-built productivity tools? eg. I made my own calendar and money-tracker last year - there are no other users, it makes no money, I have no plans to make it public, but it holds my life together :) http://i.imgur.com/h2keJDg.png GREAT BECAUSE... it tells me how much I'm going to get paid this month. Absolutely no ulterior motive here (ie. I'm not canvassing opinions for a productivity app startup or anything), just interested.
2013
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- 11IB
I built this because I see that grocery savings are achievable in NYC. People usually just go to the store they're used to going to, and it's rarely worth the effort of combing through card cashback, weekly coupons, CPG rebates. Most people leave real money on the table by not stacking them, and even more don't even know that these deals are out there.... so I built a way to automate it. You can use it for free, no login, currently NYC-only with ~690 stores. I built it so that you just search whatever you want (use commas if you want to search multiple items). Or - use the AI tool to help…
Jul 2026 · sbnyc.app
- 12PA
hey hn – mint is gone, the clones feel like bloatware, and afaict every “personal finance” app still assumes you love staring at pie charts for fun. i don’t. so i built peek. - ai-first: an ai agent does the number-crunching and pings you with bite-sized nudges instead of guilt-trips - habit loop > dashboard: get weekly “wrapped”-style digests that actually push you towards forming new positive habits, not just remind you you spent too much on coffee - mobile-only rn (ios) bc that’s where gen z actually lives link:…
2025 · apps.apple.com
- 13ST
I built a web app that lets you share your goals publicly, together with a pledged amount. If you achieve your goal, great! Else, you pay the pledged amount as a fine to me. Sounds goofy, but I hope it provides the extra reason for you to keep going when the going gets tough!
2023 · walkthetalk.app
- 14IS
i built a heart rate zone training app for runners. ios + apple watch. custom zones, real-time haptics, post-run graphs. all the “smart” stuff you’d expect. but i never talked to a single runner before building it. not even myself lol. started as a thesis → kept building → added features → added a paywall (€4/month!) → launched it → and yeah… no one cared. zero feedback. zero users. just code in the void. i recently made the whole thing free. not trying to “sell” anything now — just seeing if it’s actually useful, and listening this time. curious how others handle this. ever build…
2025 · basamasa.github.io
- 15AM
Hi HN, Today I'm launching the Net Worth Tracker by Flow Finance, a beautiful and minimalist Excel template that allows individuals to track their assets, liabilities, income, and spending on a monthly basis. The focus of this template is understanding long-term trends in the incoming and outgoing expenses for an individual—always with a focus on maximising insights while minimising user inputs. This project was created because the alternatives, frankly, are completely overwhelming. A friend of mine introduced me to the FIRE Movement and, after doing deep dives through Reddit, I tried to…
2023 · getflow.finance
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As a consultant I foot my own Cursor bills, and last month was $1,263. Opus is too good not to use, but there's no way to cap spending per session. After blowing through my Ultra limit, I realized how token-hungry Cursor + Opus really is. It spins up sub-agents, balloons the context window, and suddenly, a task I expected to cost $2 comes back at $8. My bill kept going up, but was I really going to switch to a worse model? No. So I built l6e: an MCP server that gives your agent the ability to budget. It works with Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf, Openclaw, and every MCP-compatible application.…
Apr 2026 · l6e.ai
- 18IB
A few years ago, I started managing my finances using Google Sheets. It worked fine for a while, but then I hit some limitations. As my financial planning needs grew more complex, I found myself struggling with tracking assets and forecasting future financial scenarios. Thus, I started to work in my spare time on building FinancialAha: https://www.financialaha.com - a financial planning app designed to do everything my spreadsheets couldn’t. It is completely free and I intend to add some paid features later on as listed on the pricing page, but I want to keep it free for people…
2024
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Private, offline budget tracking — no account, no ads
Jul 2026 · play.google.com
- 21IB
I built a macOS app to track my subscriptions after realizing I was spending over $XXXX annually on services I barely used. I wanted a simple, privacy-focused tool to help me stay on top of recurring charges without relying on third-party integrations or sharing financial data. Key Features: – Visual Calendar: See all upcoming charges in a monthly view. – Custom Notifications: Set reminders for upcoming payments. – Highlights: Flag subscriptions as annual, trial, or one-time. – Statistics: View projected yearly spending, average monthly costs, and peak spending months. – Custom Categories:…
2025 · appps.od.ua
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I build a lot of small products myself and I realized how many indie founders want an exit that doesn’t involve platforms charging large commissions or requiring big revenue numbers. Sometimes a project makes $50/month, sometimes $500, sometimes $0 but has a great codebase, and that’s enough value for someone else. So I built buy-startups.com, a very simple, privacy-friendly marketplace for buying and selling small online startups. It’s not fancy. There’s no commission, no listing fee, no hidden funnel. Just a straightforward way for indie devs and bootstrappers to list a project and…
Dec 2025 · buy-startups.com
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