Should I Build It Should I Build It
02 Jul 2025
Fintech

a personal finance app that pulls your bank data directly from linked ...

...email

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

Your idea for a personal finance app that pulls bank data from linked email puts you in a crowded and challenging space. The "Swamp" category indicates that many similar solutions exist, but none have truly broken through to widespread adoption. With only 3 similar products identified, we have medium confidence in the idea category, but this also suggests that the overall engagement tends to be low, as evidenced by the average of 3 comments per product. Because existing solutions have failed to resonate, it's crucial to understand why before investing significant time and effort. Without demonstrable value or a strong differentiator, your app risks getting lost in the existing mediocre landscape.

Recommendations

  1. Begin with extensive market research to identify the shortcomings of existing personal finance apps. Analyze user reviews, feature comparisons, and pricing models to understand why these solutions haven't achieved widespread success. Focus on identifying unmet needs and pain points that your app can uniquely address.
  2. If you decide to proceed, focus on identifying a specific niche or group of users who are currently underserved by existing personal finance tools. This could be freelancers, small business owners, or individuals with unique financial situations. Tailor your app's features and marketing to meet the specific needs of this target audience. Consider what user from similar product said about distrust of AI-generated photos and how you can build trust in your app.
  3. Explore the possibility of building tools or integrations for existing personal finance providers instead of creating a standalone app. This could involve developing plugins, APIs, or data connectors that enhance the functionality of popular platforms. This approach allows you to leverage existing user bases and distribution channels.
  4. Before committing to this idea, explore adjacent problems in the personal finance space that may be more promising. Consider addressing issues such as financial literacy, debt management, or investment planning. These areas may offer greater opportunities for innovation and differentiation.
  5. Given the challenges and competition in the personal finance app market, consider carefully whether this is the best use of your time and resources. It may be more prudent to save your energy for a more innovative concept with a clearer path to success. User feedback from similar products indicates issues with authorization flows and API integrations so tread carefully.

Questions

  1. What specific problem are you solving that existing personal finance apps don't address effectively, and how will you validate this problem before building your app?
  2. Considering the limitations and criticisms of similar products, how will you ensure robust and secure bank data integration, addressing potential issues with authorization flows and API access?
  3. How will you differentiate your app in a crowded market, and what unique value proposition will you offer to attract and retain users, especially given the low engagement observed in similar products?

Your are here

Your idea for a personal finance app that pulls bank data from linked email puts you in a crowded and challenging space. The "Swamp" category indicates that many similar solutions exist, but none have truly broken through to widespread adoption. With only 3 similar products identified, we have medium confidence in the idea category, but this also suggests that the overall engagement tends to be low, as evidenced by the average of 3 comments per product. Because existing solutions have failed to resonate, it's crucial to understand why before investing significant time and effort. Without demonstrable value or a strong differentiator, your app risks getting lost in the existing mediocre landscape.

Recommendations

  1. Begin with extensive market research to identify the shortcomings of existing personal finance apps. Analyze user reviews, feature comparisons, and pricing models to understand why these solutions haven't achieved widespread success. Focus on identifying unmet needs and pain points that your app can uniquely address.
  2. If you decide to proceed, focus on identifying a specific niche or group of users who are currently underserved by existing personal finance tools. This could be freelancers, small business owners, or individuals with unique financial situations. Tailor your app's features and marketing to meet the specific needs of this target audience. Consider what user from similar product said about distrust of AI-generated photos and how you can build trust in your app.
  3. Explore the possibility of building tools or integrations for existing personal finance providers instead of creating a standalone app. This could involve developing plugins, APIs, or data connectors that enhance the functionality of popular platforms. This approach allows you to leverage existing user bases and distribution channels.
  4. Before committing to this idea, explore adjacent problems in the personal finance space that may be more promising. Consider addressing issues such as financial literacy, debt management, or investment planning. These areas may offer greater opportunities for innovation and differentiation.
  5. Given the challenges and competition in the personal finance app market, consider carefully whether this is the best use of your time and resources. It may be more prudent to save your energy for a more innovative concept with a clearer path to success. User feedback from similar products indicates issues with authorization flows and API integrations so tread carefully.

Questions

  1. What specific problem are you solving that existing personal finance apps don't address effectively, and how will you validate this problem before building your app?
  2. Considering the limitations and criticisms of similar products, how will you ensure robust and secure bank data integration, addressing potential issues with authorization flows and API access?
  3. How will you differentiate your app in a crowded market, and what unique value proposition will you offer to attract and retain users, especially given the low engagement observed in similar products?

  • Confidence: Medium
    • Number of similar products: 3
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 3
  • Net use signal: 10.0%
    • Positive use signal: 20.0%
    • Negative use signal: 10.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 10.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 10.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

Relevance

I built an inbox-zero expense tracker with CRDTs and SQLite in browser

30 Nov 2023 Fintech

Hi everyone! I’ve been working on a small personal finance tool called Tender for the better part of a year.I got tired of doing expenses by hand - going through several accounts to figure out refunds, subscription cancellations, getting paid back via venmo, etc. I’d get to the point where I’d have to go through months of transactions at a time if I got lazy and fell behind.The workflow in Tender is centered around getting to inbox-zero. Transactions leave the inbox when they’re categorized and there’s a basic rules engine for automation. You can also do things like add notes, set reminders, and link refunds to their original payment. If you’re a splitwise.com user, there’s an integration to send shared expenses to a group to be split.On the technology side, the data is stored using Automerge (crdt) and indexed using sqlite (wasm) - all running in the browser so the UI stays pretty snappy. For persistence, the data is also backed up server-side using Automerge’s sync protocol. Like everyone else in this space, I’m using plaid to sync in account data.Although Tender isn’t multiplayer, the crdt still gives a lot of out of the box: syncing, file format, change tracking... Since everything is running in the browser, I’ve also hacked up a quick demo environment at https://demo.tender.run that you can play with!I’ve put in a decent amount of effort into the project at this point, and would appreciate any feedback on the product, pricing, feature requests, etc! If you want to give it an extended try, there’s a coupon code (HN2023) that basically prices Tender at-cost for me.

Users have mixed experiences with the product. Some successfully linked their accounts after initial errors, while others faced issues with authorization flows, particularly with Splitwise. One user mentioned using deep links for Venmo payments but noted the lack of API tracking. Another user suggested integrating ElectricSQL. Overall, the project is seen as promising.

Users criticized the product for lacking Venmo API for payment tracking, experiencing issues with the authorization flow being cancelled, and encountering errors in the Splitwise authorization flow.

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8
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20.0%
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20.0%
Relevance

Personal finance app with an AI twist

09 Apr 2024 Fintech Personal Finance

- aggregate budgeting and investing information - receive AI tips based on your goalsSign up is required as to use the app you need to link your bank accounts (with plaid), you need to be based in the US. it's 100% free, no ads. Your feedbacks are welcome!

Users appreciate the budgeting and investing information, AI tips, and the fact that the service is free and ad-free. However, there is some distrust regarding AI-generated photos, and a request for a test bank account link was made. The service is noted to be US-only.

The product is limited to US users and requires linking a bank account, which may be inconvenient for some. Additionally, there is a general distrust of AI-generated photos among users.

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1
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Relevance

Title not found - Subtitle not found

18 Feb 2025

Bank Statement App takes in those mundane and boring statements and creates an easy to understand visualization of your money habits. Now imagine you have 10 year's worth of banks statement uploaded. You have a treasure trove of data.

Bank Statement App simplifies expense monitoring with visual analysis.

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0
1
100.0%
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1
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