SA budgeting and financial planning apps megathread

[u/Consistent-Annual268]

Folks, we've been inundated of late by many members who've developed budgeting and investing apps and want to share them on the sub. This post will be the single place to host them, so feel free to post your app, website, tool etc.

Please include a short description of what your app does, it's main features, how it works (including if it is vibe-coded, accesses the user's bank accounts or investment accounts, scrapes websites or public data, accesses private or proprietary info etc.), what user input and info it requires (including personal financial data) and where it is stored, whether it is local or cloud-based, any commercial or investor ties, and any other info that would be pertinent.

Note to sub members: none of the apps that may be posted here are endorsed by this sub or the mods. You use any apps or tools at your own risk. Take substantial precautions especially when asked for personal info, including financial info.

[u/Otios3]

Thanks very much Mods for creating this thread

TLDR:
After being very sad about what we lost with 22Seven, I remembered I'm a skilled software engineer, so I built a net-worth-tracking app to replace it. Its free forever and does NOT save any of your personal info apart from what you see on the app (transactions, amounts, descriptions).

Available here if you're interested: www.mytrueworth.co.uk

Non TLDR version:

I was a relatively early adopter of 22seven: June 2016 (some folks on probably started before then).
I was a massive fan of it and got most of my family on it as well. Used it extensively for budgeting, but over time I started finding the Accounts page was actually the most valuable. That ended up replacing most of my financial tracking spreadsheets, even though the account management was always rather basic.

Since the move to Vault22 and especially their latest UI rollout, I've just given up on them. I really feel bad for the folks that works (or I assume, worked) there. I've spoken with many of them over the years, and I actually sent my CV to their HR a long time ago, though I never got a response. Maybe for the best!

Now, even simple things like seeing your net worth change over time are gone. For myself, it's really just not usable. It also made me question who has my actual login credentials for all my financial accounts (potentially the most sensitive information i poses)! I've come to greatly dislike sites that saves my sign in info then use that to fake logins and scrape my info, which is both legally and ethically questionable.

Anyway, I found myself going back to my now badly outdated spreadsheets, but it took lots of massaging and maintenance to keep things like share prices, inflation, exchange rates, etc updated, and some stuff you just can't do.

So: Over the past many months, I built something for myself, that I ended up extending to my family and friends. FYI, I'm a principal software engineer for a fortune 500 company, and I've worked in both finance and defense for nearly 2 decades.

I needed something that:

• tracks net worth properly over time
• shows in detail what actually changed over any given time period (not just a line going up or down, i want to drill in and get specifics)
• works across currencies (well, most currencies. I hooked in ZAR and GBP for myself, and ended up adding NZD, USD and EUR for friends and family)
• handles manual assets like property, which i was doing in vault22. This is just much, much better at it.

It’s not a budgeting app — I needed something that tracks all my assets, my properties, car, pension, shares, homeloans, etc. I ended up never even importing any of my transactional accounts. No point, they never have much in them.

So this basically automates the stuff I used to maintain manually in spreadsheets. Couple of things worth mentioning:

• it purposefully doesn’t connect to your bank (no login details, no brittle and ethically and legally questionable scraping) - though i might extend it in future to support open banking api's where they exist, such as in the UK. That likely won't apply to SA in a very long time sadly! It also doesn't actually help much, as this things i track are often investments, not bank accounts.
• you add/import your own data. I've made this as easy as possible, shares, ETF's and Unit trust prices it tracks automatically, and you can import nearly any CSV into it to build up accounts. Eg once a month i import my home loan csv statements for latest transactions, and update property values if they changed. Same with savings accounts and a few others.
• The app stores as little personal info as possible (no names, no account numbers, etc.)
• it’s free (I built it for myself and my friends/family to use — not trying to turn it into a big SaaS thing)
• It still has a way to go. It serves it's purpose, but there's many things i still need to expand and improve (the holdings page, which shows which shares/etf's/etc you have and allows you to dig into that is soon getting more love)

If anyone’s interested, it’s here:

www.mytrueworth.co.uk

Ps. I moved to the UK a few years ago, hence the UK domain. Most of my portfolio is still in SA, and I’ll probably head back once the kids goes off to high school.

Pps. I need to approve new sign-ups, trying to avoid anything falling over - so give me a while once you sign up to approve your user.

Would be keen to hear if this scratches the same itch for anyone else, or if you have any feedback. Feel free to ask any questions.

[u/Otios3 → u/Otios3]

In response to the questions posted by the mods in the original thread:
1. what your app does and main features:
It's a Net Worth tracking app, that automates FX rates, Pricing info for shares, ETF's, etc, tracks inflation, and ultimately gives a detailed breakdown of net worth in any currency over time, that you can drill into to see what changes happened in any timeframe. It also records any assets, specifically investment accounts (e.g. Easy Equities values), transactional accounts (bank accounts), or manual accounts (anything else, e.g. cars, property, anything of value).  

2. how it works (including if it is vibe-coded, accesses the user's bank accounts or segment accounts, scrapes websites or public data, accesses private or proprietary info etc.)

• Fundamentally, it's a rust API with a Leptos frontend and a Postgres database.
  
• It does no scraping of either public or private records. I integrate with a provider (EODHD) that i pay for to get pricing info, FX rates, etc. I do have about 7 fallbacks that are free for specific types of info if EODHD fails to provide a price, but that doesnt happen often in practice.
  
• The app relies on the user manually creating their assets. if you add a share or something using an ISIN or ticker, it will find you a price and track that asset, but you still need to manually record buy/sell events, or import transactions.
  
• IF you choose to import import transactions from a CSV, i provide you the option of sending the header row and optionally 1 transaction row to Anthropic to help parse the CSV, but that's not required, the parsing engine is all there, just hit 'manual' instead of 'submit to ai' and you won't loose out on anything. Should you want to submit to AI, i show you the actual response i send to anthropic. You only have the ability to upload CSV, i don't expect to ever support PDF statements.
  

- I rolled the first few versions of this entirely by hand, but have also incorporated vibe coding for later bits, just like i do in my day job. Especially around the frontend, and parts of the CI/CD infrastructure.

3. what user input and info it requires (including personal financial data)

• a verifiably email address, literally nothing else. Anything you choose to load is only for the purpose of displaying it back to you

4. and where it is stored, whether it is local or cloud-based,

• A secure Hetzner linux web server, cloud based. I make occasional offsite encrypted backups of my postgress dump to Restic if i roll out major changes.

5. any commercial or investor ties,

• None. This is a personal project, that grew slightly bigger already than I had anticipated. It's created for the purpose of adding value to people that's interested in finances, and helping them see their net worth. Side note, I engage with many financially literate people, and are often shocked by how badly they understand their own net worth.

6. This is, and any other info that is be pertinent.

• I greatly enjoy working on this app, and it's become the backbone of my own financial tracking, and that of a few people I care a lot about. If you use it and want to help me make it better, please reach out

[u/Delicious_Jacket8429 → u/Otios3]

After signing up, I verified my email address as required. However, when I went back to sign in to the app and use it, I received a notification saying: “Your email has been verified and you are on the beta waiting list. We’ll email you when your account is approved.”

I thought it would be useful for others to know that you cannot simply sign in and start using the software immediately. You first need to wait for your account to be approved.

[u/Otios3 → u/Delicious_Jacket8429]

That's correct, i've still got the 'approve new sign-ups' in place so i can monitor my server usage - I've approved your user now, please let me know how it goes, and if you manage to setup an account ok

[u/jackrussell93]

I have been building and co-founded FinWise (https://finwiseapp.io) since 2023.

FinWise is a local budgeting website with mobile app similar to Vault22 that allows you to securely connect your bank accounts, budget, track spending, track your network and get insights into your spending, net-worth and savings.

It's *not* vibe coded, and is built using bank-grade security and best practices.

We have a 14 day free trial, and thereafter charge R79/month, and we keep all your data private and secure, and never sell any data to any 3rd parties.

[u/Afraid_Valuable_9931]

finvue.co.za | Personal finance intelligence for South Africans

Hi all. Will try keep this short. I'm a SA-based finance professional who spent years frustrated by the absence of any SA-native tool that actually understands our market: our tax wrappers, our institutions, our currency. So I, together with a small team, decided to build one.

What it does

Finvue gives you a complete picture of your financial life in one place: net worth across all account types (banking, investments, crypto, retirement, property, vehicles, liabilities), an allocation breakdown, and a financial insight engine built specifically for South Africa. The core feature is the Missed Returns Number, which is the annual rand amount you're losing by not optimising your cash and TFSA allocation. Most users find it's somewhere between R3 000 and R15 000 per year.

Main features

• Net worth tracking across all account types with historical chart
• SA-specific insight engine: TFSA utilisation and allowance gap, SARS interest exemption headroom, currency concentration risk, retirement gap vs benchmark, idle cash opportunity cost
• 10-year compound cost visualisation on each insight
• Curated SA financial products explorer (money market, ETFs, TFSAs, retirement annuities) ranked by net yield and fee structure
• Individual holdings tracking with live JSE, US, and crypto pricing

How it works

Manual entry: you enter your own balances and holdings. No bank credentials, no scraping, no OAuth to your financial accounts. Automatic bank integration via Stitch is planned for Phase 2 but will be entirely opt-in and handled by Stitch directly, meaning finvue will never see your passwords or PINs.

User input required

Account names, balances, and optionally individual holdings (instrument name, ticker, quantity). No personal identification information is required beyond your email address.

Data storage

All data is stored in Supabase (EU region) on AWS infrastructure, encrypted at rest using AES-256 and in transit via TLS 1.3. Hosted on Vercel. No data is sold or shared with any third party. Full data export or permanent deletion available on request. Full security and privacy policy at finvue.co.za/security.

Commercial ties

None. No investors, no advertisers, no commission from any financial institution. Finvue is an information tool, not a financial services provider. It surfaces data and observations, never advice. FAIS-safe by design.

Pricing

Free during beta. No paid tier currently active.

Try it

Website: finvue.co.za Full platform: app.finvue.co.za
No-signup demo: app.finvue.co.za/demo

Built in Cape Town, South Africa. Happy to answer any questions.

P.S. A huge thank you to the mods for creating this thread and giving those of us building for the SA market a place to share our work.

[u/ashamedToBeBackRed2 → u/Afraid_Valuable_9931]

Ive been checking out your app, pretty nice!

Didn't realise not using my TFSA was loss.

I can recommend a fix - if a negative credit card or liability is entered, it should show as a positive balance. The math on it works, but it still shows as a negative in the UI.

I also had a weird bug where I'd created an account, added a sub account, and my captured values multiplied or something - I was putting 500, and it saved as 36mill+. Couldn't repeat it yet.

[u/FithColoumn]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been building a web-based budgeting and financial tracking app called Budget Hub, designed specifically for South Africans. The goal is simple: help users save more and understand their finances without needing to change their lifestyle drastically.

🔍 What it does
Budget Hub is a financial dashboard that lets users:
Track income, expenses, savings goals, and investments
Monitor monthly cash flow
Get clear analytics across real-life SA spending categories (transport, groceries, debt, etc.)
Export reports for personal use, loans, or tax prep

⚙️ Core Features
Income & Expense Tracking (detailed categories)
Savings Goals (with progress tracking + milestones)
Investment Tracking (manual entry, performance tracking)
Subscription Tracking (Netflix, Showmax, etc.)
Analytics Dashboard (visual breakdowns, trends)
PDF & Excel Export
Basic rule-based insights (not AI-generated decisions)

🧠 How it works
Users manually input their financial data (no forced integrations)
The system processes and visualizes the data into dashboards and insights
No scraping or background data collection is performed

🔐 Data & Privacy
User input required:
Income, expenses, savings goals, investments
Optional: subscription data, financial habits
Sensitive data:
Financial values are stored securely (encrypted fields where applicable)
Storage:
Cloud-based (hosted via modern infrastructure)
Data is not sold or shared with third parties
Bank access:
Currently no direct bank integration required
Future plans may include optional integrations (read-only access), but not live yet

🏗️ Tech / Architecture (for those interested)
Built using Django (backend) and modern frontend tools
Hosted using Vercel + Supabase stack
Focused on performance, scalability, and simplicity

💰 Commercial Info
Freemium model:
Free tier available
Paid tier (~R79/month) unlocks unlimited features
No external investors at this stage (bootstrapped)

🌍 Who it’s for
Individuals, freelancers, and small business owners in South Africa
People who want clarity on their money without complex tools

🚀 Live Site
👉 https://www.budget-hub.com

Happy to answer questions or get feedback.

[u/FithColoumn → u/[deleted]]

Fair, looking at other monetisation models

[u/Careless-Cat3327 → u/FithColoumn]

1. Ask chatGPT what "short description" means. 
2. Read the feedback.
3. Try again 

[u/FithColoumn → u/Careless-Cat3327]

Haha just trying to be as clear as possible, happy budgeting!

[u/CarpeDiem187 → u/[deleted]]

Before I approve this, please expand on how platform generates its revenue. Please expand in how the stokvel will generate a return.

[u/CarpeDiem187 → u/[deleted]]

Is this app SA focused? If so, please add more detail or comment will be removed.