Built a 4-in-1 personal finance tool with Claude Code, not a developer - looking for honest feedback
Hey IH 👋
I'm not a professional developer. I built this by describing what I wanted to Claude Code, testing, finding what didn't work, adjusting, and repeating.
The problem: I never knew where my money actually went each month, and I had no clear picture of my net worth. I looked at existing budgeting apps most solve one narrow piece (expense tracking) and require signup before you see any value.
What I built: SmartBudget, four connected tools instead of one:
Expense tracking
A visual net worth map (assets vs. liabilities)
An emergency fund calculator with a concrete monthly savings plan
A 30-day challenge that turns saving into a daily habit
Everything works immediately, no account required, data stays in your browser (Supabase account is optional, only needed to sync across devices).
Where I'm at: Pre-revenue, currently free while I gather feedback. Planning a one-time paid tier (~$100 equivalent) for the full toolset once I have enough signal that it's worth paying for. Distribution so far has been organic — dev/builder communities and personal finance groups, no paid acquisition yet.
What I'd love feedback on:
Is the value clear in the first minute of using it?
Does bundling 4 tools make sense, or would you rather see them as separate products?
Would you pay for this, and if so, does a one-time fee make more sense than a subscription?
Link: app.smartbudget.com.pl
Not fishing for praise most interested in what's broken or unclear. Thanks for reading this far 🙏
On the one-time vs. subscription question: I went the opposite direction on my own app (a calorie tracker) and it came down to whether costs scale with usage. If SmartBudget's costs stay roughly flat no matter how much someone uses it, which sounds true here since it's browser-first with no per-call AI cost, a one-time fee is a much stronger pitch than another subscription, especially in a category people already feel over-subscribed in. I only went subscription because one specific feature calls a paid AI API per use, everything else stays free forever. If nothing in SmartBudget has that kind of per-use cost, I'd lean one-time too.
On bundling: my guess is people come in for the one thing they searched for, probably expense tracking, and only notice the net worth map or emergency fund calculator once they're already in the product. Worth checking whether the tool someone lands on first is actually the one they keep using after a week. That gap would tell you if the bundle is working as a bundle or just adding noise around the one feature people wanted.
Also built mostly through Claude myself, non-technical background here too. The "test, find what didn't work, adjust, repeat" loop you described is exactly it.
The four-tool combination is interesting.
Curious whether users naturally see SmartBudget as one product, or whether they come to it for one specific thing and only discover the rest afterward.