Why people do not want to connect their bank
The most popular expense apps in Spain —Fintonic, Mooney, BBVA Money— connect to your bank via PSD2 and categorise your movements automatically. It is convenient. And for many people, it is not what they want.
The reasons we hear most often:
- Privacy. I do not want to share my banking credentials —not even through an authorised aggregator— with a third party.
- Awareness. If the app categorises everything automatically, I do not stay aware of my spending. I only look when it is too late.
- Ads. Bank-connected apps usually sell us loans, insurance or financial products on top of the data they collect.
- Sensitive data. Your bank transactions are very sensitive information. The less I share, the better.
What a good manual expense app does well
An app that lets you log manually has to solve two things: logging must be fast and the data must be yours. The rest is decoration.
Fast logging
The standard is: amount and category in under three seconds. If the app asks for more fields by default —name, note, tags— it will make you quit. What helps: preset categories accessible with one tap, amounts always positive (the type expense/income indicates direction, not the sign) and a visible “+” button.
Your data is yours
Bare minimum: being able to export all your data in JSON or CSV whenever you want, with no friction and no premium tier hiding it. Deleting your account must delete your data for real, not just mark it inactive. And the servers should be in the EU so GDPR applies.
Comparison: manual vs connected
A bank-connected app saves you the gesture of logging but charges you in privacy and awareness. A manual app asks five minutes a day and gives back full control of your data and attention on how you spend.
There is no universal answer. If you already check your finances regularly and only need reports, a connected app may work for you. If what you want is to change your relationship with money, manual wins.
What to look for
- Log in under 3 seconds. Try the app before installing. If you cannot log an expense in three seconds, it is not for this.
- No banking credentials, no national ID. Email and password should be enough.
- Data in the EU. Check the privacy policy mentions European servers.
- Easy export. JSON or CSV, no barriers.
- Works offline. Local-first: the app saves on your device first and syncs when there is connection.
- No ads. If the app shows you loan offers, it is not for you.
An option that ticks every box
We built Sumant following that list. It runs in the browser (mobile and desktop), logs expenses in under three seconds, stores data encrypted in Frankfurt and exports to JSON for free or to CSV on the PRO plan. No ads, no tracking, no bank connection.
If you want to see how it feels, open sumant.app and try it in thirty seconds. We do not ask for a card.