I thought manual entry would hurt adoption. My first paying user proved the opposite.

I’m building SubBuddy, a privacy-first subscription tracker that does not connect to your bank.

I assumed the biggest objection would be manual entry.

But after reaching around 50 users and getting my first lifetime customer, I’m seeing the opposite: for some people, no bank sync is the reason they trust it.

Recent progress:

• first lifetime customer

• around 50 users

• shipped pause/resume

• shipped pinned subscriptions

• added monthly budget tracking

• added multi-currency support

• finished full Spanish dashboard localization

What I’m validating now:
Is the stronger path:

• privacy-first positioning

• better onboarding

• or more import/automation?

If you’ve built in fintech, SaaS utilities, or consumer productivity, I’d love your take.