Aures Portfolio
Free, offline, multi-currency portfolio tracker — no server,
Hi IH,
Quick context: I'm not a professional developer. Like a lot of people,
I tracked my multi-currency investments on a spreadsheet — until it
became more effort to maintain than it was worth. Broken formulas after
every update, manual FX rate updates, no clean history over time.
So I built Aures Portfolio: a free tool to track a multi-currency
investment portfolio, as a single HTML file, no backend, no framework,
no build step.
A few decisions I made deliberately, since this community usually cares
about the "why":
- No account, no server storing user data. Everything lives in the
browser's localStorage. The only network call goes through a small
PHP proxy to fetch FX rates and instrument prices from OpenFIGI/Yahoo
Finance (server-to-server, just to work around CORS) — no user data
passes through it.
- No monetization. This isn't a SaaS play — I built it for myself,
hosting costs are trivial (static files + a tiny PHP proxy on shared
hosting), so there's no pressure to monetize it. I know that's an
unusual pitch on IH, but it's the honest one.
- i18n from day one, because I wanted it usable outside just an English
audience.
What it does: multi-currency conversion, transactions with realized
gains/losses, dividends, historical snapshots with XIRR, optional
rebalancing view, multiple portfolios, PDF export.
Try it here: https://www.auresportfolio.com
I'd genuinely value feedback from this community — both on the product
itself and on how (or whether) something like this could ever make
sense to sustain long-term without ads or a paywall, since that's
genuinely an open question for me. Bug reports and feature ideas also
very welcome.
3 Comments
The interesting question isn't whether a portfolio tracker needs subscriptions—it's whether staying free becomes part of the product's value proposition rather than a limitation. I'd keep validating whether long-term sustainability comes from monetizing users or from building enough trust that other opportunities naturally emerge around the product.
That's a really useful reframing, thank you.
Right now "free" isn't a strategy — it's just true, because hosting
costs are close to zero (static files + a small PHP proxy). But I like
the idea that it could become part of the value proposition rather
than just a byproduct of low costs. The privacy/no-account angle
already seems to resonate more with people than "free" on its own —
maybe that's the actual trust-building piece you're pointing at.
I added an optional Ko-fi donation link mostly as an afterthought, not
as a real plan. I think you're right that I should treat "does trust
translate into anything sustainable" as something to actually validate,
not just hope for. Don't have the answer yet — but I'd rather figure
that out in the open than pretend I already have a monetization
roadmap I don't.
I'm glad it resonated.
Reading your reply gave me one thought about the difference between "free because it's cheap to run" and "free because it creates a trust advantage." I don't think I could explain the implications properly in a thread without oversimplifying it.
I'd rather discuss it in the context of what you're building.
If you're interested, what's the best email to reach you on?