GroceryBudget

Hey everyone,

I'm a solo dev from the Philippines. Around April last year I started building a grocery budgeting app in my free time, mostly because I kept going over budget every trip and mental math in the store doesn't work when you're tired and rushing.

The idea was simple. Set a budget, add items as you shop, see a running total in real-time. The app also remembers prices you've paid at each store, so planning gets faster over time.

I didn't have an audience. No following, no newsletter, no Twitter presence. Just me coding after work. I did create a waitlist with a few hundred sign ups so I knew people like the idea.

The building part

From April to August I was heads down. Carts, budget tracking, price memory, spending insights, offline support. I just kept building because I enjoyed it. Didn't think about marketing once.

In September I launched on the App Store. Showed it to some Filipino friends and family, did a couple Reddit posts. That was my entire launch strategy.

Then life got busy from October to January I barely touched it. A few bug fixes here and there, but mostly the app just sat there.

What happened while I wasn't paying attention

People found it on their own. 82% of downloads came from App Store search — keywords like "grocery budget" and "shopping list budget." No ads, no content, no outreach. Just organic discovery.

By January 2026 I had over 1,000 downloads and $44 in total revenue.

Tiny by any real standard. But for a solo dev who did zero marketing, it felt like something.

The mistake I keep thinking about

I validated with the wrong people.

I'm Filipino, so naturally I showed the app to Filipino users. They loved it. Used it regularly. But they don't pay. Meanwhile, 65% of my users ended up being American and Canadian people I never targeted and that's where the $44 came from.

I validated willingness to use, not willingness to pay. Big difference.

The other mistake

I just like building. I kept adding features because it was fun. Offline support, price memory, insights, templates, store comparison. By the time I thought about monetization, the free tier already did too much. Why would anyone pay?

$44 in 5 months of being live. That's on me.

Where I am now

In January I realized I can't just build forever and hope people show up. Started learning marketing for the first time — TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest.

I also made a big pricing change. The app was a one-time lifetime purchase this whole time — ₱599 (~$10), no subscription. People loved that. Every App Store review mentioned "no subscription" as a positive. But $44 in 5 months told me it wasn't working as a business.

So in this new release I switched to monthly and yearly subscriptions. Kept the one-time option gone. It felt wrong honestly as I was the "no subscription" guy. But I need to test whether recurring revenue changes the math.

I'm also tightening the freemium model so the free tier isn't so generous. Adding upgrade prompts at the right moments so people actually see the value of premium.

It's uncomfortable. I'd rather be writing code. But $44 in 9 months is a pretty clear sign that building alone isn't enough. I won't give up on this product yet since I really do see the potential with the proper distribution.

What I'd love to hear

If you've been in a similar spot where you love building but the business side is a struggle, what actually got you to shift? And if your users love the app but won't pay, what moved the needle for you?

I genuinely don't know what I'm doing on the marketing side. First time posting here, trying to learn from people who've figured this out.

If you're curious about the app: https://apps.apple.com/app/grocerybudget-shopping-list/id6749287517

Thanks for reading.