Opportunities › Double-entry bookkeeping for personal finance › Proposed app
Tallybook
Double-entry books on your phone, saved as plain text files you own
- Score
- 51
- confidence 41
- Evidence
- 3
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 2
- named in sources
- First version
- 35 d
- estimate
- Type
- Mobile app
- PWA: installs on iPhone and Android
- Market since
- 2003
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Mobile app: Users enter transactions on the go and check balances quickly; the phone-first design for plain-English ledger entries makes mobile the primary use case. Sample screens on a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
New entry
$1,200.00
- Debit: Expenses:Rent1,200.00
- Credit: Assets:Checking-1,200.00
- DateOct 1
- Difference0.00
About this appAI proposal
Tallybook is a phone-first ledger that keeps real double-entry books without a command line. Every entry moves money from one account to another, so the books always balance and reports can be trusted.
Your data is stored as open plain-text files. Export them at any time and open them in other plain-text accounting tools. If you leave, your records come with you.
It is made for individuals, small business owners and bookkeepers who want rigor with a friendly interface. A structured, readable format also lets scripts and AI agents read the books, with your permission.
- Tagline
- Real books, in your pocket, in files you own.
- Voice
- ClearCalmPrecise
- Why this name
- A tally is the oldest way to count and a book is where accounts are kept. Two plain words, easy to say.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Plain-English entries
Type 'Paid rent 1200 from checking' and review both sides of the entry before saving. Debits and credits are shown, not hidden.
No member yet
Open plain-text storage
Your books are saved as readable text files. Export them whenever you like and open them elsewhere.
No member yet
Always balanced
Entries that do not balance cannot be saved. Suggested fixes are one tap away.
No member yet
Reports on your phone
Balance sheet, income and expenses, and account history, filtered by date and tag. Share as PDF or CSV.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#1F4D3ALedger Green · primary#F8F5EEPaper · surface#1C2421Ink · text#C48A2CBrass · accent#8FAE9BSage · data
Typography
Aa
Tallybook
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Real books, in your pocket, in files you own.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices. Beancount and Ledger are described as open-source tools. These tiers are a starting point to test.
Free
Free
- Local books on one device
- Plain-text export
- Reports and CSV import
Sync
$4 a month
- Cloud sync across devices
- Shared books with 2 people
- Encrypted backups
Pro
$9 a month
- Scoped agent access
- Unlimited shared users
- Advanced reports and PDF
Would you pay Sync · $4 a month?
Your answer tells PWAS which prices people accept. It changes no score.
No answers yet.
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Users invite others. A user invites a partner, bookkeeper or accountant to view or edit the shared books. The invitee sees the product while working in it and can start their own books.
- Do they become customers?
- Invited bookkeepers could become paying customers for their own clients. Test how many invitees create their own books and how many upgrade.
- First customers
- Freelancers and sole-proprietor owners in one country who already use spreadsheets or plain-text tools and want proper books on their phone.
- Where to reach them
- Plain-text accounting forums: Share a free beta with Beancount and Ledger users and ask for feedback on import and export.
- Freelancer communities: Offer a short guide to double-entry for freelancers with a link to the free tier.
- First milestone
- Fifty weekly active users keeping books and ten paying for Sync within three months of launch.
Why people already pay for this
- VerifiedGitHub repository gained 304 stars in 2207 days
- Public claimPlain-text accounting tools exist and are used for double-entry bookkeeping, but lack polished user interfaces
- Public claimThere is demand for both human-friendly and AI-agent-compatible financial record-keeping
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Ledger enginePlain-text ledger parser and validatorReads and writes open plain-text files and checks that every entry balances.
- This app · Local storageBrowser database with sync queueOffline entry on the phone with later sync to the server.
RisksAI inference
- TechnicalRound-tripping plain-text files with edits made elsewhere can create conflicts or lose comments and formatting during sync.
- CommercialUsers who already like plain-text tools may not pay, and non-technical users may not care about open formats.
- AIAgent-drafted entries may be wrong; approval flows must be clear so errors do not enter the books.
- DataFinancial data in the cloud needs strong encryption and trust; a breach would end the product.
- PlatformPWA offline storage can be cleared by browsers, so users need backups and export prompts.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.