budgetsheet google sheets extension earns $2000 per month
As an indie developer, I’ve been tracking my own finances for years. I tried countless apps, but none of them fit. Everyone’s financial needs are as individual as a custom formula—most apps rely on rigid, one-size-fits-all calculations. That’s when it hit me: why not leverage Google Sheets to automate bookkeeping by simply logging my transactions directly into a sheet?
So I built it.
At first, I connected everything via Google APIs using a developer-driven workflow. But that门槛 was too high—many users didn’t know how to handle it, and we lost quite a few. Worse, the financial data provider warned us that our developer account was being used in a non-compliant manner at scale. (Coincidentally, that same vendor was simultaneously building a similar tool for Microsoft.)
The original architecture was entirely local—no server costs or infrastructure to manage. Users would apply for their own developer credentials, import the API keys, and configure everything themselves. After receiving the compliance warning, I had no choice but to spin up my own servers. This added significant cost, but it dramatically improved the user experience. Now, visitors no longer need to manually hunt for keys, register for APIs, or figure out how to activate them.
Next, I integrated Gumroad’s payment service, which allowed me to offer activation keys easily. The integration was quick and seamless.
The free-to-paid conversion rate currently sits at 4%.