Dear Wesabeans,
I am deeply unhappy to have to announce that Wesabe will be discontinuing our Accounts tab, and all of the related personal finance tools we offer, as of July 31st, 2010. The Groups tab, which hosts discussions on personal finance topics, will remain online indefinitely. A FAQ about this shutdown is available below.
You will be able to download all of your data from now until July 31st by visiting our export page. After that date, we will delete all data and all credentials we hold for security and privacy reasons. If you prefer, you may delete your membership immediately or at any time before July 31st.
We are planning to offer additional tools for export and use of your data. Future blog posts will go into more detail as we have it ready.
In recent months Wesabe has been operating on a shoestring budget, with support from some of the developers and operations people who made up our core team. While the site has remained online and we continue to hear from people who find it helpful, we have not been able to provide the support people need to use it for something so central as financial management. I’ve felt especially terrible that some members have a good initial experience but then hit a problem, often after investing many hours, and aren’t able to get help with it. That’s obviously a bad experience, and not what we want to offer. Also, because Wesabe stores such highly sensitive data, continuing to operate the service with shoestring operations and security staff is not acceptable, and we do not want to continue accepting new accounts if we cannot guarantee the security level we believe our service requires.
Wesabe Groups is easier to host on a low-cost basis, and one of our customers has agreed to fund its continued service. I have always been amazed by how fantastic the conversations in Groups are — supportive, constructive, and unique. While many or all of the features of our Accounts tab are now available on other sites, our competitors have either dismissed the value of community, or have not been able to create a community as rich as Wesabe Groups, so I’m very happy we are able to keep that part of the service going.
I have had a wonderful time working on Wesabe and have been gratified by the many messages we get from members telling us how helpful it has been. The past five years have been an amazing ride. Of course I wish things had turned out differently and I would not have needed to write this post, but I’ve enjoyed my job for these years more than anything before it. The people we worked with, the people who supported us, the reward of helping even some people have better financial lives, all of that is irreplaceable. Thanks to everyone who has made Wesabe possible.
We will answer as many questions as possible about the planned shutdown in this Groups thread and update the FAQ as needed.
Marc Hedlund, CEO, Wesabe
FAQ
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What is being shut down?
On July 31st, 2010 (at 10pm Pacific time), we will turn off access to the Accounts and Dashboard tabs, as well as the iPhone application, Firefox extension, Desktop Uploader, Mac and Vista Desktop Widgets, and Twitter integration. Only the Groups tab will remain online.
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What will happen to my financial data?
Between now and July 31st, if you want to keep a copy of the data you have uploaded to Wesabe, you MUST DOWNLOAD YOUR DATA from the site (see our export page for instructions). After July 31st, we will delete all financial data from our database, delete all backup copies of that data, and destroy the hard drives on which that data was stored.
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What will happen to my financial institution credentials?
All users’ financial institution credentials will be deleted as of July 31st.
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Will you sell or give my financial data or credentials to anyone but me before you close the Accounts tab?
No, absolutely not, nor have we ever done so.
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What can I do with the data I export?
Any spreadsheet program, such as Excel, Google Spreadsheet, or Numbers, can read the CSV export files we offer. In addition, we are working on an added export option and an open source package that would allow you to read and use your own data from Wesabe. More details will be posted on our blog when available.
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What if I need help with my accounts before I download them?
Realistically we are not able to offer individual support. If you have a problem with export, please post about it in this Groups thread, and we will work to fix any wide-spread problems.
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What if I have questions not answered here?
Please post questions in this Groups thread.
June 30, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Hi Marc. I think I speak for many in the financial sector and beyond when I say how sorry I am to hear your news. You are a bright spot on the finance landscape.
Yours,
William
July 1, 2010 at 4:44 am
sorry to hear it, that’s really sad
good luck for your future ventures! what service would you recommend to your users now? something that fits these requirements:
1- web based
2- lets you specify the merchant
3- no sync with bank account needed
4- different currencies
5- no fancy sharing options
July 1, 2010 at 7:10 am
Marc,
Sorry to hear that Wesabe is being shutdown – it can’t have been an easy decision.
I’m sure that lots of people out there would love to see you write any lessons learnt from your experience – what went right, what could have been done different…
Good luck for your next venture!
Brian
July 1, 2010 at 7:28 am
Marc.
I’m very sorry to hear this sad news. Like the others above I wish you the very best on your next ventures.
What is going to happen to the FI’s that you worked with? I know you were working with Delta. Were there any other major CU’s you were involved with and how are they coping?
All the best,
Daniel
July 1, 2010 at 7:44 am
Marc,
I couldn’t agree with William more – as he will attest – I have been a big fan of yours for years. You taught us bankers a thing or two about innovation.
This is a sad day, for you and for the fledgling industry in general. I wish you all the best in your next venture.
July 1, 2010 at 9:21 am
Marc and all there. Sorry to hear this, thanks for all the work and good luck to all of you in your future endeavors.
July 1, 2010 at 11:52 am
soo sad… i have used wesabe for over a year and only last month got rid of all my debt – tracking expenses in wesabe was THE real help in doing so..
i am missing it soo much, i am thinking of working this weekend to build something lightweight cash account type tool !!
July 1, 2010 at 1:30 pm
This totally sucks! Wesabe has been such a great help to me in tracking my finances and I’ve recommended it to lots of friends because of that. I’m sure this must have been really difficult for everyone who worked on this – it was obvious that a huge amount of time and effort went into it and it’s very unfortunate to see all that lost.
I’m hoping someone has a good answer to Rob’s question: what should we use now? And I have an additional criterion – I’m Canadian, so I need it to work in Canada (which rules out Mint).
July 1, 2010 at 1:41 pm
So sorry to hear this. Thanks for all of your hard work; I know we complained a lot about the small things, but it’s because we loved Wesabe so much.
Looking forward to seeing the next great things!
July 1, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Go and check out http://www.greensherpa.com/
They look like a good alternative.
July 2, 2010 at 2:04 am
Marc, this is pretty devastating news…keeping track of everything is now going to be a pain in the ass again – wesabe is the only website of it’s kind to operate in £.
Would you consider releasing the accounts/dashboard code as an open source project?
July 2, 2010 at 2:05 am
aha…just read:
https://www.wesabe.com/groups/222-wesabe-accounts-shutdown/discussions/5216-wesabe-open-source
Brilliant!
July 2, 2010 at 5:06 am
Wesabe was such a great an genuine attempt to create something that was more than just a money grab. I’m sorry it didn’t work out better.
I look forward to seeing your next venture.
July 2, 2010 at 5:12 am
I am so disappointed to hear this. I’ve been a member for over two years and have been happy with the service.
I plan to switch to mint.com or use the open source version. They seem to be the best alternatives.
July 2, 2010 at 7:25 am
Marc & Co.
You have done a fantastic job with Wesabe.
I have a similar concept in the design phase and would greatly appreciate the opportunity to talk to you.
July 2, 2010 at 9:33 am
This is sad news, but I just wanted to say thanks to the Wesabe team for all you’ve done both for the community and to push personal finance technology forward. As an admirer and former competitor, I’ll miss seeing what’s coming next.
July 2, 2010 at 9:47 am
Very sad to hear this news. I also think you’re handling this in an incredibly responsible way. Looking forward to seeing what’s next for you, Marc.
July 2, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I am seriously sorry to hear this, Your site has helped me in so many ways and my heart shatters for losing such a great tool!
I wish you all the best on your future endeavors.
Good luck
Nidal
July 2, 2010 at 1:27 pm
To Mark & the Wesabe Team,
I am sad to hear the news! I have been a loyal Wesabeian for many years and will miss the service! I hope the team will keep in touch as the customer support has been one of the finest I’ve seen in a while. The customer service has been not only helpful, but personable. Until next time my friends…
-Jason
–AKA–
Dignified Styles
July 2, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Been looking around at alternatives. Mvelopes, GreenSherpa both look pretty good. Signed up for em both to try out.
It looks like GreenSherpa let’s you import everything pretty quick. Not as pretty as Wesabe, but its very secure!
http://www.greensherpa.com
July 3, 2010 at 6:34 am
This is really bad news. I am a big Wesabe fan and I have recommended it to a lot of people. Especially the firefox uploader made my life so much easier. There does not seem to be any comparable alternatives. (Mint looks ok, but you have to have a US bank account)
(BTW, I would not have minded to pay a monthly subscription fee (if it was not outrageously high) to use Wesabe.
Good luck!
Willem
July 3, 2010 at 8:15 am
Boo! I have tried so many others, and snarfles and all I still love wesabe the best… so the search begins again- and i too would have paid a subscription fee to support the continuation of a service that saves my sanity and our budget. our family of 5 with 2 self employed adults is too complex for standard stuff, so we will miss you muchly- good luck and i hope your next endeavor brings you a little smoother financial management!
July 4, 2010 at 9:12 am
What is happening to Wesabe Springboard?
July 4, 2010 at 11:16 am
I’m very saddened by your decision to close down the site. I’ve used Wesabe for the last two years with excellent results. Never complained about anything. It was just perfect for me.
Now I’ll have to come up with a spreadsheet budget which I detest. Your convenient graphs, statistics, group support and many other features, made Wesabe the best application for those of us trying to make ends meet.
Good luck on your new endeavors,
Omar Upegui R.
Panama, Republic of Panama
July 5, 2010 at 4:18 am
Hi Marc,
I too was sad to read the news. Our startup is based in Barcelona, Spain so take it as a little message of support from the European community. I had seen and liked your product. I’m sure you and your team will come out of this stronger.
Kind regards,
Laurent Amar,
Founder and CEO @ HelpMyCash.com
July 5, 2010 at 8:09 am
wesabe was the tool for me. i tried others such as mint, just thrive, but found wesabe to be the best fit for me.
if any one has other recommendations, please let me know.
colin lee,
July 5, 2010 at 9:53 am
Why not do a donation drive, maybe some of the many people who use the product would be willing to chip in to keep it alive on a subscription basis. Have you guys ever even considered a software as a service model?
July 5, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Aw, man! That’s awful! Truly awful! Wesabe helped me so very much.
July 5, 2010 at 2:26 pm
We’re sad to hear about Wesabe as well. We’ve always followed them closely.
Xero Personal is looking good and we have a number of major updates coming over the next few weeks. We are about to release a Wesabe import tool and would appreciate your help and feedback.
http://blog.xero.com/2010/07/importing-from-wesabe/
Cheers
Rod
July 5, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Just wanted to say that I’m very sorry to hear this. I’d long wondered how Wesabe was keeping solvent– like others, I would have been happy to pay a subscription, but I know even that doesn’t necessarily pay the bills. Thanks for creating such a beautiful and simple product and good luck in the future. I really appreciated the short time I was able to use the program.
July 6, 2010 at 2:32 am
@Rob Drury stop spamming! DON’T SUBSCRIBE TO XERO!!! that’s just another pathetic attempt to attract new customers. Xero is totally different from Wesabe and, guess what? Of course the importing simply does not work. Fail, fail, fail!!!
July 6, 2010 at 3:57 am
I’m sorry to hear this and I wish you good luck.
July 7, 2010 at 4:04 am
@Rob Drury
I also looked at Xero and man, their customer culture totally sucks.
No help at all, no reliable privacy policy and it’s backed by the crooks who cooked the books at MYOB – the company that got nailed for altering it’s own records on the local Australian Stock Market (ASX) with the founder of the company kicked out of his own company.
Thats the sort of people to store my data???? No way!!
July 7, 2010 at 4:19 am
It is insightful to hear your comments about xero. I have not heard of xero before. I therefore appreciated the link to the xero site that Rod Drury has posted (and also that xero mentioned that they are working on a tool to import Wesabe data). I am evaluating all options and this option is also worthwhile considering. The Xero Personal version seems to be coming along very nicely and I have tested the ofx file import, which is important to me and that also works well. I will therefore take note of the above comments of xero, but one should not discard xero offhand. It is still on my shortlist
July 7, 2010 at 11:26 am
I am VERY sorry to hear of Wesabe’s demise- thank you for providing me with such a good system since I discovered it a year or so ago. It is a big shame that it is going- I, for one, would be happy to pay a nominal amount to keep my finances in order. Having discussed the minor problems I was having with Marc before I was always impressed with his dedication to the service he was providing, and I was aware that I paid nothing to use it so didn’t expect the world. It was a great, usable system that has helped me out over the last months. Thanks once again- sorry it didn’t work out, and good luck in your next venture!
July 8, 2010 at 9:51 am
Bummer, I just started using Wesabe 2 months ago and was loving it.
July 8, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Really sorry to hear this. I’ve been using Wesabe for over a year and it is a brilliant tool, and one of the few financial companies I placed a bit of trust in! All the best in whatever you do next – I’m just gutted this one didn’t work out for you & I won’t get to use your excellent service in future.
July 9, 2010 at 12:29 pm
I was an early adopter and loved the services the ORIGINAL website provided. Your redesign was your downfall – it was a beta release, you knew it (and confirmed it to my complaints), and I moved over to Mint. Sorry to see leadership took a wrong turn on this – the older site, while “ugly,” worked wonderfully, and I know many Wesabeans didn’t care for the new (and expectedly, costly) site.
July 9, 2010 at 2:47 pm
This is too bad. The interface was so user-friendly. It really helped my wife and I get on the same financial page. The charts and graphs are great and the iPhone app very helpful for reference. I never had any problems. Too bad you couldn’t make a go of it. I would have paid a couple bucks for the iPhone app. Free, simple, effective with a financial community was great and much needed for so many of us. Thanks!
July 12, 2010 at 6:44 am
Why don’t you package it into a download that users could take and install on their own server?
July 12, 2010 at 6:50 am
Luke,
That is indeed what we’re doing. See https://www.wesabe.com/groups/222-wesabe-accounts-shutdown/discussions/5216-wesabe-open-source
July 12, 2010 at 7:40 am
Excellent news Marc, still a shame this service is shutting down though!
Let me know if there is anything l can do to help. I could setup a hosting account on my Plesk server for you to run tests if you want?
July 12, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I signed up for GreenSherpa. So far it’s been a great alternative with some pretty cool features. I’d recommend checking it out! http://www.greensherpa.com
July 13, 2010 at 10:08 am
Agreed, so sorry to hear about this. Wesabe was a great community and one that I was always impressed with — the community are great listeners, gave great advice, were committed, were honest, and always willing to help!
July 15, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Hi,
I’m so sorry about losing Wesabe. This tool help me erase my credit card debt and control my expenses to save $23K over 18 months. We just had a baby 2 weeks ago and we’re taking some time off so great to be able to not worry about expenses to enjoy these moments.
Thanks and good luck.
JM
July 15, 2010 at 11:14 pm
This is a backwards step for the internet. I would definitely pay a subscription for this service to continue, as there doesn’t seem to be anything else as good available. Are you sure you won’t reconsider?
July 19, 2010 at 10:57 am
It’s never too late to offer freemium service.
July 19, 2010 at 11:18 am
Thank you for all your efforts. Despite the shutdown, you have earned your wings.
All the best for the future!
Chuck
July 19, 2010 at 11:26 am
I started using Wesabe since 2007 (I think) after being inspired to take more responsibility over my personal finances after my Consumer Law class. It’s too bad things didn’t work out, this was an excellent service.
When using this, I was even alerted to a security breach of my credit card when I saw unauthorized purchases show up — something that would have flew under the radar without Wesabe.
Good luck in the future…
July 19, 2010 at 11:37 am
For users of wesabe in the UK there is a very similar alternative in https://www.lovemoney.com/onlinebanking/ I’ve been wondering whether it’s worth switching but now my mind has been made up for me!!!
Thanks for the hard work you put in!!
July 19, 2010 at 11:54 am
Thanks for the nice service. It was good while it lasted.
July 19, 2010 at 12:26 pm
So sad! We’ll miss you wesabe.
July 19, 2010 at 3:35 pm
I’ll certainly miss the service as there are really no other alternatives for Canada. All the best Marc.
July 19, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Was on GreenSherpa site way too long before being able to see how much they’re charging. I wasn’t impressed with the layout or the apparent attempts to veil that info and just get people to sign up.
July 19, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Oh, wow! That’s terrible.
I want to say thank you for everything you’ve done for me. You helped me find a really big hole in my finances, one that was leaking money like crazy. Your website was the first one to make keeping track of my money kind of fun and interesting. I’m really, really bummed that you’re going away.
So, thank you so much for everything you’ve done, and I will miss your website -
July 19, 2010 at 9:04 pm
that’s a shame- I enjoyed using this website.
thank you, thank you very much
July 19, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Marc and Team,
I have a similar concept to Wesabe.com and would greatly appreciate it if any member of the team was able to reach out to me.
Thank you kindly in advance!
Brian
July 26, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Hey Mark and Team,
I haven’t heard from you guys yet. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you very much in advance!
Brian
July 28, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Well, bummer! Came over here due to mint.com’s chronic “temporary issues” updating accounts, only to find the lights are out and the party is winding down. Whence now?
July 30, 2010 at 3:25 am
If you want to preserve as much of your data as possible either:
1) because you want to run your own system using the open source software OR
2) some party may want to offer hosting for the open source Wesabe system
then save your data NOW using the snapshot options at:
https://www.wesabe.com/snapshot