SortMe Review
Our review looks at the NZ-based budgeting app and explains its features, costs, pros and cons, data protection and FAQs.
Updated 13 April 2024
Summary
Our View is Simple:
To help explain SortMe, out guide covers:
Important: I’m worried about technology and data privacy. Is SortMe Secure? Where does my data go?
Summary
- For the longest time, Kiwis have never had access to budgeting and personal finance platforms or apps that have connected all the various financial accounts together in one centralised place. This has led to difficulties with credit card payments, tracking net worth and transferring balances, making it much harder to stay on top of budgets.
- However, useful budgeting apps are coming to market offering increasingly positive developments in personal finance. The days of manually updating an Excel spreadsheet with your budgets and exported transaction data are over. One of the newest budgeting apps to launch is SortMe.
- As a background, SortMe launched in February 2023 as a simple bill management platform. However, as user feedback came through, the SortMe team adapted their product to the market, and it has now turned into a more holistic personal finance platform with data and transaction analysis. The SortMe team has shown dedication to making a platform fit for most Kiwis (with advanced features coming for those who want more). SortMe actively collects user feedback and is dedicated to delivering products users want to use.
- SortMe's core goal is helping people live within their means, but the issue is very few people know what their means are. SortMe is working on new features, one being named 'Spendable Balance', which will allow users to see their fixed expenses average and how much discretionary spending they have left. In addition, SortMe has a notable feature called Fast Track, which focuses on recommendations such as finding non-essential subscriptions and recurring transactions.
Our View is Simple:
- The better you can understand your finances, the better off you'll be financially. There's near zero downside to setting up an account and trying it out yourself (apart from when it takes you to integrate and add your details).
- For this reason, we suggest testing out the free version of the platform first to see if it’s worth your time (there’s no downside to doing so).
- If you've got only a few accounts and already budget heavily, you may not need to utilise SortMe, given your more simple financial position. However, if you've got five different bank accounts, manage your kids' money, invest in multiple asset classes, and always miss credit card or mortgage payments, SortMe is arguably going to be useful to keep track of where you money goes.
To help explain SortMe, out guide covers:
- What is SortMe? Who Uses It?
- Features and Benefits of SortMe
- Who Runs SortMe? Can it Be Trusted With My Data?
- SortMe Pros and Cons
- Frequently Asked Questions
Important: I’m worried about technology and data privacy. Is SortMe Secure? Where does my data go?
- SortMe places a high emphasis on data security and privacy. The platform ensures that user data is protected and never traded, providing peace of mind for users concerned about the security of their financial information. SortMe promises that user data will never be traded or sold. Connections to financial institutions are through industry-trusted provider Akahu, and user data is permanently deleted on request. We explain more about Akahu below.
What is SortMe? Who Uses It?
- SortMe is a personal finance management platform designed to simplify personal and household bills and transactions, enabling users to seamlessly manage their finances without manually updating spreadsheets every month.
- The platform offers features such as budgeting, bill payments, spending reporting and payment reminders. It's aimed at helping users get back to stay on top of finances. SortMe thinks of itself as "Your Financial Concierge", allowing you to see high-level analytics without doing any grunt work.
- SortMe offers tools to track income and expenses, manage budgets, and analyse spending. SortMe aims to deliver actionable insights to help users make informed decisions about their financial well-being.
- The platform supports integration with financial institutions, making it easy for users to aggregate and organise their financial data in one centralised location. SortMe's goal is to streamline financial management processes, ultimately saving users time and empowering them to achieve their financial goals.
Typical SortMe Users - Our View:
- SortMe is designed for individuals and families seeking a modern and efficient way to manage their finances. Whether you're a busy professional, a freelancer, or a parent juggling multiple financial responsibilities, SortMe provides a user-friendly solution that adapts to your unique financial situation.
- SortMe is suitable for anyone looking to find out where all their money goes at the end of the month, as well as those looking to improve their financial position (especially those overwhelmed with managing personal and household bills in multiple accounts or providers).
SortMe Pricing
- SortMe runs a 'freemium' business model that provides a lot of functionality and integrations (using Akahu) free of charge, meaning you can connect your accounts and see the high-level analysis without paying a cent.
- Using SortMe can significantly simplify managing your finances, from tracking spending to managing bills and setting financial goals. It automates many of the tedious aspects of financial management, offering a comprehensive overview of your finances in one place, which can help you make better financial decisions and achieve financial goals more efficiently.
- SortMe offers two main plans:
- SortMe Basic: A free plan providing insights into spending, bill, and supplier management features. It's designed for efficient bill management without subscription fees.
- SortMe BOOST: A premium plan at $9 a month or $70 a year, offering enhanced insights & tools for better financial decision-making, including goal tracking, budgeting, net-worth tracking, recommendations, and automation rules. Additionally, a convenience fee of $1.50 per transaction is charged for bill payments.
Features and Benefits of SortMe
A high-level summary of the key benefits of SortMe include:
Financial Overview
High-level breakdowns of your goals and how you're tracking against them, your linked banks, credit cards and investment accounts, spend overview for the last 30 days (such as rent, transportation, restaurants, insurance, etc.) and any cash flow surpluses or deficits.
Other features include:
A MoneyHub User’s Take on SortMe:
- Automatically categorises transactions.
- Spend overview reports.
- A simple and intuitive way to review transactions.
- Quickly see if you’re in surplus or deficit.
- Create multiple goals linked to a savings account and allocate funds as you wish.
- Set spending targets for budgeting.
- Mobile and tablet friendly.
Financial Overview
High-level breakdowns of your goals and how you're tracking against them, your linked banks, credit cards and investment accounts, spend overview for the last 30 days (such as rent, transportation, restaurants, insurance, etc.) and any cash flow surpluses or deficits.
Other features include:
- Budgeting: SortMe allows users to set spending targets, helping them to manage their finances better and stick to their financial goals.
- Bill Payments: The platform simplifies the bill payment process, eliminating the need for banking details, copying, pasting, or email hunting.
- Spend Reporting: Users can gain insights into their spending patterns, making it easier to identify areas where they can cut back or adjust their budget.
- Net Worth Tracking: Users can see their net worth progress over time.
A MoneyHub User’s Take on SortMe:
- "The best thing about SortMe is getting a 360 degree view of your finances each month in a great visualisation format. The best feature is the ability to connect all your different accounts once (banks, credit cards, investments, KiwiSaver, etc.) and not have to do anything more (e.g., have it all show up at the end of the month).
- One thing to be aware of is that the Goals and Budgeting functionality isn't free - for the frugal among us, setting goals in another app (like Notes or Notion) is one way around it, but given SortMe is aimed at saving its users money, I see the reason to charge for the app given its various benefits".
How does SortMe Compare to Other Software and Budgeting Platforms?
- The biggest differentiator between SortMe and other budgeting apps (like PocketSmith) is its ability to integrate all your accounts seamlessly into one high-level overview.
- Many budgeting software platforms require you to input your assets, liabilities, income and expenses manually. Only recently have New Zealanders been able to connect and integrate their transactions into software automatically through API integrations.
- Additionally, SortMe’s visualisation (through pie charts, graphs and other categorisations) makes it easy to understand where your money is going and what you can do to reduce discretionary spending.
Who Runs SortMe? Can it Be Trusted With My Data?
SortMe was founded by New Zealand tech entrepreneurs Carl Thompson and Aidan Scott. The company is relatively small, with a team of six. Carl, serving as CEO, has extensive experience in digital marketing and software development, having worked with major brands and co-founded several startups, including a digital marketing agency and a content marketing platform. Aidan, the CTO, also brings a strong background in software development, having scaled his own software agency and worked on various startups in the Asia-Pacific region.
In terms of trustworthiness, our view is that the founders' significant industry experience and their history of successful ventures suggest that SortMe can be trusted. Their professional backgrounds demonstrate a commitment to innovation and effective technology solutions in business.
In terms of trustworthiness, our view is that the founders' significant industry experience and their history of successful ventures suggest that SortMe can be trusted. Their professional backgrounds demonstrate a commitment to innovation and effective technology solutions in business.
Is SortMe Safe to Use? Is My Data Protected?
SortMe relies on Akahu to feed your bank data into its app. The question of "is Akahu safe?" has been posted around social media, and a Reddit post from Akahu's team in late 2023 answers this common question in detail:
"Akahu connects to banks via their mobile APIs. These are the same APIs that your bank's mobile app uses to exchange data with your bank. When you connect your bank accounts to an app via Akahu, (Akahu) registers a new mobile device on your mobile banking account. You'll see this if you log in to your bank, go to "manage devices", and inspect the various devices you have registered. You can delete the Akahu device at any time, and that would revoke (Akahu's) access.
When Akahu registers that new device, we generate a long-lived device token to enable ongoing access. That token means Akahu doesn't need to store your bank username and password. This is one of the key reasons why Akahu prefers to provide bank account connectivity via mobile APIs rather than "screen scraping" the web apps of banks. For some banks, Akahu needs to store other data in order to provide ongoing connectivity, such as your PIN or responses to security questions.
If you choose to connect accounts via Akahu, Akahu provides an app at my.akahu.nz where you have visibility and control of your connections. You can disconnect those accounts from Akahu, and delete your data, whenever you wish.
Akahu also limits each app's access to Akahu's API, based on the principle of least privilege. For example, if the app you're using doesn't need to initiate payments, they will not request that permission, and therefore cannot initiate payments from your connected accounts. All apps need to meet our accreditation requirements before using our API in production. Akahu puts controls in place where we can, but we still need to handle your login credentials in order to register the new mobile device.
(Important): If you choose to connect your bank account to an app like SortMe via an intermediary, you need to trust that the intermediary (Akahu, in the case of SortMe) will maintain a secure connection and only act by your instructions. If you don't trust the intermediary with that responsibility, then you shouldn't grant that access.
"Akahu connects to banks via their mobile APIs. These are the same APIs that your bank's mobile app uses to exchange data with your bank. When you connect your bank accounts to an app via Akahu, (Akahu) registers a new mobile device on your mobile banking account. You'll see this if you log in to your bank, go to "manage devices", and inspect the various devices you have registered. You can delete the Akahu device at any time, and that would revoke (Akahu's) access.
When Akahu registers that new device, we generate a long-lived device token to enable ongoing access. That token means Akahu doesn't need to store your bank username and password. This is one of the key reasons why Akahu prefers to provide bank account connectivity via mobile APIs rather than "screen scraping" the web apps of banks. For some banks, Akahu needs to store other data in order to provide ongoing connectivity, such as your PIN or responses to security questions.
If you choose to connect accounts via Akahu, Akahu provides an app at my.akahu.nz where you have visibility and control of your connections. You can disconnect those accounts from Akahu, and delete your data, whenever you wish.
Akahu also limits each app's access to Akahu's API, based on the principle of least privilege. For example, if the app you're using doesn't need to initiate payments, they will not request that permission, and therefore cannot initiate payments from your connected accounts. All apps need to meet our accreditation requirements before using our API in production. Akahu puts controls in place where we can, but we still need to handle your login credentials in order to register the new mobile device.
(Important): If you choose to connect your bank account to an app like SortMe via an intermediary, you need to trust that the intermediary (Akahu, in the case of SortMe) will maintain a secure connection and only act by your instructions. If you don't trust the intermediary with that responsibility, then you shouldn't grant that access.
SortMe Pros and Cons
Pros:
From MoneyHub’s product testing, the two main (and unique) benefits of the SortMe platform above and beyond other budgeting apps are:
Additionally, we surveyed random SortMe users to understand what they liked about the platform. Among the top reasons to use SortMe included:
Cons:
Worth Noting:
From MoneyHub’s product testing, the two main (and unique) benefits of the SortMe platform above and beyond other budgeting apps are:
- Free bank integrations: SortMe integrates seamlessly with all your bank accounts and shows all transactions in/out - categorising them automatically (thanks to Akahu).
- Free quality spending analysis: which categorises everything into buckets. Many other banking apps can't bring in other data, meaning many of your transactions are siloed into just the credit cards or bank accounts for that bank (and the spending insights are relatively poor).
Additionally, we surveyed random SortMe users to understand what they liked about the platform. Among the top reasons to use SortMe included:
- The simple breakdown of money and spending
- The ability to visualise where money is being spent
- The ability to choose your spending categories
- Clean, easy-to-use desktop interface
- Ability to see monthly subscriptions and costs (to save money)
- A good and intuitive alternative to an Excel spreadsheet budget
- Integration with bank accounts
- Integration with email (to pull bills due into the SortMe system as a reminder)
- Ability to integrate KiwiSaver balances and Brokerage platforms into the software
- The free nature of the essential features (e.g. transactions and spending)
Cons:
- The biggest downside to the SortMe platform is the cost of additional functionality. You'll need to pay a subscription to access additional functionality (such as goal setting and budgeting).
Worth Noting:
- The SortMe team seem relatively receptive to new product updates (and startups usually can move much faster in adapting their software compared to incumbent providers).
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I find more information about SortMe?
For more information about SortMe, including detailed features, pricing, and sign-up options, you can visit their website or contact their support for any queries.
Does SortMe work with Budgeting Advisors and Financial Advisers?
Yes - SortMe’s Professional Partner Programme allows financial advisors to gain access to their client's financial data and reducing the amount of time spent on the fact-finding process. Not only does SortMe accelerate client onboarding (via document uploading), but it also improves the user experience of walking clients through financial steps.
SortMe for financial advisors provides instant access to a client's spending reports, eliminates manual reconciling by auto-categorising transactions, and allows advisors to switch between client accounts easily. This makes it a valuable tool for financial professionals looking to streamline their processes and offer more effective financial advice.
SortMe for financial advisors provides instant access to a client's spending reports, eliminates manual reconciling by auto-categorising transactions, and allows advisors to switch between client accounts easily. This makes it a valuable tool for financial professionals looking to streamline their processes and offer more effective financial advice.
What are the upcoming product features that SortMe are building out and will be available in future?
SortMe intends to roll out a few key features, including:
- Custom transaction tracking.
- Native mobile app.
- AI-powered recommendations.
Are there any long-term commitments or cancellation fees?
SortMe offers flexible monthly or annual subscriptions with no long-term commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time without incurring cancellation fees.
How often does SortMe update its features and security?
SortMe employs a dynamic development process, enabling them to implement updates multiple times a day. This approach ensures that their platform remains ahead of the curve, promptly offering the latest features and security enhancements.
What happens to my data if I stop using SortMe?
If you cease using SortMe and do not log in, your data will be retained for six months before being automatically deleted to protect your privacy. Should you choose to delete your account, SortMe will permanently erase all your financial data immediately upon request.
Does SortMe offer any educational resources to help improve financial literacy?
No - SortMe focuses on automating financial management to save you time and money, not adding to the near-endless financial capability resources already available.
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