FlashFi vs Strabo: Two Apps Built for International Investors — How Do They Compare?

Disclosure: FlashFi is a competitor to the products mentioned.

Disclosure: FlashFi is a competitor. This is our honest assessment based on publicly available information.

TL;DR¶

Choose Strabo if you want account aggregation across international brokerages, AI-powered portfolio insights, and support for alternative asset types like property and collectibles. Strabo is strong in the UK and Commonwealth countries.

Choose FlashFi if you want a streamlined investment tracker with real-time price data, a clean cyberpunk-inspired UX, and a workflow designed specifically for digital nomads who move between countries regularly.

Both apps target the same underserved market — internationally mobile people whose financial lives span multiple countries and currencies. They just approach the problem differently.

Quick Comparison¶

The Same Problem, Different Angles¶

FlashFi and Strabo are the two apps most directly competing for the same audience: people who invest internationally and need a tool that actually understands multi-currency, multi-country portfolios.

Most portfolio trackers are built for someone with a single brokerage account in one country. That works for 90% of investors. But if you are a British expat in Dubai with a UK pension, a US brokerage account, a crypto wallet, and savings in AED — you have been stuck with spreadsheets. Both FlashFi and Strabo exist because of this gap.

The key difference is in philosophy. Strabo leans toward aggregation: connect all your accounts, and the platform pulls everything into one view automatically. FlashFi leans toward manual control with real-time data: you tell the app what you own, and it handles pricing and currency conversion automatically.

Neither approach is objectively better. It depends on how you manage your money and where your accounts are.

Pricing Breakdown¶

Strabo offers a single paid tier called Pro at GBP 9/month or GBP 70/year (a 35% savings on annual billing). They also have an Adviser plan at GBP 150/month aimed at financial advisors managing client portfolios. A 7-day free trial is available for Pro, with a reminder on day 5 before charges begin.

FlashFi has two tiers. Operator at $12/month covers full investment tracking, multi-currency conversion, cash and debt management, and portfolio analytics. Apex at $39/month adds advanced analytics and premium features.

On a pure price comparison, Strabo Pro is cheaper at roughly $9 USD/month (or about $88 USD/year on annual billing) compared to FlashFi’s $12/month Operator tier. If Strabo’s feature set covers your needs and your accounts are in their supported countries, you pay less.

However, FlashFi’s Operator tier includes personal finance tracking (cash accounts, savings, debt) that is core to the product. FlashFi also works from any country without geographic restrictions on the platform itself, which removes a variable from the equation.

Account Aggregation¶

Strabo integrates with over 10,000 financial institutions through Plaid, Yodlee, and Vezgo. If your bank or brokerage is supported, you link your account and Strabo pulls in balances, holdings, and transaction data automatically. This is powerful for users with accounts spread across multiple countries who want a consolidated view without manual work.

The supported countries currently include the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, France, New Zealand, and Australia. Strabo has stated they are expanding further across Europe and the Middle East.

FlashFi does not offer account aggregation. You add holdings by searching for tickers, entering share counts and purchase prices, and the system handles real-time price updates and currency conversion from there. Cash, savings, and debt accounts are entered manually.

This is the most significant feature difference between the two apps. If you have accounts at supported institutions and want automatic sync, Strabo offers something FlashFi does not. If your accounts are in countries outside Strabo’s current coverage (Southeast Asia, Latin America, parts of Africa, much of the Middle East), the aggregation advantage disappears and both apps require manual input.

For digital nomads specifically, account aggregation can be a double-edged sword. Sync connections break when you close accounts, change banks, or move to unsupported jurisdictions. Manual tracking is more work upfront but never breaks because your bank changed its API.

Multi-Currency Handling¶

Both platforms treat multi-currency as a core feature, not an afterthought. The implementation differs in ways that matter.

Strabo lets you select a base currency and displays your net worth in that currency. Individual assets are shown in their native denomination, so you can see both the local value and the converted value. This is useful for understanding what your UK pension is worth in pounds and in your reporting currency simultaneously.

FlashFi uses real-time forex rates from Tiingo to convert everything to your chosen home currency. Every holding, cash account, and debt balance is shown in your home currency with the conversion applied automatically. You can see your entire net worth in one currency, and the portfolio performance charts, allocation breakdowns, and gain/loss calculations all use converted values.

The practical difference: Strabo gives you a dual-view (native + converted), while FlashFi normalizes everything to one currency for a unified picture. If you care about knowing the GBP value of your ISA alongside the USD value of your 401k in their respective currencies, Strabo’s approach is more informative. If you want one number that answers “what is everything worth in euros right now,” FlashFi’s approach is more direct.

Asset Type Coverage¶

Strabo supports a broader range of asset types. Beyond stocks, ETFs, and crypto, Strabo tracks property, infrastructure investments, alternative assets (wine, cars), P2P lending, and bank accounts. If your net worth includes a rental property in London, a wine collection, and a peer-to-peer lending portfolio alongside traditional investments, Strabo can represent all of it in one dashboard.

FlashFi focuses on liquid financial assets: stocks, ETFs, crypto, and mutual funds for investments, plus cash accounts, savings accounts, and debt for personal finance. This narrower scope means FlashFi does not try to value your apartment or your car — it tracks what has a ticker or a stated balance.

For most digital nomads, this trade-off is acceptable. Nomads tend to be asset-light on physical property and heavy on portable, liquid investments. But if you own property internationally, Strabo’s coverage is more complete.

AI and Analytics¶

Strabo Pro includes an AI financial assistant that can analyze your portfolio and provide insights on risk suitability, diversification, and performance. The AI can answer questions about your portfolio and offer scenario modeling. This is a differentiating feature — having a conversational interface to your financial data is genuinely useful for investors who want guidance without hiring a financial advisor.

FlashFi takes a different approach. Instead of AI-generated insights, FlashFi provides portfolio analytics through charts and data: performance over time, allocation breakdowns by ticker, asset type, and sector, net worth trends, and gain/loss tracking. The data is there for you to interpret, but the app does not offer recommendations or conversational analysis.

If you want an AI assistant that proactively surfaces insights, Strabo is ahead here. If you prefer to look at clean charts and draw your own conclusions, FlashFi’s approach may suit you better.

Platform and UX¶

Strabo is a web-first application with a drag-and-drop customizable dashboard. You can create pages and widgets to organize your financial data however you like. They also have an iOS app and offer data export to Excel, PDF, and Notion. The UX is functional and emphasizes customization — you build your own dashboard layout.

FlashFi is a web application with a mobile-responsive design and a distinctive cyberpunk/futuristic aesthetic — dark mode only, cyan accents, monospace fonts for data display. The UX is opinionated rather than customizable: there is a dashboard with net worth and allocation charts, a portfolio view with holdings, and a personal finance view with cash and debt. The design is intentionally streamlined and fast.

Strabo gives you more flexibility in how you view your data. FlashFi gives you a faster, more focused experience with less configuration needed. This is a genuine preference call — some people want to build their perfect dashboard, others want an app that just works out of the box.

Security¶

Both platforms take security seriously, but the approaches are worth noting.

Strabo uses AES-256 encryption for data at rest and in transit, passwordless authentication (biometrics, magic links, one-time codes), tokenization to prevent data visibility, and serverless cloud architecture. They are regulated in the UK through Plaid Financial Ltd as an agent providing account information services.

FlashFi uses magic link authentication (via django-sesame), session-based security, and does not store any bank credentials because there is no bank sync. Since FlashFi does not connect to your financial institutions, there is no third-party aggregation risk. You control what data enters the system.

Both approaches are reasonable. Strabo’s is more complex because it handles sensitive bank connections. FlashFi’s is simpler because the attack surface is smaller when there are no bank API integrations.

Where Strabo Wins¶

• Account aggregation: Automatic sync with 10,000+ institutions across 12 countries is a major convenience advantage.
• Asset breadth: Property, alternative investments, P2P lending, and collectibles alongside traditional investments.
• AI assistant: Conversational portfolio analysis and scenario modeling add a layer of intelligence that FlashFi does not offer.
• Data export: Excel, PDF, and Notion export for users who want their data portable.
• Customizable dashboard: Drag-and-drop widgets let you build the exact view you want.
• Lower entry price: GBP 70/year on annual billing is cheaper than FlashFi’s $144/year.

Where FlashFi Wins¶

• No geographic restrictions: FlashFi works for users anywhere in the world. No dependency on bank sync coverage in specific countries.
• Real-time price data: Tiingo-powered pricing for stocks, ETFs, crypto, and forex with automatic portfolio valuation.
• Personal finance tracking: Integrated cash, savings, and debt management alongside investments — not just a portfolio tracker but a personal finance view.
• Simpler UX: Opinionated design means less time configuring and more time reviewing your portfolio. Get set up and get answers quickly.
• No broken sync connections: Manual tracking means no maintenance burden when you move countries or change banks.
• Purpose-built for nomads: The product is designed from the ground up for people without a fixed base country, not adapted from a single-country product.

Who Should Choose Strabo¶

Strabo is the right choice if your accounts are in their supported countries (UK, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, France, New Zealand, Australia), you value automatic account sync over manual entry, you hold alternative or illiquid assets alongside traditional investments, you want AI-powered analysis of your portfolio, or you are a financial adviser managing client portfolios (Strabo’s Adviser plan is designed for this). Strabo is particularly strong for British expats and Commonwealth-country investors whose accounts are within the platform’s existing coverage.

Who Should Choose FlashFi¶

FlashFi is the right choice if you live outside Strabo’s 12 supported countries (or move between them frequently), you primarily hold liquid investments across multiple currencies and want real-time conversion, you want integrated personal finance tracking alongside your investment portfolio, you prefer a fast, clean UX over a customizable dashboard, you are a digital nomad who changes countries regularly and does not want to deal with broken bank sync connections, or you value simplicity and focus over feature breadth. FlashFi is built for the person whose financial life is inherently international — not someone with international investments bolted onto a domestic financial life.

The Bigger Picture¶

FlashFi and Strabo are both building for a market that traditional finance apps have ignored. The fact that two independent teams arrived at similar conclusions about the problem — that internationally mobile people need purpose-built financial tools — validates the need.

The products are genuinely different in approach. Strabo is aggregation-first: connect everything, see everything, let AI help you make sense of it. FlashFi is tracking-first: tell us what you own, and we will give you real-time valuations and clean analytics in any currency.

If you can, try both. Strabo has a 7-day free trial. FlashFi is straightforward to set up. The right tool depends on where your accounts are, how you prefer to manage data, and which UX clicks for you.

Try FlashFi — Start Tracking

By David Brougham