Pricing, privacy and security

Question 1

Is Mess Ledger really free or is there a catch?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it is really free: ৳0, with no paid plan, no trial that runs out and no feature locked behind a payment. Every member, every entry and every month is included for as long as the mess exists. There is no card field anywhere in the product, so there is nothing to be charged even by mistake.

Question 2

Will Mess Ledger start charging money later?

Accepted Answer

No paid plan exists today, and none is part of the product as it stands. Mess Ledger was deliberately built to run at near-zero cost, which is what lets it stay free without ads or selling data. Nobody can honestly promise what any service will do years from now, so the practical safeguard is that you can export your settlements as PDF and CSV whenever you like.

Question 3

Why is Mess Ledger free when other mess apps charge?

Accepted Answer

It is free because it was designed to cost almost nothing to run, so there is no bill that members need to cover. The site is prebuilt pages plus a small API and database, with no ad network to feed and no sales team. That design choice, rather than ads or data sales, is what keeps the price at ৳0.

Question 4

Does Mess Ledger show ads?

Accepted Answer

No, there are no ads anywhere in Mess Ledger, and no advertising cookie or ad network on the site. You never have to watch an ad to record a meal, edit an entry or open an old month. The only third-party script is Google Analytics, which counts page views and is told nothing from your ledger.

Question 5

Is there a limit on how many members a mess can have in Mess Ledger?

Accepted Answer

No, there is no member cap: a 4-person flat and a 40-person mess use the same free product. You can also add flatmates who will never sign up as members without a login, and they are counted and charged like everyone else. Several managers can share the work, and nobody pays per member.

Question 6

Are there daily limits on entries or edits?

Accepted Answer

No, there is no limit on how many meals, bazar trips, deposits or costs you record, or on how often you correct them. Edits are not rationed by points, ads or a daily quota. The only things that stop a change are the mess’s own rules: a meal cutoff the manager set, or a month that has been closed.

Question 7

How long does Mess Ledger keep old months?

Accepted Answer

Every month is kept for as long as the mess exists; old months are never trimmed or deleted to save space. You can open any past settlement, see each member’s statement line by line and check all-time balances. A closed month is also locked, so what you see a year later is what was settled at the time.

Question 8

Who can see my mess’s hisab in Mess Ledger?

Accepted Answer

Only the members of your mess can see its entries, and every member sees the same numbers. That includes meals, bazar with receipt photos, deposits, costs, the settlement and the activity log. Someone outside your mess cannot see it, cannot list it and is not even told it exists.

Question 9

Can someone from another mess see our data?

Accepted Answer

No, one mess cannot see another mess’s data, and that separation is enforced in the database itself, not just hidden on screen. The only way in is your mess’s invite code. If the code has leaked beyond your group, a manager can regenerate it and the old code stops working at once.

Question 10

Can the manager secretly delete or change records?

Accepted Answer

No, not secretly: every record, edit, delete and approval goes into an activity log showing who changed what and when, and every member can read it. Managers can correct meals after the cutoff, but those corrections are logged too. Members also see a count of changes they have not looked at yet, so a quiet edit to your meal count does not stay quiet.

Question 11

Can anyone change a month after it has been closed?

Accepted Answer

No, once a month is closed nobody can change anything dated inside it, managers included. If a real mistake turns up, a manager has to reopen the month first, and the reopening itself is written to the activity log for everyone to see. So a settled month cannot be quietly rewritten after members have paid up.

Question 12

Can Mess Ledger staff see my password?

Accepted Answer

No, your password is stored only as a bcrypt hash, a one-way scramble that cannot be turned back into the text you typed, so nobody at Mess Ledger can read it. Managers in your mess cannot see it either. Still, use a password you do not use for email or bKash, so a leak elsewhere cannot reach your mess.

Question 13

I forgot my Mess Ledger password, what do I do?

Accepted Answer

Use the “Forgot your password?” link on the sign-in page to get a reset link, then set a new password from it. If the email does not arrive, write to support@messledger.com from the address you signed up with. Your mess, history and balances are untouched, since they belong to the mess, not to your password.

Question 14

What cookies does Mess Ledger use?

Accepted Answer

Mess Ledger sets one cookie of its own, mh_refresh, which keeps you signed in. It is HttpOnly (scripts cannot read it), Secure (HTTPS only), SameSite=Strict, expires after 30 days and is deleted when you sign out. Google Analytics adds two cookies holding a random id to count visits; there is no advertising cookie.

Question 15

Does Mess Ledger use Google Analytics, and what does Google see?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the site uses Google Analytics to count page views, and it never receives your ledger data. Google gets the page path, such as /mess/settlement, but not the part after it that carries your mess id or a password-reset token. Your name, email, meal counts, deposits and balances go only to Mess Ledger’s own API.

Question 16

Can I use Mess Ledger with an ad blocker or tracker blocker on?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Mess Ledger works normally with an ad or tracker blocker. The blocker stops Google Analytics from loading, so your visits are simply not counted and its two cookies are never set. Recording meals, bazar and deposits, and reading the settlement, all keep working exactly the same.

Question 17

Does Mess Ledger log my IP address?

Accepted Answer

No, the request logs do not store IP addresses or who you are. They keep only the method, path, status, timing and a random request id, and are deleted after 7 days. Your IP is used briefly in memory to limit repeated sign-in attempts from one place, which blocks password guessing, and is never written to disk.

Question 18

Where is Mess Ledger data stored?

Accepted Answer

Your account and mess data are stored in a Neon Postgres database, and the application runs on Amazon Web Services in the Singapore region. Pages and images are delivered through Amazon CloudFront, so the page may load from a server near you. Everything travels over HTTPS with HSTS, so browsers refuse an unencrypted connection.

Question 19

Does Mess Ledger sell or share my data?

Accepted Answer

No, Mess Ledger does not sell your data and does not share it with advertisers or data brokers. The only thing that leaves is the page-view count sent to Google Analytics, which contains a page path and device type, not your ledger. Your meals, bazar, deposits and balances stay between Mess Ledger and the members of your mess.

Question 20

What personal information do I need to sign up?

Accepted Answer

Just an email address, your name and a password. Mess Ledger does not ask for a phone number, postal address, date of birth, NID or any payment details. A flatmate who does not want to give even that can be added by the manager as a member without a login and still be counted and charged normally.

Question 21

How can I download or export my mess’s data?

Accepted Answer

Open the settlement and export the month as a PDF to share in the WhatsApp group, or as a CSV that opens in Excel or Google Sheets. Each member’s statement shows every line behind their balance. A simple habit is to export each month after closing it, so you keep your own copy outside the app too.

Question 22

How do I delete my Mess Ledger account?

Accepted Answer

Go to the More page and tap Delete account at the bottom; you do not have to ask anyone. It takes effect immediately: every session ends, your password is destroyed and your email is released, so you could sign up with it again later. Leave or settle up with your mess first, since your balance does not disappear with the account.

Question 23

What happens to my entries after I delete my account?

Accepted Answer

Your account and personal details are removed, but the entries you made in a shared mess stay in that mess’s ledger under the name they were entered with. Removing them would silently change other people’s settled figures. For example, if you bought ৳1,200 of bazar in March, March’s meal rate still includes it for everyone.

Question 24

Can a manager permanently delete the whole mess and its history?

Accepted Answer

Yes, a manager can delete the mess from its Settings page, but only once they are the only person left in it. That rule exists because other members’ rows are theirs too, so everyone must leave or be removed first. Deleting a mess permanently removes everything in it, so export the settlements you want to keep as PDF or CSV beforehand.

Question 25

Can I leave a mess without deleting my account?

Accepted Answer

Yes, removing yourself from the mess is how you leave, and your account stays for any other mess you are in. Your past entries remain in the old mess so its closed months still add up. Settle your balance before leaving: if you owe ৳350 or are owed ৳350, that is easier to sort out while everyone can still see your line.

Question 26

What happens if my internet drops while using Mess Ledger?

Accepted Answer

Nothing you have already saved is lost, but you cannot record anything until you are back online, because Mess Ledger has no offline mode. Each entry is saved straight to the server, which is how every member sees the same up-to-date numbers. If the connection drops, note the meal or bazar amount and record it once you are back online; a manager can fix a day that has passed the cutoff.

Question 27

Does Mess Ledger use a lot of mobile data?

Accepted Answer

It is light on data for everyday use, because the pages are prebuilt and recording a meal or deposit sends only a small piece of information. Receipt photos are the heaviest part, and each one is shrunk in your browser before uploading so a full-size camera photo is not sent. On a tight data pack, add photos only for the bigger bazar trips.

Question 28

Which browsers and phones does Mess Ledger support?

Accepted Answer

Mess Ledger runs in an up-to-date browser on Android phones, iPhones, tablets and laptops, such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge. There is nothing to install, so an older phone with a current browser works the same as a new one. If something looks broken, update the browser first, then report it if it persists.

Question 29

Can I put Mess Ledger on my phone’s home screen like an app?

Accepted Answer

Yes, open messledger.com in your phone’s browser and choose “Add to home screen”; it then opens from an icon like an app. Mess Ledger is not on the Play Store, and you do not need it to be. Your data lives on the server, so the home-screen icon, a laptop and a friend’s phone all show the same mess.

Question 30

Is it safe to sign in to Mess Ledger on someone else’s phone?

Accepted Answer

It is fine if you sign out when you finish, because signing out deletes the sign-in cookie immediately. If you forget, that browser stays signed in for up to 30 days, and the owner could see your mess. On a shared or cyber-café computer, always sign out, and never let the browser save your password there.

Question 31

How do I contact Mess Ledger support?

Accepted Answer

Email support@messledger.com or use the contact page at messledger.com/contact. Include your mess’s name and what you were trying to do, but never send your password; support does not need it. A question about how a number was worked out is usually answered fastest with the settlement month and member named.

Question 32

How do I report a bug in Mess Ledger?

Accepted Answer

Send it to support@messledger.com or through messledger.com/contact, describing what you did, what you expected and what happened instead. Say which phone or computer and which browser you used, and attach a screenshot if you can. Leave out passwords and invite codes; a screenshot of the wrong figure is more useful than any login detail.

Question 33

Is it safe to put bKash or Nagad TrxIDs in Mess Ledger?

Accepted Answer

Yes, a TrxID is a transaction reference, not a password or PIN, and it is only visible to the members of your own mess. Recording it lets the manager match a deposit to the bKash or Nagad message before approving it. What you must never type into Mess Ledger, or anywhere else, is your bKash PIN or an OTP.

Question 34

Does Mess Ledger ask for my bKash PIN or card number?

Accepted Answer

No, Mess Ledger never asks for a bKash or Nagad PIN, an OTP or a card number, and there is no payment field anywhere in the product. Money moves between members outside the app; Mess Ledger only records that it happened. If anything claiming to be Mess Ledger asks for a PIN or OTP, do not give it and email support@messledger.com.

Question 35

Can a member fake a deposit by saying they paid?

Accepted Answer

No, a member’s “I paid” report stays pending and counts for nothing until a manager approves it. The member enters the amount and TrxID, so the manager can check it against the actual bKash, Nagad or Rocket message first. Only deposits a manager enters or approves change the balances.

Question 36

Who can see the receipt photos I upload for bazar?

Accepted Answer

Every member of your mess can open a bazar trip’s receipt photos full size, and nobody outside the mess can. Each trip can carry up to 3 photos, which makes it easy for anyone to check that a ৳1,450 bazar really cost ৳1,450. Avoid photographing anything personal alongside the receipt, since the whole mess will see it.