Can a small financial tool be useful before the user is ready for the full app?

I’ve been working on MyDebtLens, a debt payoff planner and consumer debt clarity tool.

One thing I kept noticing is that many people may not start with a full payoff plan.

Sometimes the first question is smaller:

“Can I afford this new monthly commitment?”

That could mean a car payment, rent change, home project, subscription stack, loan, payment plan, or another cost that will become part of the month.

So I added a free public tool called Can I afford it? Beta.

It does not require signup, bank linking, or a credit pull. The user enters rough monthly numbers, adds the commitment they are considering, and sees room before, monthly impact, and room after.

It is not approval, advice, or a credit decision. The goal is just to help someone pause and understand the monthly pressure before moving forward.

From a product perspective, I’m interested in this pattern:

A narrow public tool that answers one practical question, while the fuller app handles the deeper planning workflow.

Here’s the tool:

https://mydebtlens.com/can-i-afford-it.html

Curious how other builders think about this.

Do small public tools help people understand a product better, or do they risk becoming a distraction from the main app?