Actual Budget

A local-first personal finance app for envelope budgeting that keeps your budget on your devices and syncs it through your own server.

29.9k stars, 3.2k forks TypeScript On GitHub since April 2022

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

What is Actual Budget?

Actual is a personal finance app built around envelope budgeting: you give every unit of income a job and move money between categories as plans change. Data lives on each device first, and a lightweight sync server carries changes between them. You can run that server in Docker, use a one-click host such as PikaPods or Fly.io for a few dollars a month, or use the desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux without any server. A community guide helps people who move from other budgeting apps.

Good fit if

  • You like the YNAB approach to budgeting but want your financial data on your own devices.
  • You want a simple setup: one small server, or no server at all.

Look elsewhere if

  • You prefer detailed bookkeeping with rules, tags and many reports: Firefly III.
  • You want to track a portfolio of stocks, ETFs or crypto: Ghostfolio.

Before you adopt it

Actual is MIT-licensed and community-driven, with no paid parts in the repository; 49 people committed in the last 90 days. The paid hosting options are third-party services, not a premium edition.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 31 October 2026. Report a correction

Actual Budget health: is it still maintained?

91 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    327 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 31 October 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    52 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 9% of them.
    20 / 20
  • Releases
    15 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v26.10.0, on 2 October 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 67% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 10 hours.
    17 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 1 November 2026. How the score works

Actual Budget license: is it open source?

Actual Budget uses MIT, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. April 2022First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayMIT.

How to run Actual Budget yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
docker-compose.yml: 1 service
Setup effort
1 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
Builds for Linux, Windows, macOS, including ARM in GitHub releases
Interface languages
English only

Install instructions: actualbudget.org or the README on GitHub.

Alternatives to Actual Budget

  • Firefly IIIFirefly III: a personal finances manager 75 health · AGPL-3.0 · 25.1k stars
  • GhostfolioOpen Source Wealth Management Software. Angular + NestJS + Prisma + Nx + TypeScript 76 health · AGPL-3.0 · 9.6k stars

All 3 projects in Money & budgeting

Questions about Actual Budget

Is Actual Budget open source?

Yes. Actual Budget is published under MIT, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Actual Budget still maintained?

Its health score is 91 of 100 (actively developed). It had 327 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 31 October 2026, and its latest release came out on 2 October 2026.

How do I run Actual Budget?

You can run it with Docker, as an app for Linux, Windows, macOS, including ARM. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What are the alternatives to Actual Budget?

Close alternatives in the Money & budgeting category include Firefly III, Ghostfolio.