Actual
A free, open-source budgeting app that keeps your data local and syncs across devices.
- Stars
- 29.9k
- Forks
- 3.2k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Actual is a personal finance app for tracking money and budgeting, built on envelope budgeting ideas. It is free and open source, written in NodeJS, and stores your data locally, with a sync feature so changes move between your devices. You can run it as a hosted service, self-host it with Docker, or install a desktop app.
- Track income and expenses across accounts
- Plan a monthly budget using envelope budgeting
- Move budgets between a laptop and a desktop using sync
- Host your own instance with Docker for a private setup
- Import budgets from other apps using the migration guide
Great for
- People who want to budget with the envelope method
- Users who prefer keeping their financial data on their own device
- People switching from another budgeting app who want a migration guide
- Non-technical users who want a one-click hosted option via PikaPods
Not ideal for
- People who need bank-linking or automatic transaction import features, since the README does not describe them (reason: unclear from the README)
- Anyone who wants a fully managed service with no setup, if they avoid even the small hosting fees (reason: the easiest hosted options cost about $1.50 to $2.00 per month)
- Users who need a mobile app, since the README only lists Windows, Mac, and Linux desktop apps (reason: no mobile apps are mentioned)
How to get it
- 1
Download the app
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/actualbudget/actual.git - 2
Run it
- Choose a deployment option from the installation docs at actualbudget.org/docs/install/
- For the desktop app, download the build for your system from actualbudget.org/download/ and run it
- For self-hosting, follow the Docker guide at actualbudget.org/docs/install/docker
- Read the Starting Fresh guide to set up your first budget
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the envelope budgeting guide to understand the method before setting up categories
- Use the Migration guide if you are moving from another budgeting app
- Use the community Discord for help and questions
- Vote on feature requests in the GitHub issues to influence development
Downloads
Strengths
- Free and open source under the MIT license
- Local-first design keeps your data on your own devices
- Multiple ways to run it, from one-click hosting to desktop apps
Trade-offs
- Hosted options carry small monthly costs
- The README is brief on features, so some capabilities need checking in the docs
- Self-hosting requires comfort with Docker or similar tools
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.