Actual Budget vs Buckets
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Actual Budget
Local-first envelope budgeting app
VS
Buckets
Offline-first envelope budgeting desktop app
| Feature | Actual Budget | Buckets |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 30 · At risk |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 29,118 | ★ 198 |
| First released | 2022 | 2017 |
| Replaces | YNAB, Mint | YNAB, Mint |
What are Actual Budget and Buckets?
Actual Budget
Actual is a free, open-source personal finance app focused on zero-based, envelope-style budgeting. It is local-first with end-to-end encrypted sync across devices.
- Envelope budgeting method
- Local-first with encrypted sync
- Fast and responsive UI
- Bank import via plugins
Buckets
Buckets is an envelope-style budgeting application for Windows, macOS, and Linux built with Electron/TypeScript. Budgets are stored in a local file, bank statements can be imported, and it works fully offline. Its source code is published in the buckets/application repository.
- Bucket-based envelope budgeting
- Offline-first desktop app
- Bank statement import
- Self-hostable sync
Actual Budget vs Buckets: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Actual Budget versus GPL-3.0 for Buckets. Buckets is the more established project (first released 2017), while Actual Budget arrived in 2022. Actual Budget has the considerably larger community, at 29,118 GitHub stars versus 198. Actual Budget lists first-class Docker deployment; Buckets does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Actual Budget if…
- Snappy offline-first experience
- Privacy-focused sync
Watch out for
- Bank sync needs extra setup
- Fewer reports than alternatives
Choose Buckets if…
- Flexible budgeting model
- Privacy-focused
Watch out for
- Sync setup is manual
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Actual Budget or Buckets better?
Actual Budget is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Buckets if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Actual Budget and Buckets free and open-source?
Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and Buckets under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Actual Budget and Buckets with Docker?
Actual Budget: yes. Buckets: check the project docs for container support.