Actual Budget vs Firefly III

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureActual BudgetFirefly III
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptPHP
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 28,019★ 24,254
First released20222016
ReplacesYNAB, MintMint, YNAB

Why pick each one

Choose Actual Budget if…

  • Snappy offline-first experience
  • Privacy-focused sync
Actual Budget details

Choose Firefly III if…

  • Powerful budgeting features
  • Strong API for automation
Firefly III details

Frequently asked questions

Is Actual Budget or Firefly III better?

Actual Budget is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Firefly III if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Actual Budget and Firefly III free and open-source?

Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and Firefly III under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Actual Budget and Firefly III with Docker?

Actual Budget: yes. Firefly III: yes.

Related comparisons