Actual Budget vs I Hate Money

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

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FeatureActual BudgetI Hate Money
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITBSD-3-Clause
LanguageTypeScriptPython
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 28,019★ 1,383
First released20222011
ReplacesYNAB, MintSplitwise, Tricount

Why pick each one

Choose Actual Budget if…

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

Choose I Hate Money if…

  • Lightweight and easy
  • Great for trips and shared homes
I Hate Money details

Frequently asked questions

Is Actual Budget or I Hate Money better?

Neither is universally better. Actual Budget has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Actual Budget and I Hate Money free and open-source?

Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and I Hate Money under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Actual Budget and I Hate Money with Docker?

Actual Budget: yes. I Hate Money: yes.

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