Actual Budget vs Invoice Ninja

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 BudgetInvoice Ninja
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITElastic-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptPHP
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 28,019★ 9,979
First released20222014
ReplacesYNAB, MintFreshBooks, QuickBooks

Why pick each one

Choose Actual Budget if…

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

Choose Invoice Ninja if…

  • Comprehensive billing features
  • Many payment gateway integrations
Invoice Ninja details

Frequently asked questions

Is Actual Budget or Invoice Ninja better?

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

Are Actual Budget and Invoice Ninja free and open-source?

Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and Invoice Ninja under Elastic-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Actual Budget and Invoice Ninja with Docker?

Actual Budget: yes. Invoice Ninja: yes.

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