Actual Budget vs Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing
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?
Actual Budget
Local-first envelope budgeting app
VS
Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing
Open-source invoicing for freelancers and businesses
| Feature | Actual Budget | Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,019 | ★ 1,784 |
| First released | 2022 | 2023 |
| Replaces | YNAB, Mint | FreshBooks, Wave |
Why pick each one
Choose Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Actual Budget or Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing better?
Actual Budget is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Actual Budget and Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing free and open-source?
Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Actual Budget and Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing with Docker?
Actual Budget: yes. Crater Self-Hosted Invoicing: yes.