Actual Budget vs MoneyWallet
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
MoneyWallet
Open-source personal finance manager for Android
| Feature | Actual Budget | MoneyWallet |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 11 · At risk |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 29,118 | ★ 635 |
| First released | 2022 | 2017 |
| Replaces | YNAB, Mint | Mint, Wallet by BudgetBakers |
What are Actual Budget and MoneyWallet?
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
MoneyWallet
MoneyWallet is an open-source Android app for managing personal finances. It records transactions across multiple wallets and currencies, and supports budgets, debts, recurring payments, and optional backup to cloud storage.
- Multi-wallet support
- Budgets and recurring transactions
- Debt tracking
- Backup to cloud storage
Actual Budget vs MoneyWallet: key differences
Actual Budget is written in TypeScript, while MoneyWallet is built with Java. Licensing differs — MIT for Actual Budget versus GPL-3.0 for MoneyWallet. MoneyWallet is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Actual Budget. MoneyWallet 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 635. Actual Budget lists first-class Docker deployment; MoneyWallet 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 MoneyWallet if…
- Works fully offline
- Material design interface
Watch out for
- Android only
- No web interface
Frequently asked questions
Is Actual Budget or MoneyWallet 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 MoneyWallet free and open-source?
Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and MoneyWallet under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Actual Budget and MoneyWallet with Docker?
Actual Budget: yes. MoneyWallet: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Actual Budget or MoneyWallet?
MoneyWallet has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Actual Budget. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.