Actual Budget vs MyFin
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
MyFin
Self-hosted personal budgeting and finance manager
| Feature | Actual Budget | MyFin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 77 · Good |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 29,118 | ★ 312 |
| First released | 2022 | 2022 |
| Replaces | YNAB, Mint | YNAB, Mint |
What are Actual Budget and MyFin?
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
MyFin
MyFin is a self-hosted personal finance platform for tracking accounts, budgets, and transactions. It provides reports and forecasting to help understand spending patterns over time.
- Account and budget tracking
- Spending forecasts
- Transaction categorization
- Self-hosted finance reports
Actual Budget vs MyFin: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Actual Budget versus GPL-3.0 for MyFin. Actual Budget is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for MyFin. Actual Budget has the considerably larger community, at 29,118 GitHub stars versus 312.
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 MyFin if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Actual Budget or MyFin better?
Actual Budget is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider MyFin if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Actual Budget and MyFin free and open-source?
Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and MyFin under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Actual Budget and MyFin with Docker?
Actual Budget: yes. MyFin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Actual Budget or MyFin?
Actual Budget has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for MyFin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.