Actual Budget vs Ocular

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 BudgetOcular
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageTypeScriptVue
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker
GitHub stars★ 28,019★ 550
First released20222026
ReplacesYNAB, Mint

Why pick each one

Choose Actual Budget if…

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

Choose Ocular if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Vue
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Ocular details

Frequently asked questions

Is Actual Budget or Ocular better?

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

Are Actual Budget and Ocular free and open-source?

Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and Ocular under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Actual Budget and Ocular with Docker?

Actual Budget: yes. Ocular: yes.

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