Actual Budget vs OpenBudgeteer

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 BudgetOpenBudgeteer
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptC#
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker
GitHub stars★ 28,019★ 967
First released20222025
ReplacesYNAB, Mint

Why pick each one

Choose Actual Budget if…

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

Choose OpenBudgeteer if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in C#
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
OpenBudgeteer details

Frequently asked questions

Is Actual Budget or OpenBudgeteer better?

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

Are Actual Budget and OpenBudgeteer free and open-source?

Yes. Actual Budget is licensed under MIT and OpenBudgeteer under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Actual Budget and OpenBudgeteer with Docker?

Actual Budget: yes. OpenBudgeteer: yes.

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