Actual Budget vs Saifa

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 BudgetSaifa
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITfree
LanguageTypeScriptPHP
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, one-click
GitHub stars★ 28,019
First released20222022
ReplacesYNAB, Mint

Why pick each one

Choose Actual Budget if…

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

Choose Saifa if…

  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • One-click install on common self-host platforms
  • Written in PHP
Saifa details

Frequently asked questions

Is Actual Budget or Saifa 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 Saifa free and open-source?

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

Can I run Actual Budget and Saifa with Docker?

Actual Budget: yes. Saifa: yes.

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