Actual Budget vs YAFFA

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 BudgetYAFFA
CategoryBudgeting & FinanceBudgeting & Finance
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageTypeScriptPHP
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 28,019★ 108
First released20222026
ReplacesYNAB, Mint

Why pick each one

Choose Actual Budget if…

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

Choose YAFFA if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Written in PHP
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
YAFFA details

Frequently asked questions

Is Actual Budget or YAFFA better?

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

Are Actual Budget and YAFFA free and open-source?

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

Can I run Actual Budget and YAFFA with Docker?

Actual Budget: yes. YAFFA: check the project docs for container support.

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