Actual Budget — Actual Budget — a free, open-source personal finance app built on envelope budgeting: you assign real income to categori
What it is
Actual Budget is a free, open-source personal finance app built on envelope budgeting: you assign real income to categories, spend from those envelopes, and watch the month stay honest.
Editor's review
Long-form introduction by the BetterPicker editors · checked against the official site · Nov 2, 2026
Actual Budget is a free, open-source personal finance app built on envelope budgeting: you assign real income to categories, spend from those envelopes, and watch the month stay honest. It is a local-first app that works offline, syncs across devices through a self-hostable service with optional end-to-end encryption, and includes bank syncing for EU/UK and US/Canada through standard providers. The local-first design means the app works on a plane, in a blackout, and on a machine you control. Reviewers coming from decades of commercial finance software describe it as the stripped-down, fast version of what they already wanted -- no subscription, no bloat, and mistakes that are easy to find because you made them. The envelope method is old, and that is the recommendation: it survived because it forces the one conversation most apps avoid, which is what you can actually afford. Nothing here pretends your money is abstract; every category is a decision you already made.
What it does well
It is genuinely fast and light: reviewers emphasize how quickly it runs and how little it carries, which makes the monthly review feel like a chore you can actually finish. Long-time users of commercial suites land on the same phrase: it does the important part without the bloat.
Budgets come from real income: the envelope method ties every category to money you actually have, and after one month of tracking, future budgets practically write themselves. Reviewers contrast this with suites that quietly recompute history; here, if something looks wrong, you made it and can find it.
You own the data: local-first storage, self-hosted sync, and optional end-to-end encryption mean the finance ledger never has to live on someone else's terms. For households, one sync server covers every laptop and phone in the house.
Who it's for
Actual suits people burned by subscription finance suites, privacy-minded users who want the ledger local, and anyone willing to do envelope budgeting rather than passive account watching. Envelope devotees moving from discontinued apps will find the vocabulary familiar, and the multi-currency budgets make cross-border households workable.
Where it falls short
It is budgeting-first: if you only want passive spending charts, part of the app will sit idle; the method assumes you will assign dollars on purpose. The method takes two or three months to feel natural, and the app will not do the deciding for you.
Bank sync is regional: built-in connections cover EU/UK and US/Canada through named providers, so everyone else is back to monthly file imports.
Sync is self-hosted: multi-device use means running the sync server yourself -- easy by the project's account, but still a service you patch, back up, and occasionally apologize to.
Specs at a glance
Facts from the official site · not editorial opinion
| License | Free and open source |
|---|---|
| Method | Envelope budgeting from real income |
| Architecture | Local-first app with offline use |
| Sync | Self-hosted multi-device sync, optional end-to-end encryption |
| Bank sync | GoCardless (EU/UK) and SimpleFIN (US/Canada) |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, and Linux |
| Price | No subscription |
Frequently asked questions
▸Is Actual Budget really free?
Yes. It is open source with no subscription; the project sustains itself through donations.
▸What is envelope budgeting?
You divide your actual income into category envelopes and spend from them, so every purchase has a pre-assigned home.
▸Does it connect to my bank?
Built-in bank sync uses GoCardless for EU/UK and SimpleFIN for US/Canada; elsewhere, file imports work.
▸Do I need a server?
Not for single-device use. Multi-device sync runs on a self-hosted sync server.
Video reviews
5 review videos aggregated · praise and criticism included alike · click through to the original video
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