Actual Budget alternatives

4 tools to consider instead of Actual Budget, shown against it.

Actual Budget YNAB Firefly III Lunch Money Tiller
Vendor Actual Budget (open source project) YNAB (You Need A Budget LLC) Firefly III (open source project) Lunch Money Tiller Money, Inc.
Pricing model Open source + paid options Subscription Open source + paid options Subscription Subscription
Free tier Yes No Yes No No
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud Self-hosted Cloud Cloud
Open source Yes (MIT) No Yes (AGPL-3.0) No No
Best for Privacy-conscious, self-hosting-comfortable users who want YNAB-style envelope budgeting without a subscription or third-party data custody. People who want to actively change spending habits through structured, envelope-style budgeting rather than passive expense tracking. Technically comfortable users who want full control of a double-entry budget on their own infrastructure with no subscription. Multi-currency, crypto-holding, or developer-minded users who want API access to their budgeting data. Spreadsheet-comfortable users who want automated data feeds into a fully customizable budget workbook rather than a fixed app UI.
Pricing

Free, open-source software; self-hosting costs only the user's own server or third-party host fees, with no vendor subscription.

Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.

Single subscription plan billed monthly or annually, with a 34-day free trial and no credit card required to start.

YNAB $14.99/month or $109/year

Prices read from the vendor's own page on September 21, 2026. Vendors change prices; check the source before you budget.

Free, open-source software with no official hosted offering; cost is limited to the server the user runs it on.

Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.

Paid monthly or annual subscription with a free trial period; no permanent free tier.

Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.

Single annual subscription with a 30-day free trial and a money-back guarantee; no permanent free tier.

Tiller $99/year

Prices read from the vendor's own page on September 21, 2026. Vendors change prices; check the source before you budget.

Features
  • Zero-based, envelope-style budgeting
  • Local-first storage with end-to-end encrypted sync
  • Self-hosted sync server (Docker/Node.js) or third-party hosting
  • Bank-linked import in supported regions, manual CSV import elsewhere
  • Multi-device sync
  • Budget and spending reports
  • Multi-currency support
  • No account required to use the desktop app standalone
  • Zero-based budgeting (assign every dollar a job)
  • Linked bank and credit card import plus manual entry
  • Category-level savings and debt-payoff goals
  • Shared household budgets
  • Net worth and spending reports
  • Age of Money and overspending tracking
  • Free educational workshops and in-app guidance
  • Double-entry account bookkeeping
  • Budgets, bills, and recurring transaction tracking
  • Reports and charts on spending and net worth
  • CSV and open-banking (Nordigen/GoCardless) import via companion importer
  • Multi-currency support
  • Rule-based transaction automation
  • REST API for custom integrations
  • Self-hosted via Docker or a PHP/MySQL stack
  • Linked bank, credit, and investment account aggregation
  • Native multi-currency support
  • Cryptocurrency account tracking
  • Category budgeting and recurring-transaction detection
  • Net worth tracking
  • Manual CSV import for unsupported accounts
  • Public developer API
  • Automated daily transaction and balance feeds into Google Sheets or Excel
  • Prebuilt and community budgeting/net-worth templates
  • Full spreadsheet-level customization of categories and formulas
  • Linked bank, credit, and investment accounts
  • Net worth tracking over time
  • Multi-currency support
  • Data stays in the user's own Google or Microsoft account

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