{"slug": "actual-budget", "name": "Actual Budget", "category": "finance", "category_name": "Finance", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 6, "warners": 0, "score": 3.316, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2025-11-09", "latest": "2026-10-14", "why": "Now I'm on Actual Budget, a nice FOSS envelope budget app that can import transactions from my bank.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Now I'm on Actual Budget, a nice FOSS envelope budget app that can import transactions from my bank.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/actualbudget/actual", "official_url": "https://actualbudget.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Actual Budget"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 796973856, "item_id": 49810866, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49810866", "by": "yevgenyhong", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "actual budget can set starting balances and transactions, so it will show the real account balances", "excerpt": "i don't know what is forecasting. but actual budget can set starting balances and transactions, so it will show the real account balances... and it also support \"scheduled transactions\" for subscribed pays", "context": "", "use_case": "budgeting, scheduled transactions", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?"}, {"id": 796012208, "item_id": 49750763, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49750763", "by": "yevgenyhong", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "actual budget: personal finance", "excerpt": "actual budget: personal finance vikunja: to-do list and task managemnet", "context": "self-hoster", "use_case": "personal finance", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?"}, {"id": 743459856, "item_id": 46466241, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466241", "by": "spiffytech", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now I'm on Actual Budget, a nice FOSS envelope budget app that can import transactions from my bank.", "excerpt": "I used Ledger for a while, then some other tools. Now I'm on Actual Budget, a nice FOSS envelope budget app that can import transactions from my bank. I find value in tracking everything, tracking it by hand, and tracking it with precision (our household budget has 68 categories). When I've tried easing up in the past (e.g., with Mint's lightweight approach) I was left with a budgetary black box where I felt like I n", "context": "household budget with 68 categories", "use_case": "household envelope budgeting", "switched_from": "Ledger", "story": "One Number I Trust: Plain-Text Accounting for a Multi-Currency Household"}, {"id": 736276400, "item_id": 46017275, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46017275", "by": "meonkeys", "date": "2025-11-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've really enjoyed Actual Budget", "excerpt": "This is awesome follow-through by @a-fadil / @afadil. Here's a similar post from a year ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41465735 In the space of local-first finance apps, I've really enjoyed Actual Budget (as have many, based on what I'm seeing in other comments). I'll check out Wealthfolio but like @dw_arthur I'm concerned about looking at investments too much / too often. I try to invest based on personal", "context": "", "use_case": "local-first budgeting, tracking investments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Wealthfolio 2.0- Open source investment tracker. Now Mobile and Docker"}, {"id": 733912322, "item_id": 45869520, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45869520", "by": "CarlJW", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "especially loving Immich and Actual Budget", "excerpt": "Selfhosting via yunohost, especially loving Immich and Actual Budget. I'm not in IT but I use Linux and it has been easy enough for me to set up. Also making personalised Christmas t-shirts in Inkscape. I love what you can do with open source tools!", "context": "not in IT, Linux user", "use_case": "budgeting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "justsomehuman", "context": "self-hosts on a Hetzner CAX31", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50013881", "date": "2026-10-08"}, {"by": "yevgenyhong", "context": "self-hoster", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49750763", "date": "2026-09-18"}, {"by": "spiffytech", "context": "household budget with 68 categories", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466241", "date": "2026-01-02"}, {"by": "CarlJW", "context": "not in IT, Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45869520", "date": "2025-11-09"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["budgeting", "local budgeting", "budgeting and expense tracking", "budgeting, scheduled transactions", "personal finance", "household envelope budgeting"], "compared": [{"slug": "ledger", "name": "Ledger", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "immich", "name": "Immich", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746527", "title": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50080275", "title": "Show HN: Pulse Local, a Mac budgeting app whose AI models run on your machine", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49985548", "title": "Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46463407", "title": "One Number I Trust: Plain-Text Accounting for a Multi-Currency Household", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46006016", "title": "Show HN: Wealthfolio 2.0- Open source investment tracker. Now Mobile and Docker", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45869146", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801295217, "item_id": 50080951, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50080951", "by": "cortesoft", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It is what I have been using for my local setup with Actual budget.", "excerpt": "You could add support for something like simplefin.org, which provides an API for connecting to many different financial orgs. It is what I have been using for my local setup with Actual budget.", "context": "", "use_case": "local budgeting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Pulse Local, a Mac budgeting app whose AI models run on your machine"}, {"id": 800222096, "item_id": 50013881, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50013881", "by": "justsomehuman", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I run the following services / apps.", "excerpt": "Not quite as cheap as $5 but I've been running at Hetzner CAX31 for a couple of years now and I run the following services / apps. Actual Budget - https://github.com/actualbudget/actual AirTrail - https://github.com/johanohly/AirTrail Beszel - https://github.com/henrygd/beszel Coder - https://github.com/coder/coder Crowdsec - https://github.com/crowdsecurity/crowdsec Dawarich - https://github.com/Freika/dawarich Dozz", "context": "self-hosts on a Hetzner CAX31", "use_case": "budgeting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?"}, {"id": 798192576, "item_id": 49887036, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887036", "by": "yevgenyhong", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I just started using it this year too", "excerpt": "AFAIK, \"actual\" supports only repeating..., So it seems like it won't meet your expectations If you can allocate your budget well and control your spending within it, forecasting savings will be somewhat easier. I just started using it this year too, and there were a lot of expenses I had never experienced before. For now, for unexpected large expenses (like taxes), I\u2019m preparing by splitting recurring annual ones in", "context": "", "use_case": "budgeting and expense tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?"}, {"id": 796973856, "item_id": 49810866, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49810866", "by": "yevgenyhong", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "actual budget can set starting balances and transactions, so it will show the real account balances", "excerpt": "i don't know what is forecasting. but actual budget can set starting balances and transactions, so it will show the real account balances... and it also support \"scheduled transactions\" for subscribed pays", "context": "", "use_case": "budgeting, scheduled transactions", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?"}, {"id": 796012208, "item_id": 49750763, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49750763", "by": "yevgenyhong", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "actual budget: personal finance", "excerpt": "actual budget: personal finance vikunja: to-do list and task managemnet", "context": "self-hoster", "use_case": "personal finance", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?"}, {"id": 743459856, "item_id": 46466241, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466241", "by": "spiffytech", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now I'm on Actual Budget, a nice FOSS envelope budget app that can import transactions from my bank.", "excerpt": "I used Ledger for a while, then some other tools. Now I'm on Actual Budget, a nice FOSS envelope budget app that can import transactions from my bank. I find value in tracking everything, tracking it by hand, and tracking it with precision (our household budget has 68 categories). When I've tried easing up in the past (e.g., with Mint's lightweight approach) I was left with a budgetary black box where I felt like I n", "context": "household budget with 68 categories", "use_case": "household envelope budgeting", "switched_from": "Ledger", "story": "One Number I Trust: Plain-Text Accounting for a Multi-Currency Household"}, {"id": 736276400, "item_id": 46017275, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46017275", "by": "meonkeys", "date": "2025-11-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've really enjoyed Actual Budget", "excerpt": "This is awesome follow-through by @a-fadil / @afadil. Here's a similar post from a year ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41465735 In the space of local-first finance apps, I've really enjoyed Actual Budget (as have many, based on what I'm seeing in other comments). I'll check out Wealthfolio but like @dw_arthur I'm concerned about looking at investments too much / too often. I try to invest based on personal", "context": "", "use_case": "local-first budgeting, tracking investments", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Wealthfolio 2.0- Open source investment tracker. Now Mobile and Docker"}, {"id": 733912322, "item_id": 45869520, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45869520", "by": "CarlJW", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "especially loving Immich and Actual Budget", "excerpt": "Selfhosting via yunohost, especially loving Immich and Actual Budget. I'm not in IT but I use Linux and it has been easy enough for me to set up. Also making personalised Christmas t-shirts in Inkscape. I love what you can do with open source tools!", "context": "not in IT, Linux user", "use_case": "budgeting", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)"}]}