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Actual vs Budget Board

Learn how Actual and Budget Board differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these budgeting apps is best for you.

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Actual

Privacy-focused personal finance app using envelope budgeting, multi-device sync, optional end-to-end encryption, and bank sync for US, EU, and UK users.
29,762stars+600(+2.1%)

Last 30 days

Screenshot of Actual

Budget Board

Budgeting app that tracks accounts, assets and transactions, sets category budgets, and syncs with banks through SimpleFIN and LunchFlow, with goal tracking and trend charts.
890stars+6(+0.7%)

Last 30 days

Screenshot of Budget Board

Detailed Comparison

Actual appears to have several advantages over Budget Board, particularly in popularity, growth, licensing and features. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

Actual wins
Community & Popularity

Actual significantly outpaces Budget Board in community adoption with 29,762 stars compared to 890 stars on GitHub. This 33.4x difference suggests Actual has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Actual has 3,204 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Actual wins
Growth Momentum

Actual is growing faster, adding 600 stars in the last 30 days (+2.1%) against adding 6 stars for Budget Board (+0.7%). Actual is both larger and pulling further ahead.

Comparable
Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Actual last updated 16 hours ago and Budget Board 16 hours ago.

Budget Board wins
Project Maturity

Budget Board has been in development longer, starting 6 years ago, compared to Actual which began 4 years ago. This 1.9-year head start suggests Budget Board may have more mature features and established processes.

Actual wins
Licensing

Actual uses the MIT license, which is more permissive than Budget Board's AGPL-3.0 license, potentially offering greater flexibility for commercial use and integration.

Comparable
Use Cases & Features

Both tools serve similar use cases in Budgeting Apps.

Actual wins
Hosting & Deployment

Actual provides self-hosting options for complete data control and customization, while Budget Board may be primarily cloud-based or require different deployment approaches.