YNAB vs Actual Budget
Both use envelope-style budgeting; YNAB is a paid hosted subscription, Actual Budget is free and open-source but you set up and host it yourself.
Pick YNAB if…
You want a hosted service with iOS, Android and web apps and are happy to pay $109 a year or $14.99 a month.
Pick Actual Budget if…
You want a free, MIT-licensed budgeting app with your data under your control and can handle a desktop app or a self-hosted server.
Price
- Paid
- Free
- Open source
Starting price
Free plan
Open source
Works on
| Feature | Subscription budgeting app built around giving every dollar a job before you spend it. | Free, open-source, local-first envelope budgeting app you can self-host or run on your computer. |
|---|---|---|
| Price |
|
|
| Starting price | $9.08 per month, billed $109 annually ($14.99 billed monthly) | — |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Works on | Web, iOS, Android | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Try YNAB (opens the YNAB website in a new tab) | Try Actual Budget (opens the Actual Budget website in a new tab) |
YNAB charges $14.99 per month, or $109 per year (shown as $9.08 per month), after a 34-day free trial with no credit card required. College students can get a free 365-day trial. Actual Budget has no price: its repository calls it 100% free and open-source under the MIT licence.
On platforms, YNAB lists iOS, Android and web. Actual Budget offers a browser app, a desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux, and a self-hostable sync server. It has no native mobile app; the docs say an installed web page works offline on phones.
Both connect to banks in different ways. YNAB says it works with Plaid Financial Ltd. Actual Budget supports GoCardless for the EU and UK and SimpleFIN for the US and Canada, plus file imports (QIF, OFX, QFX, CAMT.053, CSV) and YNAB4 and nYNAB importers, so moving over from YNAB is supported.
Hosting is the main trade-off. YNAB is a cloud service you just sign in to. Actual Budget can run locally, or on a server you run via Docker, Fly.io or PikaPods; the docs say the last two cost 'a small amount of money' without a figure.
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Last updated 17 October 2026. How we make money