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Envelope Budget vs Actual Budget: same method, different operating burden
Both use the same method: envelope, zero-based budgeting where every dollar gets a job. Actual Budget is open source and local-first with a sync server you can run yourself, free if you host it and inspectable if you read code. Envelope Budget is an iPhone app with no server to run, no account required to use it, and no self-hosting option. You are choosing an operating burden, not a philosophy.
The method is not the difference
If you found Actual Budget, you already understand envelope budgeting, so we can skip the pitch. Actual is envelope and zero-based in method: income gets assigned to categories until nothing is unassigned, and overspending is resolved by moving money rather than by ignoring it. Our app works the same way. Anyone telling you one of these produces better budgeting arithmetic is selling something. What genuinely differs is where the software lives, who keeps it running, and what you have to maintain to keep using it in three years. We make Envelope Budget, so read this as an interested party's comparison, and we have tried to make our concessions the specific ones rather than the flattering ones.
What Actual wins, plainly
It is open source, which means the code is inspectable and its behavior is checkable by someone other than the people selling it. It is local-first with a syncing server you can run yourself, which means you can own the whole thing end to end, and if you self-host it is free. It is not tied to one phone or one operating system. And it is not dependent on our company continuing to exist, which is a real consideration for a tool you want to still be using in a decade. If those properties are why you are reading this page, we are not going to argue you out of them, because we do not offer any of them.
What we do not offer
No self-hosting. Not open source. iPhone only, so if you or your partner are on Android this is over before it starts. There is no desktop app and no web app. And our optional backup, if you turn it on, is a copy of your data stored on our server rather than on hardware you control. What we do not do is send anything up automatically: envelopes, transactions, income, goals and receipt photos sit in a database on the phone, and no account is required to use the app at all. The exact list of what leaves the device and when is at /privacy, and it is worth reading rather than taking our summary for it.
Our honest case
There is nothing to set up and nothing to maintain. No server, no container, no certificate that expires in eighteen months, no sync that breaks after an update on the evening you wanted to enter three receipts. It is a native iPhone app, so the envelope balance is on the home screen and lock screen as a widget with a Live Activity, and checking what is left in Groceries takes three seconds in the aisle rather than a laptop. That matters more than it sounds like it should, because a budgeting system's real enemy is friction at the moment of entry. The most common way a self-hosted budget dies is not a data loss event. It is that sync stops, entry stops with it, and nobody rebuilds it.
How to choose
Answer one question honestly: will you maintain a server, including the boring parts, in month fourteen, when you are busy and the budget is not the interesting thing in your life. If yes, self-host Actual. You get the same method, full control, and no subscription. If you are not sure, that is a no, and you should either take Actual's hosted option or take a phone app that has no infrastructure to fail. Also decide who else needs access. Multi-platform households point away from us regardless of everything else in this comparison, because we do not run on Android and pretending otherwise would waste your weekend.
The envelope change to make
The one change worth carrying between these tools is funding from received income rather than from a projected month. Take the deposit that has actually landed, list what it must cover before the next one, and assign it to those envelopes only. Leave the rest unassigned rather than distributing it across the whole month on paper. This is what makes an envelope balance mean money you have instead of money you expect, and it is the reason both of these tools beat a plan written in a spreadsheet at the start of the month. It works identically in whichever of these you pick, which is rather the point of this page.
Common questions
Is Actual Budget free?
It is free to self-host, since the project is open source, and there is a paid hosted option if you do not want to run the server yourself. We are not going to quote figures for the hosted plans, because pricing changes and a stale number on a comparison page is worse than no number. Check their own site for current terms. What is durable and worth planning around is the shape of the deal: self-hosting costs you time and whatever you pay for the machine, hosted costs money and saves you the maintenance.
Can I move my data from Envelope Budget to something else?
You can export your data as Excel or PDF, which is part of Plus, and that gives you your transactions and monthly summaries in a portable file. What we do not offer is a one-click migration into another budgeting tool, because there is no shared format between these apps that would make that honest. If total portability and open formats are a hard requirement for you, that is a real argument for an open-source tool, and we would rather you weigh it now than discover it later.
Where does my data live in your app?
On the phone. Envelopes, transactions, income records, goals, vision boards and any receipt photos you attach live in a database on the device, and you do not need an account to use the app. If you sign in and turn on backup, a copy is stored on our server so you can restore it, and that is the only automatic path off the device. Anonymous product-usage and crash events are sent so we can fix what breaks, and they do not contain your amounts, notes, category names or photos. The full detail is at /privacy.
Run this budget on your phone
Envelope Budget puts these envelopes in your pocket. Assign every amount, log spending as it happens, and see what is actually left.
Get Envelope BudgetiPhone · manual entry, no bank connection · 7-day free trial