Actual Budget Self-Hosted, Deploy in One Click
Actual Budget is a local-first personal finance app. Automatio deploys it to your own server with HTTPS in one click for total privacy and data ownership.
Actual Budget
Finance & BusinessA super fast and privacy-focused app for managing your finances.
What you get when you deploy Actual Budget
The server we rent for it, what it costs, and what the installer will ask you.
- Server
- CX23 · 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM
- From
- $9/month
- Setup
- No configuration required
Included with every deployment
- Dedicated server, one app per machine
- HTTPS certificate issued automatically
- Free subdomain, custom domain optional
- Restart, resize, snapshot and restore
The project
Everything this page links to outside Automatio.
Deploy Actual Budget in one click
On your own server, with your own data. No terminal, no Docker commands, no certificate setup.
- 1
Pick a size
Start on the smallest server that fits the app. Resize later without reinstalling.
- 2
Press deploy
We rent the server, install the app with Docker, and point a subdomain at it.
- 3
Watch it come up
Provisioning runs unattended and takes a few minutes. When the HTTPS certificate lands, the app is live and your login details are on the deployment page.
Server size
Billed monthly with your Automatio subscription. Destroy the server any time and the charge stops.
Key Capabilities
Explore what Automatio can do for this use case
Envelope Budgeting
Actual implements the envelope methodology where you allocate every dollar you have to a specific category. This approach forces you to face your real spending instead of relying on optimistic forecasts. By allocating income before you spend it, you gain clarity on your monthly financial health.
- 1Category-based tracking
- 2Month-to-month rollovers
- 3Income vs Expense views
- 4Zero-based budget logic
Key Capabilities
- Envelope Budgeting
Actual implements the envelope methodology where you allocate every dollar you have to a specific category. This approach forces you to face your real spending instead of relying on optimistic forecasts. By allocating income before you spend it, you gain clarity on your monthly financial health.
- Category-based tracking
- Month-to-month rollovers
- Income vs Expense views
- Zero-based budget logic
- Local-First Architecture
The app stores all budget data locally on your device for responsiveness and full offline capability. Your financial data is saved to a local SQLite database and synchronized to your server only when you are online. This results in a fast interface that never lags due to network latency.
- SQLite storage backend
- Full offline functionality
- Conflict-free data merging
- Snappy transaction search
- Automated Bank Syncing
Connect to bank accounts through integrations like SimpleFIN or GoCardless to pull in transactions automatically. This reduces manual entry while maintaining privacy by keeping your credentials isolated. For banks without API support, Actual provides reliable manual import tools.
- Secure transaction imports
- Duplicate detection
- Manual CSV and QFX fallback
- Transaction matching rules
- End-to-End Encryption
Financial records are encrypted on your local device before they ever leave to sync with your server. The server component acts as a secure relay but remains unable to read the actual contents of your budget. This ensures that even if your infrastructure were accessed, your data remains a vault.
- Client-side encryption
- AES-256 standards
- Passphrase protection
- Secure sync protocol
Why self-host Actual Budget
What to know first
Managed, DIY, or One-Click?
The three realistic ways to run {name}, compared honestly.
| Aspect | Managed SaaS | DIY on a VPS | Automatio one-click |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Ownership | Stored in company cloud | 100% on your hardware | 100% on your hardware |
| Monthly Cost | High subscription fees | Low VPS cost only | Low VPS cost only |
| Setup Time | Instant | 1-2 hours manual setup | A few minutes one-click |
| Maintenance | Zero | Manual updates and SSL | Automated updates and SSL |
Data Ownership
Monthly Cost
Setup Time
Maintenance
Who this is for
People who actually run Actual Budget on their own server, and what changes when they do.
a former YNAB user
Tired of rising subscription prices and the requirement to always be online.
Maintains the familiar envelope budgeting method while moving to a local-first model you own and control.
- Import years of YNAB history
- Set up monthly savings goals
- Reconcile accounts weekly
a privacy-conscious freelancer
Wants to track business expenses without exposing bank credentials to a SaaS provider.
Uses a private sync server to manage business and personal budgets separately and securely on your own hardware.
- Categorize tax-deductible costs
- Track net worth across accounts
- Generate yearly spending reports
a tech-savvy household
Needs to sync budget data between multiple partners phones without relying on a public cloud provider.
Provides a central, private synchronization point that keeps everyone on the same page with fully encrypted data.
- Sync grocery spending in real-time
- Plan for upcoming vacations
- Audit monthly utility costs
a spreadsheet migrant
Overwhelmed by complex Excel formulas and manual data entry every weekend.
Transitions to a purpose-built tool that automates transaction imports while keeping the data portability of a local database.
- Automate repetitive transaction rules
- View spending trends over time
- Migrate data from legacy spreadsheets
About This App
What this app does and where it fits.
A Local-First Personal Finance Revolution
Actual Budget was originally developed as a proprietary application before transitioning to a fully open-source, community-led project. It was built to solve a specific problem: the lack of high-quality, local-first budgeting tools. While most modern financial apps rely on cloud databases that require constant internet connectivity and expose your data to corporate servers, Actual stores everything locally. The server you deploy is not a dashboard, but a secure relay for synchronizing your encrypted data between your desktop, phone, and tablet.
The Power of the Envelope Method
At its heart, Actual Budget follows the zero-based budgeting philosophy, often called the envelope method. This practice forces you to look at the money you actually have, not the money you expect to make, and assign every cent to a specific category. When you spend money in the real world, you record it against those categories. If you overspend in one area, the interface makes you move money from another category to cover the difference. This creates a flexible but honest relationship with your finances that cloud-based trackers often fail to provide.
Performance and Reliability
Because Actual is local-first, the user experience is instantaneous. There are no loading spinners when switching between months or searching for old transactions. It uses a SQLite database on the back end, which is the industry standard for reliable, portable data storage. For users transitioning from other tools, the app offers a robust importer that brings over your entire history, categories, and account structures from YNAB or CSV files, making the switch easy.
Privacy and Encryption
Security is the core focus of the project. It uses end-to-end encryption for all synchronization. When you set up your sync server, you create a private key that encrypts your budget files on your device before they are uploaded. This means your VPS provider or anyone with access to the server hardware cannot read your financial history. It provides the convenience of cloud syncing with the security of a cold-storage vault.
Community Feedback
See what the community thinks about Actual Budget
“Actual Budget is the only thing that actually replaced YNAB for me. The local-first approach makes it so much snappier than the web-only competitors.”
“I moved from Quicken because it was getting too bloated and slow. Actual is stripped down to exactly what you need to manage your money.”
“Self-hosting this was the best decision for my privacy. I don't want a random SaaS company having a copy of every single one of my bank transactions.”
“Setup was easy, but remember to set your sync password immediately or your data won't be encrypted.”
“The PWA works surprisingly well on iOS. I don't miss the native app at all given how fast the sync is.”
“I save $15 a month now. The server cost is lower and I own my data forever.”
Related Videos
Watch tutorials, reviews, and discussions about Actual Budget
“It runs really, really fast. It's really, really simple to use.”
“Setting up a server is only if you want to share your data between multiple devices or across the internet.”
“I like the fact it's free and open source... I like the fact that I'm totally in control of the software.”
Supercharge your workflow with AI Automation
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Pro Tips
Expert tips to help you get the most out of Actual Budget and achieve better results.
Use the PWA Feature
On mobile, open your Actual URL in Safari or Chrome and select Add to Home Screen to remove the browser UI and make it feel native.
Minimal RAM Required
The server component is extremely lightweight and uses roughly 45MB of RAM. A base CX23 server is more than sufficient for years of data.
Enable E2E Encryption
Set a sync password in the settings immediately. This ensures your financial data is encrypted locally before it ever leaves your browser.
Testimonials
What Our Users Say
Join thousands of satisfied users who have transformed their workflow
Jonathan Kogan
Co-Founder/CEO, rpatools.io
Automatio is one of the most used for RPA Tools both internally and externally. It saves us countless hours of work and we realized this could do the same for other startups and so we choose Automatio for most of our automation needs.
Mohammed Ibrahim
CEO, qannas.pro
I have used many tools over the past 5 years, Automatio is the Jack of All trades.. !! it could be your scraping bot in the morning and then it becomes your VA by the noon and in the evening it does your automations.. its amazing!
Ben Bressington
CTO, AiChatSolutions
Automatio is fantastic and simple to use to extract data from any website. This allowed me to replace a developer and do tasks myself as they only take a few minutes to setup and forget about it. Automatio is a game changer!
Sarah Chen
Head of Growth, ScaleUp Labs
We've tried dozens of automation tools, but Automatio stands out for its flexibility and ease of use. Our team productivity increased by 40% within the first month of adoption.
David Park
Founder, DataDriven.io
The AI-powered features in Automatio are incredible. It understands context and adapts to changes in websites automatically. No more broken scrapers!
Emily Rodriguez
Marketing Director, GrowthMetrics
Automatio transformed our lead generation process. What used to take our team days now happens automatically in minutes. The ROI is incredible.
Jonathan Kogan
Co-Founder/CEO, rpatools.io
Automatio is one of the most used for RPA Tools both internally and externally. It saves us countless hours of work and we realized this could do the same for other startups and so we choose Automatio for most of our automation needs.
Mohammed Ibrahim
CEO, qannas.pro
I have used many tools over the past 5 years, Automatio is the Jack of All trades.. !! it could be your scraping bot in the morning and then it becomes your VA by the noon and in the evening it does your automations.. its amazing!
Ben Bressington
CTO, AiChatSolutions
Automatio is fantastic and simple to use to extract data from any website. This allowed me to replace a developer and do tasks myself as they only take a few minutes to setup and forget about it. Automatio is a game changer!
Sarah Chen
Head of Growth, ScaleUp Labs
We've tried dozens of automation tools, but Automatio stands out for its flexibility and ease of use. Our team productivity increased by 40% within the first month of adoption.
David Park
Founder, DataDriven.io
The AI-powered features in Automatio are incredible. It understands context and adapts to changes in websites automatically. No more broken scrapers!
Emily Rodriguez
Marketing Director, GrowthMetrics
Automatio transformed our lead generation process. What used to take our team days now happens automatically in minutes. The ROI is incredible.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about Actual Budget