Actual Budget
Local-first envelope budgeting - end-to-end encrypted, synced by a $5 server you own.
One-click deploy, from $5/mo on a Miget plan.
Actual is the YNAB methodology - envelope budgeting where every dollar gets a job - rebuilt as MIT open source with a privacy spine: budgets live ON your devices, end-to-end encrypted, and this little server only syncs ciphertext between them. PikaPods features it on their homepage for a reason.
One tiny container, one volume, one first-visit ritual: set the server password before anyone else finds the URL. Bank data comes in via file imports or community bank-sync bridges; your finances stay yours, portably, forever.
Upstream project: Actual Budget
#what you get
- Envelope budgeting (the YNAB method) with reports and schedules
- End-to-end encryption: the server stores only ciphertext
- Syncs browser, desktop, and mobile apps
- File imports (OFX/QFX/CSV) + community bank-sync bridges
- MIT, tiny, beloved
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| actual | sync server + web app (:5000) | yes - set the password on first visit |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
256 MiB RAM · 2 GB disk · 1 service
Finances are kilobytes. Set the server password immediately on first visit - until then the instance is claimable.
Hobby - recommended fit
$5/mo
1 vCPU · 512 MiB · 10 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 1 GiB at $7/mo
Professional - production
$22/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 10 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Actual Budget on Miget ★ | 512 MiB plan | $5 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| YNAB | annual | ~$9 | $109/yr (or $14.99 monthly) - the methodology Actual implements, plus bank sync |
Actual is free software; the $5 plan is the sync server. YNAB’s bank sync is the one feature you trade (community bridges exist).
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (256 MiB RAM, 2 GB disk, 1 container) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $5 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$13 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$10 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Render | ~$8 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| Railway | ~$3 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$2 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
actual - No required variables - deploy as-is
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/actual
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
How does this compare to YNAB?
Same envelope methodology; YNAB charges ~$110/year and holds your data. Actual is $5/month of server (which can share a plan with everything else here), with budgets end-to-end encrypted - the server operator (you, but it matters on principle) cannot read them.
What does end-to-end encryption mean here?
Budget files encrypt on your device with a key derived from your password; the server syncs blobs it cannot decrypt. Lose the password and even you cannot recover the data - the trade of real E2EE, stated plainly.
Can my partner and I share a budget?
Yes - the same budget file syncs to multiple devices with the shared password. Separate budgets on one server work too; each file has its own encryption.
Ship Actual Budget today
One compose stack, 256 MiB of RAM, from $5/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.