Actual Budget: Zero-Based Envelope Budgeting
Actual is a budgeting application built around the envelope method: every unit of income is assigned a job before it is spent.
Zero-based budgeting explained briefly
Rather than tracking spending after the fact, you allocate all available money into categories at the start of the period. The budget balances when nothing is unassigned. This is the YNAB method, and its value is that overspending in one category visibly requires moving money out of another rather than quietly appearing in a report next month.
Local-first architecture
Actual runs locally and syncs, rather than being a web app with a database somewhere. The interface is immediate because it is operating on local data, and the optional sync server, which is what you self-host, relays end-to-end encrypted changes between your devices. The server never sees your financial data in plaintext.
Practical notes
Bank import works through file import in most regions, with automated sync available in some via third-party integrations. Manual entry is more common than people expect and is arguably part of why envelope budgeting works: entering a transaction makes you notice it.
Rules automate categorization for recurring payees, and schedules handle predictable bills.
Versus Firefly III
Firefly III is a double-entry personal finance manager: stronger for tracking, reporting, and multi-account accounting, weaker as a forward-looking budget. Actual is the better tool if you want to plan spending; Firefly if you want to analyse it. Some people run both, which is more effort than it sounds.
License
Actual is released under the MIT License.