# Actual Budget / Firefly III

A budget you host. Actual Budget is MIT envelope budgeting; Firefly III is AGPL-3.0 books — YNAB and Mint without the subscription.

**Replaces:** YNAB / Mint

**Tier:** Easy

## Problem

YNAB is envelope budgeting you rent. Mint shut the product and pushed people at Credit Karma. You wanted accounts, categories, and a budget file you can export. Actual Budget is MIT (local-first, self-hosted server). Firefly III is AGPL-3.0 if the job is a ledger and bills, not envelopes. This is not YNAB's coaching or Mint's credit-score upsell. Expensify-shaped reports stay on /stacks/firefly-expenses.

## Stack

- [Actual Budget](https://actualbudget.org) — MIT local-first envelope budget you can self-host
- [Firefly III](https://www.firefly-iii.org) — AGPL-3.0 personal finance ledger if you want books, not envelopes

## Estimated SaaS cost saved

| You stop paying | Typical / year | Self-host instead |
|---|---:|---|
| YNAB / Mint (household) | $1,200 | Actual Budget or Firefly III |

**About $1,200 / year** on a small team, before you count lock-in.

## Deploy on Railway

Placeholder: Actual Budget server + a volume, or Firefly III + a database. Bind HTTP to 0.0.0.0:$PORT. No one-click template in this repo yet — Start on Railway. Expense reports stay on /stacks/firefly-expenses.

[Start on Railway](https://c17.io/go/railway/actual-budget?from=%2Fstacks%2Factual-budget.md)

[Firefly III / Akaunting if this is expense reports, not a household budget](https://c17.io/stacks/firefly-expenses)

## AGENT_PROMPT

```
Replace YNAB or Mint with Actual Budget (preferred for envelopes) or Firefly III (ledger).

- Actual: official server image, persist the budget on a volume. Firefly III: database + a volume for attachments.
- Import a bank CSV. Create one category or envelope you actually use. Do not claim YNAB coaching or Mint credit scores.
- Write AGENT_PROMPT.md.
```

## FAQ

### Actual Budget or Firefly III?

Actual if you live in envelopes (the YNAB shape). Firefly III if you want accounts, bills, and a ledger (closer to Mint's books). Pick one.

### Mint shut down — why this page?

People still search for a Mint alternative. Firefly III is the hosted-books path. Credit Karma is not open source.

### Why not the Expensify page?

/replace/expensify is reports you submit. This page is a household or personal budget.

Source: https://c17.io/stacks/actual-budget