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Personal Finance · head to head

Actual Budget vs Convoy

Actual Budget logo

Actual Budget

Personal Finance

Free, open source, local-first envelope budgeting with optional self-hosted sync

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Convoy logo

Convoy

APIs

Open source webhooks gateway you self-host, handling both sending and receiving

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Actual Budget self-hosting the sync server requires basic comfort with running and updating a small application, which is a real barrier for non-technical users.; Convoy the default deployment is self-hosted, so you operate Convoy plus Postgres and Redis and carry the on-call burden for the system that delivers your customers' events.
  • They diverge on capability: Actual Budget covers Envelope budgeting, Convoy covers Inbound and outbound.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Actual Budget and Convoy actually diverge.

Attributes where Actual Budget and Convoy differ
AttributeActual BudgetConvoy
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence fee; optional paid hosted sync and subscription tierPer month, flat rate regardless of volume
PlatformsWeb, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, AndroidLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud
CategoryPersonal FinanceAPIs

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Actual Budget

  • Envelope budgeting
  • Local-first data
  • Self-hosted sync
  • Bank sync via SimpleFIN or GoCardless
  • Rules engine
  • Reports

Only in Convoy

  • Inbound and outbound
  • Broker-driven ingestion
  • Payload transformation
  • Portal links
  • Circuit breaking
  • Retry policies
  • OpenTelemetry export
  • Role-based access control

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Actual Budget

  • A former YNAB user who wants the same envelope method without an ongoing subscriptionnot Convoy
  • Someone who wants their financial data to stay on hardware they control, using a home server for syncnot Convoy
  • A technically comfortable household running a small self-hosted stack who wants budgeting alongside itnot Convoy
  • A user who is fine paying a small hosted fee for sync convenience without wanting a full YNAB-style subscriptionnot Convoy

Convoy

  • A fintech that cannot route customer webhook traffic through a third-party SaaS for compliance reasonsnot Actual Budget
  • A high-volume platform for which per-message webhook pricing costs more than the flat premium licencenot Actual Budget
  • A team that also receives webhooks from many providers and wants ingestion, verification and deduplication in the same gatewaynot Actual Budget
  • An engineering group that wants webhook delivery driven directly from an existing Kafka or SQS topicnot Actual Budget

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Actual Budget

  • Self-hosting the sync server requires basic comfort with running and updating a small application, which is a real barrier for non-technical users.
  • Bank sync depends on SimpleFIN or GoCardless connectors rather than a broad built-in aggregator network, so coverage of smaller banks varies by region.
  • There is no dedicated customer support line, only community Discord and GitHub issues, which suits technical users but frustrates people expecting vendor support.
  • The mobile apps are less mature than the web and desktop experience, and some budgeting workflows are easier on desktop.
  • Because it is a smaller open source project, feature development depends on maintainer time and community contribution rather than a funded product roadmap.

Convoy

  • The default deployment is self-hosted, so you operate Convoy plus Postgres and Redis and carry the on-call burden for the system that delivers your customers' events.
  • Frain Technologies is a small startup, and putting customer-facing delivery infrastructure on it means accepting real vendor continuity risk on a component that is hard to swap out quickly.
  • The premium tier at a flat 999 US dollars a month is poor value below substantial volume, while the community edition omits the portal, transformations and RBAC that most production deployments end up wanting.
  • The hosted cloud trial is capped at one project and 100 events a day, which is too small to properly evaluate the service before committing.
  • Documentation and the third-party ecosystem are thinner than the established webhook services, so unusual configurations often mean reading the Go source.

Pricing, plan by plan

Actual Budget

Free
  • Actual BudgetFree
    • Full budgeting features
    • Self-hosted sync server
    • Community support only
  • Actual Budget$7.99/month
    • Managed hosted sync
    • Mobile app access
    • No server to maintain

Convoy

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • Self-hosted open source gateway
    • Inbound and outbound webhooks
    • Automatic retries and message broker support
  • Premium$999/month
    • Flat rate irrespective of message volume
    • Portal links and payload transformation
    • RBAC, circuit breaking and white labelling
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • SAML SSO
    • Dedicated support with SLA
    • On-premises deployment assistance
  • Cloud$undefined/month
    • Hosted by Convoy
    • 14 day trial limited to one project and 100 events a day
    • Usage-based tiers above the trial

Which should you pick?

Choose Actual Budget if

  • You need envelope budgeting.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android.
  • You also want local-first data.
Actual Budget review

Choose Convoy if

  • You need inbound and outbound.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want broker-driven ingestion.
Convoy review

Questions people ask

Is Actual Budget or Convoy better?
Neither clearly leads. Actual Budget starts at Free and Convoy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Actual Budget or Convoy?
Actual Budget starts at Free and Convoy at Free.
Does Actual Budget or Convoy run on more platforms?
Actual Budget runs on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android. Convoy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
Can I use Actual Budget for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Actual Budget best used for?
Actual Budget is most often used for a former ynab user who wants the same envelope method without an ongoing subscription, someone who wants their financial data to stay on hardware they control, using a home server for sync, a technically comfortable household running a small self-hosted stack who wants budgeting alongside it, a user who is fine paying a small hosted fee for sync convenience without wanting a full ynab-style subscription. Of those, a former ynab user who wants the same envelope method without an ongoing subscription and someone who wants their financial data to stay on hardware they control, using a home server for sync are not what Convoy is typically brought in for.
What can Actual Budget do that Convoy cannot?
Actual Budget covers Envelope budgeting, Local-first data, Self-hosted sync, Bank sync via SimpleFIN or GoCardless. Convoy covers Inbound and outbound, Broker-driven ingestion, Payload transformation, Portal links.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Actual Budget: Is Actual Budget really free?

The core app and self-hosted sync are free and open source; there is also an optional paid hosted sync subscription if you do not want to run a server.

Convoy: Is Convoy really open source?

Yes, the community edition is open source and self-hostable, covering both inbound and outbound webhooks with retries.

Actual Budget: Do I need a server to use it?

Only if you want to sync a budget across multiple devices; a single-device budget works without any server at all.

Convoy: What does premium cost?

A flat 999 US dollars a month, self-hosted, regardless of message volume.

Actual Budget: Does it connect to my bank automatically?

Yes, through SimpleFIN or GoCardless connectors, though coverage is narrower than commercial aggregators used by YNAB or Lunch Money.

Convoy: Does it receive webhooks as well as send them?

Yes, inbound ingestion with verification and deduplication is a first-class feature, unlike most webhook services.

Convoy: Do I have to self-host?

No, there is a hosted cloud, but the trial is capped at 100 events a day and self-hosting is the primary model.

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