head to head · open source
Actual vs ezBookkeeping
Actual has 29,923 GitHub stars, 3,242 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ezBookkeeping has 5,944 stars, 741 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Actual leads on adoption by 403% (29,923 vs 5,944 stars). Actual is written in TypeScript under MIT; ezBookkeeping is written in Go under MIT. Actual has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, ezBookkeeping 12%. Actual was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (finance), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Actual | ezBookkeeping | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 5.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 741 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Actual if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ezBookkeeping if
- You want the ezBookkeeping feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ezBookkeeping fits your workflow better
About Actual
Getting Started Actual is a local first personal finance tool. It is 100% free and open source, written in NodeJS, it has a synchronization element so that all your changes can move between devices without any heavy lifting. If you are interested in contributing, or want to know how development works, see our contributing document we would love to have you. Want to say thanks? Click the ⭐ at the top of the page. Key Links Actual discord community. Actual Community Documentation Frequently asked questions Installation There are four ways to deploy Actual: 1. One click deployment via PikaPods ( 2.00 $/month)…
read the full Actual overview →
About ezBookkeeping
ezBookkeeping Introduction ezBookkeeping is a powerful, lightweight, self hosted personal finance app that is easy to use. It helps you record daily transactions, import data from various sources, and quickly search and filter your bills. You can analyze historical data using built in charts or perform custom queries with your own chart dimensions to better understand spending patterns and financial trends. ezBookkeeping is easy to deploy, and you can start it with just one single Docker command. Designed to be resource efficient, it runs smoothly on devices such as home servers, NAS and Raspberry Pi…
read the full ezBookkeeping overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Actual or ezBookkeeping more popular?
Actual has 29,923 GitHub stars and ezBookkeeping has 5,944. Actual has the larger community by that measure.
Are Actual and ezBookkeeping free?
Both are open source. Actual is licensed under MIT and ezBookkeeping under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Actual and ezBookkeeping?
Actual is written in TypeScript and ezBookkeeping in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Actual or ezBookkeeping?
Choose Actual if you want the larger community (29,923 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ezBookkeeping if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.