head to head · open source
Actual vs Firefly III
Actual has 28,976 GitHub stars, 2,991 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Firefly III has 24,649 stars, 2,289 forks, 169 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Actual leads on adoption by 18% (28,976 vs 24,649 stars). Actual is written in TypeScript under MIT; Firefly III is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Actual has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Firefly III 9%. Actual was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (budgeting, 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 | Firefly III | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 25K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Actual if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Firefly III if
- You want the Firefly III feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Firefly III fits your workflow better
About Actual
Actual is a local first personal finance application built for envelope budgeting, part of the open source personal finance ecosystem. It runs entirely on the user’s device by default, ensuring data remains under full local control, while optionally syncing changes across devices via a self managed or hosted backend.
read the full Actual overview →
About Firefly III
Firefly III is an AGPL 3.0 licensed, self hosted personal finance manager written in PHP that uses double entry bookkeeping to track income, expenses, budgets, categories, tags and savings goals, and it is built for individuals and households who want to own and control their own financial data instead of renting a cloud accounting subscription.
read the full Firefly III overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Actual or Firefly III more popular?
Actual has 28,976 GitHub stars and Firefly III has 24,649. Actual has the larger community by that measure.
Are Actual and Firefly III free?
Both are open source. Actual is licensed under MIT and Firefly III under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Actual and Firefly III?
Actual is written in TypeScript and Firefly III in PHP. 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 Firefly III?
Choose Actual if you want the larger community (28,976 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Firefly III if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.