head to head · open source
Actual vs Ghostfolio
Actual has 28,976 GitHub stars, 2,991 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ghostfolio has 9,311 stars, 1,314 forks, 315 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Actual leads on adoption by 211% (28,976 vs 9,311 stars). Actual is written in TypeScript under MIT; Ghostfolio is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Actual has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Ghostfolio 14%. Actual was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (finance, personal-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 | Ghostfolio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 9.3K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 Ghostfolio if
- You want the Ghostfolio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Ghostfolio 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 Ghostfolio
Ghostfolio is open source wealth management software built with web technology and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It lives in the personal finance management ecosystem and uses TypeScript, Nx, Angular, NestJS, Prisma, PostgreSQL, and Redis. The project provides a self hostable application for tracking stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies, while also offering a hosted Ghostfolio Premium cloud service.
read the full Ghostfolio overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Actual or Ghostfolio more popular?
Actual has 28,976 GitHub stars and Ghostfolio has 9,311. Actual has the larger community by that measure.
Are Actual and Ghostfolio free?
Both are open source. Actual is licensed under MIT and Ghostfolio under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Actual and Ghostfolio?
Actual is written in TypeScript and Ghostfolio in TypeScript. 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 Ghostfolio?
Choose Actual if you want the larger community (28,976 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Ghostfolio if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.