head to head · open source
Actual vs Monetr
Actual has 29,923 GitHub stars, 3,242 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Monetr has 690 stars, 47 forks, 88 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Actual leads on adoption by 4,237% (29,923 vs 690 stars). Actual is written in TypeScript under MIT; Monetr is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. Actual has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Monetr 7%. Actual was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Monetr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 690 |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 47 |
| 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 Monetr if
- You want the Monetr feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Monetr 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 Monetr
monetr monetr is a budgeting application that aims to make it easier for people to budget around recurring expenses. While making it absolutely clear how much you have left over to budget or use for other unplanned spending. It is based off of the now defunct Simple. It is also completely free to self host. Contributing In order to run monetr locally you will need sandbox credentials for Plaid, you can obtain your own credentials here: Plaid Sign Up. Once you have a Client ID and a Client Secret you can run the following command in the monetr project directory to start a local environment. To start working on…
read the full Monetr overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Actual or Monetr more popular?
Actual has 29,923 GitHub stars and Monetr has 690. Actual has the larger community by that measure.
Are Actual and Monetr free?
Both are open source. Actual is licensed under MIT, and Monetr has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Actual and Monetr?
Actual is written in TypeScript and Monetr 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 Monetr?
Choose Actual if you want the larger community (29,923 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Monetr if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.