head to head · open source
Actual vs Monetr
Actual has 28,976 GitHub stars, 2,991 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Monetr has 677 stars, 49 forks, 88 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Actual leads on adoption by 4,180% (28,976 vs 677 stars). Actual is written in TypeScript under MIT; Monetr is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. Actual has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Monetr 7%. Monetr 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 | ★ 29K | ★ 677 |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 49 |
| 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 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
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 Monetr
monetr is a free, self hostable budgeting application written in Go that helps people plan around recurring expenses and see exactly how much money is left over for unplanned spending.
read the full Monetr overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Actual or Monetr more popular?
Actual has 28,976 GitHub stars and Monetr has 677. 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 (28,976 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Monetr if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.