head to head · open source
Actual vs Sure.am
Actual has 29,923 GitHub stars, 3,242 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Sure.am has 10,766 stars, 731 forks, 501 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Actual leads on adoption by 178% (29,923 vs 10,766 stars). Actual is written in TypeScript under MIT; Sure.am is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0. Actual has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Sure.am 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 | Sure.am | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 11K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 731 |
| 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 Sure.am if
- You want the Sure.am feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and Sure.am 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 Sure.am
Deutsch Español Français 日本語 한국어 Português Русский 中文 Sure: The personal finance app for everyone Get involved: Discord • Website • Issues [!IMPORTANT] This repository is a community fork of the now abandoned Maybe Finance project. Learn more in their final release doc. Backstory The Maybe Finance (archived/abandoned repo) team spent most of 2021–2022 building a full featured personal finance and wealth management app. It even included an “Ask an Advisor” feature that connected users with a real CFP/CFA — all included with your subscription. The business end of things didn't work out, and so they stopped…
read the full Sure.am overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Actual or Sure.am more popular?
Actual has 29,923 GitHub stars and Sure.am has 10,766. Actual has the larger community by that measure.
Are Actual and Sure.am free?
Both are open source. Actual is licensed under MIT and Sure.am under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Actual and Sure.am?
Actual is written in TypeScript and Sure.am in Ruby. 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 Sure.am?
Choose Actual if you want the larger community (29,923 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Sure.am if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.