Actual Budget
Evidence
| Feature | Actual Budget | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $0/mo | Free / from $49/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | budget-conscious-individuals, self-hosters, ynab-migrants, privacy-focused-budgeters | data-analysts, data-engineers, startups, analytics-teams |
| Founded | 2019 | 2021 |
| Envelope Budgeting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Bank Sync | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reports | ✓ | ✗ |
| Goal Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Rules | ✓ | ✗ |
| Scheduled Transactions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hostable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sql Reporting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Markdown Pages | ✗ | ✓ |
| Charts | ✗ | ✓ |
| Static Deployment | ✗ | ✓ |
| Git Integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Data Sources | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Actual Budget Pros
- Open-source with no subscription fees
- Local-first with optional sync
- Beautiful and fast interface
- Bank sync via SimpleFIN/GoCardless
✗ Actual Budget Cons
- Self-hosting required for sync features
- Smaller community than YNAB
- Mobile experience less polished than native apps
✓ Evidence Pros
- Code-based reports (version controlled)
- Beautiful output
- Fast static deployment
- SQL-first approach
✗ Evidence Cons
- Requires SQL knowledge
- Not for ad-hoc exploration
- Smaller community
The Verdict
Actual Budget is built for budget conscious individuals and self hosters, with a focus on envelope-budgeting and bank-sync. Evidence targets data analysts and data engineers and leads with sql-reporting and markdown-pages.
On pricing, Actual Budget is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $0/mo compared to $49/mo for Evidence. That $49/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Actual Budget offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Evidence takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.