Actual Budget
Empower (Personal Capital)
| Feature | Actual Budget | Empower (Personal Capital) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $0/mo | Free / from $0.89/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | budget-conscious-individuals, self-hosters, ynab-migrants, privacy-focused-budgeters | investors, high-net-worth-individuals, retirement-planners, wealth-builders |
| Founded | 2019 | 2009 |
| Envelope Budgeting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Bank Sync | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reports | ✓ | ✗ |
| Goal Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Rules | ✓ | ✗ |
| Scheduled Transactions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hostable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Net Worth Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Investment Checkup | ✗ | ✓ |
| Retirement Planner | ✗ | ✓ |
| Fee Analyzer | ✗ | ✓ |
| Budgeting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cash Flow | ✗ | ✓ |
| Wealth Management | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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
✓ Empower (Personal Capital) Pros
- Excellent free investment tracking and net worth dashboard
- Retirement planning calculator (Retirement Planner)
- Fee analyzer identifies hidden investment fees
- Comprehensive portfolio analysis tools
✗ Empower (Personal Capital) Cons
- Wealth management requires $100K minimum
- Sales calls after signing up for free tools
- Advisory fees higher than robo-advisors
The Verdict
Actual Budget is built for budget conscious individuals and self hosters, with a focus on envelope-budgeting and bank-sync. Empower (Personal Capital) targets investors and high net worth individuals and leads with net-worth-tracking and investment-checkup.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($0/mo for Actual Budget, $0.89/mo for Empower (Personal Capital)), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
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.