Actual Budget
Wealthfront
| Feature | Actual Budget | Wealthfront |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $0/mo | From $0.25/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | budget-conscious-individuals, self-hosters, ynab-migrants, privacy-focused-budgeters | passive-investors, tax-conscious-investors, young-professionals, long-term-investors |
| Founded | 2019 | 2008 |
| Envelope Budgeting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Bank Sync | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reports | ✓ | ✗ |
| Goal Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Rules | ✓ | ✗ |
| Scheduled Transactions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hostable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automated Investing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tax Loss Harvesting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Financial Planning | ✗ | ✓ |
| High Yield Savings | ✗ | ✓ |
| Direct Indexing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Portfolio Rebalancing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Retirement Planning | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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
✓ Wealthfront Pros
- Industry-leading tax-loss harvesting
- Low 0.25% advisory fee
- High-yield cash account with FDIC insurance
- Comprehensive free financial planning tools
- Direct indexing for accounts over $100K
✗ Wealthfront Cons
- No human financial advisors available
- $500 minimum investment to start
- Limited customization of portfolio allocations
The Verdict
Actual Budget is built for budget conscious individuals and self hosters, with a focus on envelope-budgeting and bank-sync. Wealthfront targets passive investors and tax conscious investors and leads with automated-investing and tax-loss-harvesting.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($0/mo for Actual Budget, $0.25/mo for Wealthfront), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Actual Budget has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Wealthfront requires a paid subscription from day one.
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.