Your Finances — made simple | Actual Budget
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you can self-host and patch fast . you get private, fast envelope budgeting with no subscription.
Comparison
Your Finances — made simple | Actual Budget vs Monarch Money
Your Finances — made simple | Actual Budget and Monarch Money both land on Depends.
Monarch Money
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy Monarch if you want a polished all-in-one replacement for Mint and will actually use budgets, goals, and investment tracking.
| Compare | Your Finances — made simple | Actual Budget | Monarch Money |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Self-hosters and privacy buffs | Mint refugees wanting a full replacement |
| Who it's not for | Non-technical users wanting set-and-forget apps | Anyone who just needs a simple expense list |
| Privacy | One critical auth bypass (CVE-2026-27584) let unauthenticated attackers read financial data; fixed in v26.2.1.³ | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. |
| Support quality | No support evidence found | Users publicly ask whether support exists at all |
| Public sentiment | Enthusiasts praise its speed and automatic transaction imports, but the critical 2026 auth bypass spooked less technical self-hosters.⁶ | Sentiment splits: many hail it as the best Mint replacement while others report sync bugs and near-nonexistent support.15 |
| Biggest gotcha | Run an exposed server unpatched and anyone can read your transactions³ | No free tier: 7-day trial, then paywall. Annual $99/yr is half the monthly cost11 |
Pick Your Finances — made simple | Actual Budget when
- Self-hosters and privacy buffs
- Envelope budgeting fans
- Hands-on tinkerers
- Households tracking every dollar
When Your Finances — made simple | Actual Budget is not a fit
- Non-technical users wanting set-and-forget apps
- Anyone unwilling to patch a server promptly
- People needing zero-maintenance bank sync
- Casual spenders . a spreadsheet is enough
Pick Monarch Money when
- Mint refugees wanting a full replacement
- Households juggling budgets, goals, and investments
- Net-worth watchers who love dashboards
When Monarch Money is not a fit
- Anyone who just needs a simple expense list
- Free-only users . there is no free tier
- People who need responsive human support
- YNAB-style envelope budgeters
Sources
- Actual Budget official siteactualbudget.orgofficial
- CVE-2026-27584: ActualBudget Information Disclosure Flawsentinelone.comsecurity
security
security
security
- Anyone using Actual Budget? (Bogleheads)bogleheads.orgreview
- Creating a household budget using Actual (Home Assistant community)community.home-assistant.ioreview
- Actualbudget CVEs and Security Vulnerabilitiesapp.opencve.iosecurity
security
official
review
- Monarch Money Review 2026: Is It Worth It?envelopebudgeting.comreview
- Planned vs. Monarch Moneygetitplanned.comreview
- I Used Monarch Money for 30 Days: Here's What Happenednerdwallet.comreview
- monarchmoney.com Reviews | Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
- Monarch: Budget & Track Money - App Store Reviewsapps.apple.comreview