Kemback vs Actual Budget

The verdict

Choose Actual if you value open source, want your budget stored on your own devices first, and are comfortable running a small server (or paying a hosting service a small amount) to sync it. It’s free, it has a capable envelope budget, and bank sync is optional for a few dollars a year.

Choose Kemback if you’d rather not run anything: you sign in at kemback.com, and keeping it running and up to date is someone else’s job. Kemback gives each person their own sign-in with roles and private accounts, and has an iPhone app in beta. The trade-offs are plain: Kemback isn’t open source or self-hostable, and it doesn’t connect to banks yet, so you import a file each week until its Plus plan brings automatic sync.

Who Actual is for

Actual is for people who want to own the whole stack. It’s free and open source under the MIT licence, local-first, with no trackers and optional end-to-end encryption, and it’s funded by donations. It runs as a desktop app on Windows, Mac and Linux, or as a web app on your own server, which you can install on a phone as a web app. Its developers don’t plan a native mobile app.

The budget is envelope budgeting by default, with an optional tracking budget. It imports CSV, QIF, OFX, QFX and CAMT files and officially supports bringing in a YNAB4 budget. Bank sync is optional and runs through your server: SimpleFIN in North America, at $1.50 a month or $15 a year, and other providers in Europe, New Zealand and Brazil. Several people can use it with separate logins through an OpenID provider.

If you already run a home server, or you simply don’t want a company holding your financial data, Actual is a strong, honest choice.

Who Kemback is for

Kemback is for households that want depth without becoming the system administrator. The budget has two modes on the same data: envelope mode, where every dollar of income is assigned, and category mode, where you set a monthly plan per category. You can switch without losing anything.

Underneath sits a register with splits, transfers, cleared and reconciled status, and statement reconciliation that locks reconciled transactions. Rules rename payees and set categories, new transactions wait in a review inbox, and bills and recurring transactions appear on a calendar, with a warning when a bill or subscription goes up. Safe to spend, a 90-day projected balance, savings goals, net worth and reports by category, payee or tag are all on the Free plan.

Running it yourself, or having it run for you

This is the heart of the choice. With Actual your data lives on your own devices, synced through a server you run or a hosting service you pick. That’s maximum control, and it also means you look after the server and its updates.

Kemback is a hosted cloud service. There’s nothing to install or update. Households are isolated in the database, Kemback never asks for or stores your bank passwords, and you can sign in with passkeys and two-step sign-in. It’s paid for by its plans, with no ads and no selling of data. And because leaving should be easy, you can export everything as JSON or CSV at any time.

Sharing works differently too. Actual supports separate logins through an OpenID provider that you set up. In Kemback, you invite someone and they sign in; accounts can be shared or private, and roles (owner, editor, viewer, advisor) decide who can change what, with a tamper-evident activity log behind it. The Free plan covers a household of two.

Bank sync

Actual can connect to banks today, through your own server, for as little as $15 a year with SimpleFIN in North America. Kemback can’t yet. With Kemback you download an OFX, QFX, QIF or CSV file from your bank and import it; Kemback skips anything it has already seen. Plus, planned at $79 a year or $7.99 a month, will add automatic bank sync through Plaid. It isn’t on sale yet; you can join the waitlist on the pricing page.

Moving from Actual to Kemback

Actual’s documented export is a zip of all your data. Kemback doesn’t read that file directly, so the simplest route is through your banks:

1. Download OFX, QFX or CSV files from each bank’s website for the history you want to keep.
2. Create a free Kemback account and add your accounts.
3. Import each file. For a CSV, the column mapper lets you tell Kemback which column holds the date, the payee and the amount.
4. Kemback skips duplicates when you import again, so overlapping date ranges are safe.
5. Add rules for your regular payees, then set up your envelopes.

Keep your Actual budget running alongside Kemback for a month; nothing about trying one changes the other.

Bottom line

Actual is free, open source and local-first, with optional bank sync for a small fee, and it rewards people happy to run their own setup. Kemback is free and hosted, with households, roles, private accounts and an iPhone app in beta, and a weekly file import until Plus arrives. If self-hosting appeals to you, choose Actual; if you’d rather just sign in, try Kemback.

Questions

Is Kemback open source like Actual?

No. Kemback is a hosted service and can't be self-hosted. If open source code and running the app on your own server matter to you, Actual is the right choice.

Why use Kemback if Actual is free?

Kemback is free too, and there's nothing to install or keep running: you sign in at kemback.com. It also gives a household separate sign-ins with roles and private accounts, and has an iPhone app in beta that works offline.

Can Kemback connect to my bank like Actual's SimpleFIN sync?

Not yet. Today you import OFX, QFX, QIF or CSV files from your bank, and Kemback skips anything it has already seen. Automatic bank sync through Plaid is coming with the Plus plan, which isn't on sale yet.

Do both apps do envelope budgeting?

Yes. Actual uses envelope budgeting by default and offers an optional tracking budget. Kemback has an envelope mode and a category mode, and you can switch between them without losing anything.

Can I move my Actual data to Kemback?

Actual's documented export is a zip of all your data, which Kemback doesn't read directly. The simplest route is to download OFX, QFX or CSV files from your banks for the history you want and import those into Kemback.