vokse vs Actual Budget
The same envelopes,
hosted for you, with an assistant.
Actual Budget is open source and runs on your own machine. vokse runs the same envelope method for you, in the EU, with an assistant, bank sync and more than one currency. Nothing to install, back up or update.
Connect your bank or import your history. Every transaction categorised, every envelope up to date.
The short answer
vokse or Actual Budget?
vokse gives you the zero-based envelopes of Actual Budget without running a server: hosted in the EU, with an assistant that works your budget, bank sync in the US and Canada, 41 currencies, receipts by camera and a household with roles. Your Actual accounts come across as CSV exports, and there is nothing to back up ever again.
- Zero-based envelopes, in both
- One plan with a free trial, nothing to host
- You run Actual; vokse runs in the EU
- Built into vokse, none in Actual
- Export each Actual account as CSV, import it
vokse and Actual Budget, row by row.
Cut from the same table as the four-way comparison, so the two pages can never disagree. Every cell about Actual Budget is dated and checkable on their own site.
Price
- vokse
- €16.99/mo, one plan, free for the first 34 days
- Actual Budget
- Free and open source; the machine you run it on is yours to pay for
Budgeting method
- vokse
- Envelopes, zero-based
- Actual Budget
- Envelopes, zero-based
Bank connections
- vokse
- 9,976 banks in 2 countries, read-only
- Actual Budget
- Optional, through a service you sign up for yourself
More than one currency
- vokse
- 41 currencies, each at its own day's rate
- Actual Budget
- One currency per file
Assistant
- vokse
- Built in: ask anything about your money, on the same audited tools as the app
- Actual Budget
- None built in
Claude and ChatGPT
- vokse
- Built in, read only or allowed to act, per household
- Actual Budget
- Nothing official
Your own tools
- vokse
- Keys with the permissions you choose
- Actual Budget
- A code library, no hosted service
Bringing your data in
- vokse
- Files from your bank, or a whole YNAB budget
- Actual Budget
- Files from your bank, and YNAB migration
Sharing it
- vokse
- Owner, editor and viewer, every change recorded
- Actual Budget
- Users on your own server
Forecasting
- vokse
- Next month, from six months of your history
- Actual Budget
- Scheduled items, no projection
Where your data lives
- vokse
- The European Union
- Actual Budget
- Wherever you run it
Leaving
- vokse
- Everything in one file, deleted 30 days after you ask
- Actual Budget
- The file is already yours
Running it yourself
- vokse
- No
- Actual Budget
- Yes, on your own machine
Competitor columns, prices included, read off their own sites on September 13, 2026; prices are in US dollars and can change, so check their pricing pages before you decide.
Why vokse is the Actual Budget alternative worth switching to.
Six things Actual Budget does not do, and vokse does today.
Nothing to host or update
No server, no backups, no upgrades to run. Sign in from any device and the same budget is there, with the Android app and the installable web app.
Bank sync built in
US and Canadian banks connect through a link that only reads, up to three syncs a day. Actual needs a separate service you sign up for yourself; European banks are next for vokse.
An assistant on the same tools
Ask what is left, have transactions categorised, move money between envelopes by chat. It logs every step and waits for you before anything it cannot undo.
41 currencies
Several currencies in one budget, each transaction at its own day's rate, reports in your base currency. Actual budgets in one currency per file.
Receipts and voice
Photograph a receipt or say the expense out loud; a draft transaction appears for you to confirm.
A household with roles and undo
Owner, editor and viewer per person, an audit trail of who changed what, undo and redo from any device.
Switching from Actual Budget, in three steps.
Actual exports each account's transactions as CSV; vokse imports CSV with a prepare step that maps columns and flags duplicates.
Export each account from Actual
In Actual, export the transactions of each account as a CSV file. Categories do not travel in a CSV, so the plan itself is rebuilt on the vokse side.
Create the accounts and import
Create the same accounts in vokse, import each CSV, and review the prepared import: columns mapped, duplicates flagged, card payments paired between accounts.
Rebuild the envelopes, faster
Start from a category starter pack, let rules and the assistant categorise the history, and assign this month's money. Bank sync takes over from there in the US and Canada.
Questions people ask before switching
Other comparisons
- vokse vs YNABThe same envelope method, an assistant on top, and your YNAB budget imported in one go.
- vokse vs PocketSmithEnvelopes instead of a projection, an assistant built in, and your PocketSmith transactions imported from CSV.
- vokse vs FintonicEnvelopes instead of a monthly spend meter, an assistant that acts on your books, and your data yours to take.
Keep the method, drop the server.
Start the free trial, import your Actual exports, and let the assistant rebuild the categories with you. Nothing to host, nothing to back up.