Actual Budget vs Mint
Actual Budget vs Mint: Which Should You Use Now?
This is a comparison of two takes on free. Actual Budget is an open-source, local-first envelope budgeting app you self-host or run on a small hosting fee, so your data stays with you. Mint was the free, ad-supported tracker Intuit shut down in March 2024, which paid for itself by recommending products. Since Mint no longer exists as a live product, the real question is whether Actual’s privacy-first approach suits its old users.
Actual Budget vs Mint: feature comparison
Feature comparison of Actual Budget, Mint and Auritrack
| Feature | Actual Budget | Mint | Auritrack |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI chat expense tracking | No | No | Yes |
| AI bookkeeping & categorization | NoRules-based, manual by design | No | Yes |
| Automatic bank sync | Via SimpleFIN or GoCardless add-ons | YesHad automatic sync (now discontinued) | On the roadmap; statement import today |
| Bank-statement import (PDF/CSV/Excel) | YesCSV, OFX and QFX import | No | YesPDF, CSV or Excel, read by AI |
| Budgeting | YesZero-based envelope budgeting | Yes | Yes |
| Savings goals | YesCategory targets and schedules | Yes | Yes |
| Invoicing | No | No | Small-business records and reports |
| Receipt scanning | No | No | Yes |
| All currencies with live conversion | NoOne currency per budget | NoUS-focused | YesLive exchange rates |
| Data export (PDF/CSV) | YesFull data ownership, export anytime | Limited | YesPDF and CSV anytime |
| Telegram tracking | No | No | Yes@auritrack_bot |
| Investment tracking | No | Partial | No |
| Shared / household accounts | YesMulti-user on self-hosted setups | No | Yes |
| Sells your data to advertisers | NoLocal-first, data stays with you | YesAd & recommendation model | No |
| Price | Free (open source) | Was free (discontinued) | Free tier + AI from $3/mo |
Which of the two should you pick?
Where Actual Budget wins
- Actively maintained by a community project, unlike shut-down Mint
- Free and fully open source, with no ads and no data-selling
- Local-first: you own and control your data, self-hostable with encryption
- A strict zero-based envelope method, plus CSV, OFX and QFX import
Where Mint wins
- It was free, funded by ads and product recommendations
- Automatic bank sync pulled transactions in with no effort
- A hosted app with nothing to install or self-host
- Note: shut down by Intuit in 2024 — no longer a live product
A third option: Auritrack
If you liked that Mint was free and did the tracking for you but do not want to self-host a server or budget by hand like Actual, Auritrack sits in between. An AI logs and categorizes your spending from a chat message or an uploaded statement, then holds you to a budget, on a free tier for the manual side with AI features from $3/month. It has no live bank sync yet, so you share a statement rather than a bank login.
The verdict
Mint is gone, so this is really about where to land. Choose Actual Budget if you value privacy and data ownership and are comfortable with a bit of technical setup and hands-on envelope budgeting. If what you actually miss is that Mint was free and automatic without any setup, an AI tracker like Auritrack gets you closer to that feeling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Want to dig into one of them on its own? Read the Actual Budget guide or the Mint guide, each an honest look at where that tool wins and where Auritrack fits.
Comparisons reflect our understanding of each product at the time of writing and may change; check each provider’s site for current pricing and features. Product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. This page is general information, not financial advice.