How to self-host Actual Budget

Plan your money with envelope-style budgets that sync to the Actual apps on your devices. Cresdock runs it on a server you own, from a catalogue, with no Docker and no reverse proxy to configure.

What Cresdock does for you with Actual Budget

Actual Budget owns its own first-run setup, so Cresdock locks that wizard to your IP address until you finish it. Nobody else can reach the box in the minute between the app starting and you claiming it.
Given its own web address, with its own login seeded in advance. Actual Budget can't live under a shared path, and apps like this are reached by clients that don't carry a browser session — so it gets a real password rather than being left open.

Why run Actual Budget yourself

Small tools are where a subscription is hardest to justify: a few pounds a month, times a dozen tools, for software that would run happily on a server you already pay for.

It is also how you retire a YNAB subscription — one line in replacing cloud subscriptions, app by app.

What kind of server Actual Budget needs

Small. These are the sort of app people run on a server they already have, alongside everything else, without thinking about capacity.

Cresdock itself is undemanding — it runs on a small rented server, an old desktop or a mini PC, on Ubuntu or Debian. Everything it installs shares that machine, so the honest question is not "will this app run" but "how much am I going to put on here in total".

Where to run Actual Budget

Actual Budget runs wherever Cresdock runs, and the choice is about the machine, not the app:

At home, on hardware you already own. A mini PC, an old desktop or a NAS that can run Debian. Cresdock works behind a home router with no port forwarding and no domain, so Actual Budget is reachable on your own network first and from outside only if you choose.
On a rented server. A small VPS is enough for most apps and is the usual answer when Actual Budget should be reachable from anywhere. The setup guide covers the specs and the one-command install.
Through a provider that runs Cresdock. Hosting companies deploy Cresdock workspaces for their customers, so Actual Budget can come with a server you rent rather than one you set up — ask your provider, or see how providers offer it.

Installing Actual Budget

Put Cresdock on a server
One line on any Ubuntu or Debian machine — a rented VPS, a spare PC, a home server. It sets itself up.
Pick Actual Budget from the catalogue
Click Install. The panel pulls the image, writes the configuration, gets a certificate and starts it.
Open it from your dashboard
Its address and any login details are on its card. Start, stop, update, roll back or remove it from the same place, any time.

What's left for you to do

Cresdock does not pretend to do the parts that are genuinely yours to decide. After it's running:

Open it now and set the server password. Until then it's locked to your connection
Create your first budget file, or import one from the Actual app

What this replaces

Doing it by hand means writing something like this, then keeping it working:

services:
  actualbudget:
    image: actualbudget/actual-server:26.8.1
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5006:5006"
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - ./actualbudget/config:/config

And that is the easy half. Still to do:

Install a reverse proxy and write a server block for it
Get a TLS certificate and set up automatic renewal
Create the folders above with the right ownership, or it will not start
Point a DNS record at the server, because Actual Budget cannot run under a shared path
Repeat all of it for the next app, and again on every server rebuild

On Cresdock, Actual Budget is one click and none of the above exists.

Common questions

Do I need to know Docker to run Actual Budget?

No. Cresdock installs Actual Budget in one click from its catalogue: it pulls the image, writes the configuration, gets an HTTPS certificate and starts it. Actual Budget runs its own first-time setup, and Cresdock locks that screen to your IP address until you have finished it.

What happens to my Actual Budget data when it updates?

Cresdock updates the Actual Budget image and leaves its stored data in place. Actual Budget keeps its own files in its own folder, which survives an update, a rebuild and a reinstall — and Cresdock never writes into it.

How is Actual Budget protected if it isn't behind the panel login?

It gets its own password, generated and set before it first starts, shown on its card in your dashboard. Apps end up here when they are reached by programs rather than a web browser, so a shared login can't be used.

Can someone else claim my Actual Budget before I do?

No. Its setup screen is locked to your IP address until you have finished it. This is the window that catches people out on a self-managed server.

Can I run Actual Budget at home instead of on a VPS?

Yes. Cresdock runs on a mini PC, an old desktop or anything that boots Debian, behind a normal home router with no port forwarding, and Actual Budget is reachable on your own network first. A rented server is only needed when Actual Budget must be reachable from anywhere without a VPN.

Can I remove Actual Budget later?

Yes. Cresdock removes Actual Budget in one click, and asks whether to keep its configuration for a future reinstall. Nothing else you have installed is affected.

Looking for what Actual Budget itself can do? That lives in its own documentation — this page is only about running it.

Pairs well with: code-server · FreshRSS · AdGuard Home

Before you start: where to rent a server · what it needs to run · Cresdock vs Cloudron