Okane vs Actual Budget
Last updated: May 2, 2026
Recommendation
Okane and Actual Budget both refuse the standard 'budget on our cloud' model — but they take different paths. Okane stores the budget in a Google Sheet on the user's Drive and ships a free mobile app; Plaid bank sync lives on the $5/month Premium tier. Actual Budget is open source and self-hosted (or end-to-end encrypted hosted sync), with bank sync via SimpleFIN or GoCardless. If you want zero setup and a phone app, pick Okane. If you want maximum control and don't mind running a server, pick Actual.
Choose Okane Budgeting if…
You want a polished mobile app, you don't want to run a server, you want Plaid bank sync, or you specifically want the budget as a Google Sheet you can fork.
Choose Actual Budget if…
You're technical, you're comfortable with Docker or a Pi, you want auditable open-source code, or you want bank sync via SimpleFIN/GoCardless rather than Plaid.
Pricing
| Okane Budgeting | Actual Budget | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free tier · $5/mo · $60/yr | Unverified |
| Verification | Verified | Verified |
Feature comparison
| Okane Budgeting | Actual Budget | |
|---|---|---|
| Bank sync | Yes | Yes |
| Manual transactions | Yes | Yes |
| Envelope budgeting | Yes | Yes |
| Zero-based budgeting | Yes | Yes |
| Couples / shared budget | Yes | Yes |
| Google Sheets | Yes | No |
| CSV export | Yes | Yes |
| Recurring transactions | Unknown | Yes |
| Net worth tracking | Unknown | Unknown |
Privacy
| Okane Budgeting | Actual Budget | |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Budget data is stored in a Google Sheet on the user's Drive. Okane does not retain a server-side copy of the budget. AI categorization runs on-device. Bank credentials are handled by Plaid; Okane does not see them. | Self-hosted by default — budget data lives on the user's own machine or server. Bank sync uses SimpleFIN (US/Canada) or GoCardless (EU/UK), not Plaid. The optional hosted sync service stores end-to-end encrypted data. |
| Sells data | does_not_sell | does_not_sell |
| Verification | Verified | Verified |
Tradeoffs to consider
Okane trades open-source auditability for usability. Actual trades usability for control. Both are stronger privacy-architecture choices than the cloud-by-default category. Actual has no first-party native iOS or Android app; Okane has no web app.
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Sources
- Okane homepage — Okane. Accessed May 2, 2026.
- Actual Budget homepage — Actual Budget. Accessed May 2, 2026.
- Okane homepage and pricing copy — Okane. Accessed May 2, 2026.