Comparisons
An Actual Budget alternative with nothing to host
Actual Budget is a strong choice if you want free, open-source, local-first envelope budgeting, and you are comfortable running a small server, or paying a host to run one, so your devices stay in step. Tobsy is for someone who wants their money data in their own hands with nothing to host: a copy of a Google Sheet in your own Drive, a small script inside it, and one payment.
· 7 min read
Tobsy is a cash flow management app you fill in by hand. There is no bank connection, and after thirty days free it is A$59 once, with no subscription and no renewal.
Side by side
Everything in the Actual Budget column comes from Actual's own site, docs and code repository, read on 13 October 2026. Everything in the Tobsy column is on this site.
| Actual Budget | Tobsy | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | "100% free and open-source", under the MIT licence. Hosting on PikaPods or Fly.io costs "a small amount of money" | A$59 once, after thirty days free. No subscription and no renewal |
| Hosting and upkeep | A server is not required, but its docs strongly recommend one. Self-host with Docker or the server CLI, or pay PikaPods or Fly.io | Nothing to host. You copy the Tobsy sheet and deploy the script inside it from Google's own Apps Script screen, about ten minutes, once |
| Bank sync | Optional, and only through the server: Akahu (New Zealand), Enable Banking (Europe), GoCardless (Europe, not accepting new accounts), SimpleFIN Bridge (North America), Pluggy.ai (Brazil) | None, by design. Quick entry, CSV statement import, or a screenshot read on your device |
| Where the data lives | Local-first: the main database is on your device, and the sync server holds your data too, with optional end-to-end encryption | A Google Sheet in your own Drive. No Tobsy server stores your entries |
| Devices and sync | Desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux, and a web app you can install as a Progressive Web App; the official mobile apps are deprecated. Syncing between devices needs the server | Any phone, tablet or computer, each reading and writing the same sheet. On a computer, a code at the end of set-up sets up your phone with nothing to type |
| Households | Several people can work on one budget on a server set up for multiple users, which needs an OpenID provider | Up to six people in one copy, two shared households, one split or one per category, and the settle-up worked out for you |
| Currencies | "Currency agnostic"; no native multi-currency, with an experimental rule-template workaround | Any currency. Foreign spending is recorded in its own currency with the rate frozen on the day |
| Import | CSV, QIF, OFX, QFX and CAMT files | CSV statement import, a pasted statement, a screenshot from your banking app, and Tobsy's free Google Sheets log |
| Method | Envelope-style budgeting: "You can only budget cash you have on hand" | Spending awareness, with intentions you can set per category |
| Languages | Not stated on the pages read | English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch and French |
What Actual does well
Actual's own README calls it "a local-first personal finance tool", "100% free and open-source". Its home page says the app works regardless of your network connection, and that your data is synced in the background so all your devices have access. It imports more file formats than Tobsy, has an API, and where one of the bank sync providers its docs name covers your bank, it can bring transactions in for you.
If you want software you can read, change and run yourself, at no cost, Actual is built for exactly that, and Tobsy is not.
The server question
Actual's install docs say a server is not required, but is strongly recommended because it adds functionality: syncing your budget between devices, bank sync and the API. You can run that server yourself, or, in the docs' words, "pay a small amount of money to have your version of Actual hosted on the cloud for you" with PikaPods, or with Fly.io for a similar amount.
Tobsy takes a different route. Set-up is six short steps: make your own copy of the Tobsy sheet, open the script inside it, deploy it, say yes to the one permission, copy the app's address, and paste it. Google runs the script, inside your own Google account. There is no server for you to keep running, patch or pay for. Where an improvement needs a change to your copy, the app tells you and you choose when.
The trade is that Tobsy depends on Google. You need a Google account, a free one is fine, and the app depends on Google Sheets and Google Apps Script, which Google runs and may change. The set-up guide shows a picture of every step.
Phone and computer, one sheet
With Tobsy, your phone and your computer both read and write the same Google Sheet in your own Drive. Two people sharing a copy work the same way: one of you makes the copy and sets it up, and the other scans the code at the end, or pastes the link, and is in. The Ledger catches up with a change made on another device.
Households and uneven splits
Actual's docs describe multi-user support on a self-hosted server: an administrator adds users, controls who can open which budget file, and sets it up through an OpenID provider.
Tobsy is built around a household from the start. Up to six people share one copy, and any two of them can share a household. Shared costs are split the way you choose, one split for everything or a different one per category, and each of you sees your own share. The joint ledger keeps count of who fronted what and works out the settle-up. Income stays personal: a household has no income of its own, only the sum of yours. More on For couples and families.
Currencies
Actual's multi-currency page says the software is currency agnostic and does not support multi-currency, and describes a workaround with an experimental rule-templating feature.
In Tobsy you pick a base currency and record foreign spending in its own currency, with the rate frozen on the day. The rate comes from a Google Finance formula inside your own sheet, so even that does not go through us.
Manual by design
Tobsy does not ask for a bank login and does not sync an account. Anything you enter regularly fills itself in from a single word, and Tobsy learns your shops and how you file them. For catching up, a screenshot from your banking app or a pasted statement is read on your own phone and laid out for a quick check, and nothing reaches your ledger until you say so. More on why Tobsy has no bank sync.
On top of the entries sit usual ranges and drift, a six-month forecast shown as a range, and the next seven days laid out by the day each thing lands. See Staying ahead.
Trying it
Tobsy's trial is thirty days, every screen, and needs an email address and nothing else. If you would rather look first, the demo is the real app with fourteen months of sample entries, with nothing to set up. The price is on Pricing.
Sources
- Actual Budget home page — envelope-style budgeting, local-first syncing, bank sync, import formats, PikaPods, 2026-10-13
- Actual Budget on GitHub — "100% free and open-source", the MIT licence, 2026-10-13
- Actual Budget docs: installing Actual — the server recommendation, self-hosting, PikaPods and Fly.io costs, desktop apps, 2026-10-13
- Actual Budget docs: bank sync — the providers and regions, and that it needs actual-server, 2026-10-13
- Actual Budget docs: syncing across devices — where data is kept, and optional end-to-end encryption, 2026-10-13
- Actual Budget docs: importing transactions — supported file formats, 2026-10-13
- Actual Budget docs: multi-currency — currency agnostic, the experimental workaround, 2026-10-13
- Actual Budget docs: multi-user support — users, budget access and the OpenID requirement, 2026-10-13
- Actual Budget FAQ — mobile apps deprecated, the Progressive Web App, local-first database, 2026-10-13
Questions
Do I need to run a server?
No. Tobsy is a copy of a Google Sheet in your own Drive and a small script inside it, which you deploy from Google's own Apps Script screen during set-up. Google runs it in your own Google account. Set-up takes about ten minutes, once.
Tobsy itself has no database. The one small server we run holds your email and your key, so a trial can end and a purchase stays yours.
Does it sync between my phone and computer?
Yes, because there is only one sheet. Your phone and your computer both read and write the same Google Sheet in your own Drive, so there is no separate sync service to run. On a computer, a code at the end of set-up sets up your phone with nothing to type, and the Ledger catches up with a change made on another device.
Can two people split spending unevenly?
Yes. Shared costs are split the way you choose: one split for everything, or a different one per category, and each of you sees your own share. The joint ledger keeps count of who paid, and works out the settle-up for you.
Up to six people share one copy, and any two of them can share a household. Income stays personal, so a household has no income of its own, only the sum of yours.
Is my data still mine if Tobsy stops?
Your sheet is yours: every entry in it stays readable and downloadable with no Tobsy at all. Your key does not expire.
The app itself does lean on two things we run, a small piece of code your copy talks to and the website the app loads from. If Tobsy shut down, we would publish both so existing copies keep working without us; the sheet is the part that survives anything.
Is Tobsy open source?
No. Tobsy is a paid app, sold with a key under its own terms.
What you can see for yourself is your data. Every entry lives in a Google Sheet in your own Drive, which you can open, read and take with you at any time. Tobsy asks Google for one permission, to work in the spreadsheet it is attached to: not your Drive, not your email, not your contacts.
Thirty days free
Try it, or look around first.
The demo is the real app with fourteen months of sample entries. The trial is every screen, for thirty days, with your own.
About ten minutes to set up, once, on a computer. You’ll need a Google account. A$59 after the trial, if you want to keep it.