Should I self-host Monarch Money?
Actual Budget is the best self-hosted budgeting tool ever made: local-first, envelope budgeting, fast sync server. Bank imports work through SimpleFIN Bridge ($1.50/mo) — still 90% cheaper than Monarch.
Monarch's zero-setup bank aggregation breadth
Investment tracking is thin in Actual — it budgets cash flow
budgeting · account aggregation · spending reports · goals
* Percent of the subscription price. Your time is priced at the slider's rate — $0/h ("my homelab time is free and I love it") is a legitimate position. Every number is derived from the record, never hand-written. Price source, checked 2026-08-07.
Runs comfortably on a Raspberry Pi.
Boot to healthy measured at 21s on the 2GB reference env
# Actual Budget — local-first budgeting with a sync server
services:
actual:
image: actualbudget/actual-server:latest
container_name: actual
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
ACTUAL_HOSTNAME: 0.0.0.0 # node binds :: by default and exits cleanly on ipv6-disabled kernels
ports:
- "5006:5006"
volumes:
- actual-data:/data
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "node -e \"require('http').get('http://localhost:5006/',r=>process.exit(r.statusCode<500?0:1)).on('error',()=>process.exit(1))\" || exit 1"]
interval: 5s
timeout: 10s
retries: 24
start_period: 15s
volumes:
actual-data:
Want a guided install instead? caniselfhostit.com/monarch-money has AI-agent prompts that assume a bare machine — that's their half of the stool, and it's good.
FULL TIMED LOG
# Monarch Money — verdict log - **Date:** 2026-08-10 - **Verdict:** YES — worth it - **Protocol:** v1 (2GB reference env, Docker preinstalled, AI assistant: claude-code) ## Setup evidence - Compose: `compose/monarch-money-actual-budget.yml` - Boot to healthy: **21s** measured this session - Setup time recorded: 11 min (boot + configuration to first working workflow) ## What broke / notes - Boot to healthy measured at 21s on the 2GB reference env ## The call Actual Budget is the best self-hosted budgeting tool ever made: local-first, envelope budgeting, fast sync server. Bank imports work through SimpleFIN Bridge ($1.50/mo) — still 90% cheaper than Monarch.