Self-Hosted Budget Tracking

My Own Finance Server

I run my own personal finance system. Not a subscription. Not a third-party app with access to my bank data. A server I own, running software I control, syncing with my actual bank accounts.

The stack is simple: a Hetzner cloud server running Ubuntu, with Actual Budget in a Docker container. The whole setup costs me about €4/month — cheaper than any budgeting subscription, and my data never leaves my machine.

How It Works

Bank Sync

I connected my bank accounts and PayPal through GoCardless, which provides free bank integrations for EU banks. Every day, new transactions are automatically imported into Actual Budget. No manual entry required.

After categorizing a few transactions from the same store or payee, Actual Budget learns the pattern. New transactions from Albert Heijn? Automatically categorized as Groceries. Spotify charge? Entertainment. It gets smarter the more you use it.

Budget Overview

Once transactions are flowing in, I get a clear picture of where my money goes. Actual Budget shows spending by category, tracks trends over time, and highlights where I’m over or under budget.

Each category gets a monthly budget. The dashboard makes it immediately visible:

• Green — on track
• Yellow — getting close to the limit
• Red — over budget

Unused budget rolls over to the next month, so saving in one month gives you more room in the next.

Access From Anywhere

I use Actual Budget from my laptop, my phone, and sometimes a tablet — all syncing through my server. On iPhone, I added it to my home screen so it feels like a native app. On my desktop, I use the official Actual Budget desktop client.

All devices stay in sync automatically. Enter a transaction on your phone, and it appears on your laptop within seconds.

Built to Be Extended — With AI

This is where self-hosting really pays off. Because the entire system lives in a GitHub repo and deploys automatically, I can use Claude Code to add features whenever I want. I describe what I need, Claude Code writes the code, I review it, push to GitHub, and it’s live on my server within a minute.

No waiting for the app developers to add your feature request. No compromises. If I can describe it, I can have it running the same day.

And because everything goes through GitHub, every change is tracked. If something breaks or I don’t like the result, I revert the commit and I’m back to exactly where I was. Zero risk.

Example: Monthly Expense Breakdown Graph

I wanted a visual breakdown of my monthly spending — an area chart where each category (groceries, rent, transport, entertainment) gets its own color, and the total area represents all expenses for that month. I described this to Claude Code, and it built the feature immediately.

This kind of customization is only possible because I own the full stack. The app, the server, the deployment pipeline — it’s all mine to extend.

Why Self-Host Your Finances?

Financial data is as personal as it gets. Every subscription, every purchase, every salary — it paints a complete picture of your life. Most budgeting apps store this on their servers, subject to their privacy policies and their continued existence.

By self-hosting:

• Your data stays yours. It lives on a server you control, encrypted, backed up nightly.
• No vendor lock-in. If Actual Budget disappears tomorrow, you still have your server and your data.
• No monthly fees. A €4/month server replaces a €10+/month budgeting subscription.
• Fully customizable. Connected to Claude Code, you can add any feature you want — and revert it in seconds if it doesn’t work out.

I Can Set This Up for You

If you want the same setup — your own budget server with bank sync, mobile access, and full privacy — I can help you get it running. The process takes about an hour, and you’ll end up with:

• A Hetzner server (€4-5/month) with automated security updates
• Actual Budget running in Docker with automatic restarts
• Bank sync for your EU bank accounts and PayPal
• Access from any device (phone, laptop, tablet)
• Nightly backups of your financial data
• A GitHub-based deployment pipeline, connected to Claude Code, so you can add features or customize anything on the fly

No ongoing maintenance required. Just a budgeting app that’s truly yours.

Interested? Get in touch and I’ll walk you through it.