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Roadmap for new users

Welcome to Actual Budget, a delightful budgeting tool that meets you wherever you are in your financial journey.

Our documentation is plentiful; getting started on the right track can be overwhelming unless you know where you are going.

In other words - this very part of our documentation is for you who are entirely new to Actual.

Below, we have outlined various use cases and, under each use case, give pointers on where to start.

I just want to look at screenshots before doing anything.​

Please take a look at our Tour of Actual.

I want to test out Actual without committing to any work or installations.​

It's as simple as trying our demo. There are no strings attached; it's just a chance to explore Actual.

I want to run Actual on my computer.​

If you plan to use Actual on a single computer and don't need it on your mobile or tablet, you can download the stand-alone software.

I want the complete package but do not know how to run a server.​

In this case, you can use a service provider called PikaPods. Setup only takes a few minutes. We have written a thorough step-by-step guide for PikaPods. However, if you are adventurous or somewhat technical, please go directly to the Actual Budget setup in PikaPod.

I am technical and have no issues running a service on my own.​

Then you are in luck. We have guides for the following systems:

There is also an external guide explaining how to install Actual on: