SparkBox / Guides / Actual Budget

Actual Budget: open it, first login, settings, fixes

· Updated 18 September 2026 · SparkBox team

Self-hosted YNAB alternative. Track spending, set budgets, and manage finances with zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption. All data stays on your server. This is the short card for it — the two minutes after you press Enable, and the page to come back to when something is off.

SparkBox Apps page — one-click install cards for every module
SparkBox Apps page — one-click install cards for every module

Before you turn it on

Create your first account after launching. Data is encrypted on your server.

Open it

Dashboard → Apps → Actual Budget → Open. The direct address on your network is:

https://<your-box-IP>:5006

First visit will show a self-signed cert warning — accept it once. You can also install the Actual mobile/desktop apps and point them at this server to sync.

First login

No preset password - and this one matters: Actual asks whoever opens it FIRST to set the server password, and that person controls your budget data. Open it yourself straight after enabling and set a strong password.

SparkBox dashboard login screen
SparkBox dashboard login screen

Any password the installer generated for you is under Settings → Passwords; the Open button offers to copy it.

Worth knowing

  • Your browser will warn about a self-signed certificate on first load — click Advanced → Proceed. The cert is generated locally and never leaves your server. It's required because Actual Budget's web UI uses SharedArrayBuffer, which browsers only expose over HTTPS.

When it breaks

If it will not open, check the app card first — a red dot means it is restarting or unhealthy, and this walkthrough reads the reason from its log. Tom AI on the dashboard can do the same for you.

Where your data lives

/opt/sparkbox/modules/budget/config/

Included in the dashboard's Backup by default. Restoring that backup on a fresh install brings Actual Budget back exactly as it was.

Questions, or did this not match your box?

Every guide here came from a real problem someone hit. If yours behaves differently, say so — that is how these get corrected, and how the fix gets prioritised.

Ask in the community →

We answer there rather than in a comment box, because that is where the people who have already solved it are.

About this page: Rendered from the app's own manifest in SparkBox, so the ports, settings and first-login steps match the version you are running. If something does not match what you see, say so in d/sparkbox — the manifest gets fixed and every copy of this page with it.