Budget Board: Open Source Finance App Alternative to Mint

When Mint shut down in 2024, millions of users were left scrambling to find alternatives for managing their personal finances. Most options—YNAB, Personal Capital (now Empower), Quicken—force you into expensive subscriptions, lock your data in proprietary formats, and expose your most sensitive financial information to third-party analysis. Budget Board emerges as a refreshing solution: a completely self-hosted, open-source personal finance platform that gives you all the power of enterprise financial tools without surrendering your privacy or paying monthly fees.

GitHub - teelur/budget-board: A simple app for tracking monthly spending and working towards financial goals.

A simple app for tracking monthly spending and working towards financial goals. - teelur/budget-board

GitHubteelur

Why Choose Budget Board?

In a world where financial apps collect, analyze, and monetize your spending data, Budget Board stands apart with a fundamentally different approach:

• Complete Financial Privacy
  Your bank accounts, spending patterns, and financial goals remain on your own infrastructure—no third-party analysis, no data sales, no privacy compromises.
• True Mint Replacement
  Built specifically as a self-hosted alternative to Mint, Budget Board provides all the core functionality you relied on, plus modern enhancements.
• Automatic Bank Synchronization
  Seamless integration with SimpleFIN enables automatic transaction importing from thousands of financial institutions.
• Comprehensive Financial Dashboard
  View account balances, spending trends, budget progress, and goal tracking in a unified, intuitive interface.
• Advanced Analytics & Insights
  Track spending trends, asset growth, liability reduction, and net worth changes with beautiful, interactive charts.
• Goal-Oriented Financial Planning
  Create and monitor savings goals, debt payoff plans, and other financial objectives with progress tracking.
• Flexible Categorization System
  Organize transactions with customizable categories and subcategories that match your spending patterns.

Spotlight on Key Features

1. Automated Account Management

• Automatic bank account synchronization via SimpleFIN
• Real-time transaction importing and categorization
• Multi-account dashboard with at-a-glance balances
• Support for checking, savings, credit cards, and investment accounts

2. Smart Budgeting & Planning

• Monthly budget creation for categories and subcategories
• Budget vs. actual spending analysis
• Overspending alerts and tracking
• Historical budget performance analysis

3. Goal Tracking & Financial Objectives

• Savings goal creation and monitoring
• Debt payoff planning and tracking
• Custom financial milestone definition
• Progress visualization and target date calculations

4. Advanced Analytics & Reporting

• Spending trend analysis with interactive charts
• Asset and liability tracking over time
• Net worth calculation and growth visualization
• Category-based spending insights
• Monthly and yearly financial summaries

5. Privacy-First Architecture

• Complete self-hosting with Docker Compose
• Local data storage with no external dependencies
• Open-source codebase for transparency
• No data sharing or third-party analytics

Budget Board vs. Closed-Source Alternatives

How does Budget Board compare to popular personal finance platforms? Here's a detailed breakdown:

Beyond the Feature Matrix

The true differences become apparent when considering long-term financial data ownership:

• Service Continuity: When Mint shut down, users lost years of financial history—Budget Board's self-hosted nature prevents this scenario entirely.
• Data Monetization: Free services like Personal Capital analyze your data to sell financial products—Budget Board generates no revenue from your information.
• Feature Stability: Subscription services frequently change features or pricing—your self-hosted Budget Board remains exactly as you configure it.
• Privacy Assurance: Cloud-based services can be breached, acquired, or change privacy policies—Budget Board keeps everything local.

Getting Started in Minutes

Budget Board is designed for straightforward deployment:

🐳 Docker Compose (Recommended)

Quick setup with Docker Compose:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/teelur/budget-board.git
cd budget-board

# Start the application
docker compose up -d

Access your Budget Board instance at http://localhost:6253

🔧 Configuration & Setup

1. Initial Setup: Create your admin account on first visit
2. Bank Integration: Configure SimpleFIN connection for automatic sync
3. Category Setup: Customize spending categories to match your habits
4. Budget Creation: Set monthly spending targets for each category
5. Goal Definition: Create savings and debt payoff goals

🏦 SimpleFIN Integration

Budget Board integrates with SimpleFIN for secure bank connectivity:

• Supports thousands of financial institutions
• End-to-end encrypted data transmission
• Read-only access to account information
• Automatic transaction categorization

Real-World Applications

Post-Mint Migration

Former Mint users can recreate their familiar financial management workflow with enhanced privacy and control.

Family Financial Planning

Track multiple family members' accounts, shared goals, and household budgeting in a single, secure platform.

Small Business Finance

Monitor business accounts alongside personal finances for comprehensive financial oversight.

Privacy-Conscious Users

Maintain complete financial privacy while enjoying modern budgeting and analytics tools.

The Story Behind Budget Board

Created as a direct response to Mint's shutdown, Budget Board represents the developer's commitment to providing a permanent, user-controlled alternative to corporate financial platforms. Built with modern technologies (C# backend, React frontend), it combines the reliability of traditional desktop applications with the convenience of web-based access.

Join the Budget Board Community

With 151+ GitHub stars and growing adoption, Budget Board continues to evolve:

• Contribute Code: Help enhance features via GitHub
• Report Issues: Share bugs or feature requests through GitHub Issues
• Share Feedback: Provide input on functionality and user experience
• Documentation: Help improve setup guides and user documentation

Final Thoughts

Personal finance management shouldn't require surrendering your financial privacy or depending on services that can disappear overnight. Budget Board represents a fundamental shift toward user-controlled financial tools—offering the sophistication of commercial platforms with the permanence and privacy of self-hosting.

Whether you're a displaced Mint user, a privacy advocate, or simply someone who values long-term data ownership, Budget Board provides a compelling solution that puts you back in control of your financial data and planning.

Ready to take ownership of your financial future? Explore the code on GitHub and start building your personal finance command center.