What it does
Akaunting handles invoices, expenses and income categories in a self-hosted bookkeeping application. The Standard on-premise edition is free, with extra accounting apps available. Its current repository licence limits permitted production use, so check the user, company and invoice allowances before installing it.
What the base application covers
Akaunting's invoices, income categories and expenses form the core bookkeeping records. The Double-Entry app adds reports such as the trial balance and general ledger. Other apps cover stock, projects and payroll.
Read the licence before choosing self-hosting
The site calls Standard On-Premise free. The current repository uses Business Source License 1.1, whose production-use grant excludes more than two users, one company or 1,000 invoices. It also restricts distributing rebranded editions and commercial accounting services that give outside clients direct access to the software.
Those restrictions matter more than the homepage's broad open-source wording. The licence points to alternative on-premise arrangements for uses outside its grant.
Begin with the On-Premise versus Cloud comparison and the app catalogue. For your own installation, arrange server and database maintenance, then check whether the Double-Entry app and any other required extensions are included in the chosen arrangement.
Strengths
- Base bookkeeping includes income categories, invoices and expenses
- Separate apps add double-entry reports, stock and project records
Watch out for
- The current production-use licence limits users, companies, invoices and certain service uses
- Double-entry reporting is provided through an additional app
- A self-hosted installation needs server and database maintenance
Best for
- Businesses with technical support that want to host their bookkeeping software
Sources
- Akaunting free bookkeeping and on-premise overview (Oct 27, 2026)
- GitHub - akaunting/akaunting: Online Accounting Software · GitHub (Oct 25, 2026)
- Akaunting Business Source License (Oct 27, 2026)