What it is

Akaunting is free online accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. It lives in the PHP web application ecosystem, and it uses Laravel as its foundation framework. The project also uses VueJS, Tailwind, and a RESTful API, and it has a modular structure with an App Store.

The concrete problem it addresses is the need for an online accounting system that small businesses and freelancers can run themselves. The topic list points to accounting, invoices, billing, expenses, bookkeeping, budgets, balances, finance, fintech, CRM, and ERP. The README states that Akaunting is designed for small businesses and freelancers, and it provides documentation, a forum, and a developer portal.

Key capabilities

• The project manages invoice and billing records for customer transactions.
• It tracks expenses, budgets, balances, and bookkeeping entries, as indicated by the topic list.
• It exposes a RESTful API for integrations and programmatic access.
• It uses a modular App Store so users can add functionality through apps.
• It uses Laravel for the server-side framework and VueJS and Tailwind for the browser interface.
• It supports common database engines, including MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.
• It includes an optional sample data seeding command for demonstration or evaluation.

Who uses it and how

• Small businesses use it as a self-hosted accounting system for invoices, billing, expenses, and bookkeeping.
• Freelancers use it to organize their own client billing and financial records.
• System administrators deploy it on Apache, Nginx, or IIS with a supported PHP database stack.
• Developers extend the core product through the Module package and the App Store.
• Evaluators install it from the GitHub repository and may seed sample data before configuring real records.

Getting started

The README describes installing Akaunting by cloning the GitHub repository, running composer install, npm install, and npm run dev, and then running php artisan install with database, admin email, and admin password options. An optional php artisan sample-data:seed command creates sample data.

When to use it — and when not to

Akaunting is suitable when a small business or freelancer wants a self-hosted PHP accounting application with common database and web server options. The self-hoster must operate the PHP runtime, database, web server, dependencies, and any required libraries, and the README lists BSL as the license, so users must review that license before deployment. The project may not be suitable when an organization needs a fully managed accounting service or wants to avoid the ongoing work of hosting, upgrading, and securing a web application.

php artisan install --db-name="akaunting" --db-username="root" --db-password="pass" --admin-email="[email protected]" --admin-password="123456"