About Akaunting 3.2.3 — Self-Hosted Accounting for Small Businesses
Akaunting is web-based accounting software for small businesses and freelancers, built on Laravel and Vue. You install it on your own PHP host and use it in a browser: invoices and bills, customers and vendors, bank accounts and transfers, and financial reports.
This page links to the official 3.2.3 release zip that Akaunting, Inc. publishes on GitHub. Bineret did not build Akaunting and is not affiliated with it. The download is their file, unchanged.
Read the licence before you install
Akaunting is source-available, not open source. It is released under the Business Source License 1.1, and its free production grant carries three limits. You may not:
- use it with more than two users, more than one company, or more than one thousand invoices;
- remove its name, logo or branding to ship a rebranded or white-labelled version;
- run it as an accounting service, where people other than your own staff and contractors use its accounting or invoicing features.
Anything past those limits needs a commercial licence from Akaunting. Each version converts to GPLv3 four years after it is published, so 3.2.3, released on 31 August 2026, becomes GPLv3 on 31 August 2030.
For a freelancer or a two-person business keeping its own books, the free grant fits. For an agency that wants to host it for clients, it does not.
What is in the zip
The release zip is 71.2 MB and unpacks to 21,291 files, about 234 MB. It is the built application rather than bare source: vendor/ with every Composer dependency is included, and so are the compiled front-end assets in public/. Installing from it needs no Composer and no Node, which a clone of the repository does.
Two apps come bundled in modules/: Offline Payments and PayPal Standard. We unpacked the zip and ran php artisan --version on PHP 8.3, which reports Laravel Framework 10.50.3.
Requirements
From Akaunting’s own on-premise requirements page:
- PHP 8.1 or newer
- A database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite or SQL Server
- A web server such as Apache, Nginx or IIS, with URL rewriting
- PHP extensions: BCMath, Ctype, cURL, DOM, FileInfo, Intl, GD, JSON, Mbstring, OpenSSL, PDO, Tokenizer, XML and Zip
The zip ships an .htaccess for Apache, a web.config for IIS, and nginx.example.com.conf as a starting point for Nginx.
One note from testing. The command-line installer asks for a database host, port, name, user and password, then connects over that host and port. With the connection switched to SQLite it still tried MySQL on port 3306 and stopped. If you want an easy install, plan on MySQL or MariaDB.
What 3.2.3 changed
A small maintenance release. Payments updated through the REST API were saved incorrectly, and the client portal could record the same payment twice; both are fixed. The category selector’s add-new option was also updated.
When to use something else
If you need more than two users or more than one company without paying, Akaunting’s licence rules it out, and a GPL or MIT accounting package is a better starting point. If you would rather host nothing at all, a hosted accounting service is less work. And if all you need is a double-entry ledger inside your own code, not an application with screens, the Double-Entry Ledger for PHP on this site is far closer to the job.
Key capabilities
The built app, not a clone
The zip carries vendor/ with every Composer dependency and the compiled assets in public/. Unzip, point a web server at it, run the installer. Installing from the repository instead means composer install, npm install and a front-end build first.
Three limits on free use
BSL 1.1 allows production use up to two users, one company and 1,000 invoices. It excludes white-labelling and running it as an accounting service for third parties. Past that, Akaunting sells a commercial licence.
Pick the database with care
The requirements page lists MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite and SQL Server. In our test the CLI installer still connected to MySQL on port 3306 when set to SQLite, so MySQL or MariaDB is the smooth route.
Extends through apps
Akaunting is modular. Offline Payments and PayPal Standard ship in the zip; further apps come from Akaunting's App Store, separately from this download.
A maintenance release
3.2.3 fixes payments updated through the REST API being saved incorrectly and the client portal recording a payment twice, and updates the category selector's add-new option.
Questions & Answers
Is Akaunting really free?
The download is free, and so is production use within the licence's grant: at most two users, one company and 1,000 invoices, with no rebranding and no hosting it as a service for others. Beyond that you need a commercial licence from Akaunting.
Is it open source?
Not in the OSI sense. It is source-available under the Business Source License 1.1. You can read, copy and modify the code, but production use is limited as above. Each version becomes GPLv3 four years after its release; for 3.2.3 that is 31 August 2030.
Can I host it for my clients?
Not under the free grant. The licence rules out an "Accounting Service", meaning a commercial offering where third parties use its accounting or invoicing features. That needs a commercial licence.
Can I put my own brand on it?
No. Removing Akaunting's name, logo or branding to distribute a white-labelled version is one of the three things the grant excludes.
Do I need Composer or Node?
Not with this zip. It already contains vendor/ and the built assets. You only need Composer and Node if you install from a clone of the repository instead.
Which database should I use?
Akaunting's requirements list MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite and SQL Server. In our test the command-line installer still tried to reach MySQL when the connection was set to SQLite, so MySQL or MariaDB is the path with the fewest surprises.
Are the extra apps free?
Two come in the zip: Offline Payments and PayPal Standard. Others are in Akaunting's App Store, which is run by Akaunting and its developers and is not part of this download.
How do I upgrade an existing install?
Back up the database and the files before you touch anything, then follow Akaunting's documentation. Accounting data is the one part of an install you cannot rebuild from a zip.
Is Bineret connected to Akaunting?
No. This page describes Akaunting and links to the file Akaunting, Inc. publishes on GitHub. Bineret cannot grant or sell Akaunting licences.
Tutorials
Check the licence fits first
Free production use covers up to two users, one company and 1,000 invoices, and does not cover hosting Akaunting for clients or rebranding it. The full terms are in LICENSE.txt. If you are over any limit, stop here and look at Akaunting's commercial plans.
Prepare the host
You need PHP 8.1 or newer with BCMath, Ctype, cURL, DOM, FileInfo, Intl, GD, JSON, Mbstring, OpenSSL, PDO, Tokenizer, XML and Zip. List what your PHP has with:
php -mCreate an empty database and a user that owns it. MySQL or MariaDB is the straightforward choice.
Upload and unzip
Unzip the release into the folder your domain serves. index.php and .htaccess sit at the top level of the zip, so on Apache that folder can be the web root as it is. On Nginx start from nginx.example.com.conf; on IIS, web.config is included. The web server must be able to write to storage/ and bootstrap/cache/.
unzip Akaunting_3.2.3-Stable.zip -d /var/www/akaunting
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/akaunting/storage /var/www/akaunting/bootstrap/cacheRun the installer
Open the site in a browser and the installer asks for the language, the database details, and the first company and admin account. Or do it from a shell:
php artisan install --db-host=localhost --db-port=3306 --db-name=akaunting \
--db-username=akaunting --db-password="your-db-password" \
--admin-email=you@example.com --admin-password="a-long-password" \
--company-name="Your Company" --company-email=you@example.comRun with --no-interaction and every option has to be present, --db-port included. Leave one out and the command stops and names the missing option rather than guessing.
Try it on sample data
php artisan sample-data:seedDo this on a test install. It fills the database with invented customers and transactions, which is the last thing you want in real books.
Support
Where support comes from
Akaunting, Inc. makes and maintains this software, so support is theirs to give. Ask questions in the Akaunting forum, read the documentation, and report bugs as GitHub issues. Security problems go through their security policy, not a public issue.
What Bineret covers
This page. If the download link is broken or something written here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it. We do not install, host or configure Akaunting, and we do not give accounting advice.
Licences beyond the free grant
More users, more companies, hosting for clients or rebranding all need a commercial licence, which only Akaunting can sell: akaunting.com/plans-on-premise.
No warranty
The licence provides the software as-is, without warranty. Keep regular database backups and test a restore at least once, before you need one.
