Open-source Sage 50 alternatives

Akaunting is an accounting application delivered over the web and aimed at small businesses and freelancers. It is built with Laravel, Vue, Tailwind and a RESTful API, and its modular structure supports an app store where users and developers can extend the core product with additional features.

The topics show its scope: invoicing, billing, payments, expenses, budgets, bookkeeping and balances, with further hints at payroll, CRM and ERP use. It installs with Composer and npm, needs PHP 8.1 or higher and Node.js 18 or 20, and works with MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite behind Apache, Nginx or IIS. An optional command seeds sample data for trying it.

The project offers a forum for support, documentation, a developer portal and the app store. The repository lists the license as Other, so check the licence file for terms. Because it is PHP and Laravel based, it suits teams that want to run and customize their own accounting system on a standard web hosting stack.

GnuCash is financial accounting software for individuals and small businesses, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. It lets you track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses, and it is built on professional accounting principles so that books balance and reports are accurate.

The interface is meant to be as quick and intuitive as a checkbook register while still being flexible. It is double-entry accounting software, and it is available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, macOS and Microsoft Windows, with a Flatpak build on Flathub. The website lists documentation, an FAQ, mailing lists and chat, and the interface is available in many languages.

GnuCash is developed, maintained, documented and translated entirely by volunteers, and the project invites help with development, documentation and translation. It is written in C, and older releases remain available for Windows 7, older macOS versions and PowerPC Macs.

Bigcapital is accounting and inventory software for small and medium businesses. It aims to keep business finances in one place and automate accounting processes, producing financial statements and reports to support decisions. The project is positioned as an independent alternative to QuickBooks, Xero and Wave.

Repository topics cover double-entry accounting, invoicing, bills, expenses, payments and inventory management. The README describes multiple ways to get started: use Bigcapital Cloud, or self-host the open-source edition on your own servers with Docker. It is written in TypeScript and gives teams the ability to inspect and adapt the code.

Bigcapital is available under the AGPL license for self-hosting, while the vendor runs the managed cloud version. It suits freelancers, small companies and bookkeepers who want accounting control without per-user subscriptions to a closed platform.