Akaunting vs Fava
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Akaunting
Free open-source accounting software online
VS
Fava
Web interface for Beancount plain-text accounting
| Feature | Akaunting | Fava |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 10,133 | ★ 2,579 |
| First released | 2017 | 2016 |
| Replaces | QuickBooks, Xero | QuickBooks, GnuCash |
What are Akaunting and Fava?
Akaunting
Akaunting is a free, open-source accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. It handles invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation, and financial reporting with a modular app store.
- Double-entry accounting
- Invoicing and billing
- App store for extensions
- Multi-company support
Fava
Fava is a web interface for the Beancount plain-text, double-entry accounting system. It provides charts, balance sheets, income statements, and queries on top of plain-text ledger files.
- Web UI for Beancount
- Interactive charts and reports
- Powerful query language
- Plain-text ledger backend
Akaunting vs Fava: key differences
Akaunting is written in PHP, while Fava is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Akaunting versus MIT for Fava. Fava is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Akaunting. Akaunting has the considerably larger community, at 10,133 GitHub stars versus 2,579.
Why pick each one
Choose Akaunting if…
- Full accounting feature set
- Extensible via apps
Watch out for
- Many features are paid apps
- Reporting could be deeper
Choose Fava if…
- Great for plain-text accounting fans
- Version-controllable data
Watch out for
- Requires learning Beancount syntax
- Not beginner-friendly
Frequently asked questions
Is Akaunting or Fava better?
Neither is universally better. Akaunting has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Akaunting and Fava free and open-source?
Yes. Akaunting is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Fava under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Akaunting and Fava with Docker?
Akaunting: yes. Fava: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Akaunting or Fava?
Fava has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Akaunting. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.