Akaunting
by Akaunting
by Akaunting
Profile Information Last updated on: 1 July 2024
Profile Information Last updated on: 1 July 2024
We help make selecting a software for your business effortless, economical and efficient.
by Akaunting
by Akaunting
Profile Information Last updated on: 1 July 2024
Profile Information Last updated on: 1 July 2024
The typical implementation process for Akaunting software, as described on their official website, involves setting up an account on their platform to start managing your financials online. This process includes utilizing features such as invoicing, expense tracking, and managing transaction categories. Given that Akaunting is a free, open-source, and online accounting software designed for small businesses and freelancers, the setup process is streamlined to be accessible and user-friendly. The duration of the implementation process can vary depending on the specific needs and technical proficiency of the user but is generally designed to be quick and straightforward, allowing users to get started with managing their finances online without significant delays.
Since Akaunting is open-source and offers its source code for the On-Premise (self-hosted) version, users who opt for this version can have additional control over the implementation process. This could include customizing the software to better fit their specific business needs, which might extend the setup time depending on the extent of the customizations. However, for most users who go with the standard setup, the process can be completed in a relatively short amount of time, allowing them to access their financials online anytime and anywhere.
1. Open-Source Nature: Akaunting is open-source, which means users can access and modify the source code to tailor the software to their specific requirements.
2. API for Custom Integrations: Akaunting provides a RESTful API that allows for the development of custom integrations and extensions. This API supports various programming languages, enabling users to programmatically access and modify Akaunting data to suit their business operations.
3. Custom Apps and Extensions: Users can create custom apps that extend the functionality of Akaunting. For instance, it's possible to develop an app that modifies existing features, such as simplifying purchase bills by removing unnecessary fields, or adding new functionalities like setting common settings across multiple companies within the system.
4. Marketplace for Add-ons: Akaunting has an App Store that offers various apps for integration, such as a two-way sync with HubSpot for CRM and contact management. These apps can be used to enhance the functionality of Akaunting and tailor it to specific business needs.
5. Customization Without Source Code Modification: The software allows for customization through overriding existing functionalities without directly modifying the source code. This approach helps maintain compatibility with future software updates.
6. Community Support: The active community around Akaunting can also be a resource for custom development. Users can share customizations, get help with specific modifications, and find developers familiar with Akaunting.
7. Documentation and Support: Akaunting provides documentation that includes developer manuals and guides on how to use its API for creating custom integrations, which is crucial for businesses looking to tailor the software extensively.
These points illustrate that Akaunting is highly adaptable, making it suitable for businesses with unique processes or requirements that need specific accounting software solutions.
1. Bigcapital (Elestio): Bigcapital, hosted on Elestio, offers a fully managed open-source service with predictable pricing that covers everything including compute, storage, bandwidth, updates, security, and maintenance. The pricing model guarantees a monthly price without specifying the exact amount, indicating that additional costs are bundled into a single predictable fee. Support varies by plan, with the Test plan offering email and community support, the Staging Support plan guaranteeing a response within 2 business days, and the Production Support plan guaranteeing a response within 1 business day along with a dedicated customer success manager.
2. Zoho Books: Zoho Books offers a free plan with no mention of setup fees. However, it has additional pricing tiers for more advanced features, starting at $20 per month for the Standard plan and going up to $275 per month for the Ultimate plan. While specific maintenance or support charges are not mentioned, the tiered pricing suggests that higher tiers may offer more in terms of support.
3. Wave Accounting: Wave Accounting provides its Starter plan for free, with a Pro plan available for $16 per month. The information does not specify additional costs for setup, maintenance, or support charges directly, but the existence of a paid plan indicates that some advanced features and possibly enhanced support are available for a fee.
4. Odoo: Odoo allows the use of a single app for free, with additional pricing tiers per user per month for access to all apps. The costs are $38.90 per user per month for access to all apps, and $58.40 per user per month for access across multiple companies plus Odoo’s external API. This suggests that while the base software may be free for a single app, scaling up and accessing more integrated features incurs monthly per-user fees.
5. Manager: Manager offers a free desktop-based version, with a cloud edition available for $59 per month. This indicates that while the initial software may be free, accessing it via the cloud and potentially receiving additional support and maintenance comes with a monthly fee.
It's clear that while many accounting software options offer free initial plans, additional costs can arise from upgrading to more advanced plans, accessing cloud versions, or requiring dedicated support and maintenance services. These costs vary significantly between different providers and should be considered carefully when choosing an accounting software solution.
1. Community Support: Akaunting has a large community forum with over 70,000 registered members. This forum is a valuable resource for new users to get help, share experiences, and learn from other community members. The forum covers a wide range of topics from basic usage to more advanced features and customization.
2. Dedicated Support: For users looking for more personalized assistance, Akaunting offers dedicated support services. This includes developer assistance, installation and configuration help, troubleshooting, and continuous support with a 24-hour response time for up to 20 issue fixes. This service is particularly useful for users who require technical support directly from the Akaunting team.
3. Help Center: The Akaunting Help Center is another resource for new users. It provides detailed documentation and guides on various aspects of using Akaunting, from setting up the software to managing different accounting tasks. The Help Center is designed to help both general users and developers understand the software's structure and capabilities.
4. Video Tutorials: There are also video resources available, such as the Akaunting Software Installation and Demo Review on YouTube, which can help new users see the software in action and learn about its features through visual demonstrations.
These training and support options make it easier for new users to get up to speed with Akaunting, whether they prefer self-service resources like forums and video tutorials or more direct support through dedicated services.
1. Data Encryption: Akaunting uses data encryption to secure user data, which is a critical security measure for protecting sensitive financial information from unauthorized access.
2. Cloud-Based Security: As a cloud-based platform, Akaunting benefits from the inherent security measures provided by cloud services, including advanced encryption and access control. These measures ensure that only authorized users can access the data.
3. Automatic Data Backups: Akaunting provides automatic data backups, which are essential for data recovery and protection against data loss due to system failures or security breaches.
4. Open Source Transparency: Being an open-source platform, Akaunting allows users and developers to review its source code. This transparency helps identify and rectify any potential security vulnerabilities, contributing to overall data security.
5. Regular Security Updates: Akaunting's commitment to security includes regular updates and patches to its software, which protect against new threats and vulnerabilities as they arise.
6. Privacy Policy Compliance: Akaunting's privacy policy outlines its commitment to protecting user data, complying with regulations such as GDPR. This includes measures to prevent unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction of personal information.
These security measures collectively help ensure that Akaunting provides a secure environment for managing financial data, safeguarding it against unauthorized access and other potential security threats.
Akaunting releases regular updates to ensure the best business accounting workflow for its users. These updates include bug fixes and feature enhancements to improve the overall functionality and security of the software. The management of these updates, especially for users who install Akaunting on their own servers (On-Premise version), involves a few steps to ensure that the software stays up-to-date with the latest security patches and bug fixes.
For users running Akaunting on Ubuntu, the tutorial on installing Akaunting software suggests setting up automatic updates using Ubuntu's 'unattended-upgrades' tool. This tool can automatically install security updates, helping to keep the Akaunting installation secure and up-to-date without manual intervention. Users can enable this feature by installing 'unattended-upgrades' and configuring it to automatically apply updates.
This approach to managing updates, leveraging automatic update tools available within the operating system, helps reduce the administrative overhead for users and ensures that critical updates are applied in a timely manner.
Akaunting's policy on data ownership and portability emphasizes user control and accessibility of data. While specific terms regarding data ownership and portability are not explicitly detailed in the provided sources, several key points can be inferred based on Akaunting's practices and features:
1. User Control Over Data: Akaunting, being an open-source platform, inherently gives users control over their data. Users can access, modify, and manage their data directly within the software.
2. Data Export Capabilities: Akaunting supports data export, allowing users to move their data from the Akaunting cloud server to their own server if desired. This feature is crucial for data portability, enabling users to retain control over their financial data and migrate it to different environments as their needs change.
3. Privacy Policy: Akaunting's privacy policy outlines its approach to handling user data, including retention and deletion practices. The policy states that Akaunting retains personal information only as long as necessary for the success of the project and the programs that support Akaunting.com. Users can request the deletion of their data, which Akaunting will anonymize or remove from publicly accessible sites if deletion would impact essential systems or records necessary for the operation, development, or archival records of the Akaunting open source project.
4. Data Export from Cloud Server: Akaunting allows users to export their data from the cloud server to their own server at a later date, providing flexibility and ensuring users can maintain access to their data regardless of the platform they choose to use.
5. Backup & Restore App: The Backup & Restore app available in Akaunting's App Store further supports data portability. This app enables users to back up every part of their Akaunting, including invoices, items, bills, settings, and more, and restore them with just one click. It also facilitates migrating Akaunting data from the cloud to a self-hosted server and vice versa, ensuring users can easily manage and transfer their financial data as needed.
Akaunting provides flexible terms for scaling up or down as organizational needs change, particularly through its various pricing plans and the ability to switch between them.
1. Changing Pricing Plans: Akaunting allows users to easily change their pricing plans, accommodating both upgrades and downgrades between the Free Forever plan and the Ultimate plan. This flexibility ensures that businesses can adjust their software usage according to their evolving needs without being locked into a specific plan.
2. Cloud and On-Premise Options: Akaunting offers both cloud-hosted and on-premise versions, giving businesses the choice to select which model best fits their scale and operational preferences. The cloud version is hosted on Akaunting's servers, while the on-premise version can be installed on the user's own servers. This choice allows businesses to scale up by moving to a cloud environment or scale down to an on-premise setup if they prefer to manage their own IT infrastructure.
3. No App Included in Plans: It's important to note that no apps are included in any of the plans by default. All apps must be purchased separately from the App Store. This a la carte system allows businesses to scale their functionalities by adding only the apps they need, without paying for unnecessary features.
4. Cancellation Policy: Akaunting also offers a flexible cancellation policy, where users can cancel their plans at any time. This ensures that businesses are not financially penalized for scaling down or adjusting their software usage according to their current operational needs.
These terms provide businesses with the necessary flexibility to adapt their accounting software usage as their organizational needs change, whether they are expanding, contracting, or simply altering their operational focus.
The terms and conditions for contract renewal and cancellation for Akaunting are outlined primarily in their Terms of Service and related documentation.
1. Contract Renewal:
- Akaunting does not explicitly detail automatic renewal policies in the provided sources. However, given the nature of cloud-based services, users typically continue their subscriptions until they decide to cancel. For on-premise versions, renewal may pertain to purchasing updates or new versions if they choose not to use the free version.
2. Cancellation Policy:
- Users can cancel their Akaunting subscription at any time. This flexibility ensures that users are not bound by long-term financial commitments if the software no longer meets their needs. After cancellation, users can still enjoy using Akaunting until the end of their subscription period.
- For cloud services, since Akaunting hosts the software, cancellation would involve ceasing to use the services hosted on Akaunting's servers. For the on-premise version, cancellation simply means the user would stop using the software or not update it further.
3. No Refund Policy:
- Akaunting does not mention a refund policy, which suggests that payments made for any subscription or services are likely non-refundable. This is common with many software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms where users pay for access rather than ownership.
4. Change of Service Terms:
- Akaunting reserves the right to modify the terms of service at any time. This includes changes to the pricing, features, and support offered. Users are typically notified of these changes through updates to the terms of service posted on the Akaunting website.
5. License Agreement:
- The software is provided under the Business Source License (BSL) 1.1, which transitions to the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3) after a change date, which is four years from the release date of the licensed version. This licensing structure allows users some flexibility in how they use the software initially under BSL terms and fully open-source terms after the change date.
These terms ensure that users of Akaunting have the flexibility to adapt their use of the software according to their changing business needs while also providing a clear framework for how the software can be used, updated, or discontinued.
Akaunting software meets several compliance standards that are crucial for ensuring data security and privacy.
1. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Akaunting complies with GDPR, which is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas.
2. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA): Akaunting also adheres to the CCPA, which is a state statute intended to enhance privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of California, United States.
3. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): Although typically applicable to healthcare providers, insurers, and their business associates, Akaunting's compliance with HIPAA indicates its capability to handle sensitive health information securely, which is relevant for businesses that may deal with such data.
These compliance measures ensure that Akaunting provides a secure environment for managing financial data, safeguarding it against unauthorized access and ensuring privacy in accordance with major regulatory standards.
By Akaunting