Replace / Xero
Replace Xero with Akaunting / Invoice Ninja
The best open-source alternative to Xero is Akaunting or Invoice Ninja, self-hosted on Railway. Invoices and books you host. Akaunting is the open-source accounting app; Invoice Ninja is the source-available invoicing suite.
Estimated save $1,200 a year.
Open the stackStart on Railway
How Xero compares
| Xero | Akaunting / Invoice Ninja | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Hosted subscription | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | Public list price not verified this run | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- Akaunting
Open-source online accounting
- Invoice Ninja
Source-available invoices, quotes, and time tracking
FAQ
- Is it free?
- The Akaunting / Invoice Ninja licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no Xero seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from Xero?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The Akaunting / Invoice Ninja stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old Xero links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the Akaunting / Invoice Ninja stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). Placeholder: Invoice Ninja or Akaunting + MySQL and a volume. SMTP via Resend. Lock the admin.
- What does this replace?
- QuickBooks / FreshBooks / Xero. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $1,200 a year.
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