PHP Ledger review
Free, open-source books with useful reports, but maintenance has stopped.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
PHP Ledger is open-source accounting software for small businesses that want double-entry books and can manage their own hosting. It records invoices, supplier bills, payments, stock movements and bank transactions as balanced journals. Its feature set covers everyday bookkeeping tasks, including partial payments and credits, along with profit and loss, balance sheet, trial balance and ageing reports. The software runs on PHP with MySQL or MariaDB and can be deployed on infrastructure the business manages; cloud deployment is also listed. The core software remains free under AGPL-3.0-or-later.
Its accounting scope is broader than a basic ledger: users can import CSV bank statements and reconcile transactions, while optional modules add purchasing, inventory tracking, stock valuation and cash point of sale. Role-based users and permissions provide a way to separate access. The API and MCP connections are read-only and apply to supported reports, so they are suited to retrieving information rather than automating accounting changes. Teams evaluating integrations should account for that limit, and should check that their required workflows are covered before choosing PHP Ledger.
The main qualification is project continuity. The maintainer says maintenance has stopped for lack of funds and that no further updates or fixes are planned until work is funded. That makes the free, self-hosted option more appropriate for a small team able to accept responsibility for its own deployment and ongoing risk than for a business that depends on active vendor maintenance. A team that needs planned fixes or ongoing support should consider an actively maintained alternative; PHP Ledger may fit teams prioritizing open-source double-entry accounting and willing to own the operational trade-offs.
PHP Ledger pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Records invoices, bills, payments and bank transactions as balanced journals
- Includes CSV bank imports, reconciliation and core financial reports
- Optional inventory, stock valuation and cash point of sale
- Where it doesn't
- Maintainer says development has stopped, with no updates or fixes planned
- Self-hosting requires infrastructure managed by the user
- API and MCP connections are read-only and limited to supported reports
PHP Ledger fact sheet, pricing and score →
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