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APIs · head to head

Akana vs Formance

Akana logo

Akana

APIs

Enterprise API lifecycle management platform

From
$2500/monthly
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Formance logo

Formance

APIs

Open source double-entry ledger and payment orchestration for money-moving software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Formance has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Akana owned by Perforce and sold within their portfolio rather than independently, and akana.com redirects to perforce.com; Formance formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • They diverge on capability: Akana covers API Lifecycle Management, Formance covers Double-entry ledger.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Akana and Formance actually diverge.

Attributes where Akana and Formance differ
AttributeAkanaFormance
Starting price$2500/monthlyFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsCloud, On-premise, HybridLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API
Founded2001Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Akana

  • API Lifecycle Management
  • API Security
  • Governance Controls
  • OAuth
  • SAML
  • LDAP
  • Active Directory
  • Cloud support

Only in Formance

  • Double-entry ledger
  • Numscript transaction DSL
  • Multi-currency
  • Payments connectivity
  • Reconciliation
  • Self-hosted deployment
  • Cloud offering
  • API and SDKs

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Akana

  • API lifecycle management across REST, SOAP and GraphQLnot Formance
  • Applying OAuth, JWT and SAML policies at the gatewaynot Formance
  • Running the same platform on-premises, in Kubernetes or across cloudsnot Formance
  • Developer portal and API monetisationnot Formance
  • Monitoring API traffic and enforcing quotasnot Formance

Formance

  • A marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditablenot Akana
  • A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot Akana
  • A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot Akana
  • A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot Akana

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Akana

  • Owned by Perforce and sold within their portfolio rather than independently, and akana.com redirects to perforce.com
  • Pricing is not published; only a 30 day trial is offered

Formance

  • Formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • Numscript is a domain-specific language your team must learn, and while it makes complex splits expressible it also means transaction logic sits outside the languages your engineers already debug well.
  • Self-hosting a ledger that must never lose or duplicate a transaction is a serious operational commitment covering backups, upgrades and Postgres tuning, which is real cost the zero licence fee hides.
  • Enterprise pricing is not published, so the difference between the free path and the supported path cannot be evaluated without a sales conversation.
  • The company is much smaller than the incumbent alternatives, and while the MIT licence protects the code it does not protect the roadmap, so features on the hosted side may arrive slowly or change direction.

Pricing, plan by plan

Akana

$2500/monthly
  • Professional$2500/monthly
    • API Gateway
    • Developer Portal
    • Basic analytics
  • Enterprise$5000/monthly
    • Advanced governance
    • Multi-cloud support
    • Premium support
  • Custom$undefined/monthly
    • Custom solutions
    • Dedicated support
    • SLA guarantee

Formance

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • MIT licensed core ledger
    • Numscript transaction DSL
    • Multi-currency tracking
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Managed or private deployment
    • Payments connectivity and reconciliation
    • Support with response commitments

Which should you pick?

Choose Akana if

  • You need api lifecycle management.
  • You work on Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid.
  • You also want api security.
Akana review

Choose Formance if

  • You need double-entry ledger.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
  • You also want numscript transaction dsl.
Formance review

Questions people ask

Is Akana or Formance better?
Neither clearly leads. Akana starts at $2500/monthly and Formance at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Akana or Formance?
Formance has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $2500/monthly for Akana and Free for Formance.
Does Akana or Formance run on more platforms?
Akana runs on Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid. Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
Can I use Formance for free?
Yes. Formance has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Akana starts at $2500/monthly.
What is Akana best used for?
Akana is most often used for api lifecycle management across rest, soap and graphql, applying oauth, jwt and saml policies at the gateway, running the same platform on-premises, in kubernetes or across clouds, developer portal and api monetisation. Of those, api lifecycle management across rest, soap and graphql and applying oauth, jwt and saml policies at the gateway are not what Formance is typically brought in for.
What can Akana do that Formance cannot?
Akana covers API Lifecycle Management, API Security, Governance Controls, OAuth. Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Akana: What does Akana API Platform include?

Akana provides mediation and integration capabilities for creating easy-to-consume API products from API code, with features for API governance, security, and operational management.

Source
Formance: Is Formance really open source?

Yes. The core ledger is MIT licensed with full source access and no deployment restrictions.

Akana: How does Akana help secure APIs?

Akana addresses the security challenges that come with more APIs and more endpoints, providing tools for enterprise API governance and compliance management.

Source
Formance: Does Formance move money?

No. It records and orchestrates movements; the actual payments happen at a PSP or bank you connect.

Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

Not published. It is an annual subscription quoted per customer.

Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?

Yes for anything beyond the simplest transfers. It is how multi-party transactions are expressed atomically.

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