GuideApril 22, 202611 min read

Migrating from Axonaut to Dolibarr: a complete 2026 guide

How do you leave Axonaut without losing data or clients? Step-by-step method to migrate invoices, third parties, opportunities and accounting entries to Dolibarr.

Why leave Axonaut for Dolibarr

Axonaut is a solid online business management tool to start with, but many SMBs eventually run into three limits: a monthly cost that climbs quickly with the number of users, very restricted customisation, and the inability to host your own data. Dolibarr offers a mature open-source alternative that covers the same core features (quotes, invoices, light CRM, banking) with a radically different economic model: free license, free hosting, and a marketplace of modules to extend functionality. Before switching, however, you have to accept it is a paradigm shift: Dolibarr requires a bit more initial configuration in exchange for total control afterwards.

Total cost of ownership typically divided by 3 over 3 years
Free hosting: your server, your cloud, or a specialised Dolibarr host
Open-source GPLv3 code, no proprietary lock-in
More than 200 modules available on the official DoliStore
Active community and public roadmap

Map your Axonaut data before migrating

The first step, often skipped, is to inventory exactly what your current Axonaut contains. Log in and methodically list every data type: number of third parties (customers and suppliers), volume of associated contacts, history of quotes and invoices over the last three years, open opportunities, bank entries, expenses, employees and expense reports. This count lets you size your target Dolibarr correctly and anticipate any data-model gaps. Use this step to clean up too: archive inactive contacts, deduplicate, close ghost opportunities.

Quantified inventory of each entity (third parties, contacts, quotes, invoices, opportunities)
Identification of sensitive or regulated data (GDPR, accounting)
Pre-migration cleanup: duplicates, inactive contacts, obsolete opportunities
Read-only Axonaut export (CSV or API) for archiving
List of Axonaut custom fields to recreate as Dolibarr extrafields

Prepare the target Dolibarr environment

Never start a migration on a freshly installed Dolibarr without preparation. First enable the modules you will need: Third parties and Contacts, Commercial proposals, Orders, Invoices, Banks, Projects if Axonaut uses them. Configure your company details (IBAN, legal mentions, VAT rates), your numbering schemes (invoice, quote, order prefixes), your chart of accounts if you keep accounting in Dolibarr, and create users with proper permissions. It is also a good moment to decide whether to switch the PDF engine to a modern model — Dolicraft offers DolicraftPDFDesigner to visually customise your documents.

Sequenced module activation: core first, extensions later
Numbering schemes set before any import (irreversible impact)
User and permission groups created beforehand
Chart of accounts and VAT rates aligned with your regime
PDF templates tested on dummy documents before import

Migrate technically with DolicraftMigrateAxonaut

Manual CSV migration is possible but tedious: you must transform each Axonaut export, map columns to Dolibarr structure, manage third party / contact relationships and reconstruct opportunities. The DolicraftMigrateAxonaut module automates all of this: it connects to the Axonaut API with your credentials, reads every entity, applies a configurable mapping and writes into Dolibarr respecting model constraints (foreign keys, unique codes, statuses). Dry-run mode lets you verify what will be created before any final write. Expect two to six hours for a typical SMB, most of which is spent verifying results rather than executing the migration itself.

Secure Axonaut API connection via token (no manual export)
Per-field configurable mapping to handle your specifics
Dry-run mode: full preview before writing to the database
Automatic third party ↔ contact ↔ opportunity link rebuild
Detailed migration report with successes, failures and warnings

Pick up accounting and finish the transition

The accounting part deserves special attention. If you keep the books in Axonaut, decide whether to start fresh in Dolibarr (with a year-opening balance carry-forward) or import the full history. For most SMBs, opening-balance carry-forward is the right choice: it avoids transposing sometimes-poorly-typed entries and lets you start your fiscal year cleanly. Keep your Axonaut read-only for 12 months to consult history when needed. On invoicing, warn your clients of the IBAN change if you take the opportunity to switch banks, and set up dunning early with a dedicated module like DolicraftRelance to keep collection momentum.

Opening-balance carry-forward at start of fiscal year, not full reload
Tolerate dual entry for 1-2 months to harden the cutover
Keep Axonaut read-only for at least 12 months
Communicate changes to clients (IBAN, invoice references)
Activate DolicraftRelance immediately for collection workflow

Common pitfalls to avoid

Three mistakes recur on Axonaut → Dolibarr migrations. First: migrating during fiscal close. Pick a quiet window instead, ideally after fiscal year-end. Second: forgetting attachments. Invoices, quotes and orders often carry PDFs in Axonaut that must be downloaded and re-attached in Dolibarr — DolicraftMigrateAxonaut does this automatically, but a manual migration almost always misses it. Third: underestimating training. Plan at least half a day per user role to show the equivalent Dolibarr screens, otherwise productivity will tank for several weeks after go-live.