Most projects can start with the open-source edition. Consider Official when the product needs commerce, payments, memberships or points, AI support, or a ready-made website.
This article comes from the AppKernia team. Check its claims against the homepage edition comparison and public repository, and use the limitations below to make your own decision.
1. What the free edition provides
AppKernia is a cross-platform full-stack foundation comprising:
- Mobile: uni-app x with UTS/UVue for iOS, Android and HarmonyOS;
- Admin: React, TypeScript, Vite and Ant Design;
- Server: Go and PostgreSQL, including API, background worker and CLI.
The open-source edition uses the MIT license and permits commercial use. Keep the license notice when using or distributing it. The following foundation capabilities are shared by both editions:
Diagram based on the homepage edition comparison.
- Accounts and authorization: registration, login and password recovery; viewing and revoking device sessions; tenants and apps; roles, menus and data permissions; organizations, departments and positions.
- Content and messages: editing and publishing articles; categories, tags and topics; search and bookmarks; comments and moderation; in-app messages and multiple vendor push channels.
- Configuration and operations: files and object storage; system configuration and dictionaries; app releases and upgrades; operation audits and security events; scheduled tasks and queues; API clients, webhooks and Docker deployment.
- Developer experience: OpenAPI contracts, generated clients and complete Chinese and English localization.
For an internal business tool, content app, IoT management app or customer-service app that does not charge inside the app, this may cover the required foundation.
2. The five Official additions
Official costs ¥2,998 as a one-time source purchase, adding five official modules:
| Module | Purpose | Design considerations |
|---|---|---|
| AI provider integration | Manage several model providers behind a unified API | /ai-api/v1; quotas by tenant, app and key; prompts and model output are not stored; calls with uncertain billing outcomes are not replayed automatically |
| AI customer support | Add a support widget to a website with a loader script | Configure roles, products and FAQ in the admin; prices and specifications come from maintained records; staff can take over; AI keys stay out of the browser |
| Commerce, orders and payments | Sell physical and digital products, including shipping and after-sales service | Integer amounts in minor currency units; inventory reservations; callbacks and clients are not financial evidence; query timed-out payments and reconcile each transaction daily |
| Memberships, points and digital delivery | Subscriptions, point redemption, download codes and private-file delivery | Convert unused net value on upgrades to compensation duration; an immutable points ledger with FIFO batches; freeze and revoke affected entitlements on refunds |
| Next.js official website | Product pages, articles, shop and member center | Share the app's account while separating sessions; tokens remain in HttpOnly cookies |
The payment module integrates WeChat Pay and Alipay scenarios. Apple support includes server-side transaction verification and a StoreKit 2 native plugin.
The difficult work is keeping money and entitlements consistent: duplicate callbacks, competing for the last item in stock, points already spent before a refund, or refunds during membership upgrades. Official's value lies substantially in those orchestration boundaries.
3. What the price does not include
Diagram based on the homepage fees and services description.
- Deployment, customization and maintenance are quoted separately. The source price does not include deploying the service, adapting the business or maintaining it indefinitely.
- You pay third-party costs, including hosting, model APIs, SMS, email and payment channels.
- You provide merchant eligibility and credentials, including WeChat Pay and Alipay merchant accounts, Apple developer membership and in-app purchase products, and push-vendor accounts.
- You perform acceptance in your real environment. AppKernia's own commerce module is deployed, but at the time of this article new purchases remain closed. Real small-value payments and refunds, App Store in-app purchase review and device payment acceptance are still being verified. Integration tests cover transaction orchestration, including duplicate fulfillment, inventory contention and refund reversals, using test payment adapters. That verifies orchestration, not successful real collection. With the source, you still need to test small payments, refunds and reconciliation using your own merchant account.
- Official additions are not MIT-licensed. The foundation is MIT; the added source follows the purchase agreement. Confirm its scope before buying.
4. Choosing an edition
Choose according to project requirements.
- No in-app charging and no AI support: use the open-source edition.
- Charging is required, and you will design orders, payments, refunds and reconciliation yourself: use the open-source edition and accept responsibility for the financial consistency work.
- Charging or AI support is required, and you want to adapt existing transaction orchestration: consider Official.
- You need a complete delivery without an in-house development team: discuss deployment and customization before selecting an edition.
Another approach is to start with the open-source edition. Run accounts, content and push; confirm your team can maintain Go, React and uni-app x; then upgrade when commercialization is needed. The shared foundation does not require a complete rewrite.
5. Spend an afternoon verifying it first
Before choosing either edition:
- Follow the local setup documentation, sign into the admin, bookmark an article in the app, update it in the admin, and confirm the app reads the new version.
- Attempt cross-account access with two test accounts and confirm the server rejects it.
- Add a test field through the whole path: database migration, OpenAPI, generated client, admin and mobile display.
These checks reveal how much work the foundation saves and which parts your team will need help maintaining.
- Open-source repository: github.com/Payhon/AppKernia
- Developer documentation: docs.appkernia.com
- Edition comparison and enquiries: the AppKernia homepage's edition comparison and source-licensing enquiry entry