AkastroidDownload Akastroid
Free to try on your own data. No account and no card; processing runs on your computer.
Akastroid runs on Mac, Windows and Linux
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One email with the link and nothing else. The address is not stored.
While you are here: the gallery · guides · Image Doctor
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Opening it on a Mac
- Open the .dmg and drag Akastroid to your Applications folder.
- Open Akastroid from Applications. It opens like any other app.
Since 1.3.14 the Mac app is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple, so macOS does not ask you to allow it. If you still have an older copy that shows a warning, download this version again.
Opening it on Linux (beta), the first time
- In a terminal, in your Downloads folder, make the file runnable:
chmod +x Akastroid_*.AppImage - Double-click it, or run
./Akastroid_*.AppImage. - If it does not start on Ubuntu 22.04 or later, install FUSE once:
sudo apt install libfuse2.
The Linux build is new: if something does not work, write to hello@akastroid.com. Linux reads SER and AVI video; MP4 is not supported there. On Ubuntu or Debian you can install the .deb package instead.
Opening it on Windows, the first time
- Run the installer you downloaded.
- If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", clickMore info, then Run anyway.
- Open Akastroid from the Start menu.
Shown once because the app is not code signed yet. The file itself is fine.
Version 1.3.17 · 4 October 2026 · macOS 12+, Windows 10/11 and Linux · what changed in this version
macOS
Both slices are published: a native Apple silicon build for M1 and later, and an Intel build for pre-2020 Macs. Pick the one matching your machine. If you are not sure, the Apple menu's About This Mac says which. Both are signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple since 1.3.14, so they open like any other app.
Apple silicon · macOS 12 Monterey or later, Apple silicon · .dmg · SHA-256 cb2f4135b4f0f65bf503a9f348b0ac4ed8bf23b159dd35a08a978168fa226fa6
Intel · macOS 12 Monterey or later, Intel · .dmg · SHA-256 9ee0ede0e1c249893bee6d5c50c9da3be3bc114840dca1a8f1fb8b2059161bfe
Windows
The same engine, from the same source, at the same version. It is not code signed, so SmartScreen will stop it once on first run: click More info, then Run anyway. That is Windows telling you the publisher is unverified, which is true. It is not saying the file is unsafe. The SHA-256 below is there so you can check the download rather than take our word for it.
Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit · .exe, SHA-256 57a1bc8ff33b7c92d80a90c337be4bfc90653e2e3203b23eb813fdd43aff7c4f
Getting started
1 · Point it at your session folder
The layout every tutorial teaches is the layout Akastroid expects. Keep your lights, darks, flats and bias in folders named for them and it finds all of them:
M42/
lights/ IMG_7005.CR2 …
darks/ IMG_7260.CR2 …
flats/ IMG_7294.CR2 …
biases/ IMG_7300.CR2 …Without calibration frames, Akastroid notes it once and carries on.
2 · Read what it found
It tells you what you photographed, how many frames are worth keeping, and why it rejected the ones it did. Disagree with any of it and click the row.
3 · Press the button
A hundred-frame DSLR session takes under a minute on a recent machine; a 206-frame Seestar session took 22 seconds. You get three finished versions to choose between.