Akeeba Backup still available?

Previously, I was using Akeeba to backup my site and separately my database into Zips. I would download the Zips and sometimes restore them locally on my own machine for offline development, testing, play.
With the upgrade, it doesn't look like Akeeba is properly configured anymore. The output directory is not valid. The old backups are marked "obsolete" and are unavailable. There is a new version of the component but I can't upgrade it without a key.
Is Akeeba still the recommended method for backups?