Some accounting products are still desktop-run and can only be accessed from a certain computer. If accessing your accounting data from anywhere is a priority, look for a cloud-based option. QuickBooks is almost ubiquitous, but other companies, such as Xero, are making inroads as well. You want accounting software that can grow with your business. If you're planning to scale, look for options that come with comprehensive reporting capabilities and can be upgraded to serve a larger organization with more complicated financials.
If inventory management is a priority, look for a system that comes with useful tracking features or integrates with your point-of-sale system. If you're doing business is multiple countries, look for a product that can handle multiple currencies.
If you're not sure whether a product fits your business's needs, try out the free trial offered by most providers. When making the decision on which software to try, price is unlikely to be the deciding factor — but it's important to know what costs to expect and which services are included in the price. Shop now.
QuickBooks Online. View details. Why we like it QuickBooks is an industry leader, used by millions of small businesses worldwide. Pros Full suite of reports, including profit and loss statements and balance sheets.
Double-entry accounting. Cons Can take a little effort to learn. Our pick for Mobile-friendly option. FreshBooks Accounting. Why we like it FreshBooks' mobile app is intuitive and feature-rich, making it a great choice for entrepreneurs who spend more time on the phone than at a desk.
Pros Ease of use. Phone and online support. Our pick for Unlimited users. Learn more. Why we like it Xero stands out by allowing unlimited users at every subscription tier, a potentially valuable feature for businesses where several users may need at least limited access to the system to run reports or analyze performance. Pros Unlimited users in all pricing plans.
Inventory management. Automated bill and receipt capture. Cons No live phone support. Our pick for Low-cost, high-value.
Zoho Books. Why we like it Zoho Books packs an impressive collection of features and reporting capabilities for an affordable price. Ability to automate workflows. The basic QuickBooks Online plan includes typical features like invoicing, billing, and receipt scanning along with more comprehensive tracking than many competitors:. QuickBooks also has the absolute best mobile accounting app you can find.
The app can do basically everything the software can a rarity for any software provider, no matter the industry. If you work on the go, QuickBooks's app, which includes mobile mileage tracking, might make it a good fit. However, QuickBooks Self-Employed is geared specifically towards freelancers with just a few clients and limited expenses, and it's primarily an invoicing, mileage-tracking, and tax-tracking plan.
It helps sole proprietors who file Schedule C forms maximize their tax returns, but it's not a fully featured bookkeeping or accounting app.
Unlike Xero , FreshBooks lets you send an unlimited number of invoices and estimates with every plan. Each plan also includes time tracking for easier, more accurate client billing.
And, like QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks includes built-in mileage tracking—a must for freelancers who plan to claim mileage expenses on their year-end tax forms. You can send your customers an unlimited amount of invoices, but the cheapest plan limits that client number to just five.
Zoho Books automates the most common and, let's face it, boring bookkeeping tasks —which means you can dedicate more time to your business and customers and less time to the tedious task of data entry. Most notably, it lets you set automatic customer payment reminders, create recurring expense profiles, and manage contractors. Plus, Zoho Books is just one piece of software in the larger suite of Zoho products. Each Zoho product integrates easily with the rest, which means that along with accounting, you can use Zoho for project management , inventory management , and customer relationship management CRM —just for a start.
And it doesn't integrate with third-party payroll providers either. Instead, you have to manually update the payroll-related aspects of your books—which detracts from Zoho's primary perk of automation in a big way.
For instance, Wave Accounting includes multi-currency support, expense tracking, unlimited invoicing, and double-entry accounting —a more accurate method of accounting that FreshBooks' basic business accounting plan notably lacks. Wave also lets you juggle multiple businesses with the same account.
If you're an Amazon or eBay seller who also manages a small team of contractors, you can track both sets of finances without paying anything. Even though Wave has a useful payroll tool , its accounting software isn't necessarily right for businesses with dozens of employees. Since Wave offers just one accounting plan, businesses can't scale up to plans with more features as they grow. And Wave's lack of inventory tracking makes it better matched to service-based solopreneurs and freelancers who don't need both accounting and inventory software.
Not sold on our top picks? Here are five more small-business accounting software options that could work better for you.
Unfortunately, Sage charges extra for receipt scanning, a feature competitors like Wave, FreshBooks, Xero, and QuickBooks include for free. If you like Sage's platform but are looking for more fully featured plans with intense support and automation, Sage Intacct could be a good pick. We also like other versions of Sage for construction company accounting as do many construction professionals themselves.
All of OneUp's plans include customer relationship management CRM features, which makes it perfectly suited to sales teams that frequently follow up with customers. Got a minute to spare? You can set up Kashoo in 60 or so seconds, and the app immediately starts to categorize your expenses and learn your business spending habits.
Like Zoho Books, Kashoo's automation is its selling point—and unlike Zoho Books, it syncs with SurePayroll , one of our top payroll providers. However, Kashoo's simplicity makes it ill-suited to larger businesses that need more features and functions than Kashoo's straightforward software can provide. Along with sending invoices, you can use the free plan to track expenses, accept online payments, and send estimates. We're not sure if the free plan lets you track income and expenses or not—Kashoo's site gives contradictory answers.
Either way, though, it looks like Kashoo is planning on developing expense and income tracking for its free plan, if it doesn't include those two features already. Bear in mind, though, that it's just bookkeeping: GoDaddy can help you chart your finances, but it can't help you analyze those finances to grow your business.
If you don't need quite as many features as Wave offers, ZipBooks is a solid free accounting software alternative.
Even though it's free, it doesn't limit the number of invoices you can send like Xero or clients you can bill like FreshBooks per month—you can access unlimited customizable invoices and accept payments too. But if you prefer your accounting tools on the go, look elsewhere.
ZipBooks has a solid billing-only app for Apple users, but its Android accounting app is near-uniformly panned on Google Play. If you want fully featured accounting software with an excellent app, clean dashboard, and affordable price, we recommend Xero. Based on its features and pricing alone, it's a great bookkeeping and accounting company for most business types, from freelancers to LLCs. All of our other picks have something to offer too, so if you find Xero isn't a good fit, try one of these alternatives:.
Finding the best online accounting software for your small business can seriously transform your working life. With less time spent on data entry, you have more time for the things you like most about small-business ownership, whether that's getting to know customers or making products you're proud of.
Most of our top accounting software picks include a free trial, so don't be shy about trying a few different brands if you don't hit on your favorite right away. Need to pair payroll software with your new small-business bookkeeping and accounting software? Head over to our piece on the best payroll software for small businesses.
Do you work off a Mac? Check out the best small business accounting software for macs. QuickBooks is definitely among the most popular accounting software for small businesses, but being popular isn't the same as being the best. Sure, QuickBooks could be the best software for your small business, or you might find its prices too high and its features too limited.
Depending on what you need, another bookkeeping software pick like FreshBooks or Sage could be better for your business.
Not sure what your other options are? Check out our list of the year's best QuickBooks alternatives to get started. Wave Accounting is one of the most fully featured free accounting software options for small businesses.
Its user-friendly dashboard, low learning curve, and easy expense tracking make it ideal for freelancers and small-business owners who don't mind finding another app to manage inventory.
Xero, FreshBooks, and QuickBooks all sync with Gusto , our favorite payroll provider for small businesses. Of the accounting software providers listed here, only QuickBooks and Wave offer payroll plans in all 50 states.
To find and rank the best accounting software for freelancers and small-business owners, we carefully examined each accounting company's performance in a few crucial areas:. We weighted each category equally to derive our star ratings, along with our accounting expert's opinion and advice. Star ratings are subject to frequent review and may change.
Sources 1. At Business. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services. By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Disclaimer: The information featured in this article is based on our best estimates of pricing, package details, contract stipulations, and service available at the time of writing. All information is subject to change. For the most accurate information, please ask your customer service representative.
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We may earn money when you click on our links. Learn More. To rank the year's best accounting software for small businesses, we looked at and evaluated each software's accounting features, ease of use, customer service, customer reputation, pricing, and overall quality.
Best overall. Starting from. Built-in inventory management. Free unlimited users. No expense tracking with cheapest plans. See Plans. Most user-friendly. QuickBooks Online. Inventory management pricier plans only. Up to 25 users most expensive plan only. Comparatively high starting price.
Best invoicing. Inventory management third-party integration. Unlimited users addt'l fee. Billable clients limited by plan. Most comprehensive. Zoho Books. Inventory management add-on only. This limited plan may be suitable for a micro-business with high-ticket transactions, but only a few per month, such as a consulting or small service provider.
Both the Growing and Established plans offer unlimited invoices, bills, and transactions. The only difference between the two is that the Established plan has additional features like multi-currency, expense management, and project costing. All three plans offer Hubdoc, a bill and receipt capture solution. The most crucial accounting need for most service-based businesses is invoicing. FreshBooks offers more customizations for invoicing compared to other accounting software.
This accounting software makes it easier for service-based businesses to send proposals and invoices, request deposits, collect client retainers , track time on projects, and receive payments. Founded in in Toronto, FreshBooks started as just an invoicing software. Over time, more features have been added and FreshBooks now has over employees. The main difference between the four plans is the number of different clients that are allowed to be billed per month. In the Lite plan, up to five clients can be billed per month.
In the Plus plan, up to 50 clients can be billed per month. In the Premium plan, unlimited clients can be billed per month. The Select plan also does not have a limitation on the number of clients that can be billed per month, but adds unique features. There are many third-party app integrations available, such as Shopify, Gusto, Stripe, G Suite, and more. A unique feature of FreshBooks is that invoices can be highly stylized and customized for a professional look and feel. FreshBooks is a great tool for budgeting out projects, sending estimates or proposals, and collecting customer payments.
QuickBooks Self-Employed accounting software is our top choice for part-time freelancers and independent contractors who primarily want to track their income and expenses for their tax return. This software is designed for business owners who file a Schedule C on their individual tax return. Without keeping up with business activity using a software like this, freelancers would need to dig through all of their bank and credit card statements to add up their income and expenses at the end of each year, which can be quite daunting.
QuickBooks Self-Employed will total up all business transactions automatically. QuickBooks Self-Employed is an Intuit product with a cloud-based online interface and a mobile app. This software was created to help freelancers stay organized each year for tax season. Features of QuickBooks Self-Employed include tracking mileage, sorting expenses, organizing receipts, sending invoices, and estimating and filing taxes seamlessly through TurboTax. The two tax bundles include a TurboTax subscription for income tax filing.
The mobile app makes it easy to track mileage while driving and capture photos of receipts for business expenses. Most accounting software is not designed to separate business transactions from personal transactions, but a special feature of QuickBooks Self-Employed provides an option to mark each transaction as business or personal.
Wave was founded in and is based in Toronto. The foundational accounting features that most small businesses need, such as income and expense tracking, financial reporting, invoicing, and scanning receipts, are all included with this free software. These features can be accessed online or on the mobile app. Customer payment processing and payroll are considered premium services that cost extra, but all of the bookkeeping, invoicing, and reporting features are completely free.
Wave makes its money on its payment gateway. To process payment from a customer, Wave charges 2. These fees are slightly higher than other accounting software. This is unique to Wave, as the majority of accounting software does not charge a fee for ACH payment processing. Wave offers two payroll plans as an add-on service. In this plan, Wave will process payroll and prepare payroll tax calculations, but the user is responsible for manually completing payroll tax forms and submitting tax payments.
In this plan, payroll is full-service, which means that all tax filings and payments are completely managed by Wave. This full-service payroll option is only available in 14 states. Accounting software reduces the amount of time spent on data entry by allowing users to sync their business bank accounts and credit cards with the software.
Once synced, transactions will flow into the accounting software, where they can be categorized into various accounts.
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