When it comes to choosing best accounting software for small business, there are plenty of options available in the market. However, while some give you great features at low prices, others charge exorbitant prices for functionality that is not worth the cost. Meanwhile, some charge quite a little while offering excellent services.
For this article, we have decided to present you top accounting software both online and offline.
Tipalti
Pricing: Available Upon Request
Tipalti automates the accounts payable process, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business. The solution can streamline international payment processing in around 190 countries, automate your payment operations, and even make sure you’re tax compliant.
Best for Deadline-Driven Businesses
Tipalti is perfect for deadline-driven businesses. It can help you keep tabs on and meet time-bound payment objectives every time. Late payments, non-compliance, and administrative overload are all issues the program aims to correct. If you’re interested in a solution that can help you keep your accounts payable process straightforward and timely, check out Tipalti.
OnPay
Pricing: Starts at $36/month plus an additional $4/user
OnPay can help you automate tax filings, enter payment data, and manage benefits including compensation insurance, health insurance, and 401(k). It also offers unlimited payroll runs for W-2 and 1099 workers.
And, OnPay can estimate your payroll taxes, manage tax form filings, and even pay your taxes. A bonus here? They’ll also take responsibility for any tax filing errors committed while using the product.
Best for Businesses Looking for a Payroll-Centric Solution
OnPay’s area of expertise is reflected in its name. If you’re a small- to medium-sized business that needs help streamlining payroll and entering payment data, you might consider investing in OnPay. That’s not to say the rest of its features aren’t impressive — it’s just to say that the solution fits businesses interested in a payroll-centric solution particularly well.
NetSuite ERP
Pricing: Available upon request
NetSuite’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product helps small businesses with functions like financial management and planning, order management, supply chain, fulfillment, and procurement — integrating these functions into a single streamlined system.
Best for Businesses Anticipating Rapid Growth
NetSuite prides itself on growing with businesses, “from pre-revenue through IPO and beyond” — with functionality that can assist you at every stage of your as it scales and matures. If you anticipate rapid growth, you might want to consider NetSuite ERP.
Pabbly
Pricing: Starts at $9/month
Pabbly Subscription Billing is a recurring and subscription management software for small to medium-sized businesses. This software provides real-time actionable metrics on your monthly payments, revenue, net revenue, active customers, and new subscriptions. It also automates all your business workflows, customer communication, and invoice creation so you can focus on your business growth.
Best for Businesses Looking for a Reliably Fixed Pricing Model
One of Pabbly’s key selling points is its subscription billing model. It’s one of the only software on this list that doesn’t charge any extra fees on the basis of per-transaction and monthly revenue generation. That kind of consistency — paired with it’s first-rate functionality — make Pabbly a solid option.
Wave Accounting
Our pick for: Best free option
Unlike some “freemium” software products, Wave doesn’t put out a bare-bones free product as bait, then load it down with costly upgrades. Even the free version has things like the ability to add unlimited collaborators, along with unlimited bank and credit card connections. Its separate invoicing product (also free) adds unlimited invoices and automated invoice reminders. The company, which was purchased by H&R Block in 2019, makes money through payment processing, a service you can add (starting at 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction). It’s also among the best accounting software for payroll, as it offers a payroll add-on that starts at $20 per month ($35 in tax service states).
Xero
Our pick for: Unlimited users
Price:
- Early: $11 per month.
- Growing: $32 per month.
- Established: $62 per month.
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. You can also set up different permissions for each user so employees have access only to what’s relevant to their job. By contrast, QuickBooks Online Advanced allows just 25 users and three accounting firms. The New Zealand-based company, which has accounting software that is a market leader in some parts of the world, is also working to make inroads in the U.S. It offers a full certification program for accountants (like QuickBooks does), with more than 100,000 accountants and bookkeepers using Xero — which makes it easier for Xero customers to find outside help.
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Our pick for: Best overall accounting software for Macs
Price:
- $399.99 one-time payment for a single-user license.
- $649.99 for two users.
- $899.99 for three users.
QuickBooks for Mac has solid accounting features, such as invoicing, billing, inventory tracking, reporting, budget creation, sales and customer management. Several new features for 2021 simplify payment collection, including automated reminders, the ability to combine multiple invoices in one email, and an online payment portal. Self-employed freelancers or creatives who prefer Apple products could do well with this version of QuickBooks, especially if they do all of their own bookkeeping.
QuickBooks Online is a web-based accounting solution that caters to small businesses and individual accountants. The software is praised consistently for its flexibility, ease of use, and robust set of features. We rank it as the best small business accounting software due to its project, class, and location tracking that can be customized for any industry.
With QuickBooks Online. you can perform a variety of bookkeeping tasks, such as bank reconciliation, tracking and invoicing time and expenses, accounting for inventory, and monitoring financial reports. You can also allow an external accountant free access to your QuickBooks Online account via their own version of QuickBooks Online Accountant. It has a powerful mobile app, which allows you to perform many of the same tasks as the web-based version, including uploading receipts and tracking mileage.
What We Like
- Numerous integrations available
- Easy-to-use and intuitive interface
- Customizable reports
- Access to a network of QuickBooks Pro Advisors
- Robust mobile app with ability to track mileage and capture receipts
- Integrated payroll available for an additional fee
What’s Missing
- Lack of industry-specific tools like lot tracking and bar scanning
- Limited number of users for each plan
- Unable to compare estimated to actual project costs
- Combined limit of 40 classes and locations
- Limited inventory management features
Plans & Pricing
- Simple Start: $25 per month for one user
- Essentials: $40 per month for three users
- Plus: $70 per month for five users
- Advanced: $150 per month for 25 users
Read our QuickBooks Online Review
Our Expert Opinion
QuickBooks Online offers many features that are beneficial for small businesses. If you operate with five or fewer employees yet have complex transactions, this system could be an ideal fit for you. If you’re a sole proprietor looking for a smaller-scale program, QuickBooks offers that too. The various price levels allow you to add features as your business grows, and the powerful mobile app is great for businesses on the go. Due to its cloud-based capabilities, it can be used on any Mac or PC.
FreshBooks Accounting
Our pick for: Best Apple Pay-friendly option
Price:
- Lite: $15 per month.
- Plus: $25 per month.
- Premium: $50 per month.
- Select: Quote only.
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. Aside from general accounting functions, the mobile app also allows you to respond to clients’ questions and get notified when they view or pay invoices or when invoices are overdue. With FreshBooks’ relatively recent addition of double-entry accounting, it’s also now a candidate for a larger spectrum of companies, getting generally strong industry reviews for its intuitive, easy-to-use interface. Entirely cloud-based, it covers the basics and includes some attractive automated features and reports. If you need to have more than one person access the system, be sure you factor that into the price.
Zoho Books
Our pick for: Low cost, high value
Price (when paid annually):
- Free for businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenue.
- Three users: $15 per month.
- Five users: $40 per month.
- 10 users: $60 per month.
Zoho Books packs an impressive collection of features and reporting capabilities for an affordable price. The free version is only for businesses that have less than $50,000 in annual revenue; it allows one user and one accountant. Its interface is easy to learn and use, and the option to automate workflows — for example, to send an email alert if an invoice exceeds a certain amount, or to apply a discount or late fee in certain cases — makes it stand out as an attractive choice. (You can create five automated workflows under the basic plan and up to 10 under the higher tiers.) Zoho is perhaps best-known for its customer relationship management, or CRM, and productivity apps, which integrate well with its accounting software. It’s possible to create contacts on Zoho Books based on new leads in Zoho CRM, for instance.
Conclusion
There are many factors that have to be considered when choosing the best accounting software for your small business. There are thousands of available software packages but only a few that are suitable for businesses with small budget or just starting out.