You’re likely well aware that QuickBooks is the reigning incumbent for best accounting software. There are reasons that so many small businesses turn to QuickBooks for their business needs—it’s easy to use, inexpensive, and training resources for the software abound. But if you’re looking for QuickBooks alternatives, whatever your reason, great options do exist.
Although there’s plenty working in QuickBooks’s favor—industry dominance, ease of use, and a low price point, for instance—there are some QuickBooks alternatives for small businesses available you might want to consider when you’re thinking about your financials. We’ll examine all of the best QuickBooks alternatives (including some free QuickBooks alternatives), and compare what they have to offer so you can decide if they’re the right pick for your small business. Let’s explore each of these QuickBooks alternatives below.
FRESHBOOKS
FreshBooks is an accounting tool developed by 2ndsite Inc company. It is one of the best QuickBooks online alternatives that helps you to run your small business fast, easy, and secure way.
Features:
- You can generate invoices for clients in just a few clicks.
- It enables you to organize expenses effortlessly.
- You can use log hours without any hassle and automatically put them onto the invoice.
- This tool helps you to collaborate on projects.
- It provides easy to understand reports on finance.
- Freshbook mobile app helps you to stay connected with your clients.
- It automatically checks and balances to ensure compliance and accuracy.
XERO
Xero is also a full accounting package. This New Zealand-based company is the industry leader in New Zealand, Australia, and several European countries, too. Built “in the cloud, for the cloud,” Xero has avoided many of the perceived missteps its competitors have made when they transitioned to cloud-based accounting services, making it a great alternative to QuickBooks.
Xero touts itself as “beautiful accounting software,” and, really, it is. Two of the things small business owners love most about this alternative to QuickBooks Online is the simplicity of its interface and its avoidance of accounting and finance jargon. No debits or credits here—just easy-to-understand language that makes it simple to determine what to do with your transactions. The reconcile-as-you-go feature is also a favorite of small business owners, though many accountants and bookkeepers prefer a separate reconciliation function.
Xero has three pricing tiers. If you’re a super-small business, the Starter package at $9/month may work for you. However, most small businesses quickly outgrow this package and move up to the $30/month Standard package. More complex businesses dealing with multiple currencies and larger payrolls need the Premium package, which starts at $70/month.
KIWILI
Kiwili is online accounting software for business and freelancers that helps you to manage your expenses and revenues in a better way.
Features:
- You can analyze your cash flow.
- This free QuickBooks alternative provides accounting automation.
- You can bifurcate your income and expenses.
- Kiwili enables you to see the amount of taxes collected and paid.
- You can prepare and send reports to your accountant.
- It helps you to generate a balance sheet and income statement.
- This tool includes a range of modules for the journal, ledger, payroll, trial balance, and more.
YNAB
Though technically not accounting software, many small businesses use YNAB as though it is. After successfully using it in their personal finances, it didn’t take savvy YNAB users long to determine how to take advantage of the software’s zones of genius—expense tracking, goal setting, and debt management—in their businesses.
YNAB does not have a balance sheet, it doesn’t handle invoicing or payroll, and there isn’t a bank reconciliation feature. But it does have bank syncing, beautiful reporting, and an avid support community to help you form and stick to your goals. While it’s not quite a free QuickBooks alternative, at $6.99/month (if paid annually), the price is definitely affordable.
Interested in substantially increasing the profitability of your business by leveraging your existing habits? This podcast episode tells how you can use YNAB with the “Profit First” method to bring clarity and awareness to your finances and proactively increase your profitability.
CLEAR BOOKS
Clear Books is a cloud-based (SaaS) accounting application. You can link your bank account with Clearbooks, and it will automatically import your bank transactions.
Features:
- You can create invoices and payment reminders.
- It helps you to manage your project finance effortlessly.
- Create a report on profit and loss and cash flow.
- You can create invoices in more than 170 currencies.
- Clear Books allows you to track stock levels using the report.
- It enables you to record the time you have spent on tasks, clients, and projects and create directly from timesheets.
WAVE ACCOUNTING
Wave Accounting is a completely free accounting software—however, you’ll have to pay extra to access its full range of features (later will talk about an accounting option you can truly use at no cost whatsoever). With Wave Accounting, you’ll be able to quickly and easily set up your Wave account, connect your business bank account, and start utilizing all of the functions the software has to offer. With your bank account connected, your bookkeeping information will appear automatically.
Some of the tools built into Wave Accounting include income and expense tracking, customizable invoicing and receipt scanning, guest collaborators, exportable accounting reports, invoicing, receipt printing and the ability to connect with PayPal, Shoeboxed, and Etsy. And once again, all of this is free.
But, to access the potential of Wave, you’ll need to pay extra. Features like sending and receiving payments and running payroll cost extra. Therefore, we can’t recommend Wave for large teams. However, if you’re looking for a simple accounting tool at no cost, you can’t get much better than Wave.
ZOHO BOOKS
Zoho Books is part of the Zoho suite of services—which includes over 40 different business apps, including a CRM, HR tools, and reporting options. As a web-based platform, Zoho Books allows you to access your account wherever you have internet, as well as use their mobile accounting app for either iOS or Android.
The cost of Zoho Books is split into four tiers, allowing you to upgrade and accommodate your business’s expansion. The four Zoho Books plans range in functionality and also differentiating in the number of users and workflows that are included within your account. First, Zoho offers a free plan. Then, the Standard plan costs $20 per month, the Professional plan costs $50 per month, and the Premium plan costs $70 per month.
Features you’ll get regardless of your plan include invoicing, estimates, the ability to integrate your bank accounts, reporting tools, a client portal, as well as the ability to integrate with any of Zoho’s other software, and third-party tools like Zapier and Stripe.
BONSAI
Next up on our list of QuickBooks alternatives is Bonsai—a project management software for freelancers that has some nifty accounting features built-in. With Bonsai, you can track your billable expenses by creating an expense, assign it to a project, and attaching those expenses to an invoice. You can also connect your bank account to import your expenses. What’s more, Bonsai generates expense reports and analytics so you can understand your business spending over time.
Bonsai also allows you to arrange recurring payments, and be paid via credit card, ACH transfer, PayPal, and even bitcoin. Other tools include a freelance tax calculator, reporting functions, time tracking, and the ability to create custom client proposals and contracts.
Bonsai costs $16 per month for their Plus plan and $24 per month for their Premium plan. Both plans include all the aforementioned, but the Premium plan also includes white labeling, subcontracting, and the option to add additional users to your account.
PATRIOTSOFTWARE
Patriotsoftware is an online accounting and payroll management software for small businesses. It enables you to securely run your payroll from any device connected to the internet.
Features:
- It provides support via phone, chats, or email.
- You can track all customer payments you need to make.
- It utilizes encryption techniques to keep your bank information safe.
- You can assign departments to vendor payments and customer invoices.
RECKON
Reckon helps you to manage your payroll, finances, and inventory together from one place. It offers a Single Touch Payroll reporting facility.
Features:
- It has the ability to organize your customers, sales, employees, and inventory from anywhere.
- You can schedule and manage your finances with ease.
- It enables you to connect your bank accounts to see your transactions flow.
- You can track and manage already paid invoices to boost your cash flow.
- Employees can bill and manage their expense claims.
- Reckon can be integrated with more than 1000 apps.
Momenteo Free Edition
Momenteo provides a solution for accounting. It helps you to track work completed, expenses, and travels in the
Features:
- You create and send invoices to clients.
- It enables you to convert estimates into invoices when your clients approve them.
- Momento helps you to track, classify, and archive expenses.
- You can archive the previous year’s activity.
- This free QuickBooks alternative enables you to add a personal brand to your invoices.
- You can link your Paypal or Stripe account so that clients can deposit money online.
- It allows you to search for the most significant expenses and figure out how to reduce them.
SPENDWISE
Last on our list of QuickBooks alternatives is SpendWise, which is a great option for retail business owners. This is because this accounting software comes with robust inventory tracking features. With SpendWise, you can create purchase orders for vendors, and create sales orders and quotes for customers. When purchase orders are filled, SpendWise will automatically update your inventory quantities and costs.
In terms of accounting tools, SpendWise allows you to track unpaid bills, sales, and expenses. There’s also reporting tools. However, SpendWise does not currently integrate with bank accounts or credit cards. What’s more, you don’t get access to all features unless you shell out for the Enterprise plan (quote-based)—which comes with inventory management and multi-currency payments. SpendWise Basic ($9 per month) is going to limit the number of purchase orders you can make each month, and SpendWise Pro ($19 per month) does not allow you to see updated inventory when purchase orders are filled.
QUICKBOOKS SELF EMPLOYED
Yes, we’re supposed to be talking about QuickBooks alternatives. However, QuickBooks Self Employed is not your traditional QuickBooks software. It really is an alternative to QuickBooks Online—at least the QuickBooks Online you’re thinking of. Designed specifically for the Schedule C filer, this version of QuickBooks has a great mileage tracker, receipt capture, and the ability to classify an expense as either business-related or personal with a quick swipe on your smartphone.
QuickBooks Self Employed does not include a balance sheet, nor does it currently allow you to upgrade to a more robust QuickBooks product. It does, however, allow accountant collaboration, and at $15/month—even less with the discount—it costs much less than the other QuickBooks Online options. For a limited time, you can get $1 for the first 12 months on QuickBooks Self-Employed.
FRESHBOOKS
What started out as invoicing- and time-tracking software has evolved into a powerhouse for the self-employed. FreshBooks lets you invoice and collect payments from your clients, track your expenses, and collaborate with your subcontractors. It also works with a suite of external applications to help you build a truly customized solution for your business.
If you’re worried about getting stuck on an issue with the software and having to wade through pages of online FAQs to try to solve the problem yourself, don’t be. FreshBooks has excellent customer-service associates who respond quickly to your questions, often replying within an hour.
What FreshBooks does not do is keep a balance sheet. A template is available if you need to create one, but FreshBooks recommends seeking the help of your accountant if this is necessary. This can quickly become a costly endeavor, so if your business needs a balance sheet, FreshBooks is not the right solution for you.
As for price, FreshBooks starts at $15 per month, though most small businesses will need the $25/month plan. There’s also a Premium option available for $50/month, but by the time a business reaches this stage, it will likely need a more robust solution. For a limited time, FreshBooks is offering 60% off for six months on Lite, Plus, and Premium plans when new users skip the 30-day free trial period and opt to buy now.
CONCLUSION
Your financial data is an important part of your business, and financial data management can take hours of your time if you choose the wrong solution or set it up improperly. Whatever you decide to use, seek the guidance of an accountant or a bookkeeper to properly set up your software. Most of the options listed above have communities of professionals who are either certified in or extensively use the software. Once you have settled on your software, reach out to one of these professionals to help you get off on the right foot.