While reviewing the best billing software for small business, I found that there are numerous software that can help your small business to ease their hassle of digital billing process. The common features offered by these software are customer support, payment gateway integration, recurring payment option, stock control product option and a lot more.
Billing software for your small business will revolutionize the way you do accounting. It might sound like an exaggeration, but it is not. This software can take your very average financial practices and turn it into something that will make accounting almost the most enjoyable part of running your small business. On top of that, this software is very cost effective, especially when you compare it with outsourced accounting services.
Top accounting software for small business owners
If you decide to take on your accounting duties, there are several suitable free software options to choose from. We’ve done the research for you, and here are our top seven free accounting software packages.
GnuCash: no-frills but plenty of features
GnuCash is an open-source accounting program that offers many features to help you manage your small business accounting. Volunteer developers update the software regularly, which means the program is always kept up-to-date.
GnuCash pros
GnuCash’s strength is that it contains advanced features such as customer and vendor tracking, job assignments, invoicing, bill pay, sales tax management, payroll management, and budget creation and management.
The checkbook-style register is an easy-to-use interface for entering all of your checking and credit card transactions. You can also enter income, stock, and currency transactions.
You can split transactions, mark transactions as canceled or reconciled, autofill entered transactions, and display multiple accounts in a single register window.
GnuCash cons
Since GnuCash is not cloud-based and only locally installed on a desktop computer, access to your financial data is limited to only one machine and one user. While GnuCash offers a mobile app, it is only for Android-based devices and requires you to manually import the data, which can be a pretty tedious process.
The interface of the program is also a bit dated and requires some time to get used to. Many users report problems with manually importing their transactions.
GnuCash’s customer support is through a public email-based discussion board, so it may take a while before you get a response to your question. Their chat support uses an obsolete IRC channel system, which can be tedious to set up.
Wave Accounting: powerful and cloud-based for anywhere, anytime access
Wave Accounting checks all the boxes for many powerful features that are well-suited for your small business.
Wave Accounting pros
One of Wave’s most powerful features is that it’s cloud-based, which means real-time access and instant updates from anywhere. Your information is stored and backed up on highly secured servers.
Wave also includes unlimited and customizable income and expense tracking, receipt scanning, invoicing, and a smart dashboard for easy viewing.
Wave offers unlimited bank and credit card account connections, and there’s no charge if you want guests to sign in and collaborate on the financials with you. If you need someone else, like your accountant or another member of your financial team, to log in and check the numbers, relax: there’s no limit to the number of users you can add.
Wave has a robust Help Center for self-service support, and they also provide email support for all invoicing and accounting questions related to their free features.
Wave Accounting cons
While Wave allows you to track accounts receivable (aka any money your customers owe you), it doesn’t allow you to track accounts payable (meaning the money you owe your suppliers or creditors). Wave also does not offer inventory management.
And while all of Wave’s basic features are free, there is a per-transaction credit card processing fee of 2.9% plus .30 for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover and 3.4% plus .30 for American Express.
Wave’s payroll application is available at $20 or $35 a month, depending on which state your business is located in.
Live chat support is only available for paid features. If you’d like to speak to an expert about your bookkeeping questions, you’ll have to purchase it from their Wave Advisors.
ZipBooks: one of the best options if you’re new to accounting
ZipBooks is a powerful yet simple web-based program that is useful for streamlining your small business accounting.
ZipBooks pros
ZipBooks allows you to send unlimited invoices in multiple currencies. The software’s vendor tracking and expense management capabilities are right up there with several other free competitors. The free starter plan comes with multi-currency payment acceptance, separate records for 1099 expenses and payments, receipt tracking, and a chart of accounts.
ZipBooks is cloud-based, so you can use it on the go from any mobile device. An app is currently unavailable as new features are in development. However, you can use your device’s browser to access ZipBooks. The program uses 256-bit SSL encryption to keep your data secure.
ZipBooks allows you to toggle between cash and accrual accounting, while most other programs only let you choose one or the other.
ZipBooks cons
The free version only allows you to connect one bank account and view basic reports. If you need multiple accounts and additional team members added, it will set you back $15 a month or more.
The free plan only lets you generate a balance sheet and profit and loss statement. Additional financial statements can set you back as much as $35 a month as part of ZipBook’s Sophisticated plan.
The only support that we found was a self-service Knowledge Base with articles and tutorials. ZipBooks does have an active community of users on Facebook and Twitter that may be of some help if you run into problems.
CloudBooks
With the free version of CloudBooks accounting software, you’ll be able to add unlimited users, invoice, create projects, perform integrated time tracking, track expenses, and provide estimates. That said, you’ll have to upgrade from the free version—and pay at least $10 a month—to be able to send more than five invoices per month, brand your invoices, and offer online payments on your invoices.
Zoho Invoice
If you’re looking for the best free accounting software to automate your invoicing workflows, then Zoho Invoice will be a top option. With the free version of Zoho Invoice, you’ll be able to invoice customers and manage payments through a single account. You’ll also be able to customize and brand invoice templates, track expenses, and interact with customers through a client portal. Not to mention, you can run integrated time tracking for yourself and employees for project billing.
Conclusion
There are a few ways to manage your small business’s finances. In this article, I am going to give you a comparison of three different platforms. They are Sage50 Online Accounting, Quickbooks Online and Xero. These software programs have been designed for small business owners who need an easy to use tool to manage their finances online.