For small business owners, running a successful business is easier with the right accounting software. Accept payments, track income and expenses, and organize expense reports with free accounting software for your computer or laptop. Our free accounting software for small business owners integrates with Google Drive™ to bring you the best business suite possible.
We offer free accounting software solutions to small business owners. With our free accounting software you can keep track of your growing business with ease. Small businesses demand reliable, transparent financial data. Our online accounting software provides a secure and easy-to-use cloud-based solution to help manage your finances and bills, invoicing and payments, tracking your employees time, sales and expenses, managing projects and much more.
Wave
Wave is an ideal accounting software platform for a service-based small business that sends simple invoices and doesn’t need to track inventory or run payroll. For many freelancers or service-based businesses, Wave’s free features will cover all of their accounting needs and is the best free software in our review. At year-end, accountants can pull the necessary reports from Wave to prepare a business’ tax return.Pros
- Free accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning
- No transaction or billing limits
- Run multiple businesses in one account
- Unlimited number of users
- Mobile app
Cons
- Limited third-party app integrations
- Higher fees for credit cards and ACH payments
- Full-service payroll is limited to only 14 states
- No inventory management
Wave was founded in 2010 and is based in Toronto. The company has over 250 employees and was purchased by H&R Block in 2019. 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 2.9% plus 30¢ per transaction for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, and 3.4% plus 30¢ per transaction for American Express. These fees are slightly higher than other accounting software. Additionally, to process an ACH payment, rather than a credit card, Wave charges 1% per transaction with a $1 minimum fee. 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. The first plan is $20 per month plus $6 per employee or contractor. 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. The second plan is $35 per month plus $6 per employee or contractor. 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.
CloudBooks: Best for Freelancers and Small Businesses
Best for Freelancers and Small Businesses
CloudBooks is a free accounting and invoicing solution tailored to accommodate small businesses and freelancers. The program boasts a user base of over 2 million subscribers and has a suite of capabilities that cover invoicing, time-tracking, reporting, and payment needs — among others.
The platform is an invoice management solution, above all else — and that can be a benefit or drawback in its own right, depending on what you need.
While CloudBooks has features extending beyond that functionality, invoicing appears to be its main selling point — meaning it’s not quite as fully fleshed out with accounting functionality as other programs listed here.
So if you’re looking for exceptional invoice creation and management software, you should check out Cloudbooks. If you need a more robust accounting-specific solution, you might want to look elsewhere.
CloudBooks’ Key Benefits
- Allows for unlimited users
- Features email support
- Offers free cloud data storage
- Upgraded plans are reasonably priced
CloudBooks’ Key Drawbacks
- Only lets you bill one client
- Caps your number of invoices at five
- Lacks phone or chat support
Sunrise: Best for Small Businesses Looking for a Bookkeeping Solution
Best for Small Businesses Looking for a Bookkeeping Solution
Sunrise is one of the more prominent bookkeeping applications available for small businesses. Users can leverage the program to easily search and categorize business expenses, send customized invoices, and receive recurring payments.
It offers a free, self-service plan that provides businesses with a decent suite of features and a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to bookkeeping — allowing for unlimited invoices and transactions.
Sunrise sets itself apart from other bookkeeping solutions with its dedicated bookkeeper services, but those services come at a hefty premium. As I mentioned, its free plan is self-service — which works for small businesses but might not be sustainable as your business expands.
Ultimately, Sunrise is a straightforward, effective bookkeeping software with a free plan that can suit the needs of several small businesses. If you need a relatively short-term bookkeeping solution with a reasonable upgrade fee, Sunrise’s free plan is worth checking out.
Sunrise’s Key Benefits
- Lets you manage income and expenses
- Lets you send unlimited invoices
- Lets you generate profits and losses
Sunrise’s Key Drawbacks
- Suite of features is pretty restricted, relative to that of its paid plan
- Lacks payment integrations
- No cash flow insights or alerts
ZipBooks: Best Free Accounting Software For Beginners
ZipBooks | Visit SiteRead our Review |
|---|
Best for small business owners and freelancers looking for a simple accounting solution.
Pros
- Cloud-based software
- Strong security features
- Easy to use
- Good customer support
Cons
- Limited integrations
- Some features limited on the free plan
ZipBooks is free accounting software designed by small business owners for other business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. Automation is where ZipBooks truly stands out, combining a color-coded design with a strong feature set to simplify the accounting process.
With a free account from ZipBooks, you’ll be able to send invoices to customers, manage your contacts, and access business health scores. If you need additional features, ZipBooks offers several monthly membership plans. ZipBooks also stands out for excellent customer service and robust security features and has an excellent reputation among its users.
ZipBooks Features
ZipBooks offers several plans, but for those that don’t want to pay a monthly fee, the free Starter plan includes:
- Unlimited invoices
- Unlimited customers and vendors
- Expense tracking
- Connect to one bank account
- Digital payments through Square or PayPal
- Basic reporting
ZipBooks Pricing
The ZipBooks Starter plan is completely free. If you want access to more features, you can upgrade to one of ZipBooks’ paid subscriptions. For $15/month, you can sign up for the Smarter plan, which boasts additional features and automations, including scheduled recurring invoices, time tracking, and support for up to five team members. For $35/month, you can upgrade to the Sophisticated plan, which includes smart tagging, additional reports, and support for unlimited users.
Conclusion
Accounting software: Free accounting software programs are the ultimate choice for small business owners, self employed entrepreneurs, and home workers. The majority of online accounting software is designed for the local bookkeeper or accountant business. As a result, when it comes time to choose an accounting application, small businesses are left with little choice but to pay expensive setup fees and monthly subscriptions.