Having trouble managing your business finances? Quicken Software For Business is the solution. Why hunt around the internet for hours, trying to find everything you need? Just sit back and relax — our team has already done all of the research for you. All the information you need to make an educated decision is right at your fingertips with Quicken Software For Business .
Finding the best Quicken Software For Business is key to staying organized and keeping your business on track. Quicken is a comprehensive personal finance program that can give you a better view of where money is being spent. This software also adds in investment advice, reports, charts, graphs, and more for ease in managing finances.
BEST ALTERNATIVE TO QUICKEN: QUICKBOOKS ONLINE
QuickBooks Online is the best accounting software for small businesses. It’s packed with features for small to medium-sized businesses, including invoicing, tax filing, bank reconciliation, inventory tracking, payroll, and more.
You can also link up your bank accounts, credit cards, and more than 650 apps like Shopify, Square, and Paypal. If you’re looking for just one program that can do it all, QuickBooks is one of the best choices.
With all its robust features, QuickBooks comes with a pretty hefty price tag. They offer 4 pricing tiers. The most affordable is the Self-Employed plan designed for freelancers. Simple Start, Plus, and Advance plans are for small businesses.
Key Features
- Pricing: Self-Employed ($15/mo), Simple Start ($25/mo), Plus ($70/mo), Advanced ($150/mo)
- Free Trial: 30 days
- Accessibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
FREE QUICKEN ALTERNATIVE: WAVE
If you’re sick of paying a yearly subscription for Quicken, check out Wave. It’s a program that offers accounting, invoicing, and receipts—all for free.
It also has payroll and payment services for an extra cost. These are optional. The free tools by themselves are great for managing basic business finances.
Wave isn’t as comprehensive and robust as some of the other software on this list. But its tools perform well and they’re free for good. You won’t have to upgrade or worry about any trial periods. Overall, it’s a great choice if an expensive accounting program isn’t within your budget.
Key Features
- Pricing: Accounting, Invoicing, and Receipts (free), Payments (pay per transaction), Payroll (monthly fee)
- Free Trial: N/A
- Accessibility: Web, iOS, Android
BEST FOR PC USERS: ZOHO BOOKS
Zoho Books is online accounting software for managing your business finances. It includes features like invoicing, banking, and even a client portal for your customers. Its modern app works on PC, Android, Mac, and iOS, so you can easily access your account wherever you are.
The software offers payroll features in California, Nevada, and Texas only. It’s not the best choice for larger businesses that need comprehensive services. But for small business accounting, Zoho is a great value. Plus, it integrates with over 40 apps to streamline your business.
Zoho Books offers 3 pricing tiers: Standard, Professional, and Premium. Each plan unlocks more contacts, users, and automated workflows. You can also add additional users for $2/mo.
Key Features
- Pricing: Standard ($12/mo), Professional ($24/mo), Premium ($36/mo)
- Free Trial: 14 days
- Accessibility: Web, Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
BEST FOR INVOICING: FRESHBOOKS
Invoicing is crucial for freelancers and small businesses. With all the hard work you put into your business, you need to get paid! FreshBooks is an accounting program with comprehensive invoicing and expense tracking built in.
You can easily create and customize invoices from their templates. The software also lets you automate the awkward stuff, like sending payment reminders or adding late fees.
FreshBooks integrates with more than 100 apps like Shopify, Squarespace, and G Suite. Plus, it works well on any platform and syncs across all your devices.
There are 4 pricing tiers, depending on how many clients your business has: Lite (5 clients), Plus (50 clients), Premium (Unlimited clients), Select (Unlimited clients).
Key Features
- Pricing: Lite ($4.50/mo), Plus ($7.50/mo), Premium ($15.00/mo), Select (custom pricing)
- Free Trial: 30 days
- Accessibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
FOR MAC USERS: XERO
Xero is sleek, simple accounting software that works perfectly with Mac, iPhone, and iPad. The program includes invoicing, inventory, expense tracking, and much more. You can even connect your bank and handle payroll with Gusto.
If you’re switching from a different accounting program, Xero lets you transfer your data so you don’t miss a beat. You also get unlimited users no matter which plan you purchase.
Xero offers 3 plans. The plans are month-to-month, you can cancel any time with a 30-day notice. The Early plan includes 20 invoices and 5 bills. The Growing plan includes unlimited invoices and bill management. The Established plan adds project tracking and expense claims.
Key Features
- Pricing: Early ($11/mo), Growing ($32/mo), Established ($62/mo)
- Free Trial: 30 days
- Accessibility: Web, iOS, Android
ACCOUNTING WITHOUT A SUBSCRIPTION: GNUCASH
GnuCash is another free alternative to Quicken. It’s an open-source accounting program for personal and business use. For a free program, it manages to pack in an impressive amount of features.
Small-business owners can create invoices, track customers and vendors, get bill payment reminders, and more. It uses a double-entry accounting so you can quickly identify bookkeeping errors and keep your accounts balanced.
There are some cons: the interface can feel outdated and it doesn’t allow for multiple users. But for small business owners who don’t want to pay for accounting software, this is a fantastic option.
Key Features
- Pricing: Free
- Free Trial: N/A
- Accessibility: Windows, Mac, Linux
TimeTrex
Best Overall Free Payroll Software for Small Businesses
PROS
- Automatic pay runs with free direct deposits
- Offers a feature-rich free plan; comes with payroll, time tracking, scheduling, and HR management tools
- Integrates with other payroll tools like QuickBooks, ADP, and Paychex
CONS
- Its dashboard looks somewhat dated
- Details about the free option and paid plans are difficult to find on its website; pricing isn’t transparent
- Doesn’t handle payroll tax filings
Overall Score5.00OUT OF5
| RATING CRITERIA | PRICING | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
| POPULARITY | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| REPORTING | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| PAYROLL FEATURES | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| EASE OF USE | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
TimeTrex is the best free payroll software for small businesses, because it does more than Payroll4Free.com and HR.my. Scoring 5 out of 5 in our evaluation, it has time tracking, scheduling, payroll, and HR management tools that you can access for free. You even get an online time clock that lets your employees clock-in/out through web browsers.
TimeTrex also generates tax forms (like W-2s and 1099s) and calculates federal, state, and local taxes. However, it doesn’t file taxes on your behalf. You may want to consider Payroll4Free.com if you need tax filing services, but it isn’t free—you have to pay $15 per month.
In terms of user reviews, those who left feedback on G2 and Capterra said that they appreciate its automations that help streamline time tracking and payroll processing. Others mentioned that while its platform is easy to use, learning how to navigate through all of its features is a bit confusing for new users.
TimeTrex has a payroll wizard to help guide you through the process.
Aside from payroll processing, TimeTrex has robust time tracking capabilities—making it one of our recommended time and attendance software for small businesses. If you want to learn more about its functionalities, check out our TimeTrex review.
TimeTrex Pricing
You can access TimeTrex’s free payroll software through its Community Edition solution, which is a downloadable open source workforce management platform. What’s great about it is that there are no employee limits, and you get basic HR and payroll tools for free.
TimeTrex also has three paid product editions (Professional, Corporate, and Enterprise), which come with additional features like facial recognition tablet time clocks, document management, applicant tracking, invoicing, and expense monitoring. However, pricing isn’t transparent—you have to call the provider to request a quote.
The representative we contacted said that pricing is based on the number of employees you have and the system deployment option selected (cloud-hosted or on-site). For a cloud-based version of its Professional Edition, you have to pay $3 per employee monthly for 10 employees. There’s also an account activation fee of $99.
TimeTrex Standout Features
- Feature-rich free tier: Even at its free level, TimeTrex grants you access to several integrated solutions designed to help you manage your workforce. You get online tools to create schedules, capture clock-ins/outs, track attendance, monitor paid time-off (PTO), pay employees, conduct performance reviews, and record staff information in a centralized database. This is more than what Payroll4Free.com offers (it doesn’t have free HR tools) and what HR.my provides as part of its forever-free solution (which doesn’t have performance reviews).
- Online time tracking: TimeTrex’s web browser-based time clock allows you to turn computers into employee time tracking devices. However, geofencing capabilities, facial recognition time clocks, and mobile time tracking apps aren’t included in its free Community Edition. If you require geolocation and face verification tools to prevent buddy punching, we recommend HR.my as it offers the said functionalities for free.
- Efficient pay processing: With TimeTrex’s efficient payroll tools, you don’t have to worry about doing payroll yourself. In addition to automatic payroll runs, it automatically calculates taxes and custom deductions like garnishments, PTO accruals, and benefits. It also offers electronic pay stubs, free direct deposits, and pay checks that you can print in several different formats.
- Third-party software integrations: TimeTrex seamlessly integrates with other payroll software like QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, Ceridian, and Sage. Note that HR.my doesn’t have this functionality, while Payroll4Free.com has limited options and connects with other software through payroll data exports and time data imports.
- Custom reporting: Aside from standard payroll, HR, and employee reports, you are granted access to built-in templates that you can customize.
HR.my
Best for Startups Needing Basic HR and Payroll Tools
PROS
- Feature-rich free HR solution
- Multilingual platform with free access to payroll, time clocks, and basic HR tools
- Additional paid features are only $5 per month
CONS
- You need to know the current tax tables; doesn’t file payroll taxes
- Dashboard is basic and looks outdated
- Limited customer support
Overall Score3.53OUT OF5
| RATING CRITERIA | PRICING | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
| POPULARITY | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| REPORTING | 2.50 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| PAYROLL FEATURES | 3.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| EASE OF USE | 2.88 | OUT OF | 5 |
HR.my is a free multilingual HR software that is crowdfunded. The company works with those interested in translating the software into additional languages. It has basic payroll and HR features (such as employee information management, time tracking, and expense claims) that you can use for free. Overall, it earned a score of 3.53 out of 5 in our evaluation with high marks for pricing (since its free payroll tool covers unlimited employees) and popularity (its average rating on third-party review sites is 5 out of 5 stars).
What pulled its score down is the lack of custom reporting and phone support, plus tax calculations are done manually. You need to have the current tax tables so that you can input the percentages into its system for calculations. Similar to TimeTrex, HR.my doesn’t handle payroll tax filings. Now, if this service is an essential feature for you and you’re willing to pay a minimal fee, Payroll4Free.com is a good option as it charges only $15 per month.
While HR.my is easy to set up, its platform looks a bit basic. Users even described its interface as outdated, adding that it can be a bit difficult to navigate, especially for new employees. In case you need help with a feature, you leave a comment or message on its Facebook page as it doesn’t have a support team. You can also visit its community forum and access its online user guide, which is more of an FAQ page but with limited information.
This is HR.my’s dashboard for adding new employees.
To learn more about HR.my and whether it will fit your business needs, read our HR.my review.
HR.my Pricing
HR.my is completely free, plus you get unlimited storage and can add unlimited employees. Unlike TimeTrex that collects fees through its paid tiers, HR.my has a crowdfunding campaign that you can opt to join. For a $5 monthly sponsorship, you get the following additional features:
- Early access to newly developed features
- Ad-free employer and employee web accounts
- Additional 3,500MB of file storage (or 6,000MB for an annual sponsorship) for employer accounts with every $5 unit of sponsorship
- Email notifications for HR.my managers in addition to those sent to the HR.my administrator
- More advanced email notifications, including for expense claims, leave requests, and announcements
HR.my Standout Features
- Cloud-based software: If you’re always on the go, HR.my has a cloud-based system that you can access 24/7 and from any device (such as Windows and Mac computers, Android tablets, and the iPad). There’s no software installation needed—unlike TimeTrex’s free Community Edition that you need to download.
- Multilingual platform: Of the three free payroll software that we reviewed, only HR.my has a platform that is multilingual. While its default language is English, you can change this directly from the system and choose from 65 options that include Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Vietnamese.
- Feature-rich free HR solution: HR.my doesn’t only provide free payroll tools—you also get time tracking, PTO management, expense claim management, and self-service solutions for employees. However, it doesn’t have the scheduling and performance review tools that TimeTrex offers for free.
- Robust time clocks: Compared to TimeTrex’s free time clock, HR.my’s free time tracking solution offers more features, such as geolocation tracking, facial verifications of clocking in employees, and mobile time-ins/outs for field staff.
- Efficient pay processing: HR.my’s payroll tools are designed to simplify and automate employee pay processing. It has automatic pay runs and payslips, and you can remit employee salaries through direct deposits or print paychecks. What it doesn’t support are payroll tax filings and year-end reporting—you have to fill out W-2 forms yourself.
Payroll4Free.com
Best for Companies With 25 or Fewer Employees
PROS
- Free-forever payroll services with essential online tools (including an employee portal)
- Offers email and phone support with access to payroll and tax experts
- Tax filings and direct deposits (not using own bank) are affordable add-ons
CONS
- Free only for 25 or fewer employees
- Limited system compatibility (Windows only)
- Payroll software comes with ads; interface looks outdated
Overall Score3.50OUT OF5
| RATING CRITERIA | PRICING | 4.38 | OUT OF | 5 |
| POPULARITY | 2.50 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| REPORTING | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| PAYROLL FEATURES | 2.94 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| EASE OF USE | 3.50 | OUT OF | 5 |
Payroll4Free.com is a popular free payroll software for businesses with 25 or fewer employees. It calculates payroll and taxes, tracks PTO accruals, prints paychecks, and provides free direct deposits if you use your own bank. The software can also handle year-end tax reports (W-2s and 1099s), providing you with pre-formatted forms to send to the government. If you want Payroll4Free.com to file your tax forms, you have to pay $15 per month.
Overall, it earned a score of 3.50 out of 5 in our evaluation. It didn’t get perfect marks like TimeTrex, since its free payroll tool has an employee limit. Payroll4Free.com also comes with in-app ads, and it only works on computers with a Windows operating system. In addition, the software is not as easy to use as paid programs, often taking extra steps to complete what a paid program can do in a single click.
If you want to know more about Payroll4Free.com and whether it can handle your business’ pay processing needs, check out our Payroll4Free.com review.
Payroll4Free.com Pricing
Payroll4Free.com is free to use—provided your business has 25 or fewer employees. While it earns money through small ads placed inside the software, it also collects fees from the following payroll services that you can purchase as add-ons.
- Payroll tax deposits and filings, including year-end reporting: $15 per month
- Direct deposits using Payroll4Free.com’s bank*: $15 per month
*This requires a security deposit equal to the highest estimated net payroll you plan to process in a seven-day period.
Payroll4Free.com Standout Features
- Efficient pay processing: In addition to paying employees and calculating taxes (federal, state, and local) for free, it allows you to set up any kind of deduction, contribution, and earning. Payroll4Free.com will automatically compute it—provided you have specified how these items should be calculated. Note that it doesn’t have the integrated time tracking tools that both TimeTrex and HR.my provide for free. You have to manually import time data into its system before you can run payroll.
- Check printing setup assistance: If you prefer to pay employees via checks, Payroll4Free.com can help set up its software to add any data that you want to appear on the check. You won’t get the said free service with both HR.my and TimeTrex.
- Access to payroll and tax experts: Aside from unlimited customer support, Payroll4Free.com has a team of experienced payroll and tax specialists that you can contact if you have queries or need payroll advice. However, it doesn’t have the community forum that TimeTrex and HR.my offer, which allows you to get input from other business owners and HR professionals.
- Custom reporting: You get custom and detailed reports, enabling you to stay up-to-date with payroll information, tax details, PTO accruals, and employee deductions. It may have several reporting options, but the choices aren’t as robust as HR.my and TimeTrex, simply because these two providers’ free packages include other HR solutions.
Conclusion
Are you a business owner, freelancer or a working professional? Do you want to track your finances and analyze your financial situation? If yes, then Quicken software for business is probably the most effective solution for you.