An accounting software is more than just an accounting software. It can be so much more than that. A good accounting software helps you to stay on top of your financial records, help you to keep track of what all is happening with your business so you don’t miss out on any money making opportunities, automate the bookkeeping process, easily produce sales reports and shares various reports with your team.
The goal of this article is to help you learn more about software that can help you with accounting. There are plenty of options to choose from. Some are great, some are okay, and some are just downright terrible.
GnuCash
If you’re looking for a free desktop accounting software for your small business, then GnuCash is a solid contender. To access this free accounting software option, all you have to do is go to the GnuCash site and download it for free—simple as that. Though GnuCash doubles as a personal and small business accounting software, it offers small business-specific features customer and vendor tracking, job costing, and invoicing.
NCH Express Accounts
With NCH Express Accounts, you can bid farewell to your business accounting woes. Counted among the top free accounting software, NCH Express Accounts is a reliable solution to document, organize, and monitor the cash coming in and going out of your firm. Although the system is useful for businesses of any size, it can be an ideal choice for companies with a team of fewer than five.
The Express Accounts simplifies the tracking of your accounts receivables and sales. You no longer have to make entries of recurring invoices or orders as the system has the functionality to automate those tasks. Furthermore, there are tools to generate invoices and professional quotations.
What about accounts payable? It takes care of it in the same way with transaction tracking, purchases order generation, and check creation and printing.
The bookkeeping software offers seamless analysis and reporting of your financial standing with 20+ types of report generation. The list includes sales reports, P&L statements, and balance sheets; preparing you to be tax-ready.
It supports multiple users and multiple businesses.
What’s more is, the solution is accessible online, as well as on your local network. With its mobile-friendly interface, you can access it from any device.
CloudBooks
Best for: Freelancers and small businesses
The free version of CloudBooks offers cloud storage, unlimited users, and email support. It has invoicing features but limits you to one client and five invoices. In order to get the unlimited invoicing features, a paid account will be necessary.
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.
ProfitBooks
Who said using accounting software would require you to have accounting knowledge? With ProfitBooks, you can take control of your business accounting operations with little or zero accounting background.
This 100% free online accounting software has a clutter-free interface with a centralized dashboard, streamlining all your tasks at one place. You can not only track your expenses and income but also build unlimited, sleek invoices from a plethora of ready templates. And you can also send/receive payments in any currency, thanks to the software’s multi-currency support.
If you have hired a professional accountant, then just a few clicks would allow you to share all the transaction data with them. Reducing all the to-and-fro of information!
What’s striking about ProfitBooks is its functionality of payment gateway integration, such as Cashfree and Instamojo. That makes it even easier and faster for you to receive payments. Also, it comes in with an out-and-out inventory management mechanism, supporting the entire inventory lifecycle – from processes, POs to reports.
If taxes are something that gives you nightmares, then ProfitBooks can come to your rescue. The online bookkeeping solution is tax-compliant and facilitates the accurate generation of over 45 financial reports, including tax reports.
Wave
A top free accounting software to consider from the start of your search is Wave accounting software. Through this option, you’ll be able to connect unlimited bank and credit card accounts to your books. You’ll also be able to add unlimited income tracking, expense tracking, and guest collaborators for free. Plus, you’ll be able to invoice and scan receipts for free as well.
Be sure to note, though: If you want your invoiced customers to be able to pay online directly through the invoice, you’ll need to pay for that. Wave charges 2.9% + $0.30 for each credit card payment and 1% (with a minimum of $1) for each ACH payment. You’ll also need to pay for payroll through Wave. Depending on where you do business, you’ll pay a monthly base fee of either $35 or $20, plus $4 per employee and contractor on your payroll.
ZipBooks
If you are looking for an uncomplicated way to manage your business accounts, then ZipBooks is your answer. It is an all-inclusive, intuitive bookkeeping software with a design that pleases your eyes. You can move around the system and perform robust functions without getting lost, even when you are using it for the first time.
One of the handy lifetime free accounting software, ZipBooks maintains a flawless record of your business accounts. It takes care of everything – right from your balance sheet and general ledger to the income statement, trial balance, taxes, and reports.
You can track your day-to-day transactions, keep a check on the funds you owe and the money people owe you, apart from determining your business revenues.
The solution offers a hassle-free linking and reconciliation of your business bank accounts (even multiple) in just a few clicks. Moreover, you get synced details of your transactions right on your screen, eliminating the need to maintain paper registers altogether.
The highlight is its ability to categorize recurring data entries automatically through machine learning. That helps you save a lot of your precious time. In addition, you can assign a budget to your projects and track time for automated invoice conversion.
SlickPie
Best for: Small businesses with little experience bookkeeping
SlickPie is an easy-to-use software for those who lack bookkeeping experience. A huge perk of SlickPie is its automation features, which include auto-recurring invoices and a built-in app called MagicBot that allows you to automatically add bills and receipts. You can also manage accounts payable by manually entering bills and marking them paid.
Akaunting
The curiously named Akaunting had its first stable release in 2018 and has been growing steadily ever since, with 180,000 downloads, 80,000 cloud users, and 10,000 project contributors, according to the Akaunting website. It is available in almost 50 different languages.
Akaunting aims to remove the stigma of open source software being difficult to use, claiming to get users up and running and fully functional in less than five minutes. Users can download the main accounting core, which includes all the standard accounting features small businesses will need, and add optional features as app downloads. Some of these optional apps include contract management, documents management, white label customization, and some integrations are paid.
If you run into trouble, free support comes through extensive online documentation, and community forums and chat rooms. The project is also monetized through a paid, dedicated support service, starting at $99/month if you really need help and don’t mind spending to get it.
Core features include:
- Modern, intuitive, mobile-ready interface
- Free updates for life
- Advanced reporting
- Customer and vendor management
- Recurring billing and invoicing
- Categorization and bulk actions
Conclusion
Accounting software does not have to be difficult. Even when it comes to the best free accounting software , there is no need to create a stressful situation. If you feel that tax season is causing tension in your household, you are not alone. However, there are many tools that can make your life easier when it comes to free accounting software.