
Even if Wave Accounting weren’t completely free, it would make our top five based solely on its extensive set of features. Accounting software is a way for businesses to track income and expenses, send invoices, track sales tax and create reports. Some accounting software can also help track mileage or offer payroll.
One of the best alternatives to QuickBooks Desktop is QuickBooks Online, especially for accountants and bookkeepers. As we’ve pointed out, QuickBooks is the most popular accounting software, and its cloud-based subscription service offers helpful features at different plan levels. All the plans are extremely expensive compared to other options, though. Zoho Books is best for those who are already using Zoho products to manage their businesses. However, it’s also a good option for freelancers who need feature-rich accounting software to send invoices and manage expenses.
And if you’re on a paid plan, Wave uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to extract receipt data and turn them into bookkeeping records. QuickBooks is an easy-to-learn program, which is one of the reasons it’s such a popular choice. The simplicity of accounting package OneUp makes a lot of sense if you’re after a straightforward solution.
It could have aced customer service if it offered support via email. Xero stands out for its general accounting features, earning a perfect score in our evaluation. It also performed well in A/R, A/P, banking, inventory management, and reporting, offering essential functions like adding inventory to invoices and automatically calculating COGS. Xero received top marks for integrations, with over 100 apps available in its App Store. However, its pricing scored poorly because plans are for one user only, with additional seats costing $11 per month.
However, Xero has drawbacks in customer service, offering only a chatbot, email, and self-help resources. The setup can be challenging without accounting knowledge, and its basic mobile app only allows for sending invoices and categorizing expenses—not receiving payments or generating reports. Wave scored low in banking because of its poor bank reconciliation feature and inability to print checks. While the Pro plan allows bank account connections, the free plan only supports CSV file uploads for banking transactions. All the core bookkeeping features are there, including projects, time, and inventory tracking. These are easy to use once you get used to the amount of information and input fields on each page.
Wave takes a small percentage plus a fixed rate out of every online payment processed by the platform. Before picking a software, try listing out the parts of your bookkeeping you most want to give up. Choose the alternative where it’s as simple as tagging a transaction. Accounting software is a great way to manage your finances if you’re a small business owner, freelancer or contract worker.
Get up to five free personalized accounting quotes when you enter basic information about your company’s accounting needs. Some of the links on our site are from our partners who compensate us. Katherine Haan is a small business owner with nearly two decades of experience helping other business owners increase their incomes. In conclusion, selecting the right accounting system will optimize your business processes and let you achieve success in your industry.
Some businesses might also consider using the basic versions if they meet their needs, thus reducing costs. While QuickBooks offers a wide range of functionalities, it has its limitations too. Selecting an alternative accounting system top 12 key business principles examples you need to know may be more suitable for your company’s individual requirements, such as cash management and other financial aspects. You can add more users to your account, but it costs $10 per user, per month, at which point FreshBooks loses considerable value. FreshBooks – Freelancers and agencies focused on managing client projects and time tracking.