Premium accounting software may feel out of reach if you’re on a tight budget, but don’t fret. There are plenty of free options available.
Contenders like Wave Accounting offer meaningful value despite being available for free. Meanwhile, options like TrulySmall Invoices have fewer free features, but the ones that they do offer are exceptionally practical.
Let’s take a look at our top picks for free small-business accounting software.
Top free accounting software comparison
Not every free accounting software product offers the features you need for free. A lot of companies hide the good stuff behind paywalls and higher-tier subscription plans. That’s why it’s important to carefully determine if a platform delivers the specific perks your business needs.
| Wave Accounting | ||||
| Zoho Books | ||||
| Odoo | ||||
| ZipBooks | ||||
| TrulySmall Invoices |
Wave Accounting: Best Overall
Wave Accounting emerges as a top choice thanks to its comprehensive yet user-friendly approach. The free version stands out for its full suite of accounting features.
Notably, Wave offers more than just basic bookkeeping. Its features also include invoicing, expense tracking and client management, making it an all-in-one solution for small-business owners. Plus, its intuitive design makes it easy to grasp for those new to accounting software. As your business grows, you have the option to expand to an affordable paid plan that will give you access to even more features.
Pricing
- Wave Starter: Free
- Wave Pro: $16 per month or $170 per year (saves $22)
- Receipt scanning: Free with Wave Pro or $8 per month/$72 per year with Wave Starter
- Wave Payroll: $20 per month plus $6 per person paid
- Live Bookkeeping: from $149 per month
Standout features
- Customizable invoicing
Wave enables users to create professional invoices tailored to their brand using customization of templates, colors, and logos. - Income and expense tracking
Wave’s smart dashboard organizes your income, expenses, payments, and invoices, simplifying tax preparation. Users can connect their bank accounts for automatic transaction imports, ensuring accurate and up-to-date financial records. - Receipt scanning
Wave offers a receipt scanning feature that allows users to capture and store receipts digitally, reducing paper clutter and streamlining expense tracking. This feature is included in the Pro Plan, which costs $170 USD per year. - Financial reporting
Wave provides a range of financial reports, including cash flow statements and balance sheets, to help users understand their business performance. These reports offer valuable insights for informed decision-making and financial planning. - Bank account integration
Wave allows users to connect their bank accounts and credit cards, automating transaction imports and reducing manual data entry. This integration ensures that financial data is accurate and up-to-date, facilitating efficient account reconciliation.
Please note that while many of Wave’s core features are free, some functionalities, like receipt scanning, require a paid subscription.
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For more information, read the full Wave Accounting review.
Why I recommend Wave
I highly recommend Wave Accounting for its comprehensive features, tailored to small business needs. The free starter plan includes unlimited invoicing, expense tracking, and income management, making it ideal for freelancers and self-employed individuals.
The user-friendly interface ensures a smooth setup and navigation experience, even for those new to accounting software. Wave offers seamless integration with its payroll services, providing a cohesive financial management solution. For businesses seeking affordability without compromising on multiple essential accounting functionalities, Wave stands out as a top overall choice.
Zoho Books: Best Free Plan
Zoho Books offers a robust free plan ideal for small businesses and solopreneurs. There are higher-level subscriptions available for a fee, but the zero-cost option remains a remarkable contender by offering essential accounting tools such as invoicing, expense tracking and reporting.
The free accounting plan is part of the broader Zoho suite, which offers an array of additional business management tools. This connection means it can integrate with the company’s other products and offer scalability as your business grows.
Pricing
Zoho Books offers several pricing plans:
- Free Plan: $0 per month for businesses with revenue under $50K/year, includes basic invoicing and expense tracking
- Standard: $20 per month, supports three users, offers more automation and reporting.
- Professional: $50 per month, includes five users, project management, and multi-currency handling
- Premium: $70 per month, for ten users, with advanced integrations and budgeting
- Elite & Ultimate: $150+ per month, for large businesses with custom analytics and advanced features
Standout features
- Invoice creation and management:
With Zoho Books, users can easily input information, select preferred formats, and share invoices directly with customers from within the platform. - Expense tracking and reports:
Zoho Books provides a comprehensive expense tracking system, allowing businesses to monitor and categorize expenses effortlessly. This tracking feature ensures that expenditures are accurately recorded and organized for better financial oversight. - Client portal for seamless interactions:
The Customer Portal in Zoho Books lets clients monitor all transactions between them and your business. Through this portal, clients can view invoices, make payments, and generate statements of accounts, fostering transparency and enhancing communication. - Integration with Zoho Suite:
Zoho Books integrates seamlessly with other Zoho applications, such as Zoho CRM and Zoho Expense. Integrating with Zoho CRM allows for synchronization of contacts and streamlining of sales and accounting processes. Connecting with Zoho Expense lets you automate expense reporting and approvals.
These features collectively make Zoho Books a robust accounting solution tailored for small to medium-sized businesses.
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For more information, read the full Zoho Books review.
Why I Recommend Zoho Books
Zoho Books offers the widest breadth of services under its free umbrella. I like that the software offers automated workflows, even though its setup can be tricky for beginners. It also includes a free plan for businesses with revenue under $50K, making it accessible for startups. Zoho Books also integrates seamlessly with other Zoho products, offering excellent customization options.
Odoo: Best Open-Source Option
Odoo stands out as the best open-source accounting software. Open-source accounting software has publicly available source code, allowing users to modify, customize, and distribute it and can be tailored to specific business needs. Despite its community-oriented development, Odoo still packs a punch like its closed-source, premium competitors.
In addition to the customization options, with this software you can also tackle sales, human resources and marketing needs, although some functions may require paid upgrades. Still, core accounting perks are free and ready for source code customizations.
Pricing
Here are the Odoo Accounting pricing plans based on the official website:
- One App Free: $0 for one app with unlimited users.
- Standard Plan: $31.10 per user, per month (billed annually) for access to all apps on Odoo Online.
- Custom Plan: $46.70 per user, per month (billed annually), includes all apps, Odoo Studio, Multi-Company, External API, and on-premise hosting options. This plan may require specialized coding skills.
Standout features
- Customizable invoicing and billing
Odoo’s Invoicing module allows users to tailor professional invoices to specific business needs. Users can customize invoice templates by adjusting layouts, adding company logos, and modifying fields to include pertinent information. - Expense management
Odoo streamlines expense management by enabling employees to submit expenses directly through the system. Once submitted, these expenses can be set up to undergo a managerial review process to ensure accuracy before reimbursement. - Financial reporting
Odoo provides real-time financial reporting tools that let you monitor various financial metrics such as revenue, expenses, and profitability. The platform includes customizable dashboards and reports, facilitating informed decision-making based on up-to-date financial data. - Modular structure for tailored solutions
Odoo’s modular architecture allows businesses to select and integrate various applications as needed, creating a tailored ERP system. This flexibility enables companies to start with essential modules and expand functionality over time by adding additional apps like Sales, Inventory, or Human Resources.
These features collectively contribute to Odoo’s adaptability and efficiency in managing diverse accounting and financial tasks within an organization.
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Why I Recommend Odoo
Odoo’s flexibility makes it ideal for businesses of any size. With its vast range of applications, Odoo can scale as businesses grow, integrating various modules like customer relationship management (CRM), invoicing, and inventory management. Odoo’s user-friendly interface and smooth integration with other tools enhance overall productivity. Odoo’s open-source platform allows users to modify the software to fit their specific needs in a unique way that most free accounting tools don’t offer.
For more information, read the full Odoo review.
ZipBooks: Best for contractors
ZipBooks is tailored specifically for contractors and small service-based businesses. It distinguishes itself with project costing and time tracking features, which are essential for contractors managing multiple projects. The software’s simplicity in design and focus on essential functionalities make it an excellent choice for those in the service sector.
For more details, check out TechRepublic’s review of Odoo.
Pricing
- Starter: Free, includes unlimited invoicing, basic reports, and one bank account connection
- Smarter: $15 per month, adds features like recurring invoices, time tracking, and multiple bank account connections
- Sophisticated: $35 per month, includes smart tagging, advanced reports, and unlimited user invitations
- Accountant: Custom pricing for accounting professionals, includes client-specific features like bulk transaction editing and client dashboard management
Standout features
- Project costing and time tracking: ZipBooks enables users to set up projects, allocate budgets, and monitor time spent on various activities. Time logs can be directly connected to invoices, making the billing process more efficient.
- Invoice Customization: Users can design and send personalized invoices and add logos and custom messages. The platform also supports recurring billing and automated reminders.
- Basic financial reporting: ZipBooks offers key financial reports, including Accounts Receivable, Balance Sheet, General Ledger, Income Statement, Taxes Invoiced, and Trial Balance.
- Easy-to-use interface: The platform is built with simplicity in mind, offering easy navigation, color-coded elements, and automatic categorization to make accounting tasks more straightforward for users at any skill level.
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Why I Recommend ZipBooks
I find ZipBooks to be the best software for contractors because it’s straightforward and efficient for financial management. It automates tedious tasks like invoicing and recurring billing, which saves time. The platform’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to navigate without prior accounting experience. In addition, its project management and time tracking features keep everything organized.
TrulySmall Invoices: Best free invoicing
TrulySmall Invoices is designed for businesses such as contractors and merchandise suppliers. This tool stands out for its simplicity and effectiveness, particularly for freelancers and small businesses needing a user-friendly solution.
Keep in mind that the subscription plans are not free. Instead, the company makes invoice templates and allows up to five free invoices per month. Most other features require payment. Still, if you’re a small operation, these options may be sufficient.
Pricing
- Free Plan: Includes basic invoicing features, allowing users to send and manage invoices.
- Paid Plan: Costs $8.99 per month, offering more advanced features such as unlimited invoices, recurring billing, and payment processing.
Standout features
- Customizable invoice templates: TrulySmall allows you to personalize invoice templates with your logo, colors, and other details to match your branding.
- Expense tracking: This feature helps you track your business expenses and categorize them for easy reporting.
- Payment reminders: TrulySmall automatically sends reminders to clients for overdue payments to ensure timely transactions.
- Seamless invoicing process: The platform simplifies invoicing by enabling quick creation, sending, and managing of invoices in one integrated flow.
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Why I recommend TrulySmall Invoices
TrulySmall’s invoicing software is ideal for small businesses looking for simplicity and efficiency. I like that it offers customizable templates to match your branding. The platform also provides automated payment reminders to help maintain cash flow. Additionally, it tracks expenses to provide a clearer picture of your finances.
How to choose the best free accounting software
When choosing free accounting software, there are certain key features you should prioritize to manage your business finances effectively. Here are four key features to consider:
1. Invoice creation and management
A crucial feature of any accounting software is the ability to create and manage invoices. These functions help track revenue and maintain cash flow. Effective invoice management systems include options for customization and status reminders, which are essential for maintaining professional relationships with clients.
2. Expense tracking
Good accounting software should offer comprehensive expense tracking tools. They should allow businesses to record, categorize and analyze their expenditures. These features help with budgeting and financial planning and provide insights into spending patterns and cost savings.
3. Financial reporting
Insightful financial reporting is another key feature. It provides an overview of a business’s financial health, offering reports on profit and loss, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. These reports are crucial for making informed business decisions and are often required for tax purposes.
4. Integration capabilities
As businesses grow, it becomes more important to be able to integrate accounting software with payroll, banking and other business management systems. Integration capabilities save time, prevent frustration, and enhance overall efficiency.
The key is to balance essential features with the scalability and user-friendliness of the software. Look for options that meet your current requirements and have the potential to grow with your business.
Methodology
In the course of evaluating each option, I analyzed user reviews, functionality, and each product’s ability to grow with the company. This analysis was comprised of the following steps:
1. Needs analysis
First, I identified the size and type of business that could benefit from the software provided, then listed the must-have features.
2. Shortlist popular free options
Next, I researched the available free accounting software, considering open-source models and other modern iterations of popular products.
3. Review of user experiences
After identifying the available options, I incorporated online reviews and user ratings to identify both pain points and perks.
4. Evaluate key features
I reviewed the key features below, and the following analysis was applied to each.
- Bank reconciliation: I reviewed the software’s ability to connect to bank accounts and match transactions.
- Expense tracking: I checked to see if there was a simple way to log and categorize expenses.
- Reporting and dashboards: Does the product offer useful financial statements and visual summaries?
- Multi-user access and permissions: I reviewed the ability of team members to be added with different access levels.
- Invoicing and billing: I evaluated whether invoices could be sent easily.
- Integration capabilities: I checked to see if the free software integrated with platforms, e-commerce, and payroll tools.
While looking into the items above and compiling the data (if available), I made sure to analyze each product’s interface, taking into account user reviews and experiences.
See our full review process and scoring breakdown here.
Frequently asked questions
Is free accounting software safe?
Free accounting software from reputable providers are safe as long as the provider employs security features like two-factor authentication and data encryption.
What is the best free accounting software for sole proprietors?
We recommend Zoho Books as the best free accounting software for sole proprietors.
Can free software handle payroll?
Yes. Wave is a great example of accounting software that can handle payroll.
What is the best free accounting software for LLCs?
The best free accounting software for LLCs depends on the size of the business. Zoho Books is a great platform for sole proprietors, while Wave might be better for a larger operation.
