17 Best Free Accounting Software for Small Business in 2024

Updated Sep 30, 2022.

Free online accounting software for small businesses has benefits and drawbacks. Therefore, it’s essential to evaluate as many of them as possible to find the best one for you.

Wave icon

Wave

Ideal accounting software for service-based, low-inventory businesses with a minimal growth plan for the next 3-4 years
ZipBooks icon

ZipBooks

Provides project management tools that enable users to establish tasks, designate them to team members, and track performance
Akaunting icon

Akaunting

Provides a client portal through which users can share transactional and invoicing information with clients and accept larger payment amounts
Odoo S.A. icon

Odoo

Advanced business management software that offers over 1000+ modules to perform various functions in a single place
GnuCash icon

GnuCash

Reliable free single-user accounting software software that offers both personal and professional financial account management

Our work is supported by affiliate commissions.

While you're getting your small business up and running, you might wonder if you can get all the accounting features you need from free accounting software instead of paying for one, especially if you’re on a tight budget.

But a quick Google search for free accounting software will turn up several results, so much so that you might be overwhelmed and confused about what to choose.

So, in this article, we've put together and reviewed the best free accounting software. Keep reading to see which one of these free bookkeeping software is suitable for you.

Best Free Accounting Software for Small Business

Our top choices for the best free accounting software for small businesses in 2022 are as follows:

1. Wave

Reliable Free Accounting Software with Flexible Accounting and Invoice Management.

Editor’s Take
9.2 out of 10
Best For
Solopreneurs
Pricing
None
Annual discount
None
Promotion
Free Forever

Wave more than deserves the top spot on our list as it is an excellent option for small-business owners seeking free accounting software to streamline bookkeeping processes. Though free, Wave doesn't skimp on functionality, offering a rich and diverse feature set.

Wave is a double-entry accounting software that provides accounting features, bookkeeping, and invoicing all in one place. It’s completely free, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better offering, even among paid options.

Best Features

  • Wave Finance Dashboard: Wave recently introduced a new dashboard tool to view all your financial information in one spot. The Wave Finance Dashboard shows you a quick overview of your business's most critical financial data. Graphs for overdue invoices and bills, net income, profit and loss, cash flow, and a breakdown of expenses are all available on the dashboard, allowing you to see exactly where your money is going. In addition, shortcuts to essential bookkeeping operations, like uploading a bank statement and viewing cash flow reports, are accessible from the dashboard.
  • Wave Invoicing: Wave is well-known for its simple and free invoicing. You'll need to send invoices to clients and consumers if you're a freelancer or small business owner. Wave offers excellent customizable invoices. You can choose from three different invoice templates, and each is customizable with your company's colors and logo. Wave also provides an unlimited amount of invoices along with several time-saving invoice automations.
  • Wave Expense Tracking: Wave assists small business owners in tracking their spending, which is a crucial aspect of managing a company's finances. With Wave, you can track your costs by connecting to your bank account, importing bank statements, or manually entering expenses.

Pros

  • Offers unlimited invoices with customizable templates
  • Efficient transaction management
  • Supports multiple currencies

Cons

  • No phone support
  • Can’t rectify bank statements once time difference occurs

2. ZipBooks

Best Free Accounting Software for Contractors, Small Businesses, and Accountants.

Editor’s Take
8.7 out of 10
Best for
Scaling businesses
Price
$0 – $35/month
Annual discount
None
Promotion
Free Forever

ZipBooks offers a tremendous user experience to small businesses that need basic income and expense management. But it lacks tools like bill pay and inventory tracking. Despite these, we still consider ZipBooks an excellent free accounting software.

ZipBooks is a cloud-based accounting and invoicing software for small businesses and entrepreneurs. This clean and user-friendly platform makes basic bookkeeping tasks like invoicing very simple.

Best Features

  • Invoicing: ZipBooks offers fantastic invoicing options. You can customize invoices by adding your logo and business colors, accepting credit card and PayPal payments, and tracking taxes as payables for future payments. You can further personalize invoices by including a remark or message on customer invoices.
  • Time Tracking: ZipBooks has a robust time tracking feature that makes it great for independent freelancers and anybody who wants to keep track of their time. On the user dashboard, a timer is visible at the top. Simply select a customer or project, make notes, and start tracking your time by clicking the green arrow. You can stop and resume the timer as many times as you want.
  • Accounting Tool: With ZipBooks' accounting tool, users can effortlessly disclose records with accountants and financial specialists. This tool allows users to manage everyday transactions easily and export 100% accurate data for filing taxes and producing financial reports. In addition, users can use the accounts receivable function to keep track of invoices and payments so that the money they earn and the money they owe appear in their accounts receivable reports.

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • Invoicing is easy to set up
  • Offers clean and professional invoice templates

Cons

  • Customer support limited to live chat
  • Mobile app only available for iOS users
  • Limited integration options

3. Akaunting

Excellent Free Open-Source Accounting Software.

Editor’s Take
8.2 out of 10
Best
Single-entry accounting tool
Price
None
Annual discount
None
Promotion
Free Forever

We love Akaunting because it is a fantastic free, open-source accounting solution that helps small businesses manage and expedite invoicing, payment processing, billable expense management, and other financial activities.

Akaunting is a small business and freelancer accounting software that is free, open-source, and available online. Akaunting offers all the tools to handle your money online, from invoicing to expenditure monitoring to accounting.

Best Features

  • Financial Reports: Akaunting has five basic business financial statements: an income summary, an expense summary, an income versus expense summary, a tax summary, and a profit and loss statement. You can easily modify the reports by year, vendor, customer, bank account, income or cost category, etc.
  • Accounts Payable: Under the billing dashboard in Akaunting, you may manually enter all your due expenses, including vendors and due dates. Users can import and export bill and vendor files. With Akaunting, you can allocate bills to categories you create.
  • Accounts Receivable: You can create client profiles on Akaunting's platform and send bills to clients via email; the client will receive the invoice in PDF format with the email containing a brief automated message. In addition, you can accept payments for your invoices via the internet. The invoice dashboard panel in Akaunting, on the other hand, lets you quickly monitor the status of each invoice and sort them by invoice date or due date. You can also keep track of all the invoices you send out and the cash you receive from clients manually, which is ideal for keeping record of your finances.

Pros

  • Easy to use interface
  • Supports multiple users

Cons

  • Offers only single-entry accounting
  • No mobile app
  • Unreliable customer support
  • Does not connect with bank and credit accounts

4. Odoo

Best Free All-in-One Accounting Solution.

Editor’s Take
8.0 out of 10
Best for
Tracking account payable
Price
None
Annual discount
None
Promotion
Free Forever

We consider Odoo an excellent accounting software due to its customizable features and numerous integrations. Odoo has everything a company needs to function well, including CRM, sales, project management, inventory management, and accounting. This makes it an excellent all-in-one accounting solution for small businesses.

Odoo is an all-in-one open-source software that functions as a CRM, eCommerce, accounting, inventory, POS, and project management software, among other things. It presents a collection of business apps that operate hand-in-hand, allowing everything to be online and accessible from any device.

Best Features

  • E-commerce: The Odoo E-commerce tool keeps track of inventory and sales through automatic stock modifications and reporting. It offers separate customer portals for order monitoring and claims and dedicated customer portals for keeping client data organized. Customers may check pending shipments and download invoices and delivery details from a single spot.
  • CRM: Odoo provides a CRM dashboard that displays a summary of sales activities. It also provides best practices and advice to help customers customize and operate their CRM effectively.
  • Inventory: Odoo's inventory management system uses double-entry accounting to track supplies and products from the supplier to the client. Odoo puts together customers' delivery orders based on availability.
  • Employee Module: Through the Odoo employee module, businesses can store all their employees' information in one place, including their status, job description, contract type, and dates and schedules. Organizations can also construct monthly or weekly timesheets to track how much time employees spend on each project.

Pros

  • Highly customizable
  • Functions at a very high pace
  • Provides 1000+ modules to perform various functions in one place.

Cons

  • Complicated setup structure
  • Steep learning curve
  • Does not function well on android devices

5. GnuCash

Excellent Free Accounting Tool for Managing Personal and Business Finances.

Editor’s Take
7.4 out of 10
Best for
Startups
Price
None
Annual discount
None
Promotion
Free Forever

In our opinion, GnuCash is an excellent choice for startups and small businesses on a budget and individuals interested in keeping track of their personal finances. The only thing we don’t like about this platform is that it doesn’t support multiple users.

GnuCash is a free accounting software that utilizes a double-entry accounting method. It is an excellent choice for small business owners who need to manage invoicing, bill payment, and payroll.

Best Features

  • GnuCash User Guide: The GnuCash User Guide is accessible on the GnuCash website, and it contains a comprehensive overview of the software with support resources. The guide includes a section on business functionality and thorough instructions on setting up, updating, and dealing with accounts.
  • Reporting: GnuCash has a robust reporting system with a wide range of management reports and financial statements. GnuCash also provides customer, vendor, and staff reports in addition to financial data.
  • Storage of Data: This platform stores data and information directly on the computer because it is not a cloud-based software system. Every time you save a file, it creates an automatic backup in XML format. GnuCash also has an experimental option to store information in a SQL database.
  • Mobile App: GnuCash has an assistant mobile app accessible through the Google Play Store for Android users. This app allows you to track transactions and import them into the computer application later.

Pros

  • Compatible with most computers
  • Provides data visualization of your expenses in graphs and reports
  • Accessible in a variety of languages
  • Supports multiple currencies.

Cons

  • Options for customizing reports are limited

6. CloudBooks

Efficient and Free Cloud-Based Accounting Software for Startups.

CloudBooks - Powerful Online Invoicing Software for Businesses

CloudBooks is a free modern approach to online invoicing. It has everything you need and hardly anything you don't.

This software assists users with accounting, online billing, time tracking, project management, and allows users to monetize project billing hours, and offers secure online payment gateways that allow customers to pay with cash, credit cards, or PayPal.

Best Features

  • Easy to Track and Recover Expenses: Keep track of the costs you accumulate when dealing with client projects and invoice them to transfer the costs to the appropriate party. You can track expenses in real-time with CloudBooks to ensure you don't pass them on to the wrong client. In addition, it provides simple expense tracking, allowing you to quickly and accurately add expenses to the invoices.
  • Optimize Billing: Whether you have a one-person team or several teams with multiple members, CloudBooks makes it simple to track time and ensure efficient invoicing. You can also track project progress to see how much time a team spends on a given project.
  • Automation of Recurring Billing: CloudBooks makes it easy to schedule recurring invoices for regular clients and send the invoices automatically at the end of each billing period. This makes your billing process more efficient and saves your time.
  • Easy Control of Your Finances: To help you gauge your business earnings, CloudBooks provides detailed reports on financial transactions, expenses incurred, and profit & loss. You can also use a variety of standard business reports to understand your company's finances better.

Pros

  • Great support system
  • Robust functionality
  • Provides automated reports and summary of invoice

Cons

  • Confusing invoice layout

7. Zoho Books

Best Free Accounting Software for Business Owners New to Accounting.

Zoho Books - Online accounting software, built for your business

Zoho Books assists businesses in streamlining and managing all financial transactions from a single location.

It allows agents to keep track of their bills and invoices; this includes unrestricted payments from any location, prompt payment requests, reminders on recurring bills, and even auto-charge options for the client.

Best Features

  • Support: Zoho Books provides excellent help and support. Don't worry if you get stuck; support is available via email or phone during regular office hours. If you're switching from another application to Zoho Books, a Migration Guide is available, and a Quick Navigation Guide is also accessible to make it easy to understand the app. If it's not enough, there are FAQs pages and other tutorial videos that users can watch. You can ask questions in the Zoho Books user community, register for an upcoming webinar, and read the Welcome Guide.
  • Invoicing: With just a few clicks, you can convert purchase orders or estimates into invoices, customize the invoice as required, and drag and drop lines to reorganize them. You can send them right away or schedule them to go out later. In addition, the software maintains an audit trail to see which transactions are connected, who created or altered them, and when the change occurred.
  • Online Payments: You can connect your account to popular payment gateways such as Authorize.Net, Braintree, PayPal, Square, Stripe, WePay, Worldpay, and 2Checkout, allowing your customers to pay their invoices instantly online. You can receive funds and keep track of paid and unpaid invoices, and it gives your customers a sense of security.

Pros

  • Simple online solution for billing
  • Configuration is easy and quick
  • Supports multiple payment platforms

Cons

  • Limited third party integration

8. Fiverr Workspace

Best Free Accounting Solution for Freelancers.

Fiverr Workspace - Automate your business's back office with Workspace

Formerly known as And.co, Fiverr Workspace is a free cloud-based contract management software for small businesses to create contracts and proposals, process online payments, and track business expenses.

Fiverr Workspace integrates with various third-party services, including Shopify, Google Calendar, PayPal, etc. Users can access the platform for free.

Best Features

  • Payment on a global level: Fiverr Workspace allows you to accept payments from clients worldwide. The platform integrates with online payment gateways such as PayPal to make the process easier for you and your customers.
  • Task Management: When you finish more tasks in a shorter time, you earn more. Fiverr Workspace can help you with that because it provides a task manager that you can use to keep track of what you've done and what you still need to do. You can also use it in conjunction with the time tracking tool to track how much time you spend on each task or project.
  • Visual Reports: If you want to see how far you've come in the last few months, you can use Fiverr Workspace's reporting tool to visualize your progress. Aside from that, you can use the visual report to summarize your income, track expenses, and more to come up with more effective business plans.
  • Smart Expenditure Management: Fiverr Workspace provides an expense tracker to help you stay within the time and budget constraints for completing a project. As a result, you'll be able to avoid losses and increase profits.

Pros

  • Effective time tracking system
  • Simple user interface
  • Offers mobile apps

Cons

  • Mainly designed for single users
  • Offers just one invoice template

9. Sunrise

Outstanding Free Accounting Tool with Full Professional Bookkeeper Support.

Sunrise - Unlock data-powered insights for your business

Sunrise is a free cloud-based accounting tool designed for small businesses and remote workers.

With accounting features like quote management, invoicing, contact management, billing, expense management, financial reporting, and multi-currency support, users can use Sunrise to create customized invoices, mail them to clients, and accept payments online.

Best Features

  • Client Portal: Your clients can view and pay recurring invoices, view their current invoices, and access your contact information (email, address, and phone number) through a basic client portal Sunrise provides.
  • Contact Management: Sunrise provides a contact management section that enables you to save relevant data like basic contact details, tax ID numbers, and payment terms for your customers and vendors.
  • Expenses Management: There are a few ways to add expenses to your Sunrise account. The simplest method is to sync your bank account, which will import transactions automatically. Alternatively, you can manually add expenses or upload receipts. Finally, you can categorize your expenses, but there is no option for automatic categorization.
  • Financial Reports: Sunrise doesn't have many reports, but it provides the most critical financial statements your business requires; balance sheet, trial balance, profit and loss statement, and sales tax.
  • Cash Flow Tracker: The Sunrise dashboard includes a cash flow tracker. This tracker displays outflows, inflows, potential outflows, potential inflows, and net changes to give you a better understanding of your cash flow.

Pros

  • Effective dashboard features
  • Easy to navigate
  • Efficient invoicing tools
  • Offers double-entry accounting feature

Cons

  • Does not offer project time tracking
  • Lacks internal payroll feature
  • Functions only in Canada and the US

10. TurboCASH

Excellent Free Accounting Software With Multiple Language and Currency Support.

TurboCASH - Double Entry General Ledger

TurboCASH is a freemium accounting software whose main objective is to help you streamline your accounting processes.

This platform provides multiple currencies, languages, and taxation support. It also has a development community that provides users with timely updates whenever taxation rules and guidelines change.

Best Features

  • General ledger (GL): TurboCASH’s double-entry general ledger does not only help you create new books from scratch but also helps you copy information to existing books from spreadsheets. You can use its templates to create new books from scratch. TurboCASH templates are great for users that operate cost centers in more than one supported country.
  • Cash Books: Once you connect your bank account to the system, you can take advantage of its bank reconciliation function. This feature will help ensure that all of your accounts give you consistent and accurate information.
  • Automated Sales Tax Calculation: TurboCASH helps you stay agile and compliant by including sample books from various American jurisdictions like California, Indiana, Kentucky, and New York.
  • Budgeting: You can configure multiple cost centers and special projects for drafting budgets and income and expense tracking.
  • PDF reports: TurboCASH has all the standard financial reporting tools. You can configure each of these reporting tools according to your jurisdiction and style of business operations. In addition, the automated formatting feature makes all reports look visually appealing when converted to PDF format.
  • Cloud implementation: Users can access the double-entry accounting function of TurboCASH from the cloud as long as it’s deployed on Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services. This means that you can share real-time reports with your team members who connect from mobile devices. You can also retain the services of remote bookkeepers and accountants because they won’t need to come into the office to review your books.
  • Multiple languages and currency support: The open-source advantage of TurboCASH has allowed the software to support a wide range of languages and currencies from around the globe.

Pros

  • Simple interface
  • Provides in-built templates
  • Can create multiple company databases

Cons

  • Needs extra plug-in for banking

11. QuickFile

Free Online Accounting Software With Excellent Bank Reconciliation Features.

QuickFile - Cloud Accounting Made Easy

QuickFile is a simple and intuitive cloud accounting software suitable for small and medium businesses. It provides a full suite of accounting features like expense management professional invoicing, VAT, bank feeds, and more than 300 third-party integrations.

Best Features

  • Invoicing: You get a complete set of professional invoice templates with QuickFile so that you can bill your clients with just a few clicks. Then, the system will automatically fill in the information and calculate prices when they place an order.
  • Bank reconciliation: QuickFile also features an automated bank reconciliation system to help check every transaction against your bank's records. This means you can be sure that you're always looking at the latest information whenever you scroll through the dashboard.
  • Value-added tax (VAT) calculations: You can also track and file VAT returns right from QuickFile. It supports standard and flat-rate calculations. Once you have calculated how much tax you owe, the system will automatically report the figure to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
  • Purchase management: With QuickFile, you can process payments from Stripe, PayPal, and Worldpay on the spot so you can handle transactions from a wide variety of clients. It sends out processed receipts and invoices from even shoppers who pay with cryptocurrency services like Bitcoin. QuickFile can also process payments in various fiat currencies from around the world.
  • Analytics: QuickFile provides an integrated reporting feature that makes it easy to visualize your current financial situation and helps you determine how well your business is doing.
  • Estimates and quotes: This open-source accounting software makes sending a quote as easy as clicking on a client's name and inputting a value. Over time, the QuickFile software will collect enough information to help you make estimates and predict costs.

Pros

  • Supports Bitcoin
  • Provides a wide range of integration
  • Fast and lightweight solution

Cons

  • Mobile user interface is less intuitive
  • No inventory control
  • Provides limited reports

12. NCH Express Accounts

Free Desktop Accounting Software for Businesses With Fewer Than Five Employees.

NCH Express Accounts - Express Accounts Accounting Software

NCH Express Accounts is a small business accounting software that offers quick solutions to basic bookkeeping tasks, such as billing and invoicing, inventory accounting, financial reporting, and cash flow monitoring.

This free software has many features, including accounts payable (A/P) and accounts receivable (A/R) monitoring, bank reconciliation, and inventory management.

Best Features

  • Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable: Express Accounts makes expense tracking easy. You save time by generating quotes for products sold or services provided while recording new sales orders. This feature also allows you to create and print checks. In addition, the system will automatically record recurring orders and update the invoicing system as bills are settled, so you’ll always know when you are paid.
  • Financial Analysis and Reports: NCH Express Accounts offers more than the basic financial reports. You can find over 20 GAAP reports in this software. These documents will help you keep track of sales, assets, liabilities, performance, and cash flow and forecast your cash flows. In addition, you can produce standard reports such as balance sheets, profit and loss documents, and a chart of accounts with a single click. Express Accounts also supports data imported from comma-separated values (CSV) files. It can also help you prepare your tax returns quickly and efficiently.
  • Integrations: NCH Express Accounts offers integrations with many other third-party software for various needs. You can take advantage of other NCH products such as Inventoria, which provides inventory management functionality, and ClickCharts, turning financial reports into data visualization charts.

Pros

  • Simple to use
  • Easy to navigate between tasks
  • Free version supports up to five employees

Cons

  • No built-in payroll
  • No mobile version
  • Does not connect to bank accounts

Free Accounting Software: What You Might Be Missing

While the idea of free accounting software is quite enticing, you should bear in mind that a free version also comes with its fair share of disadvantages. Itemized below are some of the challenges you may face with even the best free accounting software.

1. It May Not Have the Features You Need

Most free accounting software options provide their users with a limited number of features. They hide the most desirable features and functionalities behind a paywall and encourage users to upgrade to their paid version to unlock them.

2. You Might Not Be Able to Scale Up

Many free accounting software options limit the number of records you can keep and transactions you can complete. While these free software are a manageable option for small businesses as your business begins to grow, you will need a more extensive system beyond what the free solution offers.

You should look for a tool to scale up your efforts and accommodate your growth.

3. You Could Make Mistakes by Trusting the System

You will have to review the reports generated by your free accounting software and ensure that every invoice and transaction is correct. If you choose free software, you might consider keeping an accountant on retainer for a few hours monthly to manage the system and check for errors.

4. Security issues

Perhaps, one of the most prevalent issues with any free accounting program is security. Unfortunately, free accounting software doesn’t enjoy regular upgrades like its premium counterparts. And so, there are bound to be security loopholes that attackers can easily exploit.

5. Lack of support

Support is an integral part of every software, and one of the biggest cons associated with free accounting solutions is the lack of support. It will most likely not be as good as what you’ll get with paid software for those who offer support.

Unless you can support the software in-house or pay a third-party service to provide support, you should stay away from free versions of any accounting software.

6. Distracting ad banners

Despite being marketed as entirely free, the developers of free accounting software options monetize their products through ad placements instead of charging users.

These ad banners will often pop up while using the accounting tool. In addition to causing distraction, an ad-invaded user interface will slow down operational efficiency and productivity.

Free Accounting Software Alternatives: Free Trials

1. FreshBooks

Robust Accounting Software With Outstanding Time and Expense Tracking Features.

FreshBooks - Accounting Software Built for Business Owners and Accountants

FreshBooks is a cloud-based paid accounting software that helps you create and send unlimited invoices, manage clients and projects, and accept payments online.

It comes with a wide range of accounting features, including double-entry accounting, project management, recurring invoices, mobile accounting, etc.

Best Features

  • Easy Invoicing: One of the benefits of integrating payments into FreshBooks is that it makes invoicing easy. It can create recurring invoices, accept online payments, send invoices via email, and customize an invoice layout.
  • Effective Time Tracking: Integrating your payments into FreshBooks accounting software can help you eliminate the issue of calculating the overall time spent on specific projects. Its dynamic time-tracking feature helps employees and employers manage and keep track of every minute and payment by project.
  • Reports: With double-entry accounting, more reporting options like a General Ledger report and a Profit & Loss report have been added to FreshBooks. The Reports screen displays your top five reports at the top of the page for quicker access.

Pros

  • Provides live customer support
  • Highly intuitive interface
  • Provides time and mileage tracking on all its plans

Cons

  • No budget capability
  • Limited report customization

2. QuickBooks Online

Excellent Accounting Software for Managing Multiple Financial Areas of a Business.

QuickBooks Online - Smart, simple online accounting software for small business

Quickbooks Online is a web-based accounting software that handles all aspects of the financial side of a business. Business owners can use it for bookkeeping, payroll, invoice management, financial reporting, bank reconciliation, expense tracking, tax management, etc.

Best Features

  • Automations: QuickBooks Online automates tasks, making accounting less time-consuming and less stressful for small business owners. You can use this software to send recurring invoices and payment reminders, sync data from bank and credit card transactions, and eliminate the tedious, time-consuming task of doing it manually for every transaction.
  • Built-in Reports: QuickBooks in-built reports spares you the labor of creating financial reports from scratch. You can mark the reports you use most as favorites to find them at the top of the Reports page. You can also set up the software to automatically run and email reports to you, and you can schedule them for a specific time of day and frequency, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
  • Electronic Invoicing: Another timesaving feature this software offers is electronic invoicing. You can email invoices to customers through the system, track them, and accept online payments and electronic signatures.

Pros

  • Provides a wide selection of accounting reports
  • Mobile app provides many bookkeeping features
  • Good inventory management features

Cons

  • Cannot track inventory assemblies

3. Xero

Comprehensive, Customizable Accounting for Growing Small Businesses.

Xero - Accounting software to do your to do

Xero is an accounting software product that enables you to maintain complete control over your organization’s spending and expenses. In addition, it allows you to easily capture data by uploading pictures of your receipts, promoting accurate, automated expense reporting.

Best Features

  • Expense Reporting: Xero allows you to capture data by taking pictures of receipts and uploading them to the system to accelerate the expense reporting process. The program automatically scans receipt photos and adds paid expenses directly to your spending account, making income and expense tracking easier.
  • Pay Bills: The system provides a comprehensive overview of active bills and invoices. An easy-to-understand interface shows you what bills are due next and allows you to configure recurring payments; this ensures that your organization is always paid up on all of your various accounts and expenses.
  • Project Tracking: Xero enables you to closely monitor ongoing projects within your organization. A central dashboard shows you developing, active, and closed projects on one organized screen. In addition, it aggregates your tasks, files, expenses, and budgets into a central location, promoting productivity across multiple teams and departments.

Pros

  • User-friendly solution
  • Compatible with the latest mobile devices
  • Wide range of third-party integrations

Cons

  • No inventory tracking
  • Slow customer support team

4. Sage Accounting

Best Accounting Software for Easy Cloud Invoicing.

Sage Accounting - Easy cloud invoicing so you can get paid faster

Sage Accounting is a robust accounting, invoicing, and billing software that helps you maintain control over your organization’s finances.

Its comprehensive invoicing tools ensure that you’re paid on time, while the snap and capture functionality simplifies the expense tracking and reporting process.

Best Features

  • Invoicing Management: Sage helps you get paid on time with comprehensive invoice management functionalities. To avoid double data entry, you can easily create professional invoices, view statuses, and automate incoming payments. The system also allows you to track active invoices to know what you are owed at any given time.
  • Snap and Capture: The software streamlines your expense reporting process with its easy-to-use Snap and Capture feature. You simply take a picture of receipts, bills, or invoices and upload them through the mobile application. The system will automatically add the bill to your expenses, making it easy to maintain accurate cash flow records.
  • Forecasting: Sage Accounting also features a robust forecasting tool that helps you plan for the future. It monitors your sales and expenses to create forecast models based on accurate data to stay ahead of the curve with your organization’s financial health.

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • Supports unlimited transactions
  • Provides a fully-featured mobile app

Cons

  • Lacks advanced features like a client portal
  • No integrated payroll

5. Kashoo

One of the Simplest Accounting Software for Streamlined Reporting.

Kashoo - The World’s Simplest Accounting Software

Kashoo is user-friendly and straightforward, so even people with no accounting background can use it easily. This platform automates expense tracking, simplifies invoicing, provides streamlined reporting, and fast tracks payment collection.

Best Features

  • Smart Inbox: Kashoo’s smart inbox allows you to spend less time tracking expenses and focus on other important tasks instead. All business-related purchases and transactions flow seamlessly into your Kashoo inbox. You’ll only need to manually assign categories at the start because as you continue using this accounting software, it learns from your behavior and automatically tags transactions moving forward.
  • Easy Invoicing: This easy invoicing software ensures less waiting time and more billing time for Kashoo users. The invoice is customizable, meaning you can only add your business information and include relevant fields. It can also be sent directly to clients, so there is no need to download an invoice file and go to another platform to send invoices.
  • Fast Payment Collection Process: Time spent on chasing payments is reduced significantly because of this feature. Users can take back their time as more payments are collected. Kashoo promises that it would only take one minute for users to set up automatic deposits to their selected bank accounts with no hidden fees.
  • Streamlined Reports: Reports are crucial in generating insights that will help business owners make informed decisions. Kashoo’s report system does not require manual data entry to create reports. This gives you more time to focus on understanding and analyzing the numbers to get a better picture of their overall performance. The report formats are also easy to understand and easy to use.

Pros

  • Provides live support
  • Good income and expense management
  • Covers project cost tracking

Cons

  • No app for Android users
  • Limited reporting options

FAQ

What is the best free accounting software for small businesses?

While every business has unique needs that make it difficult to recommend one software that would work for everyone, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option than Wave Accounting when it comes to free accounting software. It just works for most types of businesses.

What is the easiest accounting software to use?

If you are looking for the easiest accounting software to use, you should consider ZipBooks, Zoho Books, and QuickBooks Online. All of these options are easy to use and learn. You can get your company data up and running in no time with these three accounting solutions.

Is QuickBooks Online free?

While QuickBooks Online offers a 30-day free trial that helps you test its features, it does not come with a free version or plan.

Is there a free alternative to QuickBooks?

There are so many free accounting software options that you can choose from as great alternatives to QuickBooks. Wave Accounting, for example, is a fantastic free accounting software for account and invoice management. There are others like Zoho Books, GnuCash, ZipBooks, and many more.

Is there a free bookkeeping program?

Yes, there are several free bookkeeping software. Examples of these are Wave Accounting, GnuCash, CloudBooks, and many more.

Which Free Accounting Software Should I Choose?

Wondering which free accounting software you should choose? We’ve itemized the best free accounting software and detailed their features, strengths, and weaknesses. All that’s left is to decide on the long list of free accounting software options based on your organization's needs:

  • Wave is reliable free accounting software with flexible accounting and invoice management.
  • ZipBooks is the best free accounting software for contractors, small businesses, and accountants.
  • Akaunting is a fantastic free, open-source, single-entry accounting software.
  • Odoo is the best free, all-in-one accounting solution.
  • GnuCash is an excellent free accounting tool for managing personal and business finances.

Recommended Articles

You might also be interested in the following articles to learn more about accounting in general:

Best for Solopreneurs

Wave

Ideal for service-based, low-inventory businesses with a minimal growth plan for the next 3-4 years.
Best for Scaling Businesses

ZipBooks

Provides project management tools that enable users to establish tasks, designate them to team members, and track performance using an integrated timer.
Best Single-Entry Accounting Solution

Akaunting

Provides a client portal through which users can share transactional and invoicing information with clients and accept larger payment amounts.
Best for Accounts Payable

Odoo

Advanced business management software that offers over 1000+ modules to perform various functions in a single place.
Best for Startups

GnuCash

Reliable single-user software that offers both personal and professional financial account management.

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Martin Luenendonk

Editor at FounderJar

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.