Zoho Books is a household name in the world of enterprise software as a trusted provider of payroll and accounting solutions. Its software comes equipped with an impressive range of accounting features, making it the optimal choice for many small to midsize businesses. But is Zoho Books’s solution the right tool for your organization’s accounting needs?
As so many software providers aim to gain the attention of potential clients, choosing the right accounting tool can be challenging. To aid you in your search for the perfect accounting product, this article looks at the alternative solutions offered by Zoho Books’ competitors. This includes a deep dive into the product’s stand-out features, pros, cons and other important considerations necessary to select the right software for your organization.
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This table provides a comparison of Zoho Books and its top competitors, based on how their solutions approach key accounting software features, as well as their starting prices.
| Pricing | Expense tracking | User limits | Free trial | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Books | $0 for businesses with an annual revenue below $50K USD | Yes | Unlimited | 14 days | Try Zoho |
| QuickBooks Online | $30 | Yes | 25 | 30 days | Try QuickBooks |
| Xero | $13 | Limited to the highest-cost plan | Unlimited | 30 days | Try Xero |
| Wave Accounting | $0 | Yes | Unlimited | N/A | Try Wave |
| FreshBooks | $17 | Yes | Unlimited | 30 days | Try FreshBooks |
| Sage Intacct | Custom | Yes | Unlimited | 30 days | Try Sage |
| NetSuite | Custom | Yes | Unlimited | 14 days | Try NetSuite |
Intuit QuickBooks is another trusted payroll software provider, and the QuickBooks Online solution is a top alternative to Zoho Books’ system. Its cloud-based software tool is designed with small businesses in mind and includes features that can help smaller organizations streamline their accounting workflows.
Still, Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online have significant differences. Zoho Books offers more comprehensive features than QuickBooks Online and many other competitors. And while QuickBooks Online’s lowest tier plan does provide more features than Zoho Books’s lower tier plans, their $30 starting price is significantly pricier.
Additionally, Zoho Books users can purchase more users for their plans, whereas QuickBooks Online limits user numbers, capping them at 25 on the highest plan. That said, shoppers should consider price, the size of their teams and their desired features when choosing between these systems.
First-time QuickBooks customers receive the option of either signing up for a 30-day free trial or locking in 50% off for their initial three months.
For more information, read the full QuickBooks Online review.
Freelancers will appreciate Xero’s accounting features and capabilities to assist them in their business processes. The intuitive tools are easy to use and provide solopreneurs with the convenience of accepting payments online. A notable aspect of Xero’s software plans is the inventory tracking features, a beneficial accounting perk not commonly offered by its competitors.
The online solution and mobile apps sport a user-friendly design, so users can spend less time trying to understand their software and more time on business. With convenient tools like bulk reconciled transactions and paperless expense claiming, users can take care of their business accounting needs quickly and easily.
All plans allow the addition of unlimited users at no additional fee.
For more information, read the full Xero review.
As a completely free income and expense tracking solution, Wave Accounting secured our vote for the cheapest Zoho Books alternative. Unlike other providers that offer solutions that place limits on users or billable clients, Wave’s solution is unlimited. They also let users connect any number of credit cards or bank accounts. And don’t expect hidden fees for these features, as each is included at no additional cost.
Of course, users can choose to expand the functionality of their software by purchasing add-on services. These services include mobile receipt features, faster payments and integration with Wave Payroll, to name a few. The add-on services require additional fees but are optional and not mandatory for users. That said, businesses on a budget can use Wave Accounting for free to manage their bookkeeping and business finances.
For more information, read the full Wave Accounting review.
FreshBooks provides another low-cost option that stands out for its impressive range of invoicing features and capabilities. The software offers customizable invoices and numerous invoicing automations to help users stay on track with their billing operations. These features for invoicing can be highly beneficial to freelancers and smaller businesses that provide services, as they can be easily tracked and managed within the system.
FreshBooks does not offer built-in payroll features, but it does have a native integration with Gusto’s payroll solution. Therefore, users can easily maintain updated and accurate data within the system and obtain helpful insights from its reports. While FreshBooks may not be free like Wave Accounting, it offers frequent sales and discounts for first-time users. For example, at the time of writing, shoppers can get 50% off a Lite, Plus or Premium Plan for five months.
For more information, read the full Freshbooks review.
Sage Intacct offers an excellent accounting software solution as a part of the Sage platform. Sage provides three accounting products, but for a more direct comparison with Zoho Books, we will be discussing the Sage Intacct accounting software. This cloud-based software product comes with financial management tools to support users in many areas of their accounting processes.
Sage’s solution is scalable as it requires new users to form personalized pricing plans to fit their unique needs. This is good news, especially for growing businesses, as they can work with Sage’s pricing department to maintain a software solution capable of keeping up with their expanding operations.
Large businesses require solutions capable of handling their financial operations. A worthy enterprise solution is Oracle NetSuite ERP, as it has tools that are capable of supporting large-scale accounting processes. Its customizable plans come with basic accounting features and tools for inventory, tax, cash and order management.
Enterprises can even expand the Oracle Netsuite ERP’s capabilities with add-on options for marketing, CRM and other purposes. When used alongside NetSuite’s other products, businesses can increase their software functionality by seamlessly integrating each tool.
Connecting the solutions to become a unified, full-service business management suite makes it easier to sync data from each system into a single source of truth. In doing so, large organizations can fully visualize their financial data in real time and make informed business decisions.
Zoho Books may be the right tool for your organization, depending on what you require in an accounting solution. Zoho Books takes the hassle out of standard accounting processes with features to simplify expense tracking and management. Being a comprehensive accounting system, Zoho Books’ use of automation and customization options makes it stand out amongst the competition.
The software’s automation features enable users to streamline their workflows, and organizations can configure them to fit within their existing work operations. With customizable invoices, timesheets and project task tracking, any business can ensure that their procedures run smoothly and stay on top of their resources and expenditures.
With a free plan available to businesses with an annual revenue below $50K USD, Zoho Books can be an excellent lower-cost option for small to midsize companies. Additionally, it offers scalable pricing plans and a wide array of accounting features that can benefit growing organizations.
Zoho Books shines in many areas, but it also has its drawbacks. Consider the pros and cons for Zoho Books below to assess how they impact the product’s suitability for your organization.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Zoho Books offers a free version of their software for businesses with an annual revenue below $50,000 USD. Alternatively customers can choose from the paid plans, which are billed either month to month or yearly at a discounted rate.
Plans include a specific number of users within the base price, but additional users can be purchased at $3 per user billed monthly or $8 per user per month billed annually.
No one software solution can be recommended for all businesses across the board. Whether an accounting solution is right for your organization depends on its needs, size, budget and other unique requirements.
To determine whether you should choose Zoho Books or an alternative, consider how the above products would fit into your current business processes. For example, an invoice-centric solution like Freshbooks can be an excellent resource for freelancers and small businesses that provide services. Xero is another solution that gears its offerings toward freelancers and solopreneurs, making it worthy of consideration for managing the finances of single-person companies.
Size is another essential factor to consider, as some services are designed to meet the needs of smaller businesses, like Quickbooks Online. A growing business may benefit from a scalable solution that can expand alongside them and keep up with their accounting needs, like Sage Intacct. On the other hand, Oracle Netsuite is optimized with features for large companies and requires a larger budget. But if a low-cost option is important for your organization, Wave Accounting’s free software may be the superb choice.
This is a technical review using compiled literature researched from relevant databases. The information provided within this article is gathered from vendor websites or based on an aggregate of user feedback to ensure a high-quality review.
QuickBooks from Intuit is a small business accounting software that allows companies to manage business anywhere, anytime. It presents organizations with a clear view of their profits without manual work and provides smart and user-friendly tools for the business.
NetSuite cloud financials and accounting software helps finance leaders design, transform and streamline their processes and operations. NetSuite seamlessly couples core finance and accounting functions, which improves business performance while reducing back-office costs. With real-time access to live financial data, you can quickly drill into details to quickly resolve delays and generate statements and disclosures that comply multiple regulatory financial compliance requirements.
Acumatica Cloud ERP offers powerful finance and business intelligence tools to streamline company-wide accounting processes. Track costs, control billing, and manage time/expenses with multi-currency support and powerful financial reports. Acumatica makes real-time financial data available anytime, anywhere, on any device. Harness this data to make informed accounting decisions, reduce workloads, close the books faster, accelerate growth, and transform how you do business in the digital economy.
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