The 8 best accounting software programs for small businesses
Stop spending hours crunching numbers for your business, and use these accounting programs to make small business bookkeeping a breeze.
It’s the end of the month, and you’re crunching numbers to balance your books.
You see numbers and sums even when you close your eyes.
And let’s not even talk about how stressed you feel during tax time.
If you’re tired of having to sort through document after document and entering hundreds of numbers, but you aren’t quite ready to hire a full-time accountant or bookkeeper, consider today’s saving grace:
Accounting software.
Accounting programs are an essential small business tool for a reason -- they make managing your business finances much easier than using a spreadsheet or pencil and paper.
Plus, they’re less expensive than hiring an accountant or bookkeeper.
Sounds like a fantastic solution, right?
Let’s check out eight of the best small business accounting software programs everyone from solopreneurs to big entrepreneurs love.
8 small business accounting software programs
Tool #1: FreshBooks
Used by over 24 million people, FreshBooks lets you track and categorize expenses. You can also send customized invoices, accept payments via credit card and automated clearing houses (ACH), and send reminders to clients.
FreshBooks also offers financial reports and lets you use time tracking, so you can bill more accurate invoices. Plus, an official time tracking system helps you and your team identify distractions and other time sinks.
FreshBooks makes it a cinch to invite your accountant to view your account and help your business file the relevant taxes or make more informed financial moves, too.
Finally, if you don’t have an accountant or bookkeeper, FreshBooks can put you in touch with a bookkeeping representative .
Features:
Conduct bank reconciliation with imports and categorized expenses
Scan and upload receipts
Project expense tracking
Time tracking
Invite your accountant to access your FreshBooks account
Accept credit card and ACH payments
Create customized proposals and invoices
Request deposits on your invoice
Who it’s best for:
Creators who bill hourly for their services
Creators who want an all-in-one accounting program for managing their business’ time and finances
Free trial:
FreshBooks offers a no-credit-card-required 30-day free trial .
Pricing:
The lowest-paid plan starts at $180 per year or $15 per month
The highest-paid plan starts at $600 per year or $50 per month
Customized plans are available
Tool #2: QuickBooks
Along with FreshBooks, QuickBooks is one of the most popular small business accounting options on the market.
It lets you connect your bank and credit card accounts and import and categorize your transactions to potentially claim more deductions. QuickBooks claims to save users an average of $3,534 in tax savings per year.
One of QuickBooks’ most notable features is its sales tax rate functionality, where it applies the correct sales tax rate to your sale based on the product and the sale location. You can also generate a sales tax liability report for a birds-eye view of your taxable and non-taxable sales.
QuickBooks’ more expensive plans provide features like time tracking, project profitability tracking, and multiple users. There are also supplementary programs for managing payroll, payments, and more.
Features:
Track income and expenses
Manage sales and sales tax
Import expenses and categorize them to maximize your potential deductions
Take photos of business receipts
Send invoices and estimates
Prepare and file 1099s for contractors
Who it’s best for:
Creators who are looking for an accounting program that makes it easier to track and pay their taxes and maximize their deductions
Creators who want a feature-packed accounting program that they can add supplementary products to, such as payroll or live bookkeeping, as their financial needs grow
Free trial:
Quickbooks has a no-obligation free trial for 30 days . (To access it, toggle the “buy now” button at the top of their pricing page.)
Pricing:
The lowest-paid plan starts at $25 per month without an annual commitment.
The highest-paid plan starts at $150 per month without an annual commitment.
Tool #3: Kashoo
If you’re looking for a solid accounting program as a non-accountant, Kashoo is a great option.
Even if you only talk to their accountants during tax time, Kashoo helps you manage your finances the rest of the time.
Kashoo provides virtually all of the features a small business needs, such as expense tracking, sales tax summaries, and the ability to sort your expenses. The platform even categorizes them for you.
Even better, Kashoo users can connect to over 5,000 financial institutions worldwide, send invoices, and view financial reports.
Features:
Track expenses
Categorize expenses automatically
Make automatic deposits to your bank account
Customize invoices
Email invoices from Kashoo
Create sales tax summaries
Sort personal and business expenses
Unlimited users
Connect with over 5,000 banks worldwide
Who it’s best for:
Creators who want a program that categorizes their expenses and memorizes their preferences
Creators looking for a secure and encrypted accounting program to connect their financial accounts
Free trial:
Kashoo offers a no-credit-card-required 14-day free trial
Pricing:
Kashoo is $199 per year or $19.95 per month
Tool # 4: Wave
Wave is a free accounting tool that lets users access their data anytime and on any device.
You can connect unlimited bank accounts and credit cards, track unlimited transactions, expenses, and invoices, and scan receipts.
Wave lets you send bill and invoice reminders, which helps you receive payments on time, too.
Lastly, you can organize your expenses, income, invoices, and payments across multiple businesses. For the serial solopreneurs out there, this is an easy choice.
Features:
Manage multiple businesses from one account
Make unlimited bank and credit card connections
Track income and expenses
Customize invoice and receipt scanning
Accept payments in foreign currencies
Customize sales taxes
Organize your income, expenses, invoices, and payments
Send bill and invoice reminders
Manage double-entry accounting
Who it’s best for:
Creators who want a feature-rich free accounting program
Creators who accept multiple payments per month and need assistance managing and categorizing them
Anyone with more than one business to manage
Free trial:
Pricing:
Wave is free for the “Accounting” plan
Wave’s “Payments” plan is pay-per-use and charges between 2.9% plus $0.30 per Visa, Mastercard, and Discover transaction, 3.4% plus $0.30 per American Express transaction, and 1% per bank transaction
Wave’s “Payroll” plan charges a $20 monthly base fee for tax service states and $35 monthly base fee for self-service states
Tool #5: Xero
Xero is another accounting tool that lets you keep your business finances in order.
Besides standard features, like categorized transactions and invoicing, business owners can calculate sales tax and submit sales tax returns. Xero users can also accept payments and pay bills within the platform.
Perhaps most helpfully, if you’re a creator who’s thinking of branching into consulting or project-based work to complement your digital product income, Xero’s online quotes and project spending tools can help you stay on budget.
Features:
Connect your bank to Xero
Record, claim, and manage expenses and receipts
Categorize transactions
Complete bank reconciliation
Create online invoices, including the option of a “pay now” tool
Automate invoice reminders
Track project spending
Prepare and submit your taxes with Xero
Calculate sales tax for your sales and business purchases
Who it’s best for:
Creators who want a program to help them calculate their sales tax obligation
Creators who use consulting or project-based work to supplement their income -- you can send a quote in minutes from your phone
Free trial:
Xero offers a no-credit-card-required 30-day trial
Pricing:
The lowest-paid plan starts at $9 per month
The highest-paid plan starts at $60 per month
Tool #6: OneUp
If the other programs on this list come with more features and functions that you need, then check out OneUp . OneUp comes with essential features like categorizing entries, invoicing, and calculating sales tax, so you can cover your basic accounting needs with ease.
As an added bonus, OneUp includes a simplified customer relationship management (CRM) tool so you can manage and nurture leads.
If you want to leave the more complicated tax and financial issues to your accountant, OneUp makes it easy to coordinate with your accountant. Your accountant can either log into your OneUp account or export your financial information to the software program of their choice.
Features:
Connect to your bank account
Manually categorize entries and OneUp will remember these categories in the future
Run daily cash flow and profit information
Calculate sales tax for every period
Provide outside accountant with access to OneUp or export info to their preferred program
Who it’s best for:
Creators looking for a slimmer, no-frills accounting program with a price to match
Creators who want a program that can remember expense categories and sort new expenses into them
Free trial:
OneUp offers a no-credit-card-required 30-day free trial
Pricing:
The lowest-paid plan starts at $9 per month
The highest-paid plan starts at $169 per month
Tool #7: Neat
If you’re looking for a straightforward bookkeeping system, consider Neat , which is ideal for creators who feel like they’re drowning in financial paperwork or have mounds of transactions, invoices, and receipts to manage.
Small business owners can upload bills and email receipts, invoices, and statements, and match documents with bank transactions. Neat will even recommend matches for transactions.
Neat can also turn your uploads into keyword-searchable documents. Even better, you can leave comments on your documents and receive comments from others, such as your accountant.
Features:
Connect to over 10,000 financial institutions
Scan, upload, and email bills, invoices, receipts, and statements
Match receipts and invoices with bank transactions and reconcile accounts
Categorize expenses
Make uploaded documents searchable
Send items to your accountant from Neat
Add and receive comments on documents
Who it’s best for:
Creators looking for a simple bookkeeping program that their accountant can use with them
Creators who have many paper invoices, receipts, or other documents they want to upload, search, and comment on, all in one place
Free trial:
Neat offers a no-credit-card-required 15-day trial
Pricing:
The lowest-paid plan starts at $15 per month
The highest-paid plan starts at $75 per month
Tool #8: Sage 50cloud
Sage 50cloud is a great fit for more established businesses who have a few employees and/or have a mix of product-based income and client project-based income.
Creatives can manage their cash flow with Sage 50cloud, generate reports about expenses, profits, and sales taxes, and grant secure remote access to others.
Sage 50cloud also offers advanced security features, like screen-level user access and bank-quality online security, to keep business’ financial information safe and secure.
The software helps you remain compliant from a legal standpoint, too, including regulations surrounding W-2 and W-4 payroll, small business taxes, nonprofit 501c3 organizations, and more.
Features:
Manage cash flow
Manage quotes and proposals for client projects
Run reports for sales, profits, expenses, and taxes
Designate additional account users
Use advanced security features
Who it’s best for:
Creators who have income from both project-based work and products
Creators looking for a program that stays up to date with the latest tax regulations and offers advanced security features
Free trial:
Sage 50cloud doesn’t offer a free trial, though it does offer a test drive that allows you to explore the program
Pricing:
The lowest-paid plan starts at $503.23 per year or $50.58 per month
The highest-paid plan starts at $1,981.75 per year or $197.55 per month
Newsletter
Join our newsletter
Join thousands of creators receiving our weekly articles about launching, growing, and thriving as a creative entrepreneur.
Reclaim your time and sanity with these 8 accounting tools
If you’re tired of managing your business’ finances solo, the good news is there are plenty of solopreneur-friendly accounting programs to use that won’t break the bank.
Eight accounting tools for small business owners to consider are:
#1. FreshBooks for creators who want a popular program that provides all of the accounting features they need to manage their business’ books
#2. QuickBooks for businesses that want an established program with the option of purchasing complementary programs later on
#3. Kashoo for brands that want a feature-rich program that’s easy for non-accountants to use
#4. Wave for those who want a feature-packed free accounting tool
#5. Xero for businesses looking for a reasonably priced accounting program that gives daily updates about their company’s financial situation
#6. OneUp for creators who want a no-frills accounting program with a modest price tag
#7. Neat for business owners who are looking for a bookkeeping program to help them organize and manage transactions and receipts
#8. Sage 50cloud for more established businesses in search of a secure program that keeps up to date with business and tax regulations
May you manage your business’ incomes and expenses with much less stress.
Looking to relieve even more stress? Simplify other aspects of your business by signing up for a no-obligation 14-day trial with Podia. See for yourself how it makes selling digital products and managing your online business easy-peasy.