Overview: Learn what accounting software is best for small businesses and startups
It’s been 2 years since we bid goodbye to Covid, but the horrors continue to haunt our economy. Congress has passed legislation to lift the enterprises, but the effects of the virus would be felt on the company’s finances. While accounting softwares for small businesses aren’t complete solutions, if you’re using one religiously, you’ll be able to make better financial decisions. So we’ve put together a list of the top 9 web-based accounting software that are capable of handling accounting tasks for small businesses. The software we’re listing are better suited for small enterprises, agencies with a handful of people, and solo proprietors/solopreneurs – freelancers can also benefit.
QuickBooks:
You didn’t think we would talk about small business accounting programs and not mention QuickBooks, did you? This is easily one of the best accounting software in the town for small businesses. Not only has it paved its way for companies quickly, but there are endless training resources/forums to get support from.
The most exciting and convenient feature is the access to one central dashboard, making bookkeeping more efficient for the users.
Intuit QuickBooks has been one of the most common accounting software that small businesses and tax professionals use. Since it is a cloud-based software, it can be easily accessed through a browser/chrome. You can also access it through the mobile app to stay updated with every change even when you aren’t in the office.
If you’re satisfied with your progress on QuickBooks, you’ll can choose one of four subscription plans after 30-days of a free trial. The four options state as follows:
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Start – $25 per month.
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Essentials – $50 per month.
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Plus – $80 per month.
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Advanced – $180 per month.
You can upgrade the monthly subscription as the business grows. Typically, you’ll find discounts offered for the initial few months of your purchase, and some offer wholesale prices for startups or small businesses.
Besides, the mobile app has many customization options to use and receive payments, track business mileage, capture the receipt image, and review reports.
Xero:
In 2006, Xero was founded in New Zealand and had won over 3 million subscribers worldwide. While this accounting software is more prevalent in Australia, the UK, and New Zealand, Xero is not surprised to see its way to the US.
This small business accounting software has a clean interface, and with a fully integrated third-party payroll services, Xero collects customer payments online with the help of Stripe and GoCardless.
Similar to QuickBooks, after a 30-days trial, Xero offers three subscription options for businesses to choose from. The options are:
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Early – $12 per month.
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Growing – $34 per month.
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Established – $65 per month
The full-service payroll option is offered for an additional $39 per month and $6 per employee. If you choose the Early plan, the limit allows 20 invoices and five bills each month.
Both the Growing and Established plans offer unlimited invoices and statements. However, the Established program comes with more privileges and additional features such as expense management, project costing, and multi-currency.
Zoho Books:
If you’re tired of the tedious tasks of data entry, Zoho Books automates all those bookkeeping tasks for you. By letting Zoho Books handle such tasks, you’ll have time to focus on your business and making deals with your customers.
The best thing about Zoho Books is that each product integrates with another effectively to bring about the best results.
Also, if you’re making under $5k a year, you can take advantage of Zoho Books’ free plan. However, the pricing is highly pocket friendly. It starts at $15 a month or $20 for a monthly plan. The basic plan allows 3 users; however, you can pay $2.50 for additional users.
While Zoho Books is an excellent option to choose when you’re an entrepreneur, the only downside is that it doesn’t offer payroll integration unless you’re living in Texas, India, or California. Also, it doesn’t fuse with third-party payroll providers either. So you’ll have to perform payroll aspects manually.
Wave:
If you’re the owner of a service-based small business that sends simple invoices and doesn’t need to run payroll, Wave is the ideal option for you.
Unlike other small business accounting programs, Wave isn’t that aged. Rather, it was born in 2010 in Toronto and was purchased by H&R Block in 2019.
For self-employed or freelancers, Wave’s free features cover all the accounting needs. Then at the end of the year, your accountants may pull all the necessary reports from the Wave to prepare the proper tax return. The interesting part is that the free version contains everything – from financial reporting to invoicing, scanning receipts, and expense tracking. That’s most of what small businesses want – if not all, wouldn’t you agree?
Customer service and payroll falls under the Premium category that may cost extra, but bookkeeping, invoicing, and the rest of the tasks are free to manage.
Pabbly:
Pabbly is the subscription management accounting software for small to medium-size businesses. This accounting software provides real-time metrics on monthly payments, net revenues, new subscriptions, and active customers. It automates all the workflow, invoice creations, and customer communication to focus on the growth of business.
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Basic – $27 per month.
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Standard – $54 per month.
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Pro – $109 per month.
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Ultimate – $219 per month.
One of the key points is the billing mode of Pabbly. Not only is it the only software that doesn’t charge extra fee on pre-transaction or monthly revenue. This feature makes it the first-rate functionality and Pabbly a solid option.
Sage 50Cloud:
Sage 50Cloud is smartly designed for small to medium-sized businesses or agencies. Since small businesses are more concerned with administrative tasks, including tracking payments, sending invoices, and calculating what taxes they owe. Payroll is a different product – while time tracking and collaborations are two tools you won’t get with Sage.
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Pro Accounting – $340/year
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Premium Accounting – $528/year
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Quantum Accounting – $876/year
While it gives you space to focus more on tasks other than the administrative, it errs on the expensive side. However, the impressive suite of features backs its prices up. If your small-scale business is generating a good profit and you think that you can invest in the Sage 50Cloud easily, go for it!
P.S: It’s 40% off on all packages right now.
ZipBooks:
Blessed with amazing features such as auto-billing, invoicing, and payment reminders to decrease your administrative work, ZipBooks drives super-class user experience. ZipBooks is straightforward and their competitive intelligence to draw data-driven decisions about the company finances.
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Starter – FREE!
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Smarter – $15 per month.
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Sophisticated – $35 per month
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Accountant – Custom prizing
The color-coded interface policy offers accessibility benefits without sacrificing the powerful functionality. So if you’re looking for a solution that does the job without being overwhelmed, check out ZipBooks.
Less Accounting:
With Less Accounting, you land on a super funky dashboard with basic information about your business. As the name suggests, accounting gets easier, so you can have more time doing other stuff.
Alongside the promising design, LessAccounting has a lot of written help inside the pages on the app. It’s useful if you use some features less often than the others; however, if you’re stuck somewhere and need extra help, their customer care gets you covered.
The bookkeeping features are aligned with other category standards such as recurring invoices, proposals etc. Unlike other options, here you’re offered to keep the company’s vehicle to the app and pin mileage to each one – so if you have a whole fleet at your disposal, get it.
If you’re looking for payment integration, you can choose WePay, PayPal, Square, and Stripe. With LessAccounting, you can choose payment deals at 2.7% or $0.30 each online transaction. LessAccounting offers a dedicated team of accountants to help you out if you’re facing technical issues and ease your tax season.
All these benefits are coupled with a variety of reports, ensuring to provide you with multiple angles to look with at your business. The basic package starts Free!
Kashoo:
Kashoo is one of the accounting software with powerful functionality at a reasonable price, designed specifically for small businesses. As for the features, categorization with machine learning technology, expense tracking, and automatic reconciliation, it’s pricing structure allows unlimited users at a comparatively low price – and accommodates every small business needs easily.
If you want to send invoices, accept payments, send estimates, track income, and clients, Kashoo got it all absolutely FREE for you!
If you’re looking for more than this, you’ll have to pay a small payment each month – starting from $20 – $30.
So if you’re the one looking for a straightforwardly simple solution, think no more and get Kashoo installed. We bet you won’t regret your decision.
In Summary:
It’s great to have a list to go through and identify which is the right accounting software for your small business; however there are factors that you should keep in mind such as identifying your needs, researching for features (that match your work), and picking a solution that grows with you.
