6 Best QuickBooks Alternatives in 2024 (Free & Paid) (2024)

Eric Gerard Ruiz, CPA

Overall Score: 4.40 / 5

Read our Zoho Books review

Read our Zoho Books review

Visit Zoho Books

• Free: Includes one user plus one accountant and up to 1,000 invoices per year for businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenues
• Standard: $20 per month for up to three users and 5,000 invoices
• Professional: $50 per month for up to five users and unlimited invoices
• Premium: $70 per month for up to 10 users and unlimited invoices
• Elite: $150 per month for up to 10 users and unlimited invoices
• Ultimate: $275 per month for up to 15 users and unlimited invoices

Free trial: 14 days for any paid plan

Add-ons:

• Additional users: $3 per user, per month
• Receipt scanning: $10 for 50 scans per month
• Warehouses: $9 per warehouse, per month (Elite and Ultimate plan only)

Zoho Books leads our roundup of the best QuickBooks alternatives because it is similar to QuickBooks Online but has a more functional mobile app. Among its many useful features are the ability to receive payments, send invoices, record time worked, capture expense receipts, and view reports from your mobile app.

It also has a flexible pricing model ideal for scalability and growth. Unlike QuickBooks Online, if you think a certain Zoho Books plan’s features are enough for your needs, you don’t need to upgrade to get more users. Instead, you can pay for additional seats at an affordable price of $3 per user, per month.

In our evaluation, Zoho Books aced our mobile app and integrations categories and also scored high for its available reports. It also took a slight lead over QuickBooks Online in pricing. Zoho Books offers more plans and is more scalable than QuickBooks Online.

Also, although Zoho Books offers a 14-day free trial, it doesn’t offer a discount for new customers. QuickBooks, in contrast, offers a choice of a 30-day free trial or 50% off for the first three months. Zoho Books also didn’t score as well for its customer support, mainly because it offers only email support for Free users, requiring you to upgrade to a paid plan for all forms of customer support. If you want several customer support options, including phone, email, live chat, and chatbot, go with QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, because Zoho Books is a complicated program with some features that are hidden within each other, it can be difficult to navigate, so it lost points for ease of setup and use. Although there may be a learning curve for some users, QuickBooks Online is relatively easy to use.

• Is more affordable than other similar accounting software, especially considering its extensive feature set
• Can track unpaid bills and set up recurring expenses to streamline periodic payments
• Offers a robust mobile app that enables you to send invoices, accept payments, and view reports on the go
• Lets you call customer support directly with any paid plan, a feature that is rarely offered by software providers, but Zoho Books has limited customer support with the free plan, which offers only email support
• Allows you to reconcile bank accounts through bank feeds or by manually uploading bank statements

• Those needing mobile accounting: Zoho Books tops our list of the leading mobile accounting apps. Its app lets you enter bills, assign expenses to customers and projects, categorize expenses in the bank feed, record time worked, and view reports, making it ideal for QuickBooks users seeking a more capable mobile app.
• Zoho users: Staying within the Zoho environment is ideal for seamless and fast integration. If your business is already using other Zoho products, we highly recommend choosing Zoho Books over QuickBooks Online.
• Freelancers seeking project accounting software: With Zoho Books’ Free plan, businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenues can enjoy the free plan, which includes useful features for freelancers like creating and sending invoices, tracking time and project expenses to include on invoices, and the ability to manage all your clients in one place.
• Growing businesses: Zoho Books has six pricing tiers that can scale up to 15 users. If you need more, you can add additional seats at $3 per user, per month. Zoho Books wins over QuickBooks Online in scalability.

Overall Score: 2.84 / 5

Read our Wave review

Read our Wave review

Visit Wave

Wave offers two plans:

• Starter: Free for one user and has most accounting features including invoicing
• Pro: $16 per month for unlimited users and includes unlimited bank connections, receipt scanning, and live customer support

Add-ons:

• Receipt scanning (included in the Pro plan): Receipt scanning through its mobile app for $8 per month or $72 per year
• Wave Advisors: Bookkeeping support for $149 per month

Wave Payroll: Assisted payroll services for $40 per month for tax service states and $20 per month for self-service states (read our review of Wave Payroll)

Wave earned a near-perfect score in pricing because of its free accounting and invoicing version—unlike QuickBooks Online, which lacks a free plan. Wave’s ease of use makes it ideal for businesses that don’t need complex accounting software, earning high marks for general features.

However, its limitations in A/R and A/P affected its scores. It doesn’t allow creating recurring transactions directly from a bill, recurring expenses, or purchase orders, all of which QuickBooks Online offers. Wave also lacks features like combining multiple checks in a single deposit, issuing credit memos, or adding tracked expenses to an invoice, which are available in QuickBooks.

Wave scored low in banking because of its poor bank reconciliation feature and inability to print checks. While the Pro plan allows bank account connections, the free plan only supports CSV file uploads for banking transactions. The platform’s inventory and project features are minimal, and it lacks robust mobile app and integration options, areas where QuickBooks Online excels, including tracking by classes and locations.

Lastly, customer service is limited with the free plan, offering only self-help resources and an automated chatbot. Upgrading to a paid plan is necessary for email and live chat support.

• Enables you to add sales tax to invoices, bills, and estimates
• Lets you set up customer profiles to track the status of invoices
• Is easy to set up and use, with a user-friendly interface
• Has optical character recognition (OCR) with receipt scanning
• Makes it easy to record a bill and manage unpaid bills

• Businesses that don’t need complex accounting software: Wave is best for those with basic accounting needs, like income and expense tracking and invoicing. It doesn’t offer premium features like project accounting, time tracking, and inventory management.
• Entrepreneurs with multiple businesses: Wave’s software can be used for managing multiple companies because it allows you to add an unlimited number of businesses into one account. It also has impressive reporting capabilities for such low-priced software.
• Receipt scanning: The provider charges $8 per month or $72 annually for unlimited receipt scans via the mobile app for Free plan subscribers. Receipt scanning is included with the Pro plan.

Overall Score: 3.27 / 5

Read our FreshBooks review

Read our FreshBooks review

Visit FreshBooks

FreshBooks plans include one user regardless of the plan.

• Lite: $19 per month for five billable clients
• Plus: $33 per month for 50 billable clients
• Premium: $60 per month for unlimited billable clients
• Select: Custom pricing for unlimited billable clients and specialized features

New users get 50% off for three months.

Add-ons:

• Additional team members: $11 per person, per month, in all plans
• Advanced payment options: $20 monthly in Plus and Premium; included in Select
• FreshBooks Payroll: Starts at $40 per month, plus $6 per person, per month

Service providers can easily track time spent on projects and quickly add that billable time to client invoices with FreshBooks, which also has a built-in time tracker, making the invoicing process even more seamless. Everything about the platform is designed for ease of use, which results in some features being fantastic for new business owners, albeit a bit confusing for experienced bookkeepers.

For instance, expenses cannot be assigned to particular checking or credit card accounts. Instead, the system compares entered expenses to all live bank feeds to determine which account the expense was paid from. This is unique among all the bookkeeping software we’ve looked at—including QuickBooks—but makes for a very simple way to enter expenses for nonbookkeepers.

FreshBooks has a solid mobile app that offers many of the same functions as the desktop interface, except for assigning expenses to projects. It integrates with over 70 software programs, earning a perfect score for integrations.

However, its pricing scored poorly because plans are for one user only, with additional seats costing $11 per month. It also took a hit in banking, as you can’t reconcile bank statements without connecting to your bank account, unlike QuickBooks. FreshBooks does offer decent project accounting features, such as comparing estimated costs to actual costs—something QuickBooks doesn’t provide.

It performed well in A/R and A/P but scored very low for inventory. While you can easily set up inventory descriptions, FreshBooks lacks the ability to track the number of items on hand, inventory value, or cost of goods sold, all of which QuickBooks handles, along with class and location tracking and fixed asset recording.

FreshBooks isn’t the easiest to set up, leading to lower scores in that category and customer service. Despite its strong telephone support, it lacks a live chat feature that some business owners prefer. On the positive side, it has solid tax and general reporting features and can track sales tax, though you must manually set up sales tax for each jurisdiction.

• Is an affordable option for small businesses with a single user on a limited budget
• Offers excellent invoice customization features
• Is easy and simple to use for freelancers and business owners without an accounting background
• Includes unlimited invoices in all plans

• Freelancers and do-it-yourself (DIY) business owners: If you want to DIY bookkeeping to save money, FreshBooks is easy to use even if you don’t have an accounting background. By familiarizing yourself with its modules, you can easily learn how to navigate around FreshBooks.
• Service-based businesses: Since FreshBooks doesn’t have inventory features, its project accounting features suit service-based businesses, especially those that bill by the hour. With FreshBooks’ built-in time tracker, you can easily track time, bill clients, and monitor project income and expenses.

Overall Score: 4.07 / 5

Read our Xero review

Read our Xero review

Visit Xero

Xero has three pricing plans that include unlimited users:

• Early: $20 per month for 20 invoices and five bills
• Growing: $47 per month for unlimited invoices and bills
• Established: $80 per month for unlimited invoices and bills, plus multicurrency, receipt capture, and project tracking

Free trial: 30 days

Xero is one of QuickBooks Online’s toughest competitors worldwide. To compare, QuickBooks Online’s highest plan is $235 per month for up to 25 users, whereas Xero’s highest plan is only $78 per month for unlimited users. If your business doesn’t need QuickBooks Online Advanced but wants more users, we recommend choosing Xero because it is more affordable and has no user limit.

It also has a built-in fixed asset manager that will calculate and track depreciation expense for each piece of equipment automatically. That is something QuickBooks Online can’t do unless you pay for the expensive Advanced plan.

Xero stands out for its general accounting features, earning a perfect score in our evaluation. It also performed well in A/R, A/P, banking, inventory management, and reporting, offering essential functions like adding inventory to invoices and automatically calculating COGS. Xero received top marks for integrations, with over 100 apps available in its App Store.

Xero is more affordable and flexible than QuickBooks Online, with no user limits and the ability to compare actual and budget project costs, a feature QuickBooks lacks. Xero’s fixed asset manager is also unique, handling asset sales and depreciation, something QuickBooks only offers at a higher cost.

However, Xero has drawbacks in customer service, offering only a chatbot, email, and self-help resources. Its advisor network is smaller than QuickBooks’. The setup can be challenging without accounting knowledge, and its basic mobile app only allows for sending invoices and categorizing expenses—not receiving payments or generating reports. For stronger performance in these areas, consider Zoho Books.

• Has outstanding project accounting and fixed asset tracking features
• Offers scalable plans for growing businesses
• Features inventory and COGS tracking
• Has a decent-size network of Xero Advisors

• Large accounting teams: With Xero, you don’t have to worry about user limits. You can add all members of the accounting team within Xero.
• Fixed asset management: Xero is the only software on this list with a dedicated fixed asset manager that can help manage fixed asset information and depreciation schedules. We recommend getting Xero if you need to manage multiple fixed assets.
• Project accounting: Xero has one of the best project accounting features of the providers in this guide. In our evaluation, it aced this category because it can track and compare costs, assign income and expense to projects, and create project estimates.

Overall Score: 3.80 / 5

Read our Sage 50 review

Read our Sage 50 review

Visit Sage 50cloud

There are three pricing plans, though custom pricing is available for 11 or more users.

• Pro Accounting: $58.92 per month for one user only
• Premium Accounting: $96.58 to $222.25 per month for one to five users
• Quantum Accounting: $160 to $409.17 per month for one to 10 users

You can evaluate Sage 50 by clicking “Take a test drive” on its website, which will allow you to access a hosted version with sample data.

Consolidation of multiple companies can be difficult if performed manually, but with Sage 50, parent companies can consolidate financial statements easily in a few clicks. The software also has advanced budgeting tools and ASC 830/FAS 52 compliance for foreign currency transactions and foreign currency translation.

In our rubric, Sage 50 excelled with its A/P and A/R features as well as for project accounting and reporting, where it earned nearly perfect scores for its ability to assign project costs and set project estimates. It aced our evaluation of integrations because it integrates with over 115 third-party applications in several categories, though QuickBooks Online offers more than 750 integrations.

Sage 50 also scored relatively high for inventory management and customer service, mainly because it is available 24/7 for phone and online chat support. However, it received one of the lowest marks in this guide for pricing because it is more expensive than its competitors, especially if you have more than one user.

It also took a big hit for its mobile app, which can only capture receipts but not send invoices or enter bill payments. Meanwhile, QuickBooks Online received an above-average score for its mobile app. Also, it has a steep learning curve and a difficult setup process, so its score was docked in the ease of setup and use categories, while QuickBooks Online earned near-perfect marks.

• Has industry-specific features for construction, manufacturing, and distribution
• Has serial number tracking for inventory
• Features audit trails
• Lets you choose between first-in, first-out (FIFO) and last-in, first-out (LIFO) inventory
• Offers multicompany accounting, including consolidations

• Multicompany accounting: If your organization owns several businesses or companies, Sage 50 is a good choice for creating consolidated financial statements. This feature is something that QuickBooks Online can’t do.
• Businesses looking for special accounting features: Aside from consolidation, Sage 50 has job costing features that can help with accounting for costs on a per-job level.
• Businesses using LIFO inventory: Sage 50 can value inventory using LIFO, making it ideal for businesses who elected LIFO inventory on their tax returns.

Read our QuickBooks Solopreneur review

Read our QuickBooks Solopreneur review

Visit QuickBooks Solopreneur

QuickBooks Solopreneur wasn’t fully rated in this evaluation because of its inability to track assets and liabilities. It did score a 2.4 out of 5 in banking, as it offers only basic features like account connectivity and viewing outstanding transactions. Therefore, in our expert opinion, its banking capabilities are quite limited. However, its pricing is very affordable, and the platform includes many useful features like the ability to generate and track invoices, and track mileage.

It recently replaced the QuickBooks Self-Employed product. While similar, Solopreneur is slightly more expensive but offers a vastly improved invoicing feature—which is an important tool for many sole proprietors. It lost some functionality compared with Self-Employed, like transferring your income and expenses to TurboTax. However, Solopreneur is still very new, and we hope that Intuit will restore this feature before the next tax season.

Compared with Solopreneur, QuickBooks Online has many more useful features, such as the ability to track using classes and locations, track inventory costs and units, and determine the COGS. You can also record a fixed asset in QuickBooks Online and assign labor and inventory to projects. The closest solution to QuickBooks Online that offers these capabilities is QuickBooks Desktop.

• Lets you categorize income and expenses as business or personal with a single swipe
• Classifies income and expenses using categories that align with the IRS Schedule C
• Calculates mileage deductions automatically for every work-related trip

• Freelancers who use the same bank account for personal and business use: QuickBooks Solopreneur lets you categorize personal and business transactions. This feature can help you keep track of items that should or should not be included in tax returns.
• Individuals who prefer easy-to-use software: Since QuickBooks Solopreneur is not a full accounting software, it’s easier to use than QuickBooks Online. It’s perfect for freelancers who don’t have to track A/R and A/P.

5%

Pricing

7%

General Features

7%

Banking

7%

A/P

7%

A/R

10%

Inventory

10%

Project Accounting

4%

Tax

4%

Reporting

30%

Ease of Use

5%

Mobile App

4%

User Reviews

Overall Score: 4.50 / 5

Read our Invoicera review

Read our Invoicera review

Visit Invoicera

• Starter: $19 per month for one user and up to 100 clients
• Business: $49 per month for 10 users and up to 1,000 clients
• Enterprise: $99 per month for 20 users and up to 2,500 clients
• Infinite: $149 per month for unlimited users and clients

Free trial: No credit card is needed to access the 15-day free trial, and you can upgrade or cancel your subscription at any time.

We selected Invoicera as the best standalone invoicing software as an alternative to QuickBooks because its features can be customized to the needs of your business. It offers a comprehensive set of invoicing features that allow you to create custom invoices, automate recurring billing, manage expenses, and handle multiple currencies.

It provides customizable invoice templates and multiple payment gateway integrations, and it supports various payment methods, making it suitable for businesses of different sizes and industries. However, it has no live bank feeds or other essential bookkeeping features like paying bills or reconciling your account—features that QuickBooks offers.

In our assessment, Invoicera stood out for its invoicing features and customization options. It offers businesses with complex billing workflows the flexibility to create tailored invoice approval processes, allowing team members to efficiently review, authorize, and approve invoices before they are finalized and sent for payment. It also performed exceptionally well in our mobile app category.

However, there is room for improvement. Offering a free plan or discounts for new customers, as seen with platforms like Zoho Invoice and Square Invoices, could strengthen its pricing strategy. Additionally, ease of use remains a challenge, especially since Invoicera lacks robust bookkeeping capabilities without integration with software like QuickBooks Online.

Overall Score: 4.45 / 5

Read our Zoho Invoice review

Read our Zoho Invoice review

Visit Zoho Invoice

We selected Zoho Invoice as the best free standalone invoicing software because, despite being free, it offers a wide range of invoicing features that are crucial for businesses. It allows users to create and send professional invoices and supports multiple currencies and tax regulations.

Also, it has a clean and intuitive user interface, and the dashboard provides an overview of key financial information, helping businesses stay organized. The platform may lack built-in accounting features, but it integrates with Zoho Books for bookkeeping capabilities. It also provides a client portal where you can share invoices, estimates, and statements with clients.

Despite being a free tool, Zoho Invoice received high ratings for its invoice customization and overall invoicing features. However, it faced some usability concerns, as it requires integration with Zoho Books to unlock access to accounting features. In comparison, QuickBooks doesn’t require integration and doesn’t have any usability concerns.

Furthermore, Zoho Invoice fell short in terms of customer support, lacking options for direct contact via phone or live chat. If prioritizing robust customer support is crucial, we suggest considering FreshBooks, where you can engage with a live agent directly through phone communication.

Overall Score: 4.40 / 5

Read our Square Invoices review

Read our Square Invoices review

Visit Square Invoices

Square Invoices offers a free and paid version ($20 per month) of its invoicing software. The processing rate for online payments changes based on whether you’re using the base software or the Plus version:

• Square Invoices Free: 3.3% plus 30 cents per transaction
• Square Invoices Plus: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction
• Square Invoices Premium: Custom-priced

Free trial: Users can upgrade to Plus anytime, and Plus has a free 30-day trial.

Square Invoices is an excellent invoicing solution for smaller businesses and individuals as it is free and easy to use, although it’s not the most robust invoicing solution on the market. It allows you to set up customer profiles with stored payment information and provides automation for reminders and estimate conversions.

We selected it as the best for businesses processing infrequent transactions because while its rates are transparent and predictable, they aren’t the lowest on the market. You can offer your customers flexible payment options, however, including buy now, pay later (BNPL) and ACH processing. Square Invoices also integrates with other Square products, such as Square POS and Square Payments.

Square Invoices aced our invoice customization criterion, as there are many ways to customize your invoices to your needs. It lets you select from different templates, change the invoice colors, edit the invoice fields, and upload your company logo to make your invoice look more professional. It also aced our rubric for invoicing features, pricing, and mobile app. It could have aced customer service if it offered support via email.

It took a hit for ease of use because it is not that intuitive to navigate and requires accounting software integration. In addition, since it is dedicated solely to invoicing, it lacks essential accounting features, such as expense tracking and bank reconciliation. If you’re seeking bookkeeping features alongside invoicing, you might want to check out more powerful software like Zoho Books.

Another consideration is access to a network of experts, which Square Invoices lacks. QuickBooks Online users have access to QuickBooks ProAdvisors. However, Square Invoices offers a BNPL option, whereas QuickBooks Online does not.

Overall Score: 4.00 / 5

Read our TimeTracker by eBillity review

Read our TimeTracker by eBillity review

Visit TimeTracker

TimeTracker offers two subscriptions. The basic plan comes with employee scheduling and time tracking functionalities, while the premium package has additional invoicing, job costing, expense tracking, and online payment tools:

• TimeTracker: $20 base fee plus $9 per user, per month
• TimeTracker Premium: $25 base fee plus $15 per user, per month

Free trial: 14 days

TimeTracker by eBillity is ideal for lawyers, accountants, engineers, and other professional service firms because it provides an invoicing option integrated with powerful time tracking features. These functions are a good fit for professional service firms since billable hours are the primary item on invoices.

It offers a flexible solution for tracking and managing timesheets, creating staff schedules, billing clients, and monitoring projects. You can also plan project schedules and set employee costs and client billing rates.

Invoices can be generated using data from tracked hours and billable expenses. What’s more, the platform has a client portal where customers can view outstanding invoices, pay bills online, and check completed projects.

What sets this solution apart from other invoicing options on this list is that it can track billable hours that have been written off—a feature that even QuickBooks lacks. A billable realization report shows the billable hours sent to clients versus those that have been written off, which is a crucial report to gauge the productivity of your professionals and the profitability of your firm.

TimeTracker also scored high for its customization features and mobile app. In addition, it allows you to bill your clients directly from time entries and billable expenses—which is great for businesses that offer services billed by the hour or project. To help you speed up payment collection, you can add payment links to your invoices, which your clients can use to conveniently process their payments.

10%

Pricing

25%

Customization

25%

Invoicing Features

10%

Ease of Use

5%

Mobile App

15%

Customer Support

10%

User Reviews