The Best Accounting Software for US Businesses

Zoho Books is the best accounting software for US businesses. It’s easy to use, affordable (core plans range from $15-$60 per month) and comes with a breadth of features, including inventory management, expense automation and a comprehensive mobile app.

In second place is QuickBooks, an especially great option for businesses looking for advanced reporting and analytics tools. That said, it’s not quite as easy to use as Zoho Books.

We’ve recommended five accounting software platforms in total, which suit a variety of businesses. No matter what type of business you run, accounting is a core part of it. The right accounting software can help you accurately keep track of incomings and outgoings, and submit timely tax returns.

The Best Accounting Software: Summary

Here’s a quick summary of the best accounting software systems for US businesses:

1. Zoho Books: Best Overall Accounting Software

Zoho Books is the best overall accounting software for US businesses. It offers a free plan and affordable entry plans costing between $20-$60 per month, and offers easy-to-use invoicing and expense management tools.

Why we recommend Zoho Books for accounting

Zoho Books offer excellent inventory management features, allowing businesses to track inventory levels in real time. The system also calculates the depreciation of fixed assets, a feature not offered by competitors QuickBooks or FreshBooks. This makes Zoho Books well suited to businesses that sell physical products.

When it comes to invoicing, Zoho Books offer easy to interpret templates and lets businesses set up recurring invoices, and automate payment reminders, cutting down on manual work. The same can be said for expenses, with the platform offering automatic mileage calculation, receipt data capture and transaction rules to automate categorization for recurring expenses.

Zoho Books also has one of the most comprehensive mobile apps of any providers. The app lets businesses manage everything from invoicing, expenses, quotes and payments, to reports on the go – more functions than are offered by competitors apps.

Finally, Zoho Books has a great set of reporting tools, allowing users to build custom reports and access pre-built templates for key financial statements, such as profit and loss reports, cashflow statements, and sales tax liability reports.

The platform also has more advanced reporting tools for financial planning and budgeting, such as a cashflow projection tool and a “what-if” scenario generator. This feature isn’t offered by most competitors, besides QuickBooks and FreeAgent.

Our experience with Zoho Books

Zoho Books was the easiest-to-use accounting software system we tested, making it a great option for non-experts.

Part of what made it easy to use were the clear sidebar dropdown menus and the email-inspired layout of quotes and invoices, which made for simple editing. We also liked that the system gave us prompts when an error was detected.

However, we did have trouble with a few tasks. For example, we couldn’t send out bulk reminders to clients, and the search function on Zoho Books also wasn’t great, since it required an exact match to come up with search results.

Where Zoho Books could improve

Zoho Books doesn’t integrate with a large number of third-party software platforms, only 12. It mainly integrates with other Zoho software platforms, such as Zoho CRM. If you don’t want to be trapped in Zoho’s ecosystem, better alternatives include Xero and QuickBooks, which integrate with 1,000 and 750 third-party apps, respectively.

Additionally, Zoho Books doesn’t offer live support outside of 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. If you want support outside of these hours, competitors such as QuickBooks and FreshBooks, who offer weekend support, are more suitable.

Lastly, Zoho Books limits the number of invoices you can send per year, with maximum sends ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 depending on the plan. If you want a restriction-free platform, we recommend QuickBooks.

2. QuickBooks: Best for Reporting and Analytics

QuickBooks is a popular option for US businesses and the platform is an especially great choice for those looking to deep dive into analytics and reporting, thanks to its advanced features.

Why we recommend QuickBooks for accounting

QuickBooks offers some of the best reporting features on the market. For a start, businesses can create custom reports from scratch with QuickBooks, something FreeAgent and Zoho Books don’t allow. Plus, QuickBooks reports can be exported into a wide variety of formats, including Excel, PDF and Google Sheets, more than all competitors except Xero.

There’s also a great set of tools for financial forecasting and analysis. QuickBooks offers a cashflow projection tool, for example, that can also alert businesses about potential cash shortfalls or surpluses. Xero’s equivalent tool doesn’t do this, but FreeAgent’s and Zoho Books’ equivalents do.

QuickBooks also offers unlimited invoices on all its plans, something Zoho Books doesn’t offer. Plus, with QuickBooks users can track invoice status, send payment reminders and set up recurring invoices.

On the automation side of things, QuickBooks has an AI tool, Intuit Assist, something Zoho Books doesn’t offer, which can create invoices based on existing handwritten notes, PDFs, photos or emails. Other tool automation features include automatic categorization of expenses and transactions through bank feed integrations, and automatic assignment of tax categories.

Our experience with QuickBooks

We found QuickBooks slightly more difficult to use than Zoho Books, but most basic tasks were quite easy.

QuickBooks’ invoicing tool was particularly easy to use, thanks to its clear, uncluttered layout. A bonus was the fact that we could view previews before sending off an invoice to a client.

That said, we had some trouble with tasks such as adding sales tax to invoices, since there was no obvious way to do this from the invoice we were working on. We had to go into a separate settings page and the help center didn’t offer instructions to help us along. We had a similar experience when trying to set up payment reminders for clients.

Where QuickBooks could improve

QuickBooks isn’t the most difficult to use platform we tested, but it does have a steep learning curve. If you need a platform to get up and running quickly with, there are easier options, such as Zoho Book and FreshBooks.

It’s also one of the only accounting software platform on this list that doesn’t offer a time-tracking tool as part of its standard features, although you can get it as a paid add-on.

Finally, QuickBooks isn’t great when it comes to affordability. It’s the most expensive option on this page, with plans starting at $35 per month, $10–$15 more than most competitors’ starting prices. More affordable alternatives include Zoho Books and FreeAgent.

3. Xero: Best for Managing Complex Financial Needs

Xero is the best accounting software for businesses with complex financial needs, such as established businesses with long-term term clients. It offers advanced forecasting and reporting tools, and allows for high levels of detail when creating quotes and invoices.

Why we recommend Xero for accounting

Xero allows users to input a high level of detail when creating quotes, invoices and client profiles, making it a great option for businesses with complex workflows. For example, you can assign unique IDs and a wide variety of tax codes to invoices and clients, helping you keep track of a large portfolio.

Xero also offers powerful reporting and financial forecasting tools, vital for established businesses looking to budget and invest. For example, Xero offers a cashflow projection tool, and while it can’t issue alerts for shortfalls and surpluses like QuickBooks’ version, it can track fixed assets and their depreciation and/or amortization over time.

The Xero accounting platform also comes with AI-powered predictions on future financial health, based on past cash transactions such as invoices, bills and expenses.

It also has streamlined expense management tools. Businesses can assign expenses to a specific client or project, something competitors don’t offer, and enable automatic categorization of expenses through receipt data capture and bank feed integration.

Finally, Xero connects with 1,000 third-party apps, the biggest integration network of any provider on this list. Runner-up QuickBooks offers 750 integrations. This makes Xero a good option for businesses that already use a variety of software platforms and don’t want to switch.

Our experience with Xero

Xero was quite challenging to use compared with other accounting platforms we tested. We found the dashboard quite cluttered and menu headings vague, which made it hard to find tools when first using the platform.

We also felt it could be better organized in terms of layout. Key features, such as quotes and invoices, are housed in different tabs, and we found that there were a lot of unnecessary fields interrupting the workflow and received poor visual feedback when actions were incomplete.

That said, we were able to complete essential tasks, such as creating bills and expenses, quite easily and, as we’ve noted, we were impressed by the level of detail we could include.

Where Xero could improve

Xero could be more user-friendly, especially when it comes to layout, as we’ve noted above. It also looks quite dated compared with its competitors, which doesn’t help with the overall experience of using it. A more modern-looking and easier-to-use platform is Zoho Books.

Additionally, Xero could offer better customer support. Although businesses can access over-the-phone support, there’s no number they can call; they have to put in a request for a call, which means support won’t be at your convenience. QuickBooks has the same policy.

4. FreeAgent: Best Value for Money

You might not have heard of FreeAgent but it’s the best value for money accounting platform on the market. There’s only one plan, which costs $27 per month but offers advanced features, such as unlimited invoicing and financial forecasting tools.

Why we recommend FreeAgent for accounting

While FreeAgent’s $27 per month price tag isn’t the absolute cheapest – Zoho Books offers a $20 per month plan, for example – the fact that it doesn’t require users to upgrade to more expensive plans for advanced features makes it the best value option.

Unlike most competitors, with FreeAgent, businesses get access to unlimited users, invoices, expenses and advanced reporting tools, right from the start.

Features businesses get access to with FreeAgent include a system that alerts users about potential cash shortfalls or surpluses, and a “what-if” scenario creator, which lets you evaluate future outcomes using the “Shortfall Prediction” tool. These are both features that are paid add-ons with QuickBooks, but are included at no extra cost with FreeAgent.

FreeAgent’s accounting software includes unlimited invoices and the invoicing tool includes a timeline feature, which tracks the progress of an invoice until payment. You can also create invoices in up to 25 different languages, which is useful if you work in immigrant communities.

Our experience with FreeAgent

We found FreeAgent generally quite easy to use. We had no trouble creating invoices and estimates, thanks to FreeAgent’s clear, pre-built templates. FreeAgent’s comprehensive end-of-year reports and tax reminders were also particularly suited to accounting beginners, since they were clear and simple.

However, we did have trouble with a few tasks. For example, we couldn’t locate features like payment reminders, customization options for invoice reminders and currency settings, and the search bar didn’t produce any results to help us find these features when we tested it.

Where FreeAgent could improve

FreeAgent was one of the few platforms we tested that wasn’t able to suggest frequently used entries when we were typing in data. This is something competitor Xero did very well, and it saved us a lot of time.

It’s also not possible to import invoices directly from a computer. This is something all other competitors offer, and a useful feature when switching accounting software.

Finally, when using FreeAgent, businesses can’t assign multiple shipping addresses to clients. This could be very limiting for businesses with clients who operate in multiple locations, so we recommend QuickBooks or Zoho Books if you need this feature.

5. FreshBooks: Best for New Businesses and Freelancers

FreshBooks is the best accounting software for new businesses or freelancers since it’s easy to use, offers 24/7 customer support and is affordable, with plans costing between $21–$65 per month.

Why we recommend FreshBooks for accounting

FreshBooks is one of the most affordable accounting systems, with prices starting at $21 per month, just a little over Zoho Books’ $20 starting price, and not going above $65 per month (excluding the custom Select plan), which is less than most competitors’ top plans. This makes it a great option for those with limited budgets, such as the self-employed or startups.

It was also one of the easiest-to-use accounting platforms we tested, which, paired with its excellent customer support, makes it a beginner-friendly option. It has a phone line, a support email and an agent-operated live chat, and, as a bonus, the support team operates from 1pm to 12am, seven days a week.

When it comes to features, FreshBooks’ invoicing tool is easy to use and we liked that we could change settings directly from the page we were working on. FreshBooks’ mobile app also lets businesses easily track expenses on the go and comes with a mileage-tracking function for more accurate tracking and tax deduction calculation.

FreshBooks’ reporting tools aren’t as advanced as those of its competitors, but it offers enough for a small business just starting out. There is a range of pre-built reports, including profit and loss, sales tax, and balance sheets.

Our experience with FreshBooks

As we’ve noted, we found FreshBooks easy to use. During testing, we were particularly impressed by the layout of its quotes and invoices, since we could edit settings directly on the page we were working on, and buttons for converting quotes to invoices were placed in highly visible spots. The overall menu layout and signposting were also very clear.

That said, we encountered issues when using FreshBooks’ emailing tool. It wasn’t clear how to send messages to clients and we didn’t get much of a warning before messages were sent off, which could lead to accidental sends.

Where FreshBooks could improve

FreshBooks doesn’t have advanced reporting and forecasting tools, so it’s not the best if your business needs powerful tools to help you budget and plan for the future. We recommend Xero or QuickBooks instead, since both offer extensive reporting and analysis features.

It’s also not possible for businesses to create multi-currency invoices on FreshBooks. If you have international clients, QuickBooks and Zoho Books are better options, since they offer this feature.

Buying Guide: How to Choose Accounting Software

When choosing an accounting software system for your business, it’s important to weigh your needs against cost, features and ease of use, among other factors.

Here’s what we recommend you consider:

Features

How the features match up against your business’s needs is probably the most important aspect of choosing accounting software. You should ask yourself what you want to use the software for. Is it for simple bookkeeping (i.e. tracking outgoings and incomings) and tax returns? Or do you want a system that can generate financial projections to help you plan for the future?

Costs

Cost is always going to be a factor when choosing software. Luckily, most accounting software providers have plans that start in the $20-$25 per month range and don’t charge per user, making them accessible for businesses on a budget. That said, always evaluate features against price, since you might find the same tools for slightly less with a competitor.

We also recommend looking at the price of upgrading, to make sure the accounting software you choose is one you can afford to have grow with you.

Ease of use

Ease of use is an important factor when choosing a small business’s accounting software. Most business owners/operators aren’t professional accountants, so we recommend prioritizing software that’s easy to use, especially if it’s your first time using accounting software.

If you do have prior experience and are looking to switch accounting software, then ease of use won’t count for much, especially if you’re focused on gaining access to more advanced features.

Mobility and accessibility

This probably isn’t the first factor to come to mind, but it’s important to consider how and where you work, and whether your accounting software adapts to you. If you’re busy and on the go, we recommend choosing software with a solid mobile app that has virtually all the features the desktop app has, so you can manage accounting from anywhere.

You should also think about your clients. Do you want/need to be transparent about your finances with them? If so, we recommend choosing accounting software with a client portal, where clients can view and interact with data.

Integrations

Accounting software probably isn’t the only type of business software you’ll be using. It’s not necessary for all your business software to integrate, but if you use technology, such as payroll software or an online store, choosing an accounting platform that can integrate with other systems will make sure no data gets lost.

Methodology: How We Test Accounting Software