The best accounting software for consultants includes essential features such as project-based invoicing, time tracking, and client management tailored to a consultant’s specific requirements. We evaluated several solutions to help you manage finances and stay on top of invoicing and expenses. Here are our top five accounting software for consultants:
- QuickBooks Online: Best for growing consulting businesses
- Zoho Books: Best mobile app for consultants
- FreshBooks: Best accounting software for independent consultants
- Xero: Best for large consulting firms
- AccountSight: Best free time tracking software for consultants
Our experts conduct in-depth research to understand the nuances of each accounting software for consultants. We delve into various aspects, such as features, pricing, and strengths and weaknesses. Whenever possible, we sign up for each platform we review so that we can test how they work in real-life scenarios. This allows us to provide you with research-based and genuine recommendations for your accounting needs, aligning with our Fit Small Business Editorial Policy.
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Best Accounting Software for Consultants: Quick Comparison
QuickBooks Online: Best Overall Accounting Software for Consultants
Pros
- Wide selection of accounting and financial reports
- Scalable plans that are priced by number of users and features
- Can set up recurring payments
- Access to local independent QuickBooks ProAdvisors
- Track time and expenses and add to customer invoices
Cons
- Can’t compare estimated to actual project costs
- Mobile app can’t record time worked
- No industry-specific features
- Must subscribe to Plus or Advanced plan to track project profitability
QuickBooks Online offers four plans. You must subscribe to the Essentials plan or higher for access to time and expense tracking—and only the Plus and Advanced plans offer the ability to track project profitability:
- Simple Start: $30 per month for one user
- Essentials: $60 per month for up to three users
- Plus: $90 per month for up to five users
- Advanced: $200 per month for up to 25 users
A 30-day free trial is available. You can also opt to subscribe right away without the free trial to get 50% off for three months.
QuickBooks Online is our overall best accounting software due to its robust accounting feature set, scalable pricing options, and huge network of QuickBooks ProAdvisor for easy bookkeeping support. More importantly, it offers plenty of features useful for consultants, including the ability to manage client retainers, record billable time, and add time entries to invoices and bill them to clients.
When you upgrade to Plus or Advanced, you’ll be able to create and manage projects and add related transactions, like expenses, income, and time entries. This allows you to determine where you’re making money on a specific client or project. Additionally, if you need additional time tracking features, like GPS tracking and geofencing, then you can add QuickBooks Time.
On the downside, QuickBooks Online doesn’t have a dedicated portal like FreshBooks. Also, it doesn’t allow you to directly make a phone call to a customer support agent unless you upgrade to Advanced.
QuickBooks Online nearly aced almost all the categories in our rubric, including general accounting features and pricing. However, it lost a few points for consultant-specific features because it can’t track billing realization and lacks a built-in CRM and document management feature for managing contracts. Additionally, its mobile app could have scored higher if it allowed users to enter bills and bill payments and record the time worked.
Meanwhile, it did well in ease of use. However, we deducted a few points for customer support, as you can’t directly make a phone call unless you upgrade to QuickBooks Online Advanced.
Zoho Books: Best Mobile App for Consultants
Pros
- Mobile app can perform almost any accounting function
- Excellent customer support
- Free plan for users with less than $50,000 in annual revenue
- Excellent customer support
- More affordable than similar software like QuickBooks Online
Cons
- Project accounting only in paid plans
- Additional fee for more users
- Limited invoicing for the Free and Standard plans
- Requires the Professional plan or higher to manage unpaid bills
Zoho Books offers a free plan for businesses that earn $50,000 or less in annual revenue and five paid subscription plan options with project accounting features.
- 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, unlimited invoices, and advanced inventory
- Ultimate: $275 per month for up to 15 users, unlimited invoices, and advanced inventory.
It also has several add-ons:
- Additional users: $3 per user, per month
- Receipt scanning: $10 for 50 scans per month
- Snail mail credits for sending invoices: $2 per credit
You can try any of Zoho Books’ free plans for free for 14 days.
We selected Zoho Books as the best mobile app for consultants because of its excellent functionality for both iOS and Android devices, which is why it also tops our list of the leading mobile accounting apps. Its integration with Apple Watch is a bonus.
On the app, you can perform all the same functions as the web-based interface, including sending invoices, receiving payments, entering bills, uploading receipts, and recording time worked. The app also allows you to assign expenses to customers or projects and time worked to customers or projects.
However, it might be difficult to seek assisted bookkeeping, since there are only about 500 Zoho Books Advisors in the US, based on Zoho Books’ directory. If you often need professional bookkeeping assistance, you might want to consider QuickBooks Online, which has a vast network of QuickBooks ProAdvisors.
Zoho Books’ biggest strength is its mobile app, and it also excelled in terms of general accounting features. However, just like QuickBooks Online, it doesn’t track billing realization, which explains the slight drop in its rating for consultant-specific features. Additionally, its customer support is impressive, but we docked a few points because of the limited availability of independent bookkeepers.
The platform’s main weakness in our evaluation is ease of use. Since it’s a complicated program with many features, it can be difficult to master, especially for those new to the program.
FreshBooks: Best Accounting Software for Independent Consultants
Pros
- Affordable for a single user, ideal for independent consultants
- Built-in time tracker and other project accounting features
- Excellent customer service
- User-friendly interface
- Capable mobile app
- Add time entries to invoices
Cons
- Can’t monitor income or expense by class
- Fees charged for additional users
- Can’t track and reconcile bank accounts without bank feeds
- Limited number of users and billable clients with Lite and Plus plans
FreshBooks offers a choice of four plans, and pricing is based on the number of billable clients. Each plan allows for one user, though you can add more for $11 per person, per month:
- Lite: $19 per month for up to five billable clients
- Plus: $33 per month for up to 50 billable clients
- Premium: $60 per month for unlimited billable clients
- Select: Custom pricing for unlimited billable clients and specialized features
The provider also offers a 30-day free trial.
FreshBooks includes a single user in its base plan, making it ideal for consulting firms with only one user. It has robust project management and time tracking features that let you record time against a specific client or project either from your desktop or mobile device. You can then see weekly and monthly views of daily breakdowns of your tracked worked hours.
Another notable feature is that it allows you to compare estimated and actual project costs, which helps with determining whether you are over or under budget. What’s more, it allows you to accept online payments, create recurring invoices, calculate late fees automatically, and print a list of outstanding invoices. FreshBooks is also extremely easy to use, with intuitive navigation and a clean user interface.
Additionally, FreshBooks provides a client portal that allows consultants to share and request clients’ documents easily. Clients can log in at any time from their device and access and upload documents, reports, and updates related to projects.
On the flip side, the tool can be expensive for multiple users, as additional fees for each extra user are charged. If many users need to access your accounting software, then a more cost-effective option is QuickBooks Online or Zoho Books.
FreshBooks did well in general accounting features, but it could have done better if it had more streamlined banking features. One issue we found is that you can’t reconcile bank accounts without bank feeds. Additionally, it lost a few points for consultant-specific features as it doesn’t track billing realization.
Moreover, the mobile app could use some additional functionalities, like the ability to enter bill payments and assign expenses to projects. It’s easy to use, but we had to take a few points for customer support because it’s difficult to find a local bookkeeper who is proficient with FreshBooks.
Xero: Best for Large Consulting Companies
Pros
- Unlimited users in all plans
- Excellent project accounting
- Built-in time tracking features
- Track project profitability
- Can manage fixed assets
Cons
- No telephone support
- Lowest plan includes only 20 invoices and five bills
- Can’t create recurring payments
Xero is available in three plans, all of which include an unlimited number of users.
- Early: $15 per month
- Growing: $42 per month
- Established: $78 per month
You can sign up for a 30-day free trial for any of the plans, with no credit card required.
Xero is a great choice for large accounting firms because it can accommodate unlimited seats without paying any additional fees. This is a big deal, since with other similar software, only a limited number of users can access the platform, depending on the plan selected. Some even start with just one seat in the base fee and charge additional costs for each extra user.
The platform lets you set up individual projects, assign budgets, and monitor expenses related to each project or client. Also, its built-in time tracking feature allows consultants to record billable hours, link them to specific projects or clients, and easily convert them into invoices. Moreover, Xero allows you to connect your bank accounts to the platform so that transactions automatically flow into the system. This helps you save time in reconciling your bank and credit card accounts.
We’d like to see Xero add a recurring payment feature. This could be useful to consultants who operate on retainer agreements or those who offer subscription-based services like regular coaching sessions. If this feature is important to you, we recommend QuickBooks Online.
Xero met our expectations in terms of general and consultant-specific features, but it fell a bit short in mobile app, ease of use, and customer support. The app is very limited, as you can use it only for scanning receipts, sending invoices, and categorizing expenses. It may also take time to set up a company in Xero, and it can be challenging to seek assistance as it doesn’t offer any kind of live chat support. To contact support, you may use a chatbot, browse through self-help guides, or contact someone via email.
AccountSight: Best Free Time Tracking Software for Consultants
Pros
- Dedicated time tracking and billing for consultants
- Online time tracker
- Robust expense tracking tools
- Responsive customer support
- Integrates with QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop
- Multi-level timesheets
Cons
- Lacks employee productivity tools
- Number of clients and projects is limited with Free plan
- Limited mobile app functionalities
- Limited third-party integrations
AccountSight offers a free plan, and its three paid plans allow for unlimited clients, invoicing, and projects, and charge per person, per month. Prices are based on user packs, which give volume discounts based on the number of users required:
- Free: $0 for one user, five clients, and five projects
- Basic: $10 per user, per month; comes with a 2- to 5-user pack
- Small Group: $9 per user, per month; comes with a 6- to 20-user pack
- Enterprise: $8 per user, per month; comes with a 21- to 100-user pack
AccountSight is one of our best accounting software for consultants, given its comprehensive time tracking and billing software. It earned a spot in our roundup of the best free time tracking software.
It offers various features to help businesses streamline their time and expense management processes. For instance, it provides multi-level timesheets that allow consultants to capture time data based on the level they need (e.g., project level and client or account level). AccountSight can also be used to create and track projects, including costs and profitability.
On the flip side, AccountSight isn’t a complete accounting solution, so you won’t find essential bookkeeping features, like bank reconciliation and income and expense tracking. All the other software programs on this list offer such features.
How We Evaluated the Best Accounting Software for Consultants
We evaluated the best accounting software for consultants using the rubric below.
10% of Overall Score
We ranked the providers based on how their pricing compared to each other. This means that the most affordable provider receives the highest score. To determine how their pricing stacks up against each other, we considered several factors, like the upfront cost and user limitations.
20% of Overall Score
Some of the general features we looked for include the ability to create a new customer and vendor, enter bills and invoices, print checks, and generate basic reports.
35% of Overall Score
We looked into specific features that are relevant to consulting firms, including the ability to record billable time, track income and expenses by project, and bill clients on hourly rates.
10% of Overall Score
We determined whether you can perform essential tasks through the app, such as invoicing, payment processing, and bill entry.
10% of Overall Score
We explored each provider’s dashboard to gauge how easy it is to learn and use for different accounting tasks.
10% of Overall Score
We looked for software providers that provide reliable customer support, preferably with multiple channels like email, phone, and live chat. Prompt and helpful support can be critical when you encounter issues or have questions.
5% of Overall Score
We use average user review ratings from popular third-party sites.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
It depends on your specific business needs. For instance, FreshBooks is great for project management, while QuickBooks Online is ideal for growing businesses that often need professional bookkeeping support. Consider Zoho Books if mobile accounting is important to your business.
When selecting accounting software for consultants, consider features such as time tracking, invoicing capabilities, expense tracking, project management integration, financial reporting, customer support, and data security.
Yes—as long as the software you select provides time tracking functionality. Some examples include AccountSight, FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, and Zoho Books.
To choose the right accounting software, consider factors like your business size, your budget, the features you require, ease of use, scalability, customer support, and compatibility with other tools you use. Reading user reviews and seeking recommendations from other consultants can provide valuable insights.
Bottom Line
The best accounting software for your consulting business depends on your specific needs. FreshBooks is an affordable option for independent consultants, while QuickBooks Online is scalable and better suited for small consulting businesses. Xero is ideal for large accounting firms with many users, and Zoho Books has both a robust mobile app and general accounting features. If you’re seeking an advanced time tracking and billing solution, AccountSight is an excellent option.