5 Best Bank Reconciliation Software for 2023
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
The best bank reconciliation software should allow you to compare your bank statement with your bookkeeping records for the same time period easily and provide an accurate method for tracking cash flow. To help you find the right solution for your business, we’ve selected the five best bank reconciliation applications:
- QuickBooks Online: Best overall bank reconciliation software
- NCH Express Accounting Software: Best free bank reconciliation software
- Xero: Best for scalable bank reconciliation software
- Sage Business Cloud Accounting: Best bank reconciliation software with an automated bank feed
- ReconArt: Best for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with a large volume of transactions
Comparison of the Best Bank Reconciliation Software
Monthly Pricing | Number of Users | Auto Import of Bank Transactions | Mobile App | Accountant Access | Batch Reconciliation | Live Customer Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | $30 to $200 | 1 to 25 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | N/A | ✓ |
 | $0* | $0* | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
 | $13 to $70 | Unlimited | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | N/A |
 | $10 or $25 | 1 or unlimited | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | N/A | ✓ |
| $1,700 to $2,800 or custom | 5 to 20 | ✓ | N/A | N/A | ✓ | N/A |
*NCH Express Accounting charges a one-time fee of $129 for companies with more than five employees.
QuickBooks Online: Best Overall Bank Reconciliation Software
Pros
- Batch categorization
- Transfers transactions from your bank automatically and marks them cleared on the reconciliation
- Excellent user interface and navigation
- Over 750 integrations
- Robust mobile app
- Extensive list of customizable reports
- Ability to sort income and expenses into tax categories
Cons
- Limited users with each plan
- Monthly plans are expensive compared to alternatives
- Each company requires a separate subscription
Plans & Pricing
QuickBooks Online has four plans to choose from, all of which offer the bank reconciliation feature:
- 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
Why We Chose QuickBooks Online
We selected QuickBooks Online as the overall best bank reconciliation software because of its simple and intuitive user-friendly interface and bank integration capabilities, which allows for automatic updates of transactions and balances. It also automatically categorizes transactions, making it easier to reconcile your bank account, and the audit log gives you insight into any changes that have been made to your books.
QuickBooks Online Overview
We ranked QuickBooks Online as the best small business accounting software, and it excels with its bank reconciliation capabilities. It supports the standard reconciliation process, allowing you to compare your monthly bank account statement to your QuickBooks Online check register to ensure that all your transactions are accurate and complete. You can see our tutorial on how to process bank reconciliations in QuickBooks Online if you need guidance.
QuickBooks Online Bank Reconciliation
(Source: Intuit)
- Audit log: The audit log can be useful for finding errors and transaction histories while reconciling. You can track the date of any change to your books, the name of the user who made the change, the type of change, and the original transaction date and amount.
- Accountant access: You can invite your accountant to QuickBooks Online via email, and they’ll have access to all the features of your account—without counting as one of your allowed users.
- QuickBooks ProAdvisor Network: If you decide that you would rather have an accountant handle your reconciliations, read our guide on how to find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor or our review of QuickBooks Live.
In addition to a great bank reconciliation feature, QuickBooks Online offers outstanding bookkeeping features for nearly any business:
- Ecommerce retailers: QuickBooks Online’s recent focus on ecommerce integrations makes it the clear winner for our best ecommerce accounting software.
- Businesses that invoice customers: We consider QuickBooks Online as the leading invoicing software because of its ability to calculate sales tax based on a customer’s location and customize invoices to any industry.
- Mobile accounting: We also found that QuickBooks Online has one of the top mobile accounting applications because its app allows you to send invoices, receive payments, track mileage, and capture receipts.
NCH Express Accounting Software: Best Free Bank Reconciliation Software
Pros
- Free forever for companies with five or fewer employees
- Able to perform basic accounting tasks
- One-time purchase fee for larger companies
- Comes with optional add-ons for inventory and other functions
- Intuitive dashboard that allows for easy navigation
Cons
- Unable to import bank transactions with a live connection to your bank
- No mobile app
- Unable to capture and store receipt images
- Very limited customer support
Plans & Pricing
NCH Express Accounting Software offers a free desktop program for small businesses with five or fewer employees. Software licenses can also be purchased for a one-time fee directly through the NCH Software online store:
- Express Accounts Basic: $139 for the standard edition
- Express Accounts Plus: $195 for a fully featured, single-installation license
- Express Accounts Plus Quarterly Plan: $7.72 per month for unlimited ongoing use of all professional version features and all upgrades, billed at $23.16 quarterly
Why We Chose NCH Express Accounting
NCH Express Accounting can perform basic accounting tasks and integrate with other NCH software. However, it is free only to companies with five or fewer employees; its paid versions can be purchased for a one-time fee or paid on a quarterly basis.
Both the free and paid options allow you to track payments, deposit transactions, and view balances and reports. It is also the only multicompany accounting platform on this list, making it a great option if that is important for your business.
NCH Express Accounting Overview
NCH Express Accounting is an easy-to-use desktop accounting application. Because it provides a quick solution to basic accounting tasks like invoicing and producing basic reports, it works best as a monitoring tool to track your transactions and view balances and reports. It allows you to reconcile your transactions manually or by downloading a CSV file of your bank statement, comparing your account ledger with the bank statement and matching transactions automatically.
Example of NCH Express Accounting Software Bank Reconciliation (Source: NCH Express)
- Web access: The software has an optional mobile browser access plan that allows for multiple simultaneous users on the cloud.
- Financial reports and analysis: You get over 20 preconfigured reports, including income statement analysis, cash flow statements, and balance sheets. These reports can be saved as PDF or CSV files or emailed directly through the software.
- Integrations: NCH Express Accounts integrates well with other NCH software, such as inventory management, timesheets, employee productivity and management, and project management.
- Multicompany access: With the Plus version, you can run multiple businesses with a single installation, including businesses operating with different currencies.
- Businesses with fewer than 100 monthly bank transactions: NCH is not as convenient as the other software listed in this guide because it doesn’t automatically transfer transactions from your bank daily via a live feed. Instead, you need to manually input your bank transactions as they occur. Therefore, it is best for businesses with a low volume of bank transactions; otherwise, it may take a lot of time to manually input your transactions.
- Small businesses with up to five employees that want free desktop accounting software: NCH Software is a basic bookkeeping program that is free for businesses with five or fewer employees.
Xero: Best Bank Reconciliation Software With the Ability to Scale as Your Business Grows
Pros
- All plans include unlimited users
- Mobile app that allows you to reconcile transactions from your device
- Side-by-side layout for reconciling transactions allows for easier matching
- Integrates with over 700 apps
- Project management features with Established plan
- Comprehensive reporting
Cons
- Bank statements must be imported via a live connection or comma-separated values (CSV) file to perform a reconciliation
- Doesn't support multicompany accounting
- Limited tracking categories
- Lowest priced plan is limited to five bills and 20 invoices
- Lacks phone and chat support
Plans & Pricing
- Early: $13 per month for up to 20 invoices and five bills
- Growing: $37 per month for unlimited invoices and bills
- Established: $70 per month includes project tracking and multiple currencies
A 30-day free trial is also available.
Why We Chose Xero
We selected Xero as the best bank reconciliation software with the ability to scale as your business grows because of features like bulk reconciliation of transactions, which are available with the Growing and Established plans. More recent updates include smarter matching algorithms, which are powered by artificial intelligence.
Wells Fargo and Chase clients can also use its data extraction feature using Hubdoc, which can extract data from PDF bank statements. You can also opt to be alerted if there are any unreconciled transactions in your account.
Xero Overview
When you reconcile, Xero will notify you if your actual bank balance and the balance of the bank reconciliation in the platform don’t match. The bank reconciliation summary makes it easy to check for missing, deleted, or duplicated transactions.
The platform has similar features to QuickBooks and can accommodate unlimited users. We selected it as one of the best QuickBooks alternatives, specifically for unlimited users, partly due to the ease of bank reconciliation.
Example of Xero Bank Reconciliation
(Source: Xero)
- Bank statement extraction via Hubdoc: New in 2023, Hubdoc now supports data extraction from PDF bank statements generated by Wells Fargo and Chase.
- Auto-import of bank statements: Xero allows you to connect your bank feed so that your transactions will flow into your account daily. You also have the option to import your transactions from a CSV file instead.
- Transaction alerts: You can opt to receive alerts about unreconciled transactions on the Xero dashboard so that you can take action if necessary.
- Suggested matches: Xero will suggest matches for your transactions, categorize them automatically, and apply any rules that you set up.
- Bulk-reconcile transactions: With the Growing or Established plan, you can sort and group bank transactions and then code and reconcile them in bulk. You can also apply a bank rule to a group of transactions.
- Ecommerce businesses: Xero’s inventory tracking feature is ideal for ecommerce operations because it calculates your cost of goods sold (COGS) automatically and maintains a list of customers. You can also monitor customer payments and orders, making Xero suitable for online transactions.
- Those looking for an alternative to QuickBooks: We named Xero as one of the best QuickBooks alternatives because it has features very similar to QuickBooks but is considerably less expensive and includes unlimited users.
Sage Business Cloud Accounting: Best Bank Reconciliation Software With an Automatic Bank Feed
Pros
- Supports unlimited transactions
- Easy to set up and use
- Live support options available
- Department, cost code, and project tracking
- Ability to establish three item-price levels
Cons
- Can’t view outstanding transactions after reconciling
- Requires an additional fee to use multiple currencies
- Starter plan only allows for one bank connection
- User interface is dated and not visually appealing
Plans & Pricing
Sage Business Cloud Accounting offers two affordable plans that differ in the features that are available and the number of users that it can accommodate:
- Accounting Start: $10 per month for one user
- Accounting: $25 per month for unlimited users
Why We Chose Sage Business Cloud Accounting
We selected Sage Business Cloud Accounting as the best bank reconciliation software with an automatic bank feed. It has strong artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, which will learn from how you categorize transactions so that they will be property categorized in the future. You can also automate workflows and set bank rules that will automatically be applied to your transactions. The platform’s audit trail features are also helpful in case of an audit.
Sage Business Cloud Accounting Overview
Originally called Sage One, Sage Business Cloud Accounting is subscription-based accounting software that gives you the flexibility available with a cloud back-end. It includes tools for bank reconciliation that allow you to create and split bank transactions.
Example of Sage Business Cloud Accounting Bank Reconciliation
(Source: Sage)
- Automated workflows: Sage Business Cloud Accounting allows you to automate your workflows. You can auto-post expenses and payments directly from your connected accounts and automate administrative tasks and invoicing easily.
- Bank rules: You can create and set bank rules that will be applied automatically to your transactions.
- Accountant access: The Accounting plan’s unlimited user capability allows you to share access with your accountant for easy collaboration in real time.
- Audit trail: The audit trail is a complete record of all transactions entered, which is useful if you need to trace a transaction or are asked to produce this as part of an audit. You can choose to view a summary or a detailed breakdown.
- Small business with basic bookkeeping needs: Sage Business Cloud Accounting is good at invoicing clients, classifying expenses, and tracking bills. Starting at only $10 per month for one user, its features are significantly better than free software.
- Small businesses that want a mobile app for their bookkeeping: You can download the Sage Accounting mobile app to create, send, and track invoices and manage your cash flow.
ReconArt: Best for SMBs With a Large Volume of Transactions
Pros
- Suitable to reconcile any account type, not just bank accounts
- Seamless integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, internal systems, and platforms
- High-volume transaction matching
- Financial close management
- End-to-end automation
Cons
- Too expensive for many small businesses
- Not intuitive for end users
- No mobile app
- Limited customer support
Plans & Pricing
All ReconArt plans are web-based and work with any ERP solution, accounting system, and external data sources.
- Essentials: $1,700 per month for five users
- Certify: $1,700 per month for 10 users
- Plus: $3,400 per month for 10 users, includes the Essentials and Certify modules
- Close: $2,800 per month for 20 users, includes your choice of two or more of ReconArt’s financial close management modules: Certification, Task Management, Variance Analysis, and Journal Entries
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Why We Chose ReconArt
ReconArt is our pick for the best reconciliation software for SMBs with a large volume of transactions. This is given its ability to support all reconciliation types, including bank accounts, credit cards, accounts receivable (A/R), accounts payable (A/P), balance sheet, and general ledger (GL)/suspense accounts.
Its powerful automation capabilities let you set up approval workflows, and you can also ensure that journal entries posted to the GL are correct. The software is especially ideal for NetSuite users because it provides a comprehensive solution for larger small businesses.
ReconArt Overview
ReconArt provides a reconciliation solution that can accommodate a variety of business scenarios. It is entirely web-based and can be hosted on-site if desired.
Its reconciliation software helps businesses with bank and credit card reconciliation, financial close, balance sheet reconciliation, variance analysis, journal entry, and intercompany reconciliation. It distinguishes itself from other software for SMBs by providing a comprehensive workflow around journal entry posting.
Example of ReconArt Bank Reconciliation
(Source: ReconArt)
- Scalability: ReconArt is scalable in terms of user base, data and accounts, and reconciliation volumes. Your company’s users can be distributed across locations, departments, and teams, and packages that support small to larger enterprises are available.
- Journal entries: The solution helps you ensure that all journal entries posting to the GL are correct and that there’s a controlled and audit-proof journal entry posting process.
- Approval workflows: You can configure approval workflows based on amount thresholds or different risk levels.
- Reconciliation types: ReconArt supports all reconciliation types, including balance sheet, trades and positions, intercompany, ledger to subledger, A/R, A/P, GL/suspense, payments, credit card, and bank accounts.
- Larger small businesses: ReconArt provides a high grade of automation and consolidates several reconciliation processes in a single platform. This is ideal for larger small businesses with more complex needs when it comes to bank reconciliation.
- Businesses with a variety of reconciliation needs: If your business has a need to perform reconciliations, such as ledger to subledger or trades and positions, ReconArt is an excellent solution. You can also reconcile balance sheets, A/R and A/P, credit card, and bank accounts.
- NetSuite users: ReconArt provides a deeper integration with NetSuite than other software, providing a comprehensive accounting solution for larger SMBs.
How We Evaluated Bank Reconciliation Software
There are many things to consider when determining which bank reconciliation software is the best option for your business. Depending on how sophisticated your needs are, it would ideally include the following capabilities, which we considered during our evaluation:
- Transfer transactions from your bank automatically
- Allow you to select transactions in your check register that appear on your bank statement
- Show you the difference between the cleared transactions in your check register and the statement balance continually
- Let you add, delete, or edit transactions in your register without leaving the reconciliation feature
- Print a reconciliation report showing all deposits in transit and outstanding checks
- Carry over all deposits in transit and outstanding checks automatically to the next month’s reconciliation
What Bank Reconciliation Software Is
A bank reconciliation is generally done once a month and ties the balance on your bank statement to the balance in your check register or general ledger account. The difference between your bank statement balance and your check register should be:
- Deposits in transit: Deposits recorded in your check register that aren’t yet on your bank statement
- Outstanding checks: Checks or electronic payments that are recorded in your check register but aren’t yet on your bank statement
Bank Reconciliation with Deposits in Transit and Outstanding Checks
If you require guidance, check out our article on how to do a bank reconciliation. It includes a video walkthrough of the process.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Some important features to look for include automatic transaction matching, the ability to import bank statements, user-defined rules for matching transactions, and the ability to generate reports and export data.
Bank account reconciliation software can save your business time and reduce errors by automating the process of reconciling bank statements with internal accounting records. It can also help identify and correct errors more quickly and provide an accurate picture of your company’s financial health.
Bank reconciliation software typically connects to a company’s bank accounts and imports transactions into the software. It then matches these transactions with the company’s internal accounting records, such as invoices and receipts, to identify any discrepancies. It can also typically flag transactions that need further investigation or review.
Bottom Line
Depending on the size and needs of your business, you may decide to use an accounting program with basic reconciliation features or one of the best bank account reconciliation software that automates the reconciliation process.
While we chose QuickBooks Online as the best bank reconciliation software, NCH Express is a good free option and Xero is an excellent scalable solution. If you’re looking for accounting software with an automated bank feed, Sage Business Cloud Accounting is a good choice while ReconArt is ideal for businesses with a large number of transactions.
