While free accounting software that meets all of the needs of a small business is difficult to find, we’ve compared over a dozen solid options and have narrowed it down to the five best. We evaluated price, features and other criteria. Wave stands above the rest because it includes the most features, free of charge.
While the free accounting software options review below are good, they’re missing features that a software like QuickBooks has. For example, none of the options we have chosen can produce a statement of cash flows, and only two out of the five allow you to manage accounts payable. With QuickBooks, you can produce a statement of cash flows in minutes, track your A/P, and much more. Click here to save up to 50% off QuickBooks.
Top Free Accounting Software for 2018
| Wave | (Best Overall) accounting software with the most features at no cost. |
| ZipBooks | Freelancers looking to upgrade from an Excel spreadsheet. |
| SlickPie | Start-up businesses that don’t have a lot of revenue or expenses and no employees. |
| xTuple PostBooks | Manufacturing & Distribution businesses that want a system that integrates accounting, operations, sales & inventory all in one software for free. |
| GnuCash | Best open source software platform for businesses that want to build a custom accounting software system. |
How We Evaluated the Best Free Accounting Software for Small Business
Many small businesses cannot afford to invest in an accounting software but need something more sophisticated than an Excel spreadsheet. During our research, our number one criteria was that the software had to be 100 percent free or include a free plan that did not expire. Based on this, we were left with five great options for which we also compared features, ease of setup/use, and a few other criteria.
The criteria we used to compare Wave, ZipBooks, SlickPie, xTuple PostBooks and GnuCash are as follows:
- Price – To make the cut, the accounting software had to be 100 percent free or offer a free option.
- Overall features for price – Each product was evaluated based on whether or not they could perform basic bookkeeping tasks like invoice customers, pay bills and run reports.
- Ease of setup and use – Most of these products do not offer live tech support, so it was very important that they use simple language that does not require the user to have a bookkeeping/accounting background.
- Ability to give other users access – Having the ability to give a bookkeeper or CPA access to your data is going to save you time, allowing you to work on other areas of your business without having to be interrupted to fulfill requests for information.
- Mobile accessibility – With the many hats that business owners wear, it is also imperative that you can run your business on the go using any device with an internet connection.
Positive cash flow and time are two of the most precious commodities that a small business owner could never have too much of. Each of the criteria that we used to evaluate our top five free accounting software picks will either save you time or money, if not both.
Out of the five products that made our list, Wave is our best overall free accounting software for small business. Wave goes well beyond the basic bookkeeping requirements to give you an unlimited number of users, a mobile app so you can work on the go, tools like automatic reminders, and the ability to accept online payments from customers.
Best Overall Free Accounting Software for Small Businesses: Wave
Wave is the best overall free accounting software for small businesses because it includes the most features for the price of free. Their features go beyond basic bookkeeping by offering an unlimited number of users and the ability to track more than one business—at zero cost. Wave is ideal for any business that pays most of their bills online, needs to track income/expenses for multiple businesses, and has multiple users they need to give access to their data—all for free.
Wave Pricing
When it comes to pricing, Wave keeps it simple by offering one plan that is 100 percent free. Unlike most of its competitors, you won’t have to “upgrade” to a paid plan if you need to add a user or start tracking income/expenses for a new business. Similar to Wave, GnuCash is the only other accounting software that is also 100 percent free and does not offer a paid plan.
If you decide to accept online payments or process payroll, both of these services must be turned on and will require that you pay fees in order to use them.
Wave Features
Wave is packed with not only the basic bookkeeping features, like the ability to manage your income and expenses, but you can also invite an unlimited number of users to access your data and you can connect an unlimited number of bank/credit card accounts—at no cost to you. Unlike its competitors that put limitations on their “free” software to force you to upgrade to a paid plan, Wave gives you the same features for free.
Manage Accounts Receivable
Wave includes full cycle accounts receivable, which means that you can create invoices, accept online payments from customers, and generate an accounts receivable report to stay on top of unpaid invoices. Wave also includes the following features to help you get paid faster:
- Recurring billing for repeat customers
- Automatic payment reminders
- Automatic invoice status: sent, viewed or paid
Manage Accounts Payable
Unfortunately, Wave is the only software that we looked at that does not allow you to keep track of unpaid bills. However, you can record payments that have been made via check, credit card or online by downloading the transactions directly from your financial institution or manually entering them into Wave.
Connect Bank/Credit Card Accounts
Similar to SlickPie and ZipBooks, you can connect an unlimited number of bank and credit card accounts to Wave. This will significantly reduce the amount of manual data entry that you would normally have to do. By having the ability to sync your bank/credit card accounts with Wave, you can ensure that your financial statements remain accurate and always up to date.
Generate Key Financial Statements
Similar to GnuCash and xTuple PostBooks, you can create all three financial statements in Wave: the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and the statement of cash flows. This will help you to stay on top of the overall health of your business.
Mobile Access
Similar to most cloud accounting software products, you can download a mobile app to manage certain aspects of your business. Wave has two apps: one for invoicing customers and one for scanning receipts. Both apps sync automatically with your Wave account. The following apps are available for iOS and Android devices.
- Wave Invoicing App for Android
- Wave Invoicing App for iOS
- Wave Receipts App for Android
- Wave Receipts App for iOS
Wave Customer Service and Reviews
When it comes to customer service, Wave has a four out of five-star rating. Customers love being able to use an accounting software for free. However, customers are extremely unsatisfied with the lack of customer service. The only support Wave offers is email, and some customers say the response time can be days while others say they have never received a response. You can see all of our customer reviews by visiting our Wave customer reviews page.
What Wave Is Missing
As we have discussed, there is one primary area where Wave falls short: the inability to track unpaid bills (accounts payable). If you pay all of your bills online, then not having the A/P functionality would not be a deal breaker.
Where to Find Wave
Getting your free Wave account will only take a few minutes. Head over to the Wave website and you will need to enter some basic information about your business, create a user id and password, and then you’ll have access to all of the features we have discussed. Best of all, you won’t have to enter any credit card information.
Best Free Accounting Software for Freelancers: ZipBooks
ZipBooks is best for freelancers who don’t need all of the bells and whistles that its competitors offer. If you are currently using an Excel spreadsheet or the old “shoebox” method to keep track of income and expenses, then it will be easy to make the transition to ZipBooks because it is simpler to use than calculating formulas in a spreadsheet—not to mention a huge upgrade.
ZipBooks Pricing
Unlike Wave and GnuCash, which only offer one plan—free, ZipBooks has four pricing plans that range between $0 and $125/month. The ZipBooks starter plan is free and it is the pricing plan we will focus on for this guide. If you decide to accept online payments or process payroll, both of these services must be turned on and will require that you pay fees in order to use them.
Here are the four monthly pricing plans ZipBooks has to offer:
- ZipBooks Starter – $0
- ZipBooks Smarter – $15 per month
- ZipBooks Sophisticated – $35 per month
- ZipBooks Services – $125 per month
If you would like more information on the paid pricing plans for ZipBooks, check out our article on ZipBooks vs. Wave. In this article, we compare price, features and who’s best.
ZipBooks Features
Like its competitors, ZipBooks Starter is capable of handling basic bookkeeping such as invoicing customers and paying bills. Similar to Wave and SlickPie, you can keep track of multiple businesses. However, you are limited to one user, whereas both Wave and SlickPie include an unlimited number of users. If you need to give additional users access to your data, you can upgrade to a paid plan starting at $15/month.
Manage Accounts Receivable
Similar to its competitors, you can invoice your customers and accept online payments in ZipBooks. You can also run an accounts receivable aging report to keep track of unpaid invoices. ZipBooks also has a time tracking tool that will allow you to easily transfer hours worked to an invoice.
Manage Accounts Payable
Unlike Wave, you can manually keep track of unpaid vendor bills in ZipBooks. The way this works is you would enter all of your bills as they come in and run an accounts payable aging report to keep track of their due dates. When it’s time to pay a bill, you manually mark the bill paid by entering the payment method (i.e., check, credit card or online). Unlike GnuCash and xTuple, this is an entirely manual process in ZipBooks.
Connect Bank/Credit Card Accounts
ZipBooks Starter limits you to connecting one bank or credit card account versus unlimited accounts with Wave and SlickPie. If you have more than one account that you need to connect to ZipBooks, you will have to upgrade to one of their paid plans that start at $15/month. All ZipBooks paid plans allow you to connect an unlimited number of bank/credit card accounts.
Generate Key Financial Statements
Similar to SlickPie, you cannot generate a statement of cash flows in ZipBooks. However, you can create a Profit and Loss and a Balance Sheet report. However, ZipBooks does have a paid plan that includes a dedicated bookkeeper. This person might be able to manually create a statement of cash flows for you by using another tool, like Excel.
Mobile Access
While ZipBooks does have a mobile app, it’s only compatible with iOS devices. Therefore, if you use an Android device (like me), you would only be able to manage your books from a desktop computer. Download the free ZipBooks mobile app to your iOS device.
ZipBooks Customer Service and Reviews
ZipBooks has an average rating of five out of five stars on our customer reviews page. What customers like the most about ZipBooks is the amount of features that are included at such an affordable cost. Unlike most of its competitors, ZipBooks does offer live customer support via chat. However, customers feel that there is significant improvement needed in this area. You can see all of our customer reviews by visiting our ZipBooks customer reviews page.
What ZipBooks Is Missing
Compared to its competitors, ZipBooks falls short in three main areas: the number of users is limited to one, you can only connect one bank/credit card account, and you cannot run a statement of cash flows. While two of these limitations can be resolved by upgrading to a paid subscription, Wave and SlickPie include an unlimited number of users and an unlimited number of bank/credit card accounts for free.
Where to Find ZipBooks
Like Wave and SlickPie, you can set up a ZipBooks account in a few short minutes. Be prepared to enter some basic information about your business like company name, email and business phone number. You can sign up for a ZipBooks Starter account for free, no credit card required.
Best Free Accounting Software for Start-up Businesses: SlickPie
If you’ve just started your business and don’t have a ton of experience with using bookkeeping software but you want something more sophisticated than Excel, SlickPie is a good solution. While it has many of the features that its competitors do, it is extremely easy to use.
SlickPie Pricing
Similar to Wave and GnuCash, SlickPie offers one pricing plan—free. Unlike ZipBooks, they don’t require that you upgrade to a paid plan in order to unlock additional features. There is never a need to upgrade with SlickPie because all available features are included upfront, at no cost to you.
SlickPie Features
Similar to its competitors, you can manage your bills, customer invoices and so much more with SlickPie. When it comes to features included, it is almost identical to Wave. SlickPie includes an unlimited number of users, the ability to manage more than one business, and the ability to connect an unlimited number of bank/credit card accounts. Like ZipBooks, you cannot generate a statement of cash flows but you can manually track your bills, which you can’t do with Wave.
Manage Accounts Receivable
Similar to its competitors, you can manage your entire accounts receivable process in SlickPie. This includes creating invoices, emailing invoices to customers, and managing customer payments. You can also run an accounts receivable aging report to stay on top of unpaid invoices.
Some additional key tools included in SlickPie to manage the A/R process are:
- Recurring invoices for repeat customers
- Payment reminders before/after invoices become due
- Accept online payments
Manage Accounts Payable
Unlike Wave, you can manage your unpaid supplier bills manually in SlickPie. Similar to what we discussed with ZipBooks, you can manually enter your bills and mark them paid with the payment method used (i.e., cash, check, credit card). You can also run an accounts payable report to keep track of the unpaid bills that are coming due or past due.
Connect Bank/Credit Card Accounts
Like Wave, you can connect an unlimited number of bank and credit card accounts to SlickPie. This will ensure that you don’t miss out on any tax deductions because you lost a receipt or forgot to enter an expense. You can also easily reconcile your bank/credit card accounts to ensure that your financial statements are always up to date.
Generate Key Financial Statements
SlickPie includes many financial statements like profit and loss and the balance sheet report. Similar to ZipBooks, it does not include a statement of cash flows report. However, it does include an aged receivables report, aged payables report, and a detailed budget report.
Mobile Access
SlickPie is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows devices. Unlike its competitors, there is no need to download an app—you can access the mobile-friendly web version from any device with an internet connection.
SlickPie Customer Service and Reviews
Customers who gave SlickPie a positive review like that it’s free bookkeeping software that is easy to use. In contrast, a few negative reviews were that there aren’t enough charts and graphs.
You can visit our SlickPie reviews page to read all of our user reviews.
What SlickPie Is Missing
Compared to its competitors, SlickPie falls short in two areas: accounts payable is a manual process and you can’t run a statement of cash flows. The good news is that you can at least track accounts payable manually, which is better than not having the functionality at all, like Wave.
Where to Find SlickPie
Signing up for your free SlickPie account is as easy as pie. Similar to Wave and ZipBooks, you need to provide your business name, address, email and contact information. Since there is no credit card required, you’ve got nothing to lose by taking SlickPie for a test drive.
Best Free Accounting Software for Manufacturing & Distribution Businesses: xTuple PostBooks
Like GnuCash, xTuple is an open source accounting software that includes modules to manage every aspect of your business: sales, accounting, operations, customer management, inventory control and supplier management. The best part is that you get access to all of these modules absolutely free, making this the best free accounting software for small business if you’re in manufacturing or distribution. If you need more functionality, you can always upgrade to a paid version.
xTuple PostBooks Pricing
Similar to ZipBooks, xTuple offers both free and paid plans. The paid plans run between $45 and $150 per month per user. This is definitely on the steep side when it comes to the average cost of accounting software. The free plan is limited to four concurrent users; if you need to give more than four people access to your data, you will need to upgrade to one of the paid pricing plans.
Listed below are the four paid pricing plans for an annual license with xTuple:
- PostBooks (Commercial) – $45 per user per month
- Distribution – $90 per user per month
- Manufacturing – $130 per user per month
- Enterprise – $150 per user per month
What’s neat about xTuple is that it goes beyond accounting by integrating your entire business process (sales, operations, inventory control, customer relations), and GnuCash is probably the only product that we looked at that is very similar. Like GnuCash, xTuple is an open source software, which means it is a lot more customizable than most accounting software.
xTuple PostBooks Features
Like its competitors, xTuple allows you to easily manage all of your income and expenses. Unlike its competitors, it has an extensive inventory management module that is ideal for both distribution and manufacturing businesses. Another unique feature you will find in xTuple PostBooks is their customer relationship management (CRM) system. Unlike its competitors, you can organize and track all business contacts, including customers, vendors, competitors and partners.
Manage Accounts Receivable
Like its competitors, xTuple PostBooks allows you to create customer invoices, apply payments and stay on top of unpaid invoices with an accounts receivable aging report. You can also accept credit/debit card payments from customers so that you can get paid faster. If you sell products and would like to create and send a sales order to your customer to confirm their order, you can easily do that in xTuple PostBooks.
Manage Accounts Payable
Like GnuCash, xTuple PostBooks has full accounts payable functionality. This means that you can enter all of your unpaid bills and keep track of their due dates. This will allow you to run an accounts payable report at any time to see how much you owe to your vendor suppliers. Using this information, you can make sure you have enough cash on-hand to meet your obligations.
Connect Bank/Credit Card Accounts
You can set up and manage all of your bank/credit card accounts in xTuple PostBooks. Similar to GnuCash, you cannot connect your bank accounts to the software. However, you can import a data file from your bank into xTuple PostBooks.
Generate Key Financial Statements
Unlike SlickPie and ZipBooks (which do not include a statement of cash flows), xTuple PostBooks includes all three of the primary financial statements: profit and loss, balance sheet, and statement of cash flow. In addition, xTuple includes a free, open source SQL report writer that can be used to build any type of report that you need (and is not currently available) in xTuple.
Mobile Access
Unfortunately, xTuple does not currently offer a way for you to access your data from a mobile device. As we have discussed, the software is downloaded to a desktop computer and accessed by multiple users via a network server.
xTuple PostBooks Customer Service and Reviews
The online reviews for xTuple are overwhelmingly positive. Customers like the ability to download a free software to see what it can do and if they want more functionality, they can always upgrade to a paid version. When it comes to providing good customer service, xTuple excels in that area as well.
According to a customer review, xTuple goes out of their way to give you the best experience possible. As part of my research, I reached out to the support team to ask a few questions and I received a response the following morning. They provided me with a 45-minute demo of the product and allowed me to ask questions throughout.
What xTuple PostBooks Is Missing
One area where xTuple is lacking is the inability to access your data on the go like you can with Wave, SlickPie and ZipBooks. With as many hats as business owners have to wear, it’s not realistic that they must be chained to a desktop computer to get work done.
Another area where xTuple fell short is not being able to connect bank/credit card accounts to the software. Having the ability to look at your software to see up-to-date financials is key to managing cash flow.
Where to Find xTuple PostBooks
Similar to GnuCash, you can download xTuple PostBooks for free to a desktop computer that uses Linux, Windows or Mac. Since it is a pretty extensive software, we recommend that you purchase the QuickStart Wizard for $30. The QuickStart Wizard will walk you through each module step by step to customize it for your business needs. This will save you a lot of time because there is a steeper learning curve to learning how to use xTuple than its competitors like Wave, SlickPie and ZipBooks.
Best Free Accounting Software for Open Source System: GnuCash
GnuCash is the best free accounting software for businesses that want an open source accounting software that you can customize to meet your individual needs. For example, if you need a report that is not in the list of report options, you can build it from scratch in GnuCash because the platform is “open” and available for a programmer or developer to change the code behind the scenes. For more information on cost, features and benefits of GnuCash, check out our GnuCash vs.TurboCash guide.
GnuCash Pricing
Like Wave and SlickPie, GnuCash has one pricing plan—and it is 100 percent free. GnuCash is supported by volunteer developers so they do accept donations, but you can download the software to your Windows, Linux or Mac computer for free, no credit card required.
GnuCash Features
When it comes to features included, GnuCash does not disappoint. It includes all of the basic accounting features like the ability to manage accounts receivable and accounts payable. However, it falls short when it comes to users included, which is only one compared to Wave and SlickPie, which include an unlimited number of users. However, GnuCash does beat all of its competitors when it comes to reports. Unlike SlickPie and ZipBooks, you can run a statement of cash flow report in GnuCash to see your cash flow activity for the business.
Manage Accounts Receivable
Similar to its competitors, GnuCash allows you to manage outstanding customer balances. This includes creating invoices, tracking their due dates, applying customer payments and running an A/R aging report to stay on top of invoices coming due.
Manage Accounts Payable
Unlike Wave, SlickPie and ZipBooks, GnuCash is designed to help you manage unpaid bills. This means that you can enter your bills, assign due dates, and run an A/P aging report to stay on top of bills coming due. In addition, you can pay a bill directly in GnuCash, which will allow your accounts payable balances to update automatically. This will help you to keep tabs on your cash flow.
Connect Bank/Credit Card Accounts
When it comes to the ability to connect bank and credit card accounts, GnuCash falls short. While you can connect multiple bank/credit card accounts to Wave, SlickPie and ZipBooks, you cannot connect a bank/credit card account to GnuCash. However, you can import bank and credit card transactions from a QIF, OFX or HBCI file type. This will allow you to reconcile your bank and credit card accounts, but it is a manual process and not automatic like its competitors offer.
Generate Key Financial Statements
GnuCash allows you to not only create the three primary financial reports—income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement—but to also customize the existing reports or build a new report from scratch if you need to (one of the benefits of being an open source software). This is something that none of its competitors is capable of doing.
Mobile Access
GnuCash allows you to keep track of your business on the go. If you have an Android device, download the GnuCash Android app and you’re all set. Unlike its competitors, you will have to import your data from your mobile device to your desktop to sync your data. Unfortunately, GnuCash does not offer an app for iOS devices like Wave, SlickPie and ZipBooks do.
GnuCash Customer Service and Reviews
We found mixed reviews for GnuCash. Customers like all of the features that are included at no cost to them. However, customers feel that the interface is not user friendly and as a result, they have to invest a lot of time to learn how the program works because of the steep learning curve.
For more details, check out our GnuCash reviews page.
What GnuCash Is Missing
As we have discussed, GnuCash falls short in a couple of areas. First, you can only have one person in the file at a time. Second, your bank/credit card information will not automatically download into GnuCash. Instead, you have to obtain the file from your financial institution and then import the data into GnuCash.
Where to Find GnuCash
Since GnuCash is free, you can download the software directly from their website and start using it right away. You will have access to all of the features available in the software. Be sure to read the step-by-step help guide on their website for instructions on how to properly download the software.
Alternatives to the Best Free Accounting Software
If you’re looking for more robust bookkeeping software and you don’t mind paying for it, we’ve got a few great alternatives to the free accounting software options that we have discussed in this guide.
| QuickBooks Online | Service-based businesses of any size that include multi-users, multi-currency and 1099 tracking; plans start at $15/month. |
| FreshBooks | Businesses with heavy accounts receivable looking for a way to put customer invoicing and payments on autopilot; plans start at $15 per month. |
| QuickBooks Self-Employed | Uber/Lyft drivers and road warriors who need to track mileage along with income and expenses; plans start at $10 per month. |
| Odoo | Businesses looking for a free bookkeeping software that includes inventory management, POS, CRM and MRP, all in one. |
| Xero | Best alternative to QuickBooks Online; ideal for service based business that has 10 or fewer employees; plans start at $9 per month. |
Bottom Line
Now that you have five free accounting products to choose from, it’s time to pick one. Deciding which software to choose is really dependent on your business needs. One of the reasons why we recommend Wave is because it works for any size business.
Wave is easy to use, allows you to track income and expenses for multiple businesses, and gives access to as many people as you need to. There is never a need to upgrade with Wave because you get all of the features upfront, at zero cost. It takes just a few minutes to sign up for your free Wave account. Just enter your business contact information and select a user id and password to get started.
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