6 Best Free Accounting Software 2019

Free small business accounting software that meets all of the needs of a small business is difficult to find. We compared over a dozen solid options and selected the six best free accounting software. The ability to track all income and expenses and give other users access are key features that should be included.

While the free accounting software options we’ve included 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 of them allow you to manage accounts payable. With QuickBooks, you can produce a statement of cash flows, track accounts payable (A/P), and much more. You can save up to 50% off QuickBooks now.

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Best Free Accounting Software for 2019

When to Get Paid Accounting Software

Businesses should purchase accounting software when they have a need that goes beyond what’s included in free accounting software. For example, if you need to keep track of unpaid bills, you should go with a paid accounting software program like QuickBooks. In addition, looking for a way to integrate payroll processing or time tracking is another reason why paid accounting software may work best for you.

FreshBooks starts at $15 per month and provides an integrated time tracking and invoicing system, which helps make billing more streamlined. QuickBooks starts at $20 per month and allows you to track unpaid bills, manage payroll, and track inventory, which are features not included in any of the free accounting software options on our list.

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% free or include a free plan that did not expire. Based on this, we were left with six great options for which we compared features, ease of setup and use, and a few other criteria.

The criteria we used to compare the best free accounting software are as follows:

• Price: To make the cut, the accounting software had to be 100% free or offer a free option.
• Overall features for the price: Each product was evaluated based on whether or not it 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 or 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 free accounting software picks will either save you time, money, or both.

Out of the six 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.

Wave: Overall Best Free Accounting Software for Small Businesses

Wave is the best overall free accounting software for small businesses because it includes the most features for the price of free. It goes beyond basic bookkeeping by offering an unlimited number of users and the ability to track more than one business—at zero cost. Wave is easy to use and ideal for any business that pays most of its bills online and needs to track income and expenses for multiple businesses.

Wave Pricing

When it comes to pricing, Wave keeps it simple by offering one plan that is 100% 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 and expenses for a new business. Similar to Wave, GnuCash is the only other accounting software that is also 100% free and does not offer a paid plan.

However, Wave does charge for accepting online payments and processing payroll. Both of these services must be turned on and 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. In addition, you can connect an unlimited number of bank and 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.

Features included in Wave are:

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 and 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 Wave 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 & Reviews

When it comes to customer service, Wave has a 4 out of 5-star rating. Customers love being able to use an accounting software for free. However, customers are extremely dissatisfied 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. Wave cannot 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. However, if you need to keep track of unpaid bills, choose QuickBooks Online.

 

ZipBooks: Best Free Accounting Software for Freelancers

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.

ZipBooks Pricing

Unlike Wave and GnuCash, which only offer one plan—free, ZipBooks has four pricing plans that range between $0 and $125 per 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.

The four monthly pricing plans ZipBooks has to offer are:

• 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 versus Wave. In this article, we compare price, features, and which is 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 and one back account, whereas both Wave and SlickPie include an unlimited number of users and bank accounts. If you need to give additional users access to your data, you can upgrade to a paid plan starting at $15 per month.

Features found in ZipBooks pricing plans are:

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 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 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 (such as 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 per month. All ZipBooks paid plans allow you to connect an unlimited number of bank and 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. Also, 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 & Reviews

ZipBooks has an average rating of 4 out of 5 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 and 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 and credit card accounts for free.

 

SlickPie: Best Free Accounting Software for Startup Businesses

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. SlickPie is extremely easy to use and has many of the features as its competitors.

SlickPie Pricing

Similar to ZipBooks, SlickPie offers both free and paid plans. The free Starter plan provides accounting functionality but it’s limited to ten companies, and customer support is provided only by email. SlickPie’s Pro plan ($19.95 per month) allows up to 50 companies and provides support both by email and telephone.

SlickPie Features

Similar to its competitors, you can manage your bills, customer invoices, and generate financial reports for up to ten separate businesses with the free plan. Nearly identical to Wave, SlickPie includes an unlimited number of users and the ability to connect an unlimited number of bank and 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.

Features included in SlickPie pricing plans are:

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 accounts receivable process are:

• Recurring invoices for repeat customers
• Payment reminders before and 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 (such as cash, check, or 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 and 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, SlickPie 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 & 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 read our SlickPie user reviews to learn more about SlickPie.

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. If you need to track unpaid bills or access to a Statement of Cash Flows, we recommend QuickBooks.

 

XTuple PostBooks: Best Free Accounting Software for Manufacturing & Distribution Businesses

XTuple PostBooks 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 PostBooks offers both free and paid plans. The paid plans run between $45 and $150 per user, per month. 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.

The four paid pricing plans for an annual license with xTuple are:

• 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 PostBooks is that it goes beyond accounting by integrating your entire business process (sales, operations, inventory control, and customer relations). GnuCash and Akaunting are probably the only products we looked at that are similar in customization capabilities. That’s because like xTuple, both GnuCash and Akaunting are open source software. This makes them 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.

The features included in xTuple PostBooks are:

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 and 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 and credit card accounts in xTuple PostBooks. Similar to GnuCash, you cannot connect your bank accounts to the software for automatic data synchronization. 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. GnuCash has a similar feature, but Akaunting does not.

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 & 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 its 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 and 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. If you want a software that allows you to connect your bank and credit card accounts, go with Wave.

 

GnuCash: Best Open Source Accounting Software for Desktop Platforms

GnuCash is the best free accounting software for businesses that want an open source accounting software that you can customize to meet your 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 a programmer or developer can change the code behind the scenes. To learn more about the features and benefits of GnuCash, read our GnuCash versus TurboCash comparison guide.

GnuCash Pricing

Like Wave and SlickPie, GnuCash has one pricing plan—and it is 100% free. GnuCash is supported by volunteer developers, so they accept donations. You can download the software to your Windows, Linux, or Mac computer for free, no credit card required.

GnuCash Features

GnuCash includes all of the basic accounting features, such as the ability to manage accounts receivable and accounts payable. However, GnuCash falls short when it comes to users included, which is only one. By comparison, Wave and SlickPie allow an unlimited number of users. However, GnuCash beats 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.

The features you will find in GnuCash are:

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 accounts receivable 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 accounts payable 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 connecting bank and credit card accounts, GnuCash falls short. While you can connect multiple bank and credit card accounts to Wave, SlickPie, and ZipBooks, you cannot connect bank and credit card accounts to GnuCash. However, you can import bank and credit card transactions from a QIF, OFX, or HBCI file type. However, this process is manual and not automatic like its competitors offer.

Generate Key Financial Statements

GnuCash allows you to create the three primary financial reports: income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Also, you can customize the existing reports or build a new report from scratch if you need to. This is one of the benefits of being an open source software.

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, the GnuCash app for iOS devices is no longer available. By comparison, Wave, SlickPie, and ZipBooks offer iOS applications.

GnuCash Customer Service & Reviews

We found mixed reviews for GnuCash. Customers like the features included at no cost to them. However, customers feel that the interface is not user-friendly. As a result, they have to invest a lot of time to learn how the program works because of the steep learning curve. Read all of our GnuCash customer reviews to for more details.

What GnuCash Is Missing

GnuCash falls short in a couple of areas. First, you can only have one person in the file at a time. Second, your bank and 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. We recommend that you choose Wave, because you can add unlimited users and you can connect all of your bank and credit card accounts.

 

Akaunting: Best Online Open-source Accounting Software

Akaunting includes single entry accounting functionality, not double-entry like most accounting software. Like GnuCash and xTuple, it is an open source software but you can access it online through a web browser versus through a desktop like GnuCash. Akaunting is very easy to use and allows multiple users to track income and expenses, create invoices, and generate reports. Akaunting does have a double-entry accounting module you can purchase for $69 per year.

Akaunting Pricing

Similar to GnuCash and Wave, Akaunting has just one pricing plan: free. Akaunting’s server-based software and the web-based cloud version are free of charge. There are third-party add-ons available for purchase to extend Akaunting’s functionality. These add-ons are available through Akaunting’s App Store. Some add-ons are free, while others cost money. Generally, paid apps cost between $5 and $10 per month. The double-entry accounting app, for example, costs $69 per year, whereas most of the other competitors include double-entry accounting.

Akaunting Features

Akaunting provides single-entry accounting features such as tracking bank transactions for an unlimited number of accounts, managing inventory, creating invoices, entering expenses in multiple currencies, and attaching pictures of receipts and other files to transaction data. Akaunting supports multiple users, and each user can have customized roles and permissions.

Features included in Akaunting software are:

Manage Accounts Receivable

Akaunting can create invoices, and users can send links for customers to view the digital invoice. However, Akaunting does not offer an accounts receivable aging report, unlike all the other free accounting software we reviewed. Instead, users see all their invoices from the Invoices Dashboard, where invoices can be sorted by due date or payment status. Akaunting can integrate an online payment service with invoices. Add-ons are available to integrate Akaunting with PayPal, Stripe, and other payment gateways.

Manage Accounts Payable

Akaunting can enter bills and due dates, similar to GnuCash. Users view all their bills from the Bills Dashboard, where bills can be sorted by due date or payment status. This data can also be exported to a spreadsheet for more in-depth analysis. Users can also track outstanding payments by vendor. Akaunting does not integrate with bill payment systems, however.

Connect Bank & Credit Card Accounts

Unlike Wave, SlickPie, or ZipBooks, Akaunting does not connect to bank and credit card accounts. Akaunting can import bank and credit card data from Open Financial Exchange (OFX) files, but that functionality is available only through the OFX add-on, which costs $19 per year. Unlike GnuCash, Akaunting cannot import data from QIF or HBCI files.

Generate Key Financial Statements

Akaunting can generate five essential financial statements: an income summary, an expense summary, an income versus expense summary, a tax summary, and a profit and loss statement. Each of these reports can be customized by year, account, customer, vendor, or category. The balance sheet report can be generated by purchasing the Double-Entry ($69 per year) add-on application. The statement of cash flows is not supported. Akaunting does not have a feature to create other types of financial reports nor can you create custom reports like you can with GnuCash and xTuple PostBooks.

Mobile Access

Similar to SlickPie, the cloud version of Akaunting can be accessed on any mobile device through a web browser. There is no need to download an app for the cloud version. Akaunting’s server software does not integrate with any mobile device. There are no third-party apps in Akaunting’s app store that provide support for iOS or Android devices.

Akaunting Customer Service & Reviews

So far, no customers have posted reviews of the Akaunting software. Based on messages posted to the Akaunting forum, however, customers say Akaunting is missing features common to other accounting software. This includes such things as subaccounts, customizable invoices and templates, and more types of reports. Several customers complain that Akaunting only uses calendar years when generating financial statements. Akaunting provides customer service through an online ticketing system.

What Akaunting Is Missing

Similar to FreshBooks, Akaunting is missing a double-entry accounting system. Customers will need to pay an extra $69 per year to install a separate double-entry accounting module. Akaunting also does not automatically pull in data from bank and credit card accounts. And unlike GnuCash, which can manually import three different file types, Akaunting can only import OFX files at present. Akaunting is also missing essential financial statements such as the balance sheet and statement of cash flows.

With all of the limitations that Akaunting has, we recommend you choose Wave instead. It includes double-entry accounting, allows you to connect all of your bank and credit card accounts, and allows you to run profit and loss and balance sheet reports at no cost to you.

 

Top 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.

Bottom Line

Now that you have six 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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