6 Best QuickBooks Alternatives in 2023 (Free & Paid)

Zoho Books is our best alternative to QuickBooks Online because it’s similar to QuickBooks Online but has a more functional mobile app. It also has a flexible pricing model perfect for scalability and growth. Unlike QuickBooks Online, you can add more users on Zoho Books on top of the users automatically included in each plan.

If you think a certain plan is enough for your needs, you don’t need to upgrade just to get more seats. Instead, you can pay for additional seats at an affordable price of $3 per additional user per month.

Check our detailed Zoho Books vs QuickBooks Online comparison for a closer look.

• Zoho users: Staying within the Zoho environment is ideal for seamless and fast integration. If your business is already using other Zoho products, we highly recommend choosing Zoho Books over QuickBooks Online.
• Freelancers and mom-and-pop businesses: With Zoho Books’ Free plan, businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenues can enjoy the free plan.
• Growing businesses: Zoho Books has six pricing tiers that can scale up to 15 users. If you need more, you can add additional seats at $3 per user, per month. Zoho Books wins over QuickBooks Online in scalability.

Xero is one of QuickBooks Online’s toughest competitors worldwide. To compare, QuickBooks Online’s highest plan is $200 per month for up to 25 users while Xero’s highest plan is only $70 per month for unlimited users. If your business doesn’t need QuickBooks Online Advanced but wants more users, we recommend choosing Xero because it’s more affordable and has no user limit.

Read our side-by-side comparison of Xero vs QuickBooks Online for more information.

• Large accounting teams: With Xero, you don’t have to worry about user limits. You can add all members of the accounting team within Xero.
• Managing fixed assets: Xero is the only software in this list with a dedicated fixed asset manager, which can help manage fixed asset information and depreciation schedules. We recommend getting Xero if you need to manage multiple fixed assets.
• Project accounting: Xero has one of the best project accounting features of the providers in this guide. In our evaluation, Xero got a perfect score in this area because it can track and compare costs, assign income and expense to projects, and create project estimates.

We chose FreshBooks because of its simplicity. Although it lacks inventory management features, it’s still a worthy QuickBooks Online alternative for users who don’t need inventory features. Service providers can easily track time spent on projects and quickly add that billable time to client invoices.

Everything about FreshBooks is designed for ease-of-use, which results in some features being fantastic for new business owners, albeit a bit confusing for experienced bookkeepers. For instance, expenses cannot be assigned to particular checking or credit card accounts. Instead, the system compares entered expenses to all live bank feeds to determine which account the expense was paid from. This is unique among all bookkeeping software we’ve looked at but makes for a very simple way to enter expenses for nonbookkeepers.

Read our FreshBooks vs QuickBooks article for a side-by-side analysis.

• Freelancers and do-it-yourself (DIY) business owners: If you want to DIY bookkeeping to save money, FreshBooks is easy to use even if you don’t have an accounting background. By familiarizing its modules, you can easily learn how to navigate around FreshBooks.
• Service-based businesses: Since FreshBooks doesn’t have inventory features, its project accounting features suit service-based businesses, especially those that bill by the hour. With FreshBooks’ built-in time tracker, you can track time, bill clients, and monitor project income and expenses easily.

We chose Wave for individuals wanting a totally free option. Even though we discussed that Zoho Books has a free version, it has a $50,000 annual revenue limit, while Wave is totally free without revenue or user limits. We recommend choosing Wave if you don’t need complex accounting features.

• Businesses that don’t need complex accounting software: As free accounting software, Wave doesn’t offer premium features like project accounting, time tracking, and inventory management.
• Freelancers: Most freelancers need invoice and expense tracking, and Wave offers a simple platform for these functions.
• Receipt scanning: Wave offers one of the best free receipt scanners in the market.

We chose Sage 50cloud as one of our alternatives because of its consolidation features. Consolidation of multiple companies can be difficult if performed manually, but with Sage 50cloud, parent companies can easily consolidate financial statements in just a few clicks. The software also has advanced budgeting tools and ASC 830/FAS 52 compliance for foreign currency transactions and foreign currency translation.

Read our article on Sage50 vs QuickBooks Online for a closer comparison.

• Multicompany accounting: If your organization owns several businesses or companies, Sage 50cloud is a good choice for creating consolidated financial statements. This feature is something that QuickBooks Online can’t do.
• Businesses looking for special accounting features: Aside from consolidation, Sage 50cloud also has job costing features that can help with accounting for costs on a per-job level.
• Businesses looking for built-in payroll: Sage 50cloud includes payroll in the subscription unlike in QuickBooks Online, where you need to get QuickBooks Payroll for an additional cost.

We include QuickBooks Self-Employed on this list because it’s a great fit for self-employed individuals who want to track income and expenses in order to file a tax return. While still a QuickBooks product, it’s completely separate from and much less expensive than QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Self-Employed is especially good for individuals without a separate bank account for their business transactions as it has a feature to separate business and personal expenses.

• Individuals who pay self-employed taxes: QuickBooks Self-Employed is software that can help self-employed individuals file taxes. In QuickBooks Self-Employed, you can file state and federal tax returns with TurboTax.
• Freelancers who use the same bank account for personal and business use: QuickBooks Self-Employed lets you categorize personal and business transactions from within the app. This feature can help you keep track of items that should be or not be included in tax returns.
• Individuals who prefer easy-to-use software: Since QuickBooks Self-Employed isn’t full accounting software, it’s easier to use than QuickBooks Online. It’s ideal for freelancers who don’t have to track accounts receivable (A/R) and accounts payable (A/P).