The best mobile accounting apps should let users access, encode, and process accounting data wherever and whenever, regardless of the device used—so you’ll want one that’s easy to use and accessible through different platforms. With this premise, Zoho Books is our best overall mobile accounting app because of its top-notch mobile functionality and seamless integration with the iOS environment.
Here is our complete list of the best mobile accounting app choices:
- Zoho Books: Best overall mobile accounting app with outstanding iOS integration
- FreshBooks: Best for service-based freelancers and solopreneurs
- QuickBooks Online: Best for local bookkeeping support
- Zoho Invoice: Best free mobile invoicing app
- Found Found is a financial technology (fintech) platform backed and insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) through a supporting bank partnership with Piermont Bank. : Best online banking app with accounting features
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Comparison of Best Mobile Bookkeeping Apps
Monthly Pricing | Enter Bills | Categorize Expenses in Bank Feed | Record Time Worked | View Reports | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | $0 to $275 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
 | $19 to $60 | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
 | $35 to $235 | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
 | Free | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
 | Free or $19.99 | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
Note that all the apps above can send invoices and capture receipts. | |||||
Zoho Books: Best Overall Mobile Accounting App
Pros
- Has excellent Android and iOS mobile app functionality
- Integrates with Apple Watch
- Provides excellent customer support
- Works seamlessly with other apps in the Zoho Suite
Cons
- Imposes revenue limit of below $50,000 for the free version
- Limits invoicing (up to 1,000 per year) for the Free and Standard plans
- Charges additional fees for receipt scannings
Zoho Books has multiple plans to choose from, but Premium is our top recommendation.
- Free for businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenue
- Standard: $20 per organization monthly—good for three users
- Professional: $50 per organization monthly—good for five users
- Premium: $70 per organization monthly—good for 10 users
- Elite: $150 per organization monthly—good for 10 users
- Ultimate: $275 per organization monthly—good for 15 users
Add-ons:
- Additional users: $2.50 per user per month, billed annually
- Advanced autoscans (receipt scanning): $8 for 50 scans per month, billed annually
Zoho Books is a good pick for businesses and freelancers who need a capable app to assist in daily accounting. Its app can do more than just send invoices or enter bills—it can track time worked and assign recorded time to specific customers and projects. This feature is perfect for freelancers and individuals billing by the hour.
Aside from that, Zoho Books has excellent inventory features in the web app, making it a good pick for users dealing with inventory. Though the mobile app has no features specific to inventory management, features like viewing reports and receiving payments can aid in processing inventory transactions. Besides that, its app has great integration with iOS devices. iPhone users can add widgets to and receive reminders from their Apple Watch.
Zoho Books’ mobile app is nothing short of excellent. It has all the features we want to see in a mobile accounting app, which is the reason why Zoho Books aced our evaluation of the mobile app criterion.
FreshBooks: Best for Service-based Freelancers and Solopreneurs
Pros
- Is easy to use
- Offers excellent project accounting features
- Has excellent customer service
Cons
- Has no inventory and COGS features
- Can’t assign expenses to projects
- Requires bank integration to assign transactions to multiple payment accounts
- Can’t enter bill payments using the app
All plans are good for one user, but you can add more for $11 per seat, per month.
- Lite: $19 per month
- Plus: $33 per month
- Premium: $60 per month
Since FreshBooks has no inventory features, we don’t recommend it for retailers. However, it does have outstanding project accounting features that make it great for service providers. Its mobile app can also help freelancers and solopreneurs perform basic or intermediate accounting transactions through the app.
For instance, users can assign time worked and expenses to customers and projects directly within the app. This feature works in conjunction with time tracking, making it easy for service-based or project-based freelancers to assign billable hours to clients or projects.
FreshBooks did great in our mobile app evaluation, except that the app can’t categorize bank feed expenses, enter bill payments, and view reports. In our expert opinion, it would’ve been better if, at the least, the app lets users enter bill payments and view reports for ease of access.
QuickBooks Online: Best for Local Bookkeeping Support
Pros
- Can perform most accounting functions
- Can scan receipts and create transactions with extracted data
- Tracks mileage directly within the app
Cons
- Has limited users
- Won’t let you view or pay outstanding bills using the app
- Cannot record hours worked
The mobile app is free with a subscription to QuickBooks Online. New subscribers can choose between 50% off for three months or a free 30-day trial.
- Simple Start: $35 per month for one user
- Essentials: $65 per month for three users
- Plus: $99 per month for five users
- Advanced: $235 per month for 25 users
New users also get Live Expert Assisted for free for 30 days, and this offer is part of QuickBooks’ bookkeeping assistance arm, QuickBooks Live. With the Live Expert Assisted plan, you can reach out to a QuickBooks expert for questions about QuickBooks’ features. To learn more about this, read our review of QuickBooks Live.
As our best small business accounting software, QuickBooks Online doesn’t disappoint in accounting features. We recommend it for users wanting to outsource bookkeeping to a local ProAdvisor. Finding a ProAdvisor in the US is easy because of the vast network of CPAs and bookkeepers with this certification.
The mobile contains basic features like invoicing and receipt capture. It would’ve been better if QuickBooks Online could add time tracking within the app for convenience. In our expert opinion, its mobile app is a good companion for the full web app, but it’s inadequate if used as a standalone mobile app.
QuickBooks Online’s mobile app received a fair rating in our evaluation. It is capable of doing basic accounting tasks like sending invoices, receiving payments, and viewing reports. However, it cannot record time worked (but possible via web browser), assign expenses and time to customers or projects, and enter bills. Of all the missing features, entering bills is a huge miss for QuickBooks. It’s particularly odd since you can record paid expenses, just not unpaid bills.
Zoho Invoice: Best Free Mobile Invoicing App
Pros
- Is free forever
- Tracks time and assigns to customers
- Lets you monitor expenses and add them to invoices
- Customizes and sends invoices
Cons
- Is not a full bookkeeping system
- Can’t process incoming invoices (or bills from suppliers)
Zoho Invoice is totally free with no hidden charges or fees for any size company.
Zoho Invoice is a full-featured invoicing software that includes premium features, such as time tracking, customer portal, and receipt scanning. We included it in our roundup because it’s the perfect mobile accounting app for users needing to send invoices, bill time worked to clients, and track expenses for free. Although it’s not full accounting software, we believe it’s a good pick for those who are only looking for a way to send invoices on the go.
Zoho Invoice is solely for invoicing, so we recommend Zoho Books for its complete accounting features (via the web app) and robust mobile app functionality. Since both are Zoho products, you can easily integrate the two apps in the Settings menu.
Found: Best Online Banking App With Accounting Features
Pros
- Has banking and card services
- Offers bookkeeping and expense tracking features
- Can manage 1099 contractor payments
- Can compute tax estimates
Cons
- Is not full accounting software
- Requires paid plan for advanced features, e.g., PayPal or Venmo transaction imports and quarterly tax payments for Schedule C filers
- Has limited customer support
Found is free for banking, bookkeeping, and tax estimations. However, you can get Found Plus for $19.99 per month for the following exclusive perks:
- Unlimited custom rules, categories, and tags
- Auto-importing of expenses from receipts
- Importing of transactions from bank, credit card, Venmo, and PayPal Accounts
- In-app quarterly tax payments for Schedule C filers
- Priority support
Found is a financial technology (fintech) platform that offers banking, accounting, and tax estimation features. It has essential bookkeeping features that can help freelancers or microbusinesses maintain a digital bank while managing basic accounting tasks, such as expense tracking, receipt capture, transaction categorization, and invoicing.
We picked Found because it has a good mobile app that lets you see your accounting and financial health in one platform. Since it is primarily a banking app, its accounting features can’t substitute full-fledged accounting software. We recommend either Zoho Books or QuickBooks Online for accounting software with capable mobile app functionality.
How We Evaluated Mobile Accounting Apps
In our case study, we used 15 key areas for features that we want to see in small business accounting software. Mobile app functionality is one of those categories, and we used the scores of the mobile app section for this article.
Here are the criteria we used in evaluating mobile app functionality:
- Sending invoices to customers (15%)
- Receiving payments from customers (10%)
- Entering bills from vendors and suppliers (15%)
- Capturing or scanning receipts (10%)
- Assigning expenses to customers and projects (5%)
- Entering bill payments (10%)
- Categorizing expenses in bank feed (10%)
- Recording time worked (10%)
- Assigning time worked to customers or projects (5%)
- Viewing reports (10%)
Most accounting programs don’t allow you to do all of the bookkeeping functions from a mobile app. Things like bank reconciliations and general journal entries are done infrequently and are much easier on a bigger screen. However, when choosing your app, think about the things you do daily that the app should allow.
A good mobile accounting app should let you:
- Issue invoices: You should be able to generate and email invoices to customers quickly.
- Receive payments: You can record payments received from customers and apply them against outstanding invoices.
- Pay bills: Inputting bills received may be easier on your PC, but you should be able to pay the bills through the mobile app.
- Scan receipts: Many apps will allow you to scan receipts and then extract the data to create new accounting transactions. For more information, check out our guide to the best receipt scanner apps.
- Categorize transactions: Good bookkeeping programs will transfer transactions automatically from your checking account. The mobile app should allow you to categorize these transactions.
- View reports: A good app will allow you to view financial reports without the need to print them.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
With mobile accounting apps, you can access accounting information in real time without having to open your laptop or log in via web browser.
Mobile accounting is the process of performing accounting tasks through a smartphone or tablet. Through mobile bookkeeping apps, you can input accounting data into the system and generate reports when needed without having to use the web-based or desktop application.
Apps that can handle double-entry bookkeeping are suitable for accounting. Invoice and cash flow trackers aren’t enough for accounting. We recommend accounting apps that can manage cash, invoices, bills, and expenses at the least.
Bottom Line
We’ve provided a list of the best mobile accounting apps to help your small business succeed. Before choosing your bookkeeping software, consider which functions you’ll want to perform directly from the app, like invoicing. If you want to do most accounting functions on the go, Zoho Books may be your best choice.
