Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: Key Differences and What’s Best
Tim is a Certified QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) Pro, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and CPA with 25 years of experience. He brings his expertise to Fit Small Business’s accounting content.
Danielle is a writer for the Finance division of Fit Small Business. She has owned a bookkeeping and payroll service that specializes in small business, for over twenty years.
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
Lendio Accounting (formerly Sunrise) and ZipBooks both offer an attractive set of accounting features for free. Lendio Accounting has far better options for businesses that need mobile access while ZipBooks is better for users who want to track time and manage projects.
In this article, we compare Lendio Accounting (formerly Sunrise) and ZipBooks to see which of these two free accounting software programs is best for your business. We incorporate the results of our internally developed case study throughout this article to provide you with a more detailed comparison of these two free software programs.
In the news:
Sunrise by Lendio has been renamed Lendio Accounting.
When to Use Lendio Accounting (Formerly Sunrise)
In our case study, Lendio Accounting (formerly Sunrise) ranked high in accounts payable (A/P) and accounts receivable (A/R), tax, and reporting, especially considering that the software is free. These strong features make Lendio Accounting a great option for freelancers and small businesses who need to manage billing and expenses, track invoices, and create financial reports. Its robust mobile app also has many useful features for business owners. Lendio Accounting is also among our choices for the best free accounting software and best QuickBooks alternatives, where we ranked it as the best for assisted bookkeeping.
Lendio Accounting is better for:
- Users that want access to a mobile app: Lendio Accounting is cloud-based and has a powerful mobile app that makes it ideal for businesses that work remotely.
- Companies with multiple entities: With a paid plan, Lendio Accounting will allow you to manage the books for multiple companies.
- Businesses that need reliable customer service: Even though telephone support isn’t offered by Lendio Accounting , the live chat feature more than makes up for it. You can talk to a real agent for instant support.
When to Use ZipBooks
ZipBooks is an ideal solution for small businesses that are looking for user-friendly and affordable accounting software that will automate their bookkeeping tasks and allow them to send unlimited invoices to customers. Its time tracking and project management features make it a great option for contractors and project-based businesses. Its invoicing capabilities are also impressive, especially with the paid plans.
ZipBooks is better for:
- Users looking for easy invoicing: One of ZipBooks’ most appealing features is the readily available templates that you can customize, download, and send to your customers. Its invoicing features are so stellar that we selected it as one of our choices for best free accounting software. It also made our list of the best invoicing software programs for small business and the best free invoice generators because it’s easy to use for basic invoice creation.
- Users that want a time tracking solution: Contractors and consultants that track their time on a regular basis will appreciate this capability, which includes an in-app time tracker.
- Project-based businesses: ZipBooks’ project management features enable construction companies and other project-based businesses to track an unlimited number of clients and projects and also manage team members.
When to Use an Alternative
Lendio Accounting (formerly Sunrise) and ZipBooks are both excellent free accounting software programs, but they lack some important features. You’ll need an alternative if you fit into any of the below categories:
- Ecommerce companies: Many of the features designed to support ecommerce companies, such as point-of-sale (POS) functions and Shopify integration, are lacking in both Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks. We recommend QuickBooks Online as our pick for the best overall ecommerce accounting software because of its powerful integrations with the major ecommerce platforms.
- Companies that need to track inventory: Neither Lendio Accounting nor ZipBooks allows you to track inventory. If you need this feature, Zoho Books is an excellent option. It integrates with Zoho Inventory, an inventory and order management application that lets you automate your company’s order-to-cash process and centralize your inventory system.
- Desktop users: Both Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks are cloud-based accounting software, so if you’re looking for a desktop alternative, you may want to consider NCH Express Accounts, which we ranked as the best free desktop accounting software.
If you would like to learn more about other accounting software packages, check out our article on the best small business accounting software.
Lendio Accounting (Formerly Sunrise) vs ZipBooks at a Glance
|  | |
Who It’s Best For | Freelancers and companies looking for mobile software | Freelancers and companies looking for a time and project tracking solution |
Pricing Plans | $0 to $19.99 per month | $0 to $35 per month |
Maximum Users | One to unlimited | One to unlimited |
Send Estimates | ✔ | ✔ |
Send Invoices & Track Collections | ✔ | ✔ |
Track Sales Tax Collections & Payments | ✔ | ✔ |
File Sales Tax Returns | N/A | N/A |
Manage Unpaid Bills | ✔ | ✔ |
Track Inventory | N/A | N/A |
Assign Time and Costs to Projects | N/A | ✔ |
Capture & Organize Receipts | ✔ | N/A |
Integrated Payroll | ✔ | ✔ |
GPS Mileage Tracker | N/A | N/A |
Track 1099 Payments | ✔ | |
Multiple Entities | ✔ | N/A |
Print 1099s | N/A | N/A |
Multiple Currencies | N/A | N/A |
Track Activity by Class & Location | N/A | ✔ |
Create Sales Orders | N/A | N/A |
Fit Small Business Case Study
Our case study evaluates Lendio Accounting and GnuCash across 11 categories. The results show Lendio Accounting’s dominance in almost every category (with the exception of Project Accounting, in which ZipBooks excels). In a couple of categories, such as A/P and Reporting, they ranked essentially the same. You can see the detailed results of our case study in our Lendio Accounting review and ZipBooks review.
See the graph below for a summary of our case study.
Case study results for Sunrise vs ZipBooks
Lendio Accounting (Formerly Sunrise) vs ZipBooks: Pricing
Both Lendio Accounting (formerly Sunrise) and ZipBooks offer a free plan, but it’s limited to one user. If you want additional users to access the software, you’ll need to enroll in a paid plan. Lendio Accounting Plus is $19.99 per month and allows for unlimited users, and ZipBooks offers a plan for five users at $15 per month or unlimited users for $35 per month.
Lendio Accounting Pricing
Lendio Accounting offers both a free basic plan and Lendio Accounting Plus, a paid plan for $19.99 per month. The basic plan includes most of the same features as the paid plan, but Lendio Accounting Plus includes automatic expense categorization in your bank feed and additional payment integrations. Lendio Accounting integrates with WePay and Lendio Accounting Plus users also receive a 1% savings on their WePay transactions.
- Free Self-Service: Free forever, but limited to one user
- Lendio Accounting Plus: $19.99 per month for unlimited users and unlimited companies
ZipBooks Pricing
ZipBooks has three plans for business use and one plan for accountants. The Accountant plan has everything in the Sophisticated plan but is intended for accountants with multiple clients. All of ZipBooks’ paid plans allow for time tracking and the ability to connect multiple bank accounts.
- Starter: Free, but limited to one user
- Smarter: $15 per month for five users
- Sophisticated: $35 per month for unlimited users
- Accountant: Custom pricing
Takeaway: The free plans that Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks offer have limited features, but if you’re willing to pay a bit more, you’ll have access to features like Lendio Accounting’s integrated payment gateway or ZipBooks’ time tracking features. If you need to accommodate unlimited users, then Lendio Accounting is the less expensive option.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: Features
We looked at each of the different plans that Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks offer and have summarized the available features below:
Lendio Accounting Tiered Features
Sunrise Free | Sunrise Plus | |
|---|---|---|
Users Included | One | Unlimited |
Unlimited Companies | N/A | ✔ |
Estimate Quarterly Income Taxes | N/A | N/A |
Connect & Reconcile Bank Accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Scan & Upload Expense Receipts | ✔ | ✔ |
Create Invoices & Track Payments | ✔ | ✔ |
Manage & File Sales Tax Returns | N/A | N/A |
Automatic Expense Categorization | N/A | ✔ |
Additional Payment Integrations (Stripe, Square & PayPal) | N/A | ✔ |
1% Savings on Sunset Pay Transactions | N/A | ✔ |
Integrated Payroll (Fee) | N/A | ✔ |
Prepare 1099s for Contractors (Payment Tracking & Reports Only—Not Printing 1099s) | ✔ | ✔ |
Track Unpaid Bills | ✔ | ✔ |
Assign Time & Expenses to Jobs | N/A | N/A |
Create Purchase Orders (POs) & Convert to Bills | N/A | N/A |
Track Profitability by Location | N/A | N/A |
Dedicated Account Support Team | N/A | N/A |
ZipBooks Tiered Features
ZipBooks Starter | ZipBooks Smarter | ZipBooks Sophisticated | |
|---|---|---|---|
Users Included | One | Three | Unlimited |
Estimate Quarterly Income Taxes | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Connect Bank Accounts | 1 | Multiple | Multiple |
Store & Track Expense Receipts | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Create Invoices & Track Payments | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Track Time | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Integrated Payroll (Fee) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Prepare 1099s for Contractors (Payment Tracking & Reports Only—Not Printing 1099s) | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Track Unpaid Bills | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Assign Time & Expenses to Jobs | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Create POs & Convert to Bills | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Track Profitability by Location | N/A | N/A | ✔ |
Dedicated Account Support Team | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Customized Reports | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Based on our case study, we’ll discuss in detail three key features of Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks that are significantly different.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: General Features
Lendio Accounting has many features that are useful for small business owners and freelancers, such as the ability to send invoices and quotes, manage your income and expenses, and generate basic reports like a profit and loss (P&L) statement. We ranked Lendio Accounting as one of the best accounting software programs for freelancers, due in part to its free features. The Lendio Accounting Plus paid plan adds more features, such as the ability to auto-categorize expenses. Lendio Accounting also received high marks in our evaluation of the best A/P software. However, there’s no option to track inventory and costs by project.
ZipBooks allows you to send unlimited invoices and manage unlimited customers and vendors, whether you have enrolled in a free or paid plan. While you’re limited to one connected bank account with the free plan, you can connect multiple bank accounts and track time starting with the Smarter plan. With the Sophisticated plan, you can use smart tagging by location or project. But the company setup process cannot record a fiscal year-end, set an entity type, and import beginning account balances.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: Banking
The major difference between Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks with regard to banking is that you cannot reconcile bank accounts to bank statements in Lendio Accounting. You can still do a bank reconciliation in Lendio Accounting , but it only compares your bank transactions to your imported transactions. It doesn’t allow you to reconcile a period where you have outstanding checks, because these are book entries that haven’t shown up yet in your bank account.
You can reconcile your bank account in ZipBooks as long as you turn on “Reconciliation” in account settings. However, it’ll look different from what you would usually see in accounting software. You won’t see the typical line items like deposits in transit and outstanding checks. It’ll only show the difference between the book and bank balance.
One downside of ZipBooks’ bank features is that you aren’t able to produce a reconciliation report or print checks. Lendio Accounting also doesn’t allow you to print checks. While Lendio Accounting’s free plan allows you to connect more than one bank account, this isn’t an option with ZipBooks. Also, with ZipBooks, you aren’t able to import transactions from CSV or spreadsheet files.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: A/R
As revealed by our case study, Lendio Accounting’s strongest feature is A/R. It allows you to accept short payment on invoices, view outstanding invoices, issue credit memos, and view your balance by customer. Its invoicing capabilities are also impressive, although ZipBooks offers more customization options with its paid plans.
Lendio Accounting does have outstanding features for a free software program, such as the ability to create recurring invoices and collect and track sales tax by jurisdiction. We selected Lendio Accounting as the best free recurring billing software in a bookkeeping system. It was also chosen as one of the best free invoice generators because of its free bookkeeping software that includes invoicing.
Although we selected ZipBooks as the best software to create simple invoices in our article about the best free accounting software, it isn’t without its flaws. Since the simple invoice interface in the free version doesn’t use predefined products or services, you’ll need to type the product or service description for every invoice. However, this feature is available with the paid plans. The ZipBooks Sophisticated plan also allows users to add unbilled expenses to customer invoices, a feature that’s usually reserved for higher-priced plans.
Takeaway: Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks each have features that are a bonus for free software, such as Lendio Accounting’s outstanding A/R capabilities. However, they also lack certain features in the free plans that would be useful to have, such as Sunrise’s inability to reconcile bank statements.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: Ease of Use
Both Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks have a clean interface that’s easily navigable and doesn’t require a lot of bookkeeping experience to understand. You can set up your account quickly and view your financial data on your main dashboard.
Lendio Accounting Ease of Use
Lendio Accounting Dashboard
(Source: Lendio Accounting )
Lendio Accounting is extremely easy to use, even if you have little or no bookkeeping experience. The user interface is uncluttered and highly intuitive, and all features are marked on the dashboard. Setting up your account takes just a few minutes, and you’ll be walked through each step. Upon logging in, your dashboard will show an overview of your financial health as well as links to connect your bank accounts and customize your invoices. You can also invite your accountant or team members to access your account.
ZipBooks Ease of Use
ZipBooks Dashboard
Source: ZipBooks
Although not as intuitive as Lendio Accounting, ZipBooks is also very user-friendly. Once you log in, ZipBooks displays a financial performance dashboard that shows a summary of all recent expense and invoicing activity. Navigation is easy, with the vertical menu on the left providing quick access to all system functions. Setting up your company is also simple because the settings aren’t too technical and can be easily adjusted.
Takeaway: While Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks are extremely easy to use, Sunrise’s display is a bit more visually appealing. They both have clean interfaces and offer an easy setup process, which are appealing features for business owners that don’t want to spend a lot of time figuring out how to navigate the software.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: Integrations
Lendio Accounting and ZipBooks are limited in their integration options, with Zapier providing the most access to third-party apps.
Lendio Accounting Integrations
Lendio Accounting has limited integrations compared to its competitors like QuickBooks Online and Xero. Major integrations include Google Sheets, Gmail, Slack, PayPal, Stripe, and Gusto for payroll. It also integrates with over 3,000 apps through Zapier.
ZipBooks Integrations
ZipBooks currently integrates with Google Workspace (formerly G suite), Square, PayPal, Slack, Pepperi, Zoho Flow, and Gusto for payroll. You can also subscribe to Zapier for more integration opportunities with third-party apps.
Takeaway: If you’re looking for free accounting software that offers a wider range of integrations than Lendio Accounting or ZipBooks, consider Wave. It connects with several third-party apps and tools, such as HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Mailchimp.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: Mobile App
Lendio Accounting’s mobile app is available for both iOS and Android and allows you to perform many of the same functions as the program itself, such as sending invoices, entering bill payments, categorizing bank expenses, and viewing reports. It’s for this reason that we selected it as among the best mobile accounting apps. ZipBooks doesn’t currently have a mobile app.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: Assisted Bookkeeping
ZipBooks offers assisted bookkeeping services for an additional fee between $125 and $175 per month. Lendio Accounting has stopped offering assisted bookkeeping services to new customers as of May 12, 2022.
ZipBooks Assisted Bookkeeping
If you need assistance with your books, ZipBooks offers bookkeeping and tax support services. It can also build a customized plan if you have complex bookkeeping needs.
- Simple Bookkeeping: $125 per month—includes a personal bookkeeper, a ZipBooks plan, monthly bookkeeping assistance and financial statements, up to five bank or credit card accounts, expert bookkeeping advice, and online bookkeeping support
- Multi-classifications Bookkeeping: $145 per month—includes all services in Simple Bookkeeping, tagging and tracking multiple locations, business units or classes, individual and consolidated financial statements, and comparison of financial statements across all classes
- Vendor and 1099 preparation: $175 per month—includes all services in Simple Bookkeeping plus tagging or tracking of vendor payments and 1099 reporting and preparation
Takeaway: If you need basic bookkeeping assistance, then ZipBooks is a better option. It not only offers simple and multi-classifications bookkeeping but will also assist with vendor and 1099 preparation.
Lendio Accounting vs ZipBooks: Customer Support
Neither Lendio Accounting nor ZipBooks allows you to contact customer support over the phone, but Lendio Accounting is helpful with its quick response to live chat or email. You can also contact customer support via live chat with ZipBooks, but you may have to wait some time for a response.
Lendio Accounting Customer Support
Although Lendio Accounting doesn’t provide customer support via telephone, you can contact a live person directly via live chat or email. Response time is extremely quick, and communication is efficient.
When communicating via live chat, you’ll first be connected to “Sunny,” an automated assistant who can offer answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) and other resources. You will be connected to a live representative if your issue is more complex.
You can also use the contact form on the website, and Lendio Accounting has a blog that provides information on small business, bookkeeping, accounting, and tax topics.
ZipBooks Customer Support
ZipBooks is limited in its customer support options—you cannot speak with someone over the phone and are restricted instead to the chatbot or chatting with a live representative. When you access live chat at the bottom right corner of your screen, ZipBooks will let you know approximately how long it’ll take to address your inquiry. However, while the live chat process is essentially the same, Lendio Accounting’s quick response time makes it a better option.
You can also browse through the ZipBooks Help Center for articles about different features of the software.
Takeaway: Depending on the urgency of your issue, either Lendio Accounting or ZipBooks can assist you. If you require a quick response, then consider Lendio Accounting.
Bottom Line
There are a few key differences between Lendio Accounting (formerly Sunrise) and ZipBooks in terms of their features. Both are great options for businesses looking for a low-cost accounting solution, but your final choice will be influenced by whether you need time tracking or a mobile app. If you perform a lot of your work on the road, then you’ll appreciate Lendio Accounting for its powerful mobile app. If you need to track time or manage projects, go with ZipBooks.
