ZipBooks is cloud-based accounting software that helps you balance your books effectively, get paid faster, and make informed business decisions through actionable insights. Its features include cash and accrual accounting, invoicing and billing, financial reporting, and more. ZipBooks offers a free plan and three paid subscriptions with prices that start at $15 per month.
What We Recommend ZipBooks For
We strongly recommend ZipBooks for small businesses that need an extremely simple and affordable accounting solution to their bookkeeping tasks automate, send unlimited invoices, manage their vendors and clients, track projects and time, and generate insightful reports. Unlike some accounting software that ties you to either cash or accrual accounting, ZipBooks let you toggle back and forth between the two.
On top of its unlimited invoicing, its free plan includes a set of impressive features for cost-conscious businesses, such as unlimited vendor tracking and the ability to view basic reports and accept digital payments through Square or PayPal.
ZipBooks Is Especially Good For
- Users looking for easy invoicing: ZipBooks includes readily available templates that you can download, customize, and send to your customers in a few seconds. If you want to explore other options, check out this article on the best invoicing software.
- Businesses seeking free accounting software: Sign up for ZipBooks, and send unlimited invoices, connect one bank account, process credit card payments, and view basic reports. Alternatively, you can check out our other best free accounting software options.
ZipBooks Is Not a Good Fit For
- Ecommerce companies: ZipBooks lacks the features beneficial to ecommerce businesses, such as ecommerce platform integration and inventory management. If you are into ecommerce and need help with your accounting, we suggest you read our guide to the best ecommerce accounting software.
- Real estate companies: Landlords and property managers cannot track their income, cash flow, and net worth by property. If you need an accounting solution for your real estate assets, our guide to the best real estate accounting software can help.
Are you looking for something different? Read our guide to the best small business accounting software and check out our top picks.
ZipBooks Overview
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Can handle unlimited transactions and clients for free | Important features are available only in the paid plans |
| Extremely easy to use | Does not support multi-entity accounting |
| Can switch between cash and accrual accounting | Cannot track inventory |
| Provides integrated time tracking | Lacks advanced features and integration options |
ZipBooks Pricing
ZipBooks offers a free plan, supporting a single user, that lets you send unlimited invoices, manage unlimited vendors, process credit card payments―payment processing fees apply―and connect a single bank account. If you need additional users and advanced features, such as recurring invoices, time tracking, and a customized chart of accounts, you will need to upgrade to one of its paid subscriptions with a starting price of $15 per month.
Pricing & Features | Starter | Smarter | Sophisticated | Accountant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pricing ($/Month) | $0 | $15 | $35 | Custom priced |
Users | 1 | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Connected Bank Accounts | 1 | Multiple | Multiple | Multiple |
Recurring Invoices | N/A | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Time Tracking | N/A | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Customized Chart of Accounts | N/A | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Cobranding | N/A | N/A | N/A | ✔ |
ZipBooks Features
ZipBooks offers almost all of the features and functionality you need from accounting software. It helps you impress your customers with beautiful templates, track your expenditures and bank transactions, improve productivity through its integrated time tracker, and get a detailed view of your financial status.
Once logged in, your dashboard gives you quick access to essential functionality, such as invoices, transactions, reports, contacts, tracking, and payroll.
ZipBooks’ Dashboard.
Below is a quick overview of some of ZipBooks’ top features.
Cash and Accrual Reporting
Whether you are managing a cash-based business or you need an accrual basis income statement, ZipBooks has you covered. It gives you the ability to switch between cash and accrual accounting, helping you gain more control over your financial statements and tax filing.
Unlimited Invoicing
Create and send unlimited invoices to your customers for free, and ZipBooks will track them for you automatically. It also provides an Invoice Quality Score to tell you which details to monitor to help improve the performance of your invoices. You can also set late payment reminders to alert clients of overdue invoices. Upgrade to a paid plan, and you can set recurring invoices.
Sample ZipBooks Invoice.
Unlimited Vendors and Customers
The free plan enables you to track unlimited customer and vendor details. You can record all the important details, such as contact information, invoice history, estimates given, and payments made. You can organize your contacts by name, revenue produced, or expenses incurred on them.
Credit Card Processing
With ZipBooks, you can accept all major credit cards and digital payments from 22 countries for 2.9% of your transaction. You can also get paid through PayPal or Square.
Expense Management
Create a transaction and mark it as billable, and ZipBooks will add it up to your customer’s invoice automatically. It also lets you load a receipt after making a purchase so that you can record and keep track of your expenses better.
Time tracking
An in-app time tracker helps you keep accurate records of time spent on a certain project. If you are subscribed to ZipBooks’ Accountant plan, then the timer follows you across any page or browser, giving you even more precise records. You can use the timer or add time manually from the time tracking tab.
Chart of Accounts
Your ZipBooks chart of accounts keeps all your financial accounts organized based on categories, such as accounts payable (A/P), accounts receivable (A/R), expenses, and revenue. You can also create additional accounts if needed. For instance, you might want to separate sales revenue from service revenue or keep separate accounts for office supply expenses and office snacks.
Reporting
Generate actionable reports, such as income statements, cash flow statements, a balance sheet, a general ledger, A/R aging, taxes invoiced, and trial balance. As a bonus, ZipBooks offers intelligence reporting―available in the Sophisticated and Accountant plans―giving you access to advanced reporting options.
Customer Service and Ease of Use
I personally signed up for ZipBooks, and I found it a joy to use. It has a neat user interface that is extremely easy to navigate, even for beginners. Another thing that makes it stand out is its loading time, which is remarkably faster than most other accounting software I’ve explored. In case you get stuck, ZipBooks offers multiple support options, including a help center, ZipBooks blogs, and in-app chat support. You can also email the company for help or talk to them over the phone.
ZipBooks Alternatives
Best for: Ecommerce companies looking for cloud-based accounting software | Best for: Creating professional-looking invoices | Best for: Businesses looking for a free software with online bookkeeping assistance |
Software from: $25 | Software from: $15 | Software from: $0 |
Bottom Line
If you are a thrifty small business looking for simple accounting software with solid functionality, ZipBooks is worth a try. The simplicity of its user interface, fast loading times, and the ability to handle unlimited transactions and clients for free score highly with us. You will need to move up to a paid package to get its full functionality, but most businesses are happy with its blissfully low starting cost of $15 per month.
Sign up for ZipBooks for free today and explore its features and benefits.
