ZipBooks vs QuickBooks: Compare Features and Pricing

ZipBooks and QuickBooks Online are popular accounting programs that cater to different customer needs. QuickBooks Online, our pick for overall best small business accounting software, features robust accounting functions in inventory, accounts payable (A/P), and accounts receivable (A/R). Except for inventory, ZipBooks shares the same features, but its features aren’t as robust as QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Online is our choice if you need inventory or other advanced features, but ZipBooks is enough for income and expense tracking.

Plans for QuickBooks Online start at $30 per month, but we recommend the QuickBooks Online Plus version at $85 per month. ZipBooks has a free plan but scales up to $35 per month for ZipBooks Sophisticated.

When to Use ZipBooks

ZipBooks is cloud-based accounting software best suited to very small businesses, sole proprietors, freelancers, and consultants. ZipBooks offers excellent time tracking capability, making it well suited to service and consulting businesses. It’s also a good choice for businesses with very tight budgets because of its free plan. However, it lacks inventory tracking, which is one of QuickBooks Online’s best selling points.

ZipBooks is better for:

• Companies looking for free accounting software: ZipBooks’ Starter plan is free for one user and one bank account connection. This plan is ideal for solopreneurs and freelancers who need to keep track of invoices and bills. With the free plan, you get unlimited invoicing and billing for your business.
• Multi-company accounting: QuickBooks Online only offers a single-entity plan. You can’t manage multiple organizations under one plan. But with ZipBooks Sophisticated, you can track the bookkeeping for multiple organizations.
• Accountants who have clients using ZipBooks: ZipBooks offers a plan for CPAs and bookkeepers to help assist their clients. The Accountant plan is custom-priced and includes unlimited users and bank account connections. It also has co-branding features to help distinguish your bookkeeping company from your competitors.

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When to Use QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks is a famous name in accounting software programs. Its cloud-based product, QuickBooks Online, is the go-to accounting software service for most small businesses because of its flexibility for different industries. Because of its cost, it’s not an automatic choice for business owners on a limited budget, making ZipBooks a practical choice because of its free plan and its other affordably priced plans.

QuickBooks Online is better for:

• Ecommerce businesses: As our overall choice for best ecommerce accounting software, QuickBooks Online can integrate with your ecommerce platform to record changes in inventory and sales automatically from the platform to QuickBooks. QuickBooks Online can integrate with popular ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Square, Squarespace, Wix, and Zapier. ZipBooks doesn’t have ecommerce integrations.
• Inventory tracking: ZipBooks doesn’t have an inventory module to track inventory stock levels, COGS, and cost of ending inventory. QuickBooks Online can do all of those things, and it incorporates inventory costs when creating invoices and purchase orders (POs).
• Banking and cash management: QuickBooks Online makes it easy to manage multiple bank accounts and cards in one place. If you’re not comfortable connecting your bank to QuickBooks, you can still use its cash accounting features, such as bank reconciliation. Also, if you don’t have a bank feed, you can import your bank statement via a CSV file. We chose Quickbooks online as our overall pick for best bank reconciliation software

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When To Use an Alternative

• Project accounting with actual-to-budget comparisons: Both ZipBooks and QuickBooks Online have project accounting features. However, there’s no feature where users can compare actual versus estimated labor and inventory used for the project. Xero is our recommendation if you need those comparison reports readily available within the software.
• Companies looking for specialized features: ZipBooks and QuickBooks Online offer universal accounting solutions that can be customized. However, users in certain industries might be better served by QuickBooks Desktop Premier, the desktop version of QuickBooks. Premier has five industry-specific editions which you can select before downloading the software. You can choose from these five versions: General Contractor, Manufacturing and Wholesale, Retail, Nonprofit, and Professional Services.
• Companies looking for a better free accounting application: ZipBooks Starter has its limitations, especially with certain features that are only present in higher paid plans (like capturing receipts and bank reconciliations). We recommend Sunrise instead because most of Sunrise’s accounting features are available in the free version.

Fit Small Business Case Study

We developed a case study to help us review and evaluate accounting software programs across 11 key areas of small business accounting and put ZipBooks’ and QuickBooks Online’s features to the test. Though these two products are at opposite ends of the price spectrum, we found that ZipBooks is competitive with QuickBooks Online in several areas. If you want to see detailed discussions of these two software programs, read our ZipBooks review and QuickBooks Online review.

Here’s the result of our case study:

ZipBooks belongs to the list of budget-friendly software programs while QuickBooks Online is along the lines of flagship-level software because of its price points for higher plans. However, our case study showed that ZipBooks is competitive with―although behind consistently―QuickBooks Online in most categories. The major difference is ZipBooks’ lack of an inventory feature and a mobile app.

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks Online at a Glance

If you’re not sure either of these software programs will meet your needs, learn about other options in our guide to the best QuickBooks alternatives.

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks Online: Pricing

In comparing ZipBooks and QuickBooks Online, we tested ZipBooks Sophisticated and QuickBooks Online Plus. There’s a significant price difference, with the advantage going to ZipBooks.

ZipBooks Pricing

If you opt for the ZipBooks Starter plan, it’s free forever. The cost of the other programs increases as additional features and users are added.

• Starter: $0 for one user
• Smarter: $15 for five users
• Sophisticated: $35 for unlimited users
• Accountant: Custom-priced for unlimited users—includes all of the Sophisticated features for both the accountant and their clients, the ability to manage clients from one dashboard, export financial packages, and edit transactions in bulk

QuickBooks Online Pricing

There are five monthly subscription plans available for QuickBooks Online, which are based on the number of users and features available. Here are the prices for each:

• Simple Start: $30 per month for one user
• Essentials: $55 per month for up to three users
• Plus: $85 per month for up to five users
• Advanced: $200 per month for up to 25 users

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks Online: Features

ZipBooks Tiered Features

QuickBooks Online Tiered Features

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks Online: Accounts Payable

Both ZipBooks’ and QuickBooks Online’s A/P features perform the important functions we want to see. You can create bills and process payments. However, unlike QuickBooks Online, ZipBooks lacks PO processing. In ZipBooks, creating an A/P entry for inventory purchases doesn’t allow you to input the number of goods purchased. Instead, you can only input the total amount due.

The possible issue here would be determining the cost of goods sold (COGS), the number of goods on hand, and the cost of ending inventory, so QuickBooks Online is a better choice if you sell merchandise inventory. However, ZipBooks is enough if you already have a third-party inventory tracking program or if you’re fine with manual inventory tracking using a spreadsheet.

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks Online: Accounts Receivable

Both ZipBooks and QuickBooks do well in A/R, except in invoicing. Unlike QuickBooks, invoicing in ZipBooks isn’t customizable. You can’t change invoice colors and templates. In terms of invoicing customization, QuickBooks is the clear winner.

With A/R functionality, both ZipBooks and QuickBooks Online offer similar features. You can add unbilled expenses to invoices, accept partial payments from customers, and view outstanding invoices. The only difference between the two is that ZipBooks doesn’t have features for credit memos. Users cannot issue credit memos to customers and issue checks for credit balance refunds.

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks Online: Project Accounting

ZipBooks and QuickBooks Online can handle project accounting for service-based businesses. The most important project accounting feature we want to see is actual to estimated reports. In ZipBooks, the project accounting features are limited to creating and assigning costs to estimates. QuickBooks Online can do more than ZipBooks because it can record actual inventory used in the project. Unfortunately, both ZipBooks and QuickBooks Online can’t generate a comparison report of actual and estimated project costs.

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks: Ease of Use

Both applications have a modern-looking interface that’s clean and well-structured. Both start with a dashboard that tells you all of the basics you need to know, such as how your sales are doing or how much your customers owe.

ZipBooks has one convenient added feature: a timer at the top of the dashboard for time tracking. It also uses color-coding to help you navigate and has tabs across the top as well as on the left-side menu, so you have two ways of getting around.

QuickBooks has a slightly steeper learning curve, which is a result of its deeper functionality. However, you can customize the dashboard easily to show only the information that’s relevant to your business.

ZipBooks Ease of Use

ZipBooks offers a user-friendly interface screen, with a navigational menu on the left side of the main screen. This screen also functions as a dashboard, displaying business-related vitals. System setup is quick and painless—even for new users, who will be able to complete the process in a few minutes. Data entry screens are clean and uncluttered and, if you get stuck, you have immediate access to chat support from any screen.

1. Home: The navigation bar on the left side allows you to access Invoices, Transactions, Reports, Contacts, Tracking, and Payroll. A similar navigation bar is also located at the top of the page.
2. Financial performance: This report is shown in graph format and provides a summary of your business’ revenue, expenses, and net income.
3. Finish setup: This section displays your account setup progress along with tasks to be completed, such as adding an address and phone number, uploading a logo, and connecting your bank.
4. Expenses: Your transactions will be downloaded automatically and displayed here once you connect your bank account.
5. Tracked time: This feature shows the time that you have tracked but not yet billed so that you can see what you need to invoice. There’s also a timer at the top of the page, which you can use to track your time and then import into ZipBooks.

QuickBooks Online Ease of Use

Like ZipBooks, QuickBooks Online offers an easy setup with an option to enter vital information, leaving the rest until a later date. It also has an intuitive user interface, with all navigation taking place from the QuickBooks Dashboard. The dashboard screen is a bit crowded and can seem a little intimidating, but you can select what you wish to display, eliminating unnecessary items.

A vertical menu to the left of the screen offers access to all system features, and icons at the top of the screen offer access to company information and help options, which are available from any QuickBooks Online screen. It also provides a quick shortcut to add new transactions, which can be found at the upper-left side of the screen.

1. Left menu bar: Each of the tabs in this section will take you to different accounting functions, including invoicing customers, generating reports, and tracking projects.
2. Cash flow: This report can be customized by time period and provides a snapshot of your income,  COGS, and expenses.
3. Income: All items related to your income, such as paid invoices, are reported here. You can use this information to follow up on invoices that are past due and view your A/R report.
4. Expenses: This report shows your expenses, broken down by category.
5. Profit & loss (P&L): This customizable report shows your business’ profit and loss based on a certain time period.
6. Sales: View a customizable graph of your sales over a specific time period.
7. Bank accounts: View your available bank balances here. Once you connect QuickBooks to your online bank and credit card accounts, you can access both the bank and QuickBooks balances.

At the top of the left navigation bar is the quick-add button, which is one of QuickBooks Online’s most indispensable features. You can use it to add things like invoices, bills, credit memos, and journal entries. This bar is labeled “+ New”:

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks: Assisted Bookkeeping

Accessing bookkeeping assistance in ZipBooks and QuickBooks Online is an attractive option for both software programs. Regardless of what software you choose, you can hire a bookkeeper to help with bookkeeping. Let’s check out the differences between the two.

ZipBooks Assisted Bookkeeping

ZipBooks offers three assisted bookkeeping options. Each bookkeeping plan includes a personal bookkeeper and a ZipBooks subscription.

• Simple Bookkeeping: $125 per month for monthly bookkeeping, financial reporting, expert advice, and online chat support
• Multi-classifications Bookkeeping: $145 per month for all features in Simple Bookkeeping plus multiple tracking of business units, locations, classes, individual or consolidated financial statements, and comparative financial statements for all classes
• Vendor & 1099 Preparation: $175 per month for all features in Simple Bookkeeping plus tagging and tracking vendor payments, 1099 reporting, and tax assistance

If you have a complex organization, you can contact a ZipBooks expert to build a custom plan for your business. Part of the bookkeeping service is forward-thinking bookkeeping. According to ZipBooks, ZipBooks experts will recommend ways to grow and manage your business along with ways to use ZipBooks to implement these recommendations.

QuickBooks Online Assisted Bookkeeping

The bookkeeping assistance arm of QuickBooks is QuickBooks Live. This option is available to QuickBooks Online subscribers only. A QuickBooks Live subscription is sold separately, and users have to get a QuickBooks Online subscription before getting QuickBooks Live.

• First Month: QuickBooks Live charges $500 for cleanup and onboarding during the first month. Cleanup involves looking at your past transactions and ensuring that all are properly organized and up-to-date. The cleanup will start from the date of your last business tax return through the end of the calendar month of first sign-up to QuickBooks Live.
• Succeeding Months: After the first month of service, the price of QuickBooks Live will differ depending on your monthly average expenses:
  • $0 to $25,000 monthly average: $200 per month
  • $25,001 to $150,000 monthly average: $400 per month
  • $150,001 or more: $600 per month

With QuickBooks Live, your books are ready for taxes. However, the Live bookkeeper won’t prepare your tax returns or provide assurance services.

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks: Integrations

An accounting application often only covers part of your business needs. To get the most out of it, you can integrate it with other business applications. ZipBooks does well for collaboration since it integrates with Slack as well as Google products. It also integrates with Square and PayPal for online payments and Gusto for payroll. However, it doesn’t offer the vast number of integrations that you get with QuickBooks, which also has its own payroll and timekeeping apps.

ZipBooks Integrations

In contrast to the hundreds of integrations that QuickBooks offers, ZipBooks currently has 12. These include Asana, Slack, Google Drive, Google Workspace, PayPal, Square Appointments, Square POS, Square for Retail, Square Payments, Spiceworks Network Monitor, GrandMaster Suite, and eNETEmployer.

QuickBooks Online Integrations

QuickBooks Online integrates with more than 650 business apps. Two of these integrations, the payroll and timesheet functions, can be accessed directly within the program. These are described below:

• QuickBooks Payroll: This integration allows you to pay and manage your team all in one place. Its features include integrated payroll, taxes, human resources (HR), health benefits, workers’ compensation, and more.
• QuickBooks Time: You can track your time automatically from within QuickBooks Online and sync data to your QuickBooks account in real-time. Employees can also track time from their location using any device. This will simplify payroll processing and help you save time.

Here’s a sample of key QuickBooks integrations:

• A/R: Bill.com, Melio, Veem, Lightyear, and Beanworks
• Customer relationship management (CRM): HubSpot, Capsule CRM, Method:CRM, and MessageDesk
• Expenses: Expensify, Checkflo, Pluto, and Corpay One
• Inventory management: SOS Inventory, Connex, Katana Inventory and Manufacturing, and Order Time Inventory
• Payroll: RUN Powered by ADP, Gusto, Payroll by Patriot Software, Square Payroll, and Justworks
• Time tracking: Time Tracker by eBillity, BigTime, Hour Timesheet, TimeRewards, and Homebase

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks: Mobile App

ZipBooks doesn’t currently offer a mobile app, but it can still be accessed through the browser of any device. QuickBooks’ most useful mobile features are invoicing and receipt scanning. The invoicing feature shows all of your customer’s details, including directions and maps to find your way to their business. You can use it to enter transactions, record expenses, invoice customers, and send reports anywhere. QuickBooks backs up all of your data automatically to the cloud and syncs across all of your devices.

ZipBooks vs QuickBooks: Customer Support

ZipBooks only offers live chat and self-help information for customer support. You can’t call them or ask a representative to call you. On the other hand, in addition to direct customer support, QuickBooks has numerous online resources, including video tutorials, webinars, articles, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and active user forums. Another advantage of QuickBooks is the massive network of QuickBooks ProAdvisors that you can hire on an as-needed or ongoing basis.

Takeaway: It’s always an advantage to have a greater number of support resources, so QuickBooks has the edge with its email, telephone, and message options—plus, you can find an independent QuickBooks ProAdvisor easily in your area or online.

Bottom Line

QuickBooks scores for its depth of functionality, reporting, and customer support. However, considering its low price, it’s remarkable how well ZipBooks stacks up. If you need to keep your costs low, ZipBooks can handle the basic functions that you need for business accounting, unless you sell physical products and need to track inventory.