In this guide, we give you the lowdown on how Zoho Books matches up to QuickBooks. Both Zoho Books and QuickBooks have many features like the ability to invoice customers, pay bills, and run detailed financial reports. Zoho Books is ideal for existing Zoho users and QuickBooks works for most small businesses.
When to Use QuickBooks
In most situations, QuickBooks is better accounting software for small businesses vs. Zoho. Overall, it is the number one accounting software used by more than 2.5 million companies. It’s easy enough to use yourself, but it also has a network of accountants or CPAs that can help. Sign up today to save up to 50% on your QuickBooks Online subscription.
When to Use Zoho Books
If you currently use a Zoho app, and you are looking for accounting software that will work with your existing Zoho app, then Zoho Books might be a better fit. Unlike QuickBooks, Zoho has created a suite of apps that integrate seamlessly with each other. Let’s say, for example, that you are currently using Zoho CRM to manage your customer contacts. You can connect Zoho CRM to Zoho Books and save a lot of time by transferring all of your customer data.
Zoho Books vs. QuickBooks Online Features & Pricing Table
| Who It’s Best For | ||
| Monthly Pricing | Essentials $35 Plus $60 | Standard $19 Professional $29 |
| Online Bill Payments | ||
| Payroll Processing | ||
| Budget & Forecasting | ||
| Automated Workflows | ||
| Sales Orders | ||
| Client Portal | ||
| Number of Users Included | ||
| Ease of Setup & Use | ||
| Payroll Processing | Intuit Online Payroll | |
| Credit Card Processing | Intuit Payments | Paypal , Stripe |
| eCommerce | Shopify, Square | Shopify |
| App Center | QBO Apps | Zoho Products Zoho Marketplace |
| Mobile App | iOS & Android | iOS , Android , Windows |
| Learn More | Visit QuickBooks | Visit Zoho Books |
Quiz: Is Zoho or QuickBooks Best For You?
Why We Chose QuickBooks Over Zoho Books
In addition to the large network and ecosystem of pros that QuickBooks offers, there are a few more reasons why we chose QuickBooks over Zoho Books. The QuickBooks suite of features and services is larger and more robust than Zoho Books. QuickBooks also integrates with several more third-party apps than Zoho Books.
There are several reasons why we chose QuickBooks over Zoho Books.
1. More Features Than Zoho Books
QuickBooks top tiered plan includes the ability to budget/forecast so that you can easily compare your budget to actuals and gain insight into how your business is doing. QuickBooks also allows you to pay your bills with automated clearing house (ACH), debit or credit card directly within the product using a service called Bill.com.
2. Integrated Payroll Processing
Unlike Zoho Books, QuickBooks top plan comes with payroll processing capabilities. When you are ready to hire and pay employees, you click a button to turn on the payroll feature.
3. Integrated Credit Card Processing
Similar to the payroll features, QuickBooks top plan includes credit card processing. When you are ready to accept online payments from customers, turn on the feature. Keep in mind that additional fees will apply. By contrast, to accept credit card payments with Zoho Books, you must add a payment app like Stripe.
Head over to the QuickBooks features section to learn more about the key reasons why QuickBooks is typically a better fit than Zoho Books.
What QuickBooks Is Missing
While QuickBooks is our choice over Zoho Books in most situations, but nobody’s perfect. The two primary drawbacks to using QuickBooks ― especially its top plan ― is the hefty price tag. Every QuickBooks plan is almost double the cost of a comparable Zoho Books plan. Check out our Pricing section for more details.
Additionally, if you need to create sales orders to track orders placed by your customers, QuickBooks does not have this capability; Zoho Books includes the ability to create sales orders.
When You Should Consider Zoho Books Over QuickBooks
You should consider Zoho Books instead of QuickBooks if you currently use other apps in the Zoho suite of products. It will be a piece of cake to connect Zoho Books to the other apps you are using so that you can transfer data between apps. In fact, we recommend Zoho CRM as one of the top small business CRMs. While QuickBooks does offer more features than Zoho Books, there are a couple of unique features that not many accounting software programs, including QuickBooks, come with.
A couple of unique features that Zoho Books has to offer are:
- Automated workflows: Automated workflows allow you to automate routine processes that would normally be completed manually. You can learn more about workflows in the next section of this article.
- Client portal: The client portal gives your customers access to all of the transactions that have been created for them, like estimates and invoices. Instead of sending an email, you can collaborate with clients by sending messages within the portal.
Check out the Zoho Books Features section to learn more about the things that Zoho Books does well.
In-depth Comparison: Zoho Books vs. QuickBooks
To assist you with your decision, we are going to provide you with detailed info on price, set up, features and product integrations. In addition, we will cover the mobile app and customer support options. Please note that we looked at Zoho Books Professional and QuickBooks Plus when comparing features.
Features: Zoho Books Professional vs. QuickBooks Online Plus
Both Zoho Books Professional and QuickBooks Online Plus include the following features:
- Customer invoicing
- Create estimates
- Track bills & vendor credits
- Connect bank card & credit card accounts
- Accept online payments
- Create purchase orders
- Track employee & contractor time
- Track inventory
- Create recurring invoices
- Multi-user access
- Filter reports by location, department or region
- Manage 1099 contractors
QuickBooks Online Plus Features
In addition to the features listed above, QuickBooks Online Plus includes several features.
Online Bill Payments
QuickBooks Online Plus includes an integrated bill payment service called Bill.com. This feature allows you to pay your bills directly in QuickBooks Online Plus with a debit card or credit card or ACH. If you want to go the snail mail route, you can also mail by check. There is an additional fee to use this bill payment service. Check out our How to Pay Bills in QuickBooks Online video tutorial to learn how it works.
Payroll Processing
When you are ready to hire that first employee, QuickBooks Online Plus comes with built-in payroll processing capabilities. To get started, you go to the Employee Center and click the “Turn on Payroll” option to get started. QuickBooks Online Plus will calculate paychecks and payroll taxes and allow you to pay or submit payroll tax returns electronically, all within QuickBooks Online. Payroll plans start at $39 per month plus $2 per employee per month.
Budget & Forecasting
QuickBooks Online Plus includes a budgeting/forecasting tool while Zoho Books does not. It can be very beneficial to create a budget and start running reports to see how your actuals compare to what you expected to earn (income) and pay (expenses). This can be an important tool in recognizing trends that will help you make good business decisions.
Zoho Books Professional Features
In addition to the features listed above, Zoho Books also includes several additional features.
Automated Workflows
Workflows can be set up to perform tasks automatically in Zoho Books. For example, you can create a workflow that will send a congratulatory email to a sales representative each time they create an invoice or receive an approved estimate over a certain dollar amount like $10,000.
Automated workflows can save you a lot of time that you would have normally spent manually completing tasks. You can create up to 10 automated workflows with Zoho Books Professional. This is not a feature that is offered by QuickBooks Online Plus.
Create Sales Orders
You can create sales orders in Zoho Books. In general, a sales order is created once your customer has approved your estimate. It includes the details of a customer’s order such as quantity, description, cost and delivery details of the products and services ordered. Unfortunately, you cannot create sales orders in QuickBooks Online Plus.
Client Portal
As discussed, Zoho Books has a client portal which allows you to share documents and collaborate with your clients. Once they accept your invitation to the client portal, your customers have access to all transactions that have taken place between them and your business.
Customers can accept estimates, review and pay invoices and download statements. Within the client portal, you can see if a customer has viewed an invoice, and you can send messages to clients to ask them questions or get clarification on something.
Pricing: Zoho Books vs. QuickBooks
If you were going to base your decision solely on price, then Zoho Books wins, hands down. All three pricing plans for Zoho Books are significantly less than the QuickBooks pricing plans.
The least expensive plan for Zoho Books is the Basic plan at $9 per month vs. the QuickBooks Online Simple Start plan, which is $15 per month. The high-end plan for Zoho Books Professional is $29 per month vs. QuickBooks Online Plus is $60 per month. This is a whopping $31 per month difference, which means you would be saving more than $370 per year if you opted for Zoho Books Professional.
QuickBooks Online Pricing
QuickBooks Online offers three pricing tiers:
- QuickBooks Online Simple Start: $20 per month
- QuickBooks Online Essentials: $35 per month
- QuickBooks Online Plus: $60 per month
The primary difference between the three plans are the features included in each. QuickBooks Online Simple Start offers the least number of features, which is why it is priced at $20 per month. It only includes one user, and you cannot manage accounts payable. The only difference between the Essentials and Plus plans is that Plus includes inventory tracking, 1099 tracking and budgeting and forecasting, while the Essentials plan does not. New customers can get up to 50% off of QuickBooks Online.
Zoho Books Pricing
Zoho Books offers the following three pricing plans:
- Zoho Books Basic: $9 per month
- Zoho Books Standard: $15 per month
- Zoho Books Professional: $29 per month
Similar to QuickBooks Online, the higher the cost ― the more features included. Zoho Books Basic offers the least number of features, which is why it is the least expensive at $9 per month.
One of the reasons why Zoho Books is priced a lot less than QuickBooks Online is because you are limited in the total contacts (customers) that you can have in Zoho Books. The Basic plan limits you to 50 customers, Standard is 500, and the Professional plan is unlimited, whereas all three QuickBooks Online plans allow you to create unlimited customers.
In addition, the number of users that you can give access to your data is another key difference between Zoho vs. QuickBooks. The Zoho Books Basic plan includes three users (QuickBooks Online Simple Start has one), Zoho Books Standard includes five users (QuickBooks Online Essentials has three), and the Professional plan includes 10 (QuickBooks Online Plus comes with five). You get almost twice the number of users with each Zoho vs. QuickBooks plan.
Ease of Use: Zoho Books vs. QuickBooks
During our research, we created sample companies in both QuickBooks and Zoho Books to get a feel for how they work. Both Zoho Books, and QuickBooks Online have a very user-friendly interface and extensive support tools to get help when you need it.
QuickBooks Online Ease of Use
Below you will find a snapshot of the QuickBooks Online Dashboard. In addition, we have provided some details of the information that you can expect to see on this page.
QuickBooks Online dashboard.
- Left menu bar: From the Dashboard, you can access about any tasks from the left menu bar; including create invoices, bank accounts and reports.
- Invoice: In this section, you can see the amount your customers owe you (accounts receivable); as well as the total customer payments collected as well as what you have deposited vs. undeposited funds.
- Expenses: In this section, total expenses for a selected time period along with the top three categories like Maintenance & Repairs, Job Expenses, and Cost of Goods Sold appear here.
- Profit & loss: Keep tabs on your profit/loss from the dashboard without having to run a report!
- Sales: Keep an eye on your sales so that you can spot trends and make adjustments as needed.
Zoho Books Ease of Use
Below you will find a snapshot of the Zoho Books Dashboard. In addition, we have provided some details of the information that you can expect to see on this page.
Zoho Books dashboard.
- Left menu bar: Easily navigate to different areas of the program from the menu bar like Contacts, Banking, and Sales.
- Total receivables: Stay on top of the money owed to you by your customers.
- Total payables: Keep tabs on the money that you owe to vendor suppliers.
- Cash flow: See your cash flow status without having to run a report easily.
Integrations: Zoho vs. QuickBooks
Zoho Books is one of a suite of apps created by Zoho. Instead of relying on a third party to create an app, Zoho has their own suite of apps that integrate seamlessly with each other. While QuickBooks Online does not have its own suite of QuickBooks apps, it does integrate with more than 600 third-party apps.
QuickBooks Online Integration
QuickBooks Online integrates with several hundred apps. For example, if you have an e-commerce business, you can connect Shopify or Square to your QuickBooks Online account to keep track of your sales and online payments.
Unlike Zoho Books, QuickBooks Online Plus has built-in payroll and credit card processing features. When you are ready to hire that first employee or accept online payments from customers you turn that feature on, no app required but additional fees may apply. Be sure to check out the complete list of apps.
Zoho Books Integrations
As discussed, Zoho Books has a suite of products that you can connect to Zoho Books to manage customer relationships (Zoho CRM), emails (Zoho Mail), and projects (Zoho Projects) to name a few. Make sure you check out the full suite of Zoho products.
Mobile App: Zoho Books vs. QuickBooks
Since both Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online are cloud accounting software, you can access your data not only from your laptop, but you can also use your tablet, cellphone or any mobile device with an internet connection. You can perform most of your day to day transactions like adding customers and vendors and creating invoices and bills by using the mobile app.
QuickBooks Mobile App
The QuickBooks Online mobile app is compatible with all iOS and Android devices. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with Windows devices like the Zoho Books mobile app. You can take care of almost any task using the QuickBooks Online app.
Listed below are the tasks that you can do within the QuickBooks Online mobile app:
- Create and manage customers
- Create and manage vendors
- Create customer invoices
- Create vendor bills
- Reconcile bank and credit card accounts
Zoho Books Mobile App
The Zoho Books mobile app allows you to take care of most of your daily business transactions, and your data will sync across all devices. This app is compatible with all iOS, Android and Windows devices.
Below are a few of the things that you can do on the go with the Zoho Books mobile app:
- Create and manage customers
- Create and manage vendors
- Send invoices and statements
- Pay bills and manage expenses
- Track mileage
Customer Support: Zoho vs. QuickBooks
When it comes to providing support to customers, both QuickBooks and Zoho Books have a variety of resources that you can tap into when you need help. For example, unlike many of their competitors, both QuickBooks and Zoho Books offer live telephone support.
QuickBooks Customer Support
QuickBooks offers a variety of ways for you to get assistance when you need it. Its Learn and Support page includes articles and videos on FAQs. If you can’t find the answer to your question, there is a section on the website where you can submit a detailed question to the support team. You can generally expect to receive a response within 48 hours.
If you prefer to speak with a customer service representative, you can do so via chat directly from within your QuickBooks Online account or give them a call. Unlike Zoho Books, they are not available 24×5. However, you can reach them between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific time Monday through Friday; and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific time on Saturdays.
Zoho Books Customer Support
If you prefer to try and troubleshoot issues on your own, you will like the variety of options that Zoho Books offers. The Help documentation section allows you to search for the answer to your question by typing in a few keywords; they also have a list of frequently asked questions that you can find answers to most of the common question.
There is also a video library that shows you how to perform basic transactions within the software. If you prefer to speak with a customer service rep, you can access one 24×5 Monday through Friday.
Similar to QuickBooks, they do have certified Zoho Books Advisors that can assist you with Zoho Books. However, since most of them are not located here in the United States you will most likely have to get assistance virtually and, unfortunately, it may not be during normal US business hours.
Zoho Books Reviews vs. QuickBooks Reviews
Both Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online have mixed reviews. What’s most interesting is that the low scores for both were centered around poor customer service. QuickBooks Online customers like the mobile app and Zoho customers like user-friendly the software is.
QuickBooks Online Reviews
Similar to Zoho Books, QuickBooks has had mixed reviews when it comes to their customer service. Customers are put on hold for long periods of time while the customer service rep searches for the answers to questions. On the positive side, customers like the mobile app and say it works well for staying on top of their day to day bookkeeping while on the go.
For more information, you can read our QuickBooks review page.
Zoho Books Reviews
To summarize Zoho Books users, they feel like the product is very intuitive and easy to use. In addition, the ability to automate tasks like recurring invoices and invoicing is a big hit. However, when a customer did reach out via email or telephone to get help, the response was lackluster.
For more information, check out our Zoho Books review page.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Zoho Books vs. QuickBooks Online
Below we have included a few of the frequently asked questions about Zoho vs. QuickBooks Online. If you don’t see your question, you can head over to our FitSmallBusiness forum and add it. One of our resident experts will be happy to respond to your question.
How Much Is Zoho Books vs. QuickBooks Online?
Zoho Books has three pricing plans that run between $9 to $29 per month and QuickBooks Online has three pricing plans that are between $20 to $60 per month. QuickBooks is pricier than Zoho Books because it includes more features like integrated payroll and credit card processing so that customers can make online payments.
Which Product Is Better ― Zoho Books or QuickBooks Online?
QuickBooks Online is better than Zoho Books because it includes several features that you won’t find in Zoho Books. Budgeting and forecasting, paying bills online, accepting credit card payments and processing payroll for employees are features that you won’t find in Zoho Books.
When comparing Zoho vs. QuickBooks, the following features are unique to QuickBooks Online:
- Budgeting & forecasting
- Online bill payments
- Credit card processing
- Payroll processing
Do I Need An Accountant to Use Zoho Books or QuickBooks Online?
Both Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online are very user-friendly. You don’t need to use an accountant to set up your business or manage income and expenses in these products. However, if you do get stuck and need help both QuickBooks and Zoho Books offer unlimited live telephone support with all of their pricing plans.
The Bottom Line
As promised, we have given you all of the info that you need to make your decision. The bottom line is when it comes to price, Zoho Books is the clear winner. However, if you need a software that your accountant/bookkeeper is most likely familiar with or you need to find a local expert, then QuickBooks is the best choice. If you want to check out other Zoho Books options, check out our Zoho Books vs. Xero comparison!
If you decide to go with QuickBooks, you should check out our free QuickBooks Course. It includes video tutorials that will show you step by step how to set up your business in QuickBooks. Also, don’t forget that you can get 50% of your QuickBooks subscription to see how easy it is to get your business up and running.
Mike Westwood
March 29, 2019 at 7:47 pmTime to update this post. Intout is once again screwing customers with massive price increases. 5 years ago, QBO was 29$ a month, then it went to 39 and then 50 and 60. Now, they have introduced QBO advanced – which has a few more features that the Plus I had before – but here is the thing, they limit what you can do in the app and if you do not upgrade to advanced, you lose a ton of functionality. So – I either need to find a new accounting software or, I need to pay $150 a month to upgrade to advanced and not lose any features from Plus.
Additionally, you talk about ways to get support, but you do not discuss the quality of that support. I have spend 4 hours on the phone with Quickbook support this week trying to determine why all of the invoices from one of my customers disappeared. The support person was the worst I have worked with in any company in 20 years. Over and over she kept telling me that because the audit logs don’t show invoices, then these invoices were never created. I explained to her that I create an invoice for every transaction and that she was mistaken. She kept telling me the audit log is bullet proof and cannot be wrong. We then got advanced support involved, but they never came on the phone – she would have me walk through some things and then put me on hold for 15 minutes ans she relayed it to the Advanced team and awaited a response. So, I finally told her that I would call the customer in question and have him email me the invoices he was sent over the last 5 years so we could stop having a “blame the victim” conversation and I hung up on her.
A few years ago,m when banks added two factor authentication, I let them know that bank feeds were no longer coming in. They also blamed that on me and told me that I was the only one having the issue. After checking the forums, and seeing many many similar posts, I let them know this. Long story short, two months later they finally fixed it.
Sorry, but paying $150 a month I should have access to someone who knows their ass from a hole in the ground. Quickbooks support sucks in the worst way possible.
Crystalynn Shelton
April 15, 2019 at 5:26 pmHi Mike, thank you for your feedback. Apologies on the late reply, I was on vacation when this first came through. I’m sorry to hear that your interactions with the Intuit support team have not been good. I reached out to Intuit to share your comments with a senior-level person and while they are not legally able to participate in community forums such as this one, they did provide me with some additional information they thought would be helpful to share with you. I’ve provided their comments below. Also, this article is on our list to update for the newly added QBO Advanced pricing plan.
The first is that while it is true that Intuit has rolled out Usage Limits for QBO, you are not being forced to upgrade to QBO Plus. The reason is that you can keep using your QBO even if you are over the limits now. Once the usage limits kick in (sometime in late April or early May) you won’t be able to “add” any additional new things to any list where you are exceeding a limit. But you can edit list items, and this may be a way forward for you if you want to stay using your current QBO version and not upgrade to Plus. (It is the act of “adding” that will trigger the usage limits.)
So I hope that helps.
Another clarification is on QuickBooks Online Advanced – there are actually a LOT of powerful new features added, and the team keeps adding more. You can learn more about QBO Advanced Features here, but here is a short list of the things that are included at the time of this writing:
Smart Reporting, powered by Fathom
1. Up to 25 Users
2. Custom User Permissions
3. Custom fields, that are part of the database and are usable in reports
4. Accelerated Invoicing (the ability to batch create hundreds of invoices all at once, or, import hundreds of invoices from a spreadsheet)
5. Training provided by Real World Training
6. Priority Circle Support (you go to the front of the line and get the top agents)
7. Dedicated Customer Success Manager (a person who tracks any issues you are having, to resolution, and helps you use the product to its best use)
And more features are coming.
And lastly – the banks are a tricky issue because they are constantly changing their security protocols. However there is a place you can bookmark, to learn if there are any known issues with bank feeds, etc etc – please go to this page and you will be able to tell if it’s a system issue, or, if the issue is just with your bank and your log-in setup.
Best of luck,
Crystalynn Shelton
Haider Bahrani
December 10, 2018 at 12:23 pmHi what if you are a small business that manufactures. Does either of these allow for turning stock into a processed product? Then adding that as a stock item and accounting for parts used to do so? I noticed other offerings are at best vague on this.
Crystalynn Shelton
December 14, 2018 at 6:06 pmHi Haider, great question. When it comes to manufacturing businesses, I recommend using QuickBooks Premier Manufacturing & Distribution. It is much more robust and capable of handling a bill of materials and turning that into a finished product. Check out our guide on QuickBooks Desktop product comparison to learn more about this product: https://fitsmallbusiness.com/quickbooks-pro-vs-premier-vs-enterprise-vs-accountant/.
Best of luck,
Crystalynn Shelton, CPA
@CrystalynnPens
Lunna Walker
April 12, 2018 at 11:07 amThanks for sharing such an informative post, it’s really an helpful data.
jack fenston
April 2, 2018 at 12:20 pmThanks for menting best software comparision features and benefits and i loved to read it , and will continue, you can also write about accountant for hiring to manage and montior by following softwares, here is a link which mention details read it explain much more briefly as you can Thanks.
Crystalynn Shelton
April 3, 2018 at 4:11 pmThanks for the positive feedback Jack!
All the Best-
Crystalynn Shelton