Running your farm is hard work. After a long day out in the fields or in the barn, the last thing you want to think about is your small-business accounting software. Fortunately, software designed specifically for your industry can ease the burden by automatically reconciling your transactions and helping you to easily track mileage and expenses; manage your livestock, crops and other inventory; and file your Schedule F tax form.
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The farm accounting software products that make our list can help you with these tasks and more.
Best Farm Accounting Software
Product | Promotion | Learn more | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Xero Learn more on Xero's secure website | 5.0/5 Best for General accounting software with farm software integration | $15/month Additional pricing tiers (per month): $42, $78. | 30-day free trial or monthly discount (terms vary). | Learn more on Xero's secure website |
QuickBooks Online Learn more on QuickBooks Online's secure website | 5.0/5 Best for General accounting software with farm software integration | $30/month Additional pricing tiers (per month): $60, $90, $200. | 50% off for first three months or free 30-day trial. | Learn more on QuickBooks Online's secure website |
FarmRaise | Best for Overall farm accounting software | $40/month | 40% off monthly membership for under-resourced or beginning farmers. | |
Farm Biz | Best for Simple farm accounting software | $249 One-time fee. | N/A | |
FarmBooks | Best for Farm accounting reporting capabilities | $495 0ne-time fee. | N/A | |
Traction | Best for Complete farm management software | $950/year Additional pricing tiers (per year): $1900, $3,800. | 30-day free trial |
Our picks for
General accounting software with farm software integration
Xero and QuickBooks Online are well-known, well-regarded names in accounting software. Both offer robust cloud-based accounting tools that enable you to send invoices; collect payment; track inventory, projects and expenses; create reports, including the standard profit and loss statement, balance sheet and aging reports; and view your business financials in an all-up dashboard. For more industry-specific tracking and reporting features, you can integrate both products with Figured, farm-specific financial planning and reporting software.
Xero
Learn more
on Xero's secure website
Starting at
$15/month
Additional pricing tiers (per month): $42, $78.
Promotion
30-day free trial
or monthly discount (terms vary).
Xero allows unlimited users at every subscription tier, a valuable feature for businesses where several users may need at least limited access to the system to run reports or analyze performance. In terms of functionality and features, Xero is one of QuickBooks Online’s biggest competitors and has a more customizable dashboard that lets each user rearrange or hide panels.
Pros
- Unlimited users in all pricing plans.
- Integrates with more than 1,000 third-party apps.
- Feature set includes an excellent mobile app and suite of reports, capable invoicing features, plus automated bill and receipt capture through Hubdoc.
- Simple layout and easy to use.
Cons
- No phone number for customer support listed.
- Entry-level plan limits bills and invoices to five and 20 per month, respectively.
QuickBooks Online
Learn more
on QuickBooks Online's secure website
Starting at
$30/month
Additional pricing tiers (per month): $60, $90, $200.
Promotion
50% off
for first three months or free 30-day trial.
QuickBooks Online is an industry leader in the accounting field, thanks to its strong feature set, scalability and ability to accommodate small businesses with more complex financial needs. With millions of users worldwide, your accountant will likely be familiar with it.
Pros
- Easy to share information with your accountant and to find QuickBooks experts and online resources if needed.
- More than 750 app integrations, including live, in-house bookkeeping.
- Robust feature set includes thorough record-keeping, comprehensive reporting, excellent invoicing and inventory management, plus a capable mobile app.
- Daily phone support and 24/7 chat support in all plans.
Cons
- Expensive compared with the competition.
- Limited account users with each plan.
Our pick for
Overall farm accounting software
FarmRaise
Starting at
$40/month
Promotion
40% off
monthly membership for under-resourced or beginning farmers.
FarmRaise is purpose-built farm accounting software designed for small farming businesses in need of simple, intuitive and easy-to-use software. FarmRaise enables you to track crops, livestock and products along with mileage and transactions. It’s cloud-based software you can access from any device anywhere, including your field. The mobile app even enables you to continue your work from the field, barn or other locations without an internet connection. A couple of unique features that especially speak to the grassroots nature of the company include a weekly educational newsletter and access to a continually updated library of relevant grant and loan opportunities.
Pros
- Tag transactions for tracking and reporting related to Schedule F tax form.
- Photograph and upload receipts.
- Full pricing transparency, including how every dollar of the monthly fee is spent.
- Funding Library keeps you updated on various opportunities for agricultural business grants and loans.
- Mobile app that includes offline functionality.
Cons
- Current reporting capability is very basic (e.g., can build profit and loss statement but can’t build cash flow statement or balance sheet, though the update is in progress).
Our pick for
Simple farm accounting software
Farm Biz
Starting at
$249
One-time fee.
Promotion
N/A
Farm Biz is desktop-based farm accounting software designed to be simple enough to use without any prior accounting knowledge or experience. One of its most appealing features is the chart of accounts built specifically for agricultural businesses such as farms and ranches. This saves you the time of creating a custom chart of accounts in more general accounting software. Because the software is locally installed, you pay a one-time purchase price rather than a monthly subscription fee, which makes Farm Biz the most cost-effective solution on our list. If you need more robust features than those included in Farm Biz, the sister product — Ultra Farm Accounting — includes more customized reporting like livestock analysis, payroll and your Schedule F for your tax return.
Pros
- Designed specifically for farming and related businesses.
- Pricing transparency.
- Free demo copy of software is available.
Cons
- Desktop software limited to Windows users only.
- Free customer support is limited to 30 days after first support call.
- Software is dated in appearance.
Our pick for
Farm accounting reporting capabilities
FarmBooks
Starting at
$495
0ne-time fee.
Promotion
N/A
Robust reporting can help you make informed business decisions about your farm, and FarmBooks accounting software delivers on this front. With more than 20 reports built into the software, you can easily access farm-specific reports to see how your farm is performing and make adjustments proactively. Your Schedule F is included in these reports, making tax time a snap. Because FarmBooks is a desktop-based solution, you’ll want to regularly back up your data. The company offers offsite backups for a small monthly fee.
Pros
- Designed specifically for the farming industry.
- Variety of support and training options, including live online trainings.
- Pricing transparency.
- Free demo version available upon request.
Cons
- Desktop-based software necessitates a data backup solution.
- Software is dated in appearance.
Our pick for
Complete farm management software
Traction
Starting at
$950/year
Additional pricing tiers (per year): $1900, $3,800.
Promotion
30-day free trial
Traction is cloud-based software intentionally designed for farm and agricultural business management. It’s priced quite a bit higher than many other farm accounting solutions, but it also comes with a host of more advanced features, including automatic transaction reconciliation as well as detailed, industry-specific reporting and inventory management. If you run a large, well-established farm, you may appreciate the software’s powerful tools and scalability.
Pros
- Purpose-built for agricultural businesses.
- Add-ons for payroll, agronomy and field management.
- Bank feeds enable automatic reconciliation of transactions.
- Pricing transparency.
- Mobile app enables payments and receipt capture.
- Phone and live chat support available daily during extended hours.
Cons
- Pricing is significantly steeper than other farm accounting products.
Last updated on April 5, 2024
Methodology
NerdWallet independently reviews accounting software products before determining our top picks. We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives. Information is gathered on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy.
NerdWallet’s accounting software ratings favor products that are easy to use, reasonably priced, have a robust feature set and can grow with your business. The best accounting software received top marks when evaluated across 10 categories and more than 30 subcategories. Learn more about how we rate small-business accounting software.
These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most. We encourage you to research and compare multiple accounting software products before choosing one.
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