FreshBooks vs. Zoho Books: Cost, Features, Alternatives

FreshBooks and Zoho Books, two of NerdWallet’s picks for best accounting software, aren’t as scalable as products like QuickBooks Online and Xero, but can be affordable choices for specific types of small businesses.

Whereas FreshBooks offers more third-party integrations for freelancers and independent contractors, Zoho Books pulls ahead for its higher user limits and more complex feature set. The choice depends on which third-party apps your business uses (and whether they integrate), along with what type of reporting capabilities you need, among other factors.

» MORE: NerdWallet's best small-business apps

Ease of sharing with accountants

Accounting software typically enables accountant access in every plan — Zoho Books, for instance, even includes it in its free plan for businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenue. However, FreshBooks’ least expensive Lite plan lacks basic capabilities like accountant access. Zoho Books also stands out from FreshBooks by keeping audit trails, which help accountants check books for errors or unauthorized transactions.

Before committing to Zoho Books, though, make sure that your accountant is familiar with it. The software isn’t as popular as FreshBooks.

Stronger feature set

If you like to dig into your reports or own a business with multiple departments, Zoho Books will likely be the better option. FreshBooks’ Lite plan doesn’t offer double-entry accounting reports (like a general ledger and balance sheet). Zoho Books includes these in every plan, plus more. All of its paid plans let you add reporting tags to transactions, so that you can drill into reports and separate results by location, department, etc.

Zoho Books’ inventory management features are also more robust. You can generate barcodes for items and set reorder levels so that you can see what’s running low at a glance. Separately, the software lets you create your own custom bank rules for categorizing incoming transactions. This can save you a lot of time if your business has a high volume of transactions flowing in from bank feeds each month. FreshBooks will suggest transaction matches for you, but you can’t set up your own rules for categorizing transactions that meet your set of criteria.

Scalability

All FreshBooks plans, except the Select plan, only permit one user, so if you need to share your account with a co-owner or accountant, you’ll end up paying extra. Zoho Books’ user limits, on the other hand, scale up with plan tiers. It’s also less expensive to add additional users to Zoho Books vs. FreshBooks if you need to.

FreshBooks’ billable client limits in its Lite and Plus plans may be a drawback, too. You’re allowed up to five billable clients in the Lite plan and up to 50 in the Plus plan. Zoho Books doesn’t limit billable clients in any of its plans, including the free one. Instead, its free plan lets you send up to 1,000 invoices, which is more than many small businesses will send in one year.

Variety of third-party integrations

Zoho Books is part of the larger Zoho suite of apps, so if you already use Zoho for other aspects of your business (such as customer relationship management, information technology or human resources), you can sync all your business management systems on one platform. If you don’t use other Zoho apps, however, the product’s sparse integrations with third-party tools might be a deal breaker.

For example, Zoho only integrates with Zoho Payroll or SurePayroll for payroll. If you use a different service, you won’t be able to integrate it with Zoho, leaving you with a lot of manual data entry. Compared with Zoho Books, FreshBooks offers greater options for third-party integrations.

QuickBooks Online

Cost: $30 per month and up.

If you’re looking for more established software from a widely recognized and trusted brand, then check out QuickBooks Online. It’s a cloud-based option from Intuit, and while its plans are a bit more expensive, it has fewer restrictions than Zoho or FreshBooks.

With any QuickBooks Online plan, you get income and expense tracking, receipt capture, invoice tracking, reports and accountant access. Its least expensive plan comes with many of the features you’d expect to get from a mid-level plan from another provider. You also have the option to sign up for add-ons like time tracking or payroll.

» MORE: FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks Online

Wave

Cost: Free.

Wave is one of the few free accounting software options for businesses. It allows unlimited bank and credit card connections, unlimited income and expense tracking and unlimited guest collaborators. The software also helps you implement invoice reminders when necessary.

Wave’s feature set isn’t the most robust, and customer service for its free products is limited to a self-service help center. However, it is still a comprehensive solution, and the price can make it an excellent choice for newer businesses or those on a strict budget.

» MORE: FreshBooks vs. Wave