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6 Best Zoho Books Alternatives of 2024

If Zoho Books doesn’t meet your pricing or capability requirements, here are six alternatives available to your business.
By Karrin Sehmbi
Last updated on June 10, 2024
Edited bySally Lauckner
Fact checked and reviewed

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This may influence which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.

Zoho Books makes NerdWallet’s list of the best accounting software with a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. The cloud-based software is known for its reasonable prices, various plan options and add-ons, overall feature set and usability. However, there are downsides to consider as well, including limited integration options, a lack of payroll services and plan restrictions based on contacts, users and workflows.
Still wondering whether it’s the right fit for your business? Read our full Zoho Books review for details on pricing, features, benefits and drawbacks. If Zoho Books' features or prices aren’t right for your business, consider these alternatives.

Best Zoho Books Alternatives

Product
Promotion
Learn more

Xero

Learn more

on Xero's secure website

5.0/5

Best for Overall Zoho Books alternative

$15/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $42, $78.

75% off

for six months on Business Edition plans.

Learn more

on Xero's secure website

QuickBooks Online

Learn more

on QuickBooks Online's secure website

5.0/5

Best for Zoho Books alternative with additional inventory features

$35/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $65, $99, $235.

50% off

for first three months or free 30-day trial.

Learn more

on QuickBooks Online's secure website

FreshBooks

Learn more

on FreshBooks' secure website

4.5/5

Best for Zoho Books alternative for freelancers

$19/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $33, $60, custom.

30-day free trial

or monthly discount (terms vary).

Learn more

on FreshBooks' secure website

Wave Accounting

3.5/5

Best for Free alternative to Zoho Books

$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $16

N/A

Odoo

4.0/5

Best for Zoho Books alternative with seamless business app integrations

$0

For use of a single app. Additional pricing tiers per user (per month): $38.90, $58.40.

Monthly discount

for the first 12 months.

Striven

Learn more

on Striven's secure website

3.5/5

Best for Zoho Books alternative with industry-specific features

$35/month

Per user. Additional pricing tiers per user (per month): $70.

7-day free trial

Learn more

on Striven's secure website

Our pick for

Overall Zoho Books alternative

Learn more

on Xero's secure website

Starting at
$15/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $42, $78.

Promotion
75% off

for six months on Business Edition plans.

Our pick for

Zoho Books alternative with additional inventory features

QuickBooks Online

Learn more

on QuickBooks Online's secure website

Starting at
$35/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $65, $99, $235.

Promotion
50% off

for first three months or free 30-day trial.

Our pick for

Zoho Books alternative for freelancers

FreshBooks

Learn more

on FreshBooks' secure website

Starting at
$19/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $33, $60, custom.

Promotion
30-day free trial

or monthly discount (terms vary).

Our pick for

Free alternative to Zoho Books

Wave Accounting

Starting at
$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $16

Promotion
N/A

Our pick for

Zoho Books alternative with seamless business app integrations

Odoo

4.0
NerdWallet rating 
Starting at
$0

For use of a single app. Additional pricing tiers per user (per month): $38.90, $58.40.

Promotion
Monthly discount

for the first 12 months.

Our pick for

Zoho Books alternative with industry-specific features

Striven

3.5
NerdWallet rating 
Learn more

on Striven's secure website

Starting at
$35/month

Per user. Additional pricing tiers per user (per month): $70.

Promotion
7-day free trial

NerdWallet’s picks for the best alternatives to Zoho Books

Xero

Best overall Zoho Books alternative
Why we picked it: Xero and Zoho Books go toe to toe on affordable pricing, advanced features such as project tracking and transaction tagging, support availability and resources, and mobile app functionality — though Xero’s app allows for scanning and uploading receipts, while Zoho’s doesn't. Xero stands apart from Zoho Books by allowing unlimited users in all plan options (Zoho caps users at 15 with the highest plan tier) and a customizable dashboard. And while Zoho’s software integrations are largely limited to its own software ecosystem, Xero offers hundreds of integrations that include POS systems along with a variety of third-party apps related to e-commerce, payroll, CRM, time tracking and more. Read our complete Xero accounting review.

QuickBooks Online

Best Zoho Alternative with more inventory features
Why we picked it: QuickBooks Online combines the convenience of cloud-based accounting software with a trusted name in small-business accounting. You’ve likely heard of QuickBooks in some capacity. It's one of the largest providers of business accounting tools around and is trusted by accountants and business owners. Overall, QuickBooks Online plans are more expensive than those that Zoho Books offers; however, you may find the features and allowances (e.g., QuickBooks Online’s most expensive plan allows up to 25 users) worth the extra cost.
One notable feature difference between QuickBooks Online and Zoho Books is that QuickBooks allows you to easily track inventory both in-store and online and across multiple shopping platforms. Zoho Books contains some inventory features, but this level of cross-channel tracking is available only in Zoho’s separate app, Zoho Inventory. Read our review of QuickBooks Online.

FreshBooks

Best Zoho Books alternative for freelancers
Why we picked it: FreshBooks excels at accounting software for freelancers and self-employed professionals. It’s an accounting product with great customer service that’s intuitive and easy to use.
There are a few areas where FreshBooks outshines Zoho Books. One of the things it does best is time tracking. There’s even a Chrome extension you can add and integrations with websites like Asana and Trello so you can accurately track your time, then bill clients or generate an invoice from those hours. Along with its stellar time-tracking capabilities, you’ll get unlimited and customizable invoices, as well as online payment acceptance, mileage and expense tracking, dashboards and reports and more. Read more about this accounting solution in our FreshBooks review.

Wave

Best free alternative to Zoho Books
Why we picked it: Wave, like Zoho Books, offers a free accounting software plan. While Zoho’s free accounting plan includes many features and functionality, it is limited to businesses with a total annual revenue of less than $50,000. Wave’s free plan, however, has no revenue limits and no limits on the number of estimates and invoices you send or the bills and bookkeeping records you track. It covers all accounting and invoicing basics, including the use of a mobile app. And, as with Zoho Books, if you find you’re outgrowing the free version, you can upgrade to Wave’s paid plan at a reasonable monthly price. Read our review of Wave for more details.

Odoo

Best Zoho Books alternative with seamless business app integrations
Why we picked it: Similar to Zoho, Odoo offers an ecosystem of business software applications designed to integrate painlessly with one another. But while Zoho’s apps require separate subscriptions (which can add up quickly), Odoo offers a free plan for access to a single app, such as its full-featured accounting app, and two paid plan options for access to Odoo’s full library of dozens of apps, including ones for marketing, HR, sales, inventory management and more. Odoo also stands apart from Zoho Books as open-source software. If you’re comfortable with coding, or have access to a team that is, you can join Odoo’s open-source community to learn about the latest software enhancements, collaborate on future app releases and get support from other users.

Striven

Best Zoho Books alternative with industry-specific features
Why we picked it: If you run a larger small business or one with high growth potential, you may want to skip the basic accounting solutions designed to best suit very small businesses and instead focus on a product that can grow with your business. While Zoho Books does offer plan options for larger and quickly growing businesses, Striven may be a better fit, particularly if you’re looking for software tailored to a specific industry. Striven’s software (which goes beyond accounting to include CRM, project and inventory management, HR and more) includes unique features to suit more than a dozen industries, from construction and manufacturing to property management and law firm businesses. Plan pricing for Striven’s software is straightforward and transparent.
Nina Godlewski contributed to an earlier version of this article, which was first published on Fundera, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.
Last updated on June 10, 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.
NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
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