Best Accounting Software For Business

Jennifer Maxwell
Last Updated: Mar 17, 2021

When you start a business, accounting software is one of the first business applications you need to get. The best accounting software helps you create invoices, record incoming and outgoing payments, identify and follow up on past-due receivables, and run reports that help you analyze your financial health and other aspects of your business.

To help you find the best accounting software for your business, we examined more than 100 applications. We looked for affordable, easy-to-use accounting programs with time-saving features, such as automated bank feeds, automatic payment reminders, and online invoicing and payment acceptance. We also searched for software with comprehensive, customizable, real-time financial reporting, because that is crucial for monitoring and understanding your business finances.

Top 3 Choices

BEST CHOICE

1

5/5

You get a full suite of accounting tools to do everything from track time and expenses to run financial reports.

2

5/5

QuickBooks’ Live Bookkeeper provides professional help.

3

4.7/5

With FinancePal, you get a streamlined, trusted financial solution in one place.

The Top 3 Accounting Software Explained

1

Freshbooks

You get a full suite of accounting tools to do everything from track time and expenses to run financial reports.

If you need to create and send invoices, it can be challenging to find a small business accounting app that matches your needs. Some solutions excel at invoicing but offer no accounting features; others include solid accounting services but lack quality invoicing tools. FreshBooks’ are incredibly easy to use, which is why we picked it as the best accounting software for invoicing. The format is intuitive, and with just a few clicks, you can add billable time and expenses, customize the look of the invoice, and set up recurring invoices, automatic payment reminders and late fees.

This accounting software connects to your bank, generates several reports, tracks time and helps you manage projects. As a bonus, FreshBooks lets you give clients the option to pay bills through invoices, which speeds up the process of getting paid. If you have clients who are late in paying bills, FreshBooks lets you gently nudge them via reminders and alerts when bills are due or past due. You’ll know when customers receive and open invoices with this accounting software.

Beyond invoicing, there are a lot of other attributes of FreshBooks that made it one of our best picks. For example, you can track time spent on projects, as well as snap pictures of receipts and log them on the go. Plus, the double-entry accounting features ensure you don’t make mistakes that could throw off your ledger. With automatic checks and balances, you can rest assured that your debits and credits will balance out. This software also integrates with more than 80 popular business applications to give you a better overall view of your business.

FreshBooks gives you all of the features small businesses need in an accounting and invoicing software application. Although it’s not as comprehensive as some of the other options on the market, FreshBooks offers tremendous value as accounting software with strong invoicing capabilities. The ability to combine accounting software tools and invoicing tools is rare, but FreshBooks does the job effectively. For businesses that don’t send invoices, other accounting solutions make more sense, but freelancers and project-based businesses will naturally be drawn to the features and affordability of FreshBooks.

You’ll get unlimited bandwidth (which is only available with higher tier plans), websites, and MySQL databases. Plus, you get free domain registration and an SSL certificate if you sign up for a premium plan. There’s an easy and free website builder called Zyro that lets you throw together a website in minutes. Hostinger also offers weekly backups, access manager, and PHP configuration for more customized options.

Pro
Cons

2

QuickBooks

QuickBooks’ Live Bookkeeper provides professional help.

What can’t QuickBooks do? The extremely popular accounting software is used by small businesses across the country. Accountants are quick to praise the application for its affordability, ease of use and effectiveness. It’s hard to find many flaws with QuickBooks, especially considering the needs of small businesses today. QuickBooks Online offers small business owners a feature-rich accounting platform that integrates with tons of business applications and doesn’t break the bank. We like that the software is cloud-based and updated regularly.

We chose QuickBooks Online as our best pick for small businesses for several reasons. With this accounting software, you can create professional invoices, accept payments, track expenses and keep a steady eye on your cash flow. And that’s just with the Basic plan; the higher-priced plans let you send batch invoices, engage in deep analytics and even access a dedicated accounting team. QuickBooks Online integrates with several popular business apps, including Bill.com, Salesforce and HubSpot.

Pro
Cons

3

FinancePal

With FinancePal, you get a streamlined, trusted financial solution in one place.

Financial software is typically described as any type of computer software designed to help individuals or corporations manage finances and business ledger and other accounting needs.

Financial software can track financial accounts, categorize income and expenses, synchronize transactions with banks and credit card companies, pay bills online, work with budgets, track and analyze investments, create financial and tax-related reports, and provide at-a-glance snapshots of a financial net worth.

Pro
Cons