Review this article to evaluate the top Cloud Accounting Software with comparison to identify the best cloud-based accounting software for your business:
In today’s times, the tasks you perform to keep your business running have become digital. You need to send price quotes, invoices to your customers, make and receive payments digitally, keep a record of your cash flow, simplify the tax process, etc.
Accounting software is made to handle all such tasks for you and your business.
In this article, we will evaluate the top best cloud accounting software. Go through their features and prices to decide which one can be the most beneficial for you.
What You Will Learn:
Cloud Accounting Software Review
With accounting software, you get the following top features:
- Creating and sending invoices.
- Keeping track of your income and expenses.
- Organizing your receipts and payments to simplify the tax process.
- Tracking work hours and processing payrolls.
- Tracking the profitability of a project so that you can make wiser decisions.
- Financial reporting.
Cloud-based accounting software lets you access all your data anytime, from anywhere. Plus, you need not worry about losing your data when it is saved on the cloud. Thus, most business owners look for cloud-based software.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q #1) What is called accounting?
Answer: Keeping a record of a company’s cash flow is called accounting. Accounting is done to keep track of your income and expenses, simplify your tax process and make better decisions for keeping the budget in control.
Q #2) What are the disadvantages of accounting software?
Answer: Apart from the many advantages of using accounting software for the day-to-day accounting tasks of your business, there are some disadvantages, too. Accounting software that is deployed on your desktop needs electricity to run. Plus, you can lose your data in case of system failure.
Cloud-based accounting software or mobile application needs a proper Internet connection.
Q #3) How much does accounting software cost?
Answer: The cost of accounting software can range from as low as $3 per month to $999 per user per month. The prices depend on the features offered, plus the complexities of your business. Accounting software can also be availed for free, if you have just the basic requirements, for example invoicing, budgeting or bookkeeping.
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Q #4) Is Xero accounting software cloud-based?
Answer: Yes, Xero is cloud-based accounting software. Other than Xero, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Wave, Sage 50cloud, and Zoho Books are some of the very popular cloud-based accounting software.
Q #5) Which is better sage or XERO?
Answer: Sage and Xero both are very beneficial accounting software with some nice reviews from their users.
While Xero is cheaper and easier to use, as compared to Sage, Sage offers features that can be helpful for a big enterprise that requires software to handle the complex tasks of their business to be handled with ease.
Q #6) What is the best accounts package for a small business?
Answer: QuickBooks can be called the best accounting software for small businesses. The packages that it offers are affordable yet full of features. You will not find any software available in the market, with such a range of features, at this price.
List of Top Cloud Accounting Software
Here we have listed the most notable cloud-based accounting software:
- FreshBooks
- Zoho Books
- QuickBooks
- Bonsai
- Xero
- Pabbly
- Wave
- Sage 50cloud
- Kashoo
- OneUp
- Quicken
Comparison of the Best Cloud-Based Accounting Software
| Tool Name | Best for | Price | Deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| FreshBooks | Easy to use | Starts at $15 per month | On Cloud, SaaS, Web, Mac/Windows desktop, Android/iPhone mobile, iPad |
| Zoho Books | Offering a wide range of solutions. | Free trial. Free plan, and the price starts at $20/organization/month. | Cloud-based |
| QuickBooks | Bookkeeping | $15 - $180 per month | On Cloud, SaaS, Web, Mac/Windows desktop, Windows/Linux premises |
| Bonsai | Controlling expenses | Starter: $24/month Professional: $39/month, Business: $79/month, Free trial is available | SaaS, Web-based, iOS, Mac, Windows, Android. |
| Xero | Comparatively cheaper price plans | $5 to $31 per month | On Cloud, SaaS, Web, Android/iPhone mobile, iPad |
| Pabbly | Subscription service providers | Strats at $19 per month | On Cloud, SaaS, Web, Mac/Windows desktop |
| Wave | A free financial management solution | Free | On Cloud, SaaS, Web |
| Sage 50cloud | Powerful automation features | Starts at $56.08 per month | On Cloud, SaaS, Web, Windows desktop, Windows/Linux premises, Android/iPhone mobile, iPad |
Detailed Review:
#1) FreshBooks
Best for the ease of use that it offers.
FreshBooks is easy-to-use cloud-based accounting software that offers features for freelancers, self-employed professionals, or businesses with employees/contractors.
Top Features:
- Tracks time, expenses, mileage, and project profitability.
- Gives you financial as well as accounting reports.
- Create and send unlimited invoices.
- Send estimates and automatically send reminders to your clients for payments.
- A mobile application to access takes control of each task, from anywhere.
Verdict: FreshBooks is a highly recommended accounting software for small businesses. It is easy to use, affordable and offers a wide range of features.
Price: FreshBooks offers a free trial for 30 days. You can either choose the free trial or get 50% off on each plan for the first 3 months.
Price plans are as follows:
- Lite: $15 per month
- Plus: $25 per month
- Premium: $50 per month
- Select: Custom pricing
#2) Zoho Books
Best for offering a wide range of solutions.
Zoho Books handles almost all your accounting tasks like a pro so that you can focus more on your business. Apart from the features offered with Zoho Books, Zoho offers 40+ other integrative platforms that can handle every part of your business.
Top Features:
- A mobile app for Android and iOS users.
- Create invoices in multiple languages and automatically send recurring invoices.
- Tracks your expenses, mileage, sales tax, project profitability, and more.
- Get a custom domain with the Premium plan.
- Budgeting and reporting tools.
Verdict: Zoho Books is a highly recommended cloud accounting software. The free version is exceptional. They offer invoicing, mileage tracking, reporting, and many other features with their free plan.
Price: There is a free trial for 14 days. Price plans are as follows:
- Free
- Standard: $20 per organization per month
- Professional: $50 per organization per month
- Premium: $70 per organization per month
#3) QuickBooks
Best for bookkeeping.
QuickBooks is a cloud accounting software, made for small businesses. QuickBooks has over 7 million customers worldwide and lets you access the software from anywhere, anytime, and from any device.
Top Features:
- Let’s you track your income and expenses.
- Helps you in maximizing tax deductions.
- Tracks inventories, project profitability, and work hours of your employees.
- Add-on payroll features.
- Invoicing and financial reporting.
Verdict: QuickBooks is one of the best cloud accounting software suitable for small businesses. It gives you a wide range of features at reasonable prices.
Price: QuickBooks offers a free trial for 30 days. You can either go for the free trial or get 50% off for the first three months on the following plans:
- Self-employed: $15 per month
- Simple start: $25 per month
- Essentials: $50 per month
- Plus: $80 per month
- Advanced: $180 per month
#4) Bonsai
Best for Controlling expenses.
With Bonsai, you get software that can completely manage both your accounting and tax-related activities. The business is ideal for keeping expenses on track with real-time income reporting, tax reminders and expense tracking features.
Top Features:
- Track Profit and Loss
- Track Expenses
- Automated Tax Reminder
- Manage Invoices
Verdict: Bonsai is a fantastic cloud-based accounting management software that freelancers can use to keep their expenses and taxes in check. It is easy to use and feature-rich.
Price:
- Starter: $24/month
- Professional: $39/month
- Business: $79/month
- A free trial is available
#5) Xero
Best for comparatively cheaper price plans.
Xero is a cloud accounting software that’s made to simplify the everyday tasks for your small business. This incredible software offers 50% off on its price plans for the first three months of your purchase.
Top Features:
- Track time and project profitability.
- Keeps a record of your receipts and documents to help you in the tax filing process.
- Create and share invoices, and keep records of the invoice history of each of your customers.
- Financial reporting and analytical tools.
- Integrates with Gusto, for payrolls.
Verdict: Xero is a recommended cloud accounting software for small businesses. The price plans offered by Xero are comparatively cheaper than its alternatives.
Price: Price plans are as follows:
- Early: $5.50 per month
- Growing: $16 per month
- Established: $31 per month
Website: Xero
#6) Pabbly
Best for subscription service providers.
Pabbly offers you feature for email marketing, invoicing, financial reporting, billing, automation, and much more.
Top Features:
- Easy integration with 500+ platforms.
- Manages your taxes.
- Financial reporting tools.
- Create and invoices and create coupons and discounts for your customers.
- Supports 30+ global currencies.
Verdict: Pabbly is a recommended software for those who offer their services on a subscription basis. The recurring billing feature is the plus point of this cloud-based accounting software.
Price: Price plans are as follows:
- Starter: $9 per month
- Rookie: $19 per month
- Pro: $29 per month
- Advance: $41 per month
- Enterprise: Contact directly for prices.
Website: Pabbly
#7) Wave
Best for being an all-in-one solution for your financial management needs.
Wave is a free money management software for small businesses. It has many other products, for payroll, invoicing, payments, etc., which can be integrated easily into one system.
Top Features:
- Tracks your income, expenses, and sales tax
- Check the performance of your business.
- Creates reports for overdue invoices, cash flow, profit & loss, and more.
- Organize your expenses to simplify the tax process.
Verdict: Wave is a trusted software for accounting and financial management. The fact that it is available free of cost makes it a highly recommended software for small business owners.
Price: Free
Website: Wave
#8) Sage 50cloud
Best for powerful automation features.
Sage 50cloud is accounting software that can be deployed on your desktop or the cloud. Sage offers powerful features for income and expenses management, financial reporting, and much more.
Top Features:
- Tracks your cash flow.
- Create and send invoices.
- Payroll processing through direct deposits, pay cards, and checks.
- Gives you a report on sales tax, expenses, and profits.
Verdict: Sage 50cloud is a popular name in the industry. The price plans are expensive but offer you some nice automation features.
Price: There is a free trial for 30 days. Price plans are as follows:
- Pro Accounting: $56.08 per month
- Premium Accounting: $84.58 per month
- Quantum Accounting: $139.58 per month
Website: Sage 50cloud
#9) Kashoo
Best for the easy-to-use interface.
Kashoo is a 10-year-old cloud accounting software that is simple and easy to use. It offers you automation features for the accounting workflow of small businesses.
Top Features:
- Lets you send invoices and accept payments
- Tracks your income, expenses, and sales tax
- Advanced reporting tools
- Automation features for sending reminders for payments, to your clients
Verdict: The price plans offered by Kashoo are affordable. The range of features is also nice. The software is known for its simple and user-friendly interface.
Price: There is a free trial on the paid plans for 14 days. Price plans are as follows:
- Trulysmall.invoices: $0
- Trulysmall.accounting: $20 per month
- Kashoo: $30 per month
Website: Kashoo
#10) OneUp
Best for automated accounting.
OneUp offers features that make accounting automatic. From invoicing to CRM, OneUp has many features for small businesses. This global accounting solutions provider has been in the industry for five years and has clients from more than 50 countries.
Top Features:
- Create and send invoices.
- Automation features that take care of 95% of your accounting needs.
- Keeps track of your inventories and notifies you when you need to reorder.
- CRM tools, including sending quotes, turning quotes into invoices or sales orders, and much more.
Verdict: OneUp is one of the fastest-growing cloud accounting software. It offers 5 price plans. You can choose the one that fits your needs so that you pay just for what you use.
Price: There is a free trial for 30 days. Price plans are as follows:
- Self: $9 per month
- Pro: $19 per month
- Plus: $29 per month
- Team: $69 per month
- Unlimited: $169 per month
Website: OneUp
#11) Quicken
Best for personal use.
Quicken is personal financial management software. It has features for budgeting, invoicing, organizing receipts, and simplifying taxes. Apart from the desktop/web version, it also offers a mobile application that lets you access the software from anywhere.
Top Features:
- Create a budget and keep track of your expenses.
- Create and send custom invoices with payment links.
- Organizes your receipts to simplify your tax process.
- Get access to Quicken through your desktop, mobile, or web.
Verdict: Quicken Home & Business has some features that make it suitable for small businesses that are beginners and low on budget. Quicken is cheap and offers you the basic features for money management.
Price: Price plans are as follows:
- Starter: $35.99 per year
- Deluxe: $46.79 per year
- Premier: $70.19 per year
- Home & Business: $93.59 per year
Website: Quicken
Other Notable Tools
#12) ZipBooks
Best for small businesses.
ZipBooks is accounting software that can be a good option for small businesses. It is affordable and has a lot to offer you. They even offer a free plan with features of invoicing, reporting, and receiving digital payments.
Price: ZipBooks offers the following price plans:
- Starter: Free
- Smarter: $15 per month
- Sophisticated: $35 per month
- Accountant: Custom Pricing
Website: ZipBooks
#13) LessAccounting
Best for being a simple solution for accounting
LessAccounting is a 10 years old accounting software, which has a free version and offers you a free trial too. The features offered by the software include invoicing, time tracking, preparing tax reports, budgeting, tracking miles, and much more.
Price: There is a free trial for 30 days. Pricing is as follows:
- Invoice only: Free
- Lite: $24 per month
- Team: $36 per month
Website: LessAccounting
Conclusion
If you own a business, whether big or small, you will need to perform several accounting tasks. For a small business owner, who needs to focus more on growing its customers, affordable accounting software can play a vital role in its success.
And, for a big enterprise, whose accounting tasks are complicated, accounting software is a must as this software saves much of your time and gives you more accurate and reliable results.
Based on our study about the top 10 best cloud accounting software, we can now conclude that QuickBooks has the best range of features to offer you for your small business. Wave is available free of cost. Many others offer a free version.
Thus, if your requirements are not huge, you can get your accounting tasks simplified by incurring no fees at all.
Research Process:
- Time taken to research this article: We spent 09 hours researching and writing this article so you can get a useful summarized list of tools with the comparison of each for your quick review.
- Total tools researched online: 18
- Top tools shortlisted for review: 12