Thanks to competitive pricing and great usability, Zoho Books shines as an accounting app for small businesses, though it may be too limited for some larger companies.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Editor & Senior Staff Writer
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Expert Contributor
| Total Rating | 4.7 |
|---|---|
| Pricing4.7 | |
| Ease Of Use4.3 | |
| Features4.8 | |
| Customer Service4.8 | |
| User Reviews4.6 | |
Accounting Method
Accrual & Cash BasisPricing Range
$0-$275/monthBusiness Size
Best suited for small to mid-sized businesses with 15 or fewer usersTable of Contents
Zoho Books is a complete accounting package with excellent invoicing, ample features, and a payroll integration, which was a big feature gap. With new features and the same excellent customer service, Zoho Books is a great choice for small business owners and is a great alternative to QuickBooks Online.
Continue reading to see if Zoho Books is a good fit for you.
| Pricing4.7 |
|---|
| Software Plans 5.0 |
| Pricing Transparency 4.2 |
| Pricing Customization 3.8 |
Zoho Books offers six pricing plans, including a free plan. You can sign up for a free 14-day trial of any of the paid plans. No credit card or banking information is required, and you can cancel the trial period anytime.
| Zoho Books Plans | Price | When To Use |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho Books Free | $0/month | You have 1 user and under $50K in revenue yearly |
| Zoho Books Standard | $20/month ($15/month billed annually) | You have 3 or fewer users and 5,000 or fewer invoices |
| Zoho Books Professional | $50/month ($40/month billed annually) | You need advanced accounting features, such as purchase orders |
| Zoho Books Premium | $70/month ($60/month billed annually) | You have multiple branches |
| Zoho Books Elite | $150/month ($120/month billed annually) | You need advanced inventory management, including Shopify Store integration |
| Zoho Books Ultimate | $275/month ($240/month billed annually) | You need advanced analytics with real-time data displays |
Subscription payments are made monthly; however, if you commit to a year-long plan, you can receive a discount. It’s possible to cancel the service at any time, even year-long plans (year-long users can receive a prorated refund).
We love that Zoho Books has a free plan and several additional plans that will scale with your business. Overall, we find Zoho Books to be competitively priced, leading to our rating of 4.7/5 for pricing.
Zoho Books pricing is as follows:
This plan is $0/month and is for businesses making less than $50K/year. It includes:
The Zoho Books Standard plan costs $20/month ($15/month billed annually) and includes everything in the Free plan, plus:
The Zoho Books Standard plan costs $50/month ($40/month billed annually) and includes everything in the Standard plan, plus:
The Zoho Books Premium plan costs $70/month ($60/month billed annually) and includes everything in the Professional plan, plus:
The Zoho Books Elite plan costs $150/month ($120/month billed annually) and includes everything in the Premium plan, plus:
The Zoho Books Ultimate plan costs $275/month ($240/month billed annually) and includes everything in the Elite plan, plus:
Outgrown Zoho Books? In addition to Zoho Books’ six pricing plans, Zoho also offers a full financial package called Zoho Finance Plus, which includes:
If you are planning on purchasing more Zoho products than just Zoho Books, Zoho Finance Plus could be an affordable way to get all the features you need. Zoho Finance Plus starts at $249/month or $199/month if billed annually per organization and includes ten users. Contact Zoho directly for more details.
| Zoho Books Extra Costs | Price |
|---|---|
| Additional Users | $3/month per user ($2.50/month per user billed annually) |
| Advanced Autoscans (50 Scans/Month) | $10/month ($8/month billed annually) |
| Warehouses | $9/month per warehouse ($7.50/month billed annually) |
| Zoho Payroll | $19/month + $3/month per employee |
These options are available as add-ons for your Zoho Books plan:
Unfortunately, users on Zoho Books’ free plan cannot purchase add-ons, including extra users.
| Ease Of Use4.3 |
|---|
| Initial Setup 4.0 |
| Software Reliability 5.0 |
| Everyday Use 4.6 |
| Integrations 4.0 |
Zoho Books’ attractive UI is easy to set up and well-organized. The accounting software is generally intuitive and easy to use, although it can be a bit difficult to navigate at times — there are so many features that some get hidden within each other.
Once you get used to the nuances, Zoho Books accounting software is a joy to use. The company provides excellent customer service and support resources to help you understand the software. No live bookkeeping support is available.
In terms of integrations with other business software and apps, Zoho Books falls short of some of its competitors (we’re looking at you, QuickBooks Online). However, it does integrate with 40+ apps, including other Zoho programs, numerous payment processors, Square Register, Surepayroll, Dropbox, Slack, and Twilio.
Zoho Books also has mobile apps that have received rave reviews from its users.
Overall, Zoho Books is pretty user-friendly, even if you have no prior accounting experience. For this category, we give Zoho Books a score of 4.3/5.
Zoho Books offers a robust set of features that closely rivals QuickBooks Online, with quite a few unique touches thrown in. Overall, there’s very little you won’t find here, although we would like to see auto-categorization of transactions.
Other than that, we love what Zoho Books has to offer, which is why we rated it 4.8/5 for its features.
| Zoho Books Features | Availability |
|---|---|
| Budgeting | |
| Tax Support | |
| Invoicing | |
| Estimates | |
| Client Portal | |
| Contact Management | |
| Expense Tracking | |
| Bank Reconciliation | |
| Chart Of Accounts | |
| Accounts Payable | |
| Inventory | |
| Time Tracking | |
| Project Management | |
| Number Of Reports | 75+ |
| Number Of Integrations | 40+ |
Here’s an overview of Zoho Books’ most notable features.
The Zoho Books dashboard is appealing and makes it easy to view your financial state. The dashboard features graphs for Total Receivables, Total Payables, Cash Flow, Income and Expenses, Your Top Expenses, Projects, and Bank and Credit Cards.
You can also change the color theme of your dashboard and main menu, which is a cool touch.
Zoho also offers a unique web tabs feature where you can embed URLs that your company often uses into the software for quick access on your Zoho dashboard.
Zoho Books’ invoicing and estimate features are hard to beat. Here’s what to expect:
Zoho Books has an easy-to-use contact management feature that allows you to:
Zoho is loaded with solid bookkeeping features. Here are the highlights:
Each Zoho Books plan offers a basic items list, but only the Elite Plan or higher offers full inventory capabilities. Standout features include:
Zoho Books has a great project management feature that allows you to:
| Customer Service4.8 |
|---|
| Personal Support 4.4 |
| Self-Service 5.0 |
Zoho Books offers excellent customer service. Not only are there plenty of support options available, but customer service representatives are also informative and quick to help. The live chat reps are quick to respond, helpful, and refreshingly knowledgeable about the software (rather than just being salespeople).
| Zoho Books Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
To make your life even easier, nearly every support option can be accessed directly from within the software. It’s refreshing to see so many support options and such high-quality support — something you don’t always see with accounting software. For these reasons, we’ve given Zoho Books a solid 4.8/5 rating for customer service.
Here are all of the customer service options Zoho Books offers:
| User Reviews4.6 |
|---|
| User Feedback 5.0 |
| Review Site Aggregate 4.4 |
Zoho Books receives overwhelmingly positive reviews, earning 4.4/5 stars (based on 600+ reviews) on Software Advice, 4.5/5 (based on 280+ reviews) on G2, and 8.6/10 (based on 150+ reviews) on TrustRadius.
For the most part, Zoho Books customer reviews are positive. Still, there are a few things Zoho Books customers would like to see improved, including:
Here are a few reasons why people like the software so much:
Zoho Books takes strong security measures, including data encryption, two-factor authentication, and regular virus detection and prevention scanning. The company complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework.
Additional physical measures are taken to ensure data security, such as 24/7/365 surveillance, video monitoring, and bullet-resistant walls. Zoho Books backs up data regularly onto multiple servers in undisclosed locations.
Zoho Books is one of the best accounting platforms for smaller businesses that just need a basic feature set. If you have strong invoicing needs, ZohoBooks should probably be at or near the top of your list. But other good accounting programs can compete.
| Zoho Books | QuickBooks Online | Wave | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0-$275/month | $35-$235/month | $0-$16/month |
| Business Size | Small to mid-sized businesses | Small to mid-sized businesses | Small businesses |
| Number Of Users | 1-15 | Up to 25 | Unlimited |
| Accounting Method | Accrual and cash-based | Accrual and cash-based | Accrual and cash-based |
| Quality Of Features | Excellent | Excellent | Good |
| Quality Of Support | Good | Fair | Fair |
Zoho Books has carved out a niche as an alternative to accounting behemoth QuickBooks. Zoho Books provides more cost-effective accounting software with a great mobile app and good customer support, while QBO has a more advanced feature set — which comes at a price.
If you’re looking to save even more money on your accounting, Wave may be worth considering. Wave offers free software for its basic plan and has an exceptionally intuitive interface. Zoho stands out with its mobile app and its more advanced feature set.
But if you just want free accounting and don’t need many add-ons, Wave is worth a look.
| Zoho Books Review Summary | |
|---|---|
| Accounting Method | Accrual & Cash Basis |
| Pricing Range | $0-$275/month |
| Pricing Range | $0-$275/month |
| Choose If You Need |
|
Zoho Books is accounting software that is loaded with features at a fraction of the cost of its competitors. Zoho Books is easy to use and includes everything you need to balance your business’s books. Zoho Books is extremely impressive — earning it an overall rating of 4.7/5 for this review.
Features such as auto-scheduling invoices, reporting tags, and inventory put Zoho Books on par with QuickBooks Online. Several unique touches are hard to beat, including a client portal and the ability to send invoices in 13 languages. Add in great customer support, and it’s no wonder Zoho Books is such a hit with small businesses.
Give the software a try by signing up for its forever-free plan or sign up for a free trial to test drive the features of Zoho Books’ paid plans before committing.
While Zoho Books is a solid choice for small to medium businesses, another option may be right for you if you want more affordable software, don’t need as many features, or have a larger business. If you’re still shopping around, check out our picks for best accounting software to find a more suitable option for your business.
We spend hours researching and evaluating each accounting software system we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our ratings.
When rating accounting and invoicing software, we use a 47-point rubric that looks at pricing, ease of use, features, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating.
Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we examine specific attributes like relative cost, number of subscription tiers, data import, invoicing tools, quotes and estimates, client portal availability, bookkeeping support options, and the usability of the software interface. We also ensure that the software offers most standard accounting features and reports, awarding higher rankings to those that provide advanced services, like tax filing.
Read more about how we rate accounting software.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Zoho Books |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Zoho Books for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
Zoho Books |
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Zoho Books for yourself.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
Our team of experts spends hours on every review so that we can find the best companies to recommend to our readers. Zoho Books made the cut.
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