Best Accounting Software for Invoicing
Every small business owner has probably struggled at one point or another with creating invoices by hand or with spreadsheets. Trading in those dreaded Excel sheets for invoicing software can be a lifesaver, but not in every case. Invoicing software simply doesn’t have the accounting capabilities needed to manage your business’s finances.
If invoicing is a key component of your business, how do you know which accounting software is best?
That question is exactly why we’ve created the Best Accounting Software series. We’ve researched, tested, and compared dozens of programs to bring you the best programs to fit your business’s size and needs.
In this post, we’ll discuss our pick for the best accounting software for invoicing: Zoho Books.
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|---|---|---|
Offers some of the best invoicing and mobile apps on the market at an affordable cost | ||
Read on to see if Zoho Books is right for your business or take a look at the other top contenders in this series.
Best Accounting Software
| Best for | Software |
|---|---|
| Small Businesses | QuickBooks Online |
| Medium to Large Businesses | Xero |
| Free | Wave |
| Invoicing | Zoho Books |
| Accountants | QuickBooks Pro |
Table of Contents
Zoho Books: Best Accounting Software For Invoicing
Zoho Books is an easy to use cloud-based accounting program that gives even QuickBooks a run for its money.
The software offers strong accounting, ample features, and — of course — unbeatable invoicing.
The reason we love Zoho Books so much is that the software offers numerous, attractive invoice templates and time-saving invoicing automations like recurring invoices and autoscheduling. You can even create invoices in over a dozen different languages.
This accounting app is ideal for small businesses in need of strong invoicing and international businesses. As cloud-based software, Zoho Books is compatible with nearly any computer, and the company offers strong, full-featured mobile apps so you can easily send invoices and run your business on the go.
To top it all off, the software is incredibly affordable with plans ranging from $9 – $29/month. With Zoho Books you get almost all of the features of QuickBooks Online, plus an even greater level of invoicing, all for half the cost. Continue reading as we break down the pros and cons of this accounting software option.
Pros
Of course, invoicing isn’t the only thing we like about Zoho. So here are some other high points about this software.
- Easy to use
- Beautiful UI
- Competitive pricing
- Saves time with automations
- Updated often (a sign of a good, stable company)
- Full-featured mobile apps
- Good customer service
- Ample features
Cons
There are few drawbacks to Zoho Books, mostly for mid-large sized businesses in need of slightly more comprehensive features.
- No payroll
- No job-costing
- Downtime and outages (I never experience these, but this is a common complaint from users)
- Limited integrations (Zoho Books offers 25 integrations including 11 payment gateways)
Features
Zoho Books offers an incredible number of features. In terms of accounting, you’ll find a customizable chart of accounts, accounts payable, bank reconciliation, journal entries, and basic reporting.
Invoicing is where the software shines. Zoho Books offers 15 modern invoice templates that are highly customizable to fit your business’s needs and brand. You can save time by sending recurring invoices or autoscheduling invoices to be sent out at a later set time. You can easily add discounts, shipping charges, and attachments to invoices as well as any custom fields.
What makes Zoho Books’ invoicing especially unique is that you can send invoices in three different languages and you can encrypt invoice .pdfs for additional security. Zoho Books also has a nice client portal where customers can view and pay their invoices directly online. You can create default email messages to be sent with your invoices to save even more time.
In addition to invoicing, Zoho Books offers:
- Contact management
- Expense tracking
- Estimates
- Inventory
- Project management
- Time tracking
- Tax support
- Multiple currencies
Read our full Zoho Books review for details on these features.
Pricing
Zoho Books has three pricing plans ranging from $9 – $29/month. Each plan comes with unlimited invoices and estimates. The larger the plan, the more contacts and advanced features you have access to.
The only extra fees you may encounter are additional costs for more than nine users.
| ||
|---|---|---|
Offers some of the best invoicing and mobile apps on the market at an affordable cost | ||
Is Zoho Books Right for Me?
Zoho Books is often underrated. It might not be as well known as Xero and QuickBooks, but it offers an incredibly beautiful UI, ample automations, and great invoicing options. The software is ideal for small businesses that rely heavily on invoicing. While it doesn’t have many integrations, the software does offer a Zapier integration that connects Zoho Books to 1000+ add-ons. If your company does a lot of invoicing, do yourself a favor and get Zoho Books. It saves valuable time and can make your invoices — and in turn, your company — look more professional.
But how does Zoho Books stack up to the competition?
Zoho Books is great if you want software that is a little more capable that Wave, but a little less complex (and much more affordable and easy to use) than QuickBooks Online or Xero. Zoho Books is not a good fit for mid- to large-sized businesses or business looking for a payroll add-on.
To see if Zoho Books is a good choice for you, read our full review and utilize the free trial.
Before Choosing Accounting Software…
Before deciding whether an accounting software is right for you, make sure you know what you need. Ask yourself:
- Which features do I need to run my business?
- What is my current accounting process, and how could accounting software help me streamline these processes?
- What size is my business? How many users do I need? Do I plan on needing additional users in the future?
- How much money do I have to spend on accounting software?
These questions will help you pinpoint your business’s needs so you can better search for the perfect accounting software.
Before buying anything, it is also incredibly important to do your research. Almost any good cloud-based software offers a free trial. Test the software for yourself and check out what other customers have to say about it. A great place to start your research is by checking out our comprehensive accounting reviews where we cover details on pricing, features, customer support, customer reviews, security, and more.
One last thing to keep in mind: when you find an option you like, many software choices have regular discounts or referral programs, so be sure to take advantage of these before buying.
Need More Help Deciding?
If you aren’t sold on Zoho Books, or simply want to explore all of your options, see how Zoho Books compares to our other top accounting solutions in the chart below. If you don’t know what to look for or how to pick a favorite, head on over to our How to Choose Accounting Software guide for a few tips and tricks or see additional posts in this blog series:
- Best Accounting Software for Small Businesses
- Best Accounting Software for Larger Businesses
- Best Accounting Software for Accountants
- Best Accounting Software for Invoicing
Here Merchant Maverick, we wish you the best of luck in finding the best software for you. Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have, and let us know which accounting software is a perfect fit for your business in the comments below.
| Column-Heading | QuickBooks Online | Xero | Wave | Zoho Books | QuickBooks Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $20 - $150/month | $9 - $60/month | Free | $9 - $29/month | $299.95 |
| Customer Support | Fair | Poor | Good | Very Good | Poor |
| Ease of Use | Moderate | Moderate | Very Easy | Very Easy | Difficult |
| Accounting Method | Cash and Accrual | Cash and Accrual | Cash and Accrual | Cash and Accrual | Cash and Accrual |
| Cloud-Based or Installed | Cloud-Based | Cloud-Based | Cloud-Based | Cloud-Based | Installed |
| ReviewVisit | ReviewVisit | ReviewVisit | ReviewVisit | ReviewVisit |
Chelsea Krause
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Thanks for the great primer on Zoho.
Would you know if any NPO friendly fund accounting cloud based accounting system? I have been told to use the categories as funds in QBO as a work-around…
Any better recommendations or suggestions?
Hi there!
You’ve got quite a few options. You can use QuickBooks Online, although it will take some working around to meet your nonprofit needs. You could use QuickBooks Online and a nonprofit integration (here’s an article on the best QBO nonprofit integrations). You could use QuickBooks Desktop Premier which has a nonprofit version if you’re wanting to stick with an Intuit product. Or, what I would recommend is taking a look at this post on the best nonprofit accounting software. These options are designed specifically to meet the needs of nonprofits and many include built-in fund accounting.
I hope this helps! Best of luck to you and your organization.
-Chelsea Krause