Zoho Books VS QuickBooks Online
| Zoho Books | VS | QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|---|
Tie | Accounting | Tie |
Features | ✓ | |
✓ | Pricing | |
✓ | Hardware & Software Requirements | |
User Permissions | ✓ | |
✓ | Ease of Use | |
✓ | Mobile Apps | |
✓ | Customer Service & Support | |
Negative Reviews & Complaints | ✓ | |
✓ | Positive Reviews & Testimonials | |
Integrations | ✓ | |
Tie | Security | Tie |
? | Final Verdict | ? |
We all love a good underdog story. But when underdog Zoho Books takes on one of the biggest names in accounting, QuickBooks Online, can this lesser-known software give QBO a run for its money? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out.
Redesigned and relaunched in 2014, Zoho Books continues to only get better. The software offers ample features, the most beautiful invoicing out there (including the ability to send invoices in multiple languages), excellent customer service, and strong mobile apps.
QuickBooks Online has been around since 2004. With advanced accounting, an impressive feature set, almost 280 integrations, and a brand new lending feature, it’s easy to see why QuickBooks Online is so popular.
But which accounting software is better, Zoho Books or QuickBooks?
At Merchant Maverick, our goal is to help you to find the best software for your small business needs. To make your decision easier, we’ve carefully researched and tested both products. We’ll compare Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online (QBO) based on features, pricing, customer experience, reputation, and more, so you don’t have to.
Don’t have time to read the whole post? Or looking for a different accounting option? Check out our top-rated accounting solutions to see our favorite recommendations.
Table of Contents
Accounting
Winner: Tie
Both Zoho Books and QuickBooks offer strong accounting. Each uses double-entry accounting and supports both accrual and cash-basis accounting. In terms of accounting features, both offer a customizable chart of accounts, ample reports, journal entries, and bank reconciliation.
Features
Winner: QuickBooks Online
| Zoho Books | Features | QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|---|
✓ | Invoicing | ✓ |
✓ | Multiple Invoice Languages | ✘ |
✓ | Estimates | ✓ |
✓ | Expense Tracking | ✓ |
✓ | Bank Reconciliation | ✓ |
✓ | Chart Of Accounts | ✓ |
✓ | Fixed Asset Management | ✓ |
✘ | Depreciation | ✓ |
✓ | Contact Management | ✓ |
✓ | Accounts Payable | ✓ |
✓ | Time Tracking | ✓ |
✓ | Project Management | ✓ |
✓ | Inventory | ✓ |
✓ | Reports | ✓ |
✓ | Tracking Categories | ✓ |
✘ | Budgeting | ✓ |
✓ | Print Checks | ✓ |
✓ | Multi-Currency Support | ✓ |
✓ | Sales Tax | ✓ |
✓ | Tax Support | ✓ |
✓ | Importing & Exporting | ✓ |
✘ | Lending | ✓ |
Note: Feature availability varies by pricing plan.
Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online are mostly on par in terms of features. Each offers beautiful invoicing templates and invoicing automation, as well as inventory, contact management, expense tracking, accounts payable, and project management. While Zoho Books puts up a great effort, QuickBooks Online edges out the competition — but just barely.
QuickBooks Online offers several features that Zoho doesn’t, including budgeting and small business lending. In addition, QuickBooks Online has a much more developed time tracking feature and more tax support. QuickBooks Online gives users the option to add payroll to their software (for an extra cost), whereas Zoho Books has no payroll support.
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One place where Zoho Books actually trumps QuickBooks is international invoicing. QuickBooks doesn’t allow you to send invoices in multiple languages whereas Zoho Books does. However, this unique touch isn’t enough to make up for the lack of budgeting and limited time tracking.
Pricing
Winner: Zoho Books
QuickBooks Online offers three pricing plans ranging from $15 – $50/month, with payroll support costing an extra $39 – $99/month (plus $2/month per employee). Zoho Books offers three pricing plans as well ranging from $9 – $29/month.
Zoho Books takes the cake as far a pricing goes, especially considering that you get nearly all of the same features as QuickBooks Online for almost half the cost.
Hardware & Software Requirements
Winner: Zoho Books
As cloud-based software, QuickBooks Online works with nearly any device so long as you have an internet connection and are using one of the following browsers:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Internet Explorer 10+
- Safari 6.1+
Similarly, Zoho Books is also cloud-based and compatible with nearly any device and works with these browsers:
- Internet Explorer
- Mozilla Firefox
- Safari
- Google Chrome
- Opera
Both also offer mobile apps available for Apple products and Androids, although Zoho takes it up a level by offering mobile apps for Microsoft phones and Kindles as well. This, along with supporting Opera, is why Zoho Books wins in terms of hardware and software requirements.
Users & Permissions
Winner: QuickBooks Online
Zoho Books’ largest plan offers 9 users plus one accountant; QuickBooks Online’s largest plan offers 5 users plus two accountants. Additional users can be added to each plan.
Zoho Books offers very limited users permissions, making QuickBooks Online the clear winner here. With QuickBooks Online you can set multiple user roles and control each user’s access to certain features. Because of this important distinction, QBO wins this category despite offering few users.
Ease Of Use
Winner: Zoho Books
Both Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online are relatively easy to use. Both have modern UIs that are well-organized and easy to learn. However, each software suffers from the occasional navigational difficulty. That being said, Zoho Books has far better customer support and fewer bugs and glitches making it easier to learn and navigate.
Mobile Apps
Winner: Zoho Books
Both Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online offer strong mobile apps. Zoho Books receives 4.8/5 stars on iTunes and 4.5/5 stars on the Google Play Store. QuickBooks Online receives 4.7/5 stars on iTunes and 4.3/5 stars on the Google Play Store.
While both company’s apps are fairly close in ratings, Zoho Books’ mobile apps are full-featured and compatible with Microsoft phones and Kindles in addition to iPhone and Androids, making it the winner here.
Customer Service & Support
Winner: Zoho Books
Zoho Books has the better customer support by far. In my experience, representatives respond quickly to emails and I have hardly ever been put on hold when calling their support team. Representatives are generally kind and informative. Additionally, Zoho Books has a well-developed knowledge base with tons of articles, videos, guides, and more — and it all can be accessed directly from within the software to boot.
In the past, QuickBooks Online had notoriously poor customer support and extremely long phone wait times. While the company has been remedying this over the last year or so, QBO still has a ways to go if they want to top Zoho Books in the customer service arena.
Negative Reviews & Complaints
Winner: QuickBooks Online
This is one category QuickBooks Online should not want to win. QuickBooks Online has received many complaints. Most complaints revolve around poor customer service experiences, bugs, limited apps, and even a few unauthorized charges.
Zoho Books, on the other hand, has received far fewer customer complaints (granted Zoho Books has far fewer customer reviews in general, but the ratio of negative to positive reviews is smaller). The complaints that do exist revolve around the lack of payroll and limited integrations.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
Winner: Zoho Books
While QuickBooks Online has a higher number of positive reviews overall, Zoho Books has a higher percentage of positive reviews, which is why it wins this category. Zoho Books receives 4.5/5 stars on Capterra and 4.6/5 stars on G2Crowd. Users love that the software is easy to use, affordable, and updated frequently. They also like the mobile apps.
Integrations
Winner: QuickBooks Online
There’s no question here. QuickBooks Online offers around 280 integrations as opposed to Zoho Books’ 33.
Security
Winner: Tie
Both Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online implement strong security measures. Each uses data encryption, redundancy, routing testing, and physical security measures to protect their data centers.
To learn more about cloud security read our posts Is My Accounting Safe In The Cloud? and What Is SSL? A First Look At Online Security.
And The Winner Is…
Zoho Books definitely gives QBO a run for its money. However, there a few areas where QuickBooks Online beats out its opponent. QuickBooks Online offers more integrations, more advanced features, better tax support, and payroll. The lack of payroll, or any payroll integrations, seriously rules Zoho Books as an option for many businesses, solidifying QuickBooks Online’s place as the winner.
QuickBooks Online is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses in need of strong accounting, so much so that we’ve named it the Best Accounting Software for Small Businesses. The software offers strong accounting, decent mobile apps, ample integrations, and beautiful invoicing. QuickBooks Online also has a unique new lending feature, QuickBooks Capital, so you can potentially have your small business accounting and financing all in one place.
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However, just because we named QuickBooks Online the winner, doesn’t mean that Zoho Books isn’t the better choice for your business. Zoho Books is ideal for small businesses looking for an easy-to-use accounting software with strong mobile apps and plenty of features. It’s also a great choice if you need international invoicing. If you don’t require payroll or budgeting, you could save a chunk of change by going with Zoho Books instead of QuickBooks — plus, you’ll get much better customer support.
Or, maybe after reading this post, neither option seems right for you. Don’t worry! Our comprehensive accounting software reviews can help you find the perfect bookkeeping solution for your business. If you need extra help deciding, read our Complete Guide To Choose Online Accounting Software.
Check out our full Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online reviews for more information. Be sure to take advantage of the free trials each software provides and feel free to reach out with any questions you might have.
Chelsea Krause
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