12 Best Simple Accounting Software for Small Business in 2026, Compared

Wave is the simplest way to start keeping real books for $0: Starter is a full double-entry ledger with unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, and no revenue cap to outgrow. There is no trial clock and no card on file — the free plan is the product, not a teaser.

The catch is manual work. Starter has no automatic bank feed, so every transaction is typed in or uploaded by hand, and that gets old fast past fifty transactions a month. Pro costs $19 a month, or $190 a year, and adds automatic bank imports, receipt scanning, unlimited users and payment reminders. Start on Wave when the budget is $0 and the business is small; pay for Pro the month manual entry starts costing you evenings.

Zoho Books is the value pick because the free plan is a real ledger: full double-entry accounting, invoicing and bank reconciliation at $0 while annual revenue stays under $50,000. Standard costs $20 a month, or $15 billed annually, for 3 users and 5,000 invoices a year, and Professional costs $50 and adds multi-currency, inventory and project billing.

The ceilings are the thing to check. The free plan stops at 1,000 invoices a year, extra users cost $3 a month each, and there is no payroll module on any Zoho Books plan — payroll is a separate Zoho product. Accountants also recommend it less often than QuickBooks Online or Xero. Choose Zoho Books when the budget matters most and you already live in the Zoho ecosystem, or when the free plan covers your first year.

ZipBooks keeps the choice simple: a free Starter plan with unlimited invoicing, then two paid plans at $15 and $35 a month, billed monthly with no annual prepay. Smarter costs $15 a month and adds recurring invoices with auto-bill, payment reminders, time tracking, several bank accounts and up to 5 team members — the two features a growing freelancer asks for first.

The limits are the screen, not the ledger. ZipBooks has no mobile app, so invoicing on the go means the phone browser, and there is no inventory tracking on any plan. The free plan also connects a single bank account. Pick ZipBooks when you want free invoicing now, time tracking for $15, and no annual commitment to think about.

FreshBooks is built for service businesses that bill for time: invoicing, estimates, expenses and time tracking sit at the front, and the accounting sits behind them. Lite costs $23 a month and covers 5 billable clients; Plus costs $43 for 50 clients and adds double-entry reports, bank reconciliation and free accountant access; Premium costs $70 and removes the client cap entirely.

What decides the bill is the client count, not the feature list. The sixth billable client moves you from Lite to Plus, and each extra team member adds $11 a month, so a small team on Plus pays more than $43. There is no inventory tracking and no free plan — only a 30-day trial. Choose FreshBooks when the work is billing hours; choose a fuller ledger when the business sells stock or needs deeper reports.

QuickBooks Online is the safe default in this list: the ledger most American accountants already work in, so finding help is easy, and one subscription covers invoicing, bills, bank feeds and reports. Simple Start is $38 a month for one user; the price rises with headcount, not features — Essentials is $85 for three users, Plus is $140 for five, and Advanced is $340 for 25.

The cost to watch is the renewal history. Intuit raised the three upper plans for renewals from August 1, 2026, and the user caps push a growing team into the next tier sooner than features alone would. Payroll is a separate add-on on every plan, and the only free tier is limited QuickBooks Free. Pick it for the standard your accountant already knows; pick Xero when per-seat pricing is the deal-breaker.

Xero keeps the maths simple: one flat monthly price per plan, and as many users as you like on every tier. Early is $27 a month and covers quotes, 20 invoices and 5 bills a month, with bank reconciliation and Hubdoc receipt capture included. Growing is $59 and lifts the invoice and bill caps; Established is $97 and adds multi-currency, projects and expense claims.

Early's caps are the catch. Most active businesses pass 20 invoices a month quickly, so Growing at $59 is the realistic starting price for many, and there is no annual billing discount to soften it. US payroll runs through Gusto at $36 a month plus $6 per person. Choose Xero when several people touch the books and you will not pay per seat.

Sage Accounting is the plain ledger from a vendor that has sold accounting software since 1981. Start costs $10 a month for the first 6 months, then $20, and covers one user with unlimited sales invoices, expense tracking, sales tax and live bank feeds — but only on a cash basis. The full Accounting plan costs $25 a month and adds inventory, unlimited users, accounts payable, cash-flow forecasts and accrual accounting.

The trade-offs are the single user and the promo clock. Start covers one person, so a bookkeeper or partner needs the $25 plan, and the $10 price ends after 6 months. US payroll is not built in. Pick Sage Accounting when you want a simple one-user ledger from an established name and the $10 start beats learning a new system.

FreeAgent sells one plan and nothing else: $10 a month for the first 6 months, then $20, with every feature included and no tiers to compare. Invoicing, automated bank feeds, expense management, project tracking, sales tax reporting and multi-currency invoicing all come in the single price, and the plan covers the whole company rather than charging per user.

The simplicity has edges. The $10 price ends after 6 months, there is no payroll management in the US plan, and reviewers note the reports are less customizable than the bigger suites. FreeAgent is also free for as long as you hold an eligible NatWest Group business account. Pick it when you want one price, one plan, and no upgrade decisions.

LessAccounting is built around one idea: proposals should become invoices with a single click. The free plan covers unlimited invoicing and nothing else, Lite costs $24 a month and adds automated bank imports, recurring invoices, mileage, budgets and the ability to invite your CPA, and Team costs $36 a month for growing businesses. A 30-day free trial needs no credit card.

The feature set is deliberately small. There is no payroll processing and no bill-pay or vendor management, so a business that needs those will outgrow it. Lite also costs more than Wave Pro and Zoho Books Standard while offering less. Choose LessAccounting when the job is quoting, invoicing and getting paid — and you would rather have fewer features than a busier screen.

Patriot Accounting is the plainest US ledger here: two flat-priced plans and no caps to trip over. Basic is $20 a month for unlimited customers, invoices, vendors and bills, with automatic bank imports and 1099 creation included. Premium is $30 and adds unlimited users with permissions, recurring invoices, payment reminders, estimates and receipt capture.

The limits are about scope, not price. Basic covers one user, so a team needs Premium; there is no inventory tracking, and the integration list is far shorter than QuickBooks Online or Xero. Payroll comes from the same company as a separate product, which suits US businesses that want accounting and pay under one login. Pick Patriot when your needs are straightforward and the budget is tight.

Kashoo keeps the decision to one line: a single plan at $30 a month, or $324 a year, with every feature and unlimited users included. Invoicing, expenses, bank feeds, project cost tracking and reporting all come in that price, and the screens are built for an owner with no accounting background — no tiers to compare, no upgrade to be pushed into.

The edges are the missing pieces. There is no inventory tracking, no time tracking and no workflow automation, the integration list is the shortest in this list, and US payroll is not offered — the payroll integration serves Canada only. Pick Kashoo for one flat price and a simple ledger; pick Xero or QuickBooks Online when the business needs inventory, payroll or a deep marketplace.

Akaunting is the only open-source ledger here: the self-hosted version is free, with invoicing, bills, expenses and bank reconciliation included and no caps on users or invoices. Standard Cloud costs $12 a month for the same software hosted by Akaunting, with Premium at $36, Elite at $84 and a top tier at $218 for larger teams.

Free means self-hosted, so you handle the server, updates and backups — or pay the $12 a month to skip that work. Some features, including certain bank connections, arrive through paid apps, and support on the free version is community-led. Pick Akaunting when you want a $0 ledger and do not mind running it yourself, or a $12 cloud plan that stays cheap.