Free Accounting Software For Small Business

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Free Accounting Software For Small Business Rating: 6,8/10 8550 reviews
  1. Apr 29, 2019  Free small business accounting software that meets all of the needs of a small business is difficult to find. We compared over a dozen solid options and selected the six best free accounting software. The ability to track all income and expenses and give other users access are key features that should be included.
  2. GnuCash is the best free accounting software for businesses that want an open source accounting software that you can customize to meet your needs. For example, if you need a report that is not in the list of report options, you can build it from scratch in GnuCash because a programmer or developer can change the code behind the scenes.
Best free accounting software

Read on for our detailed analysis of each app

Accounting software is a necessity when trying to run your own business, and the sooner you implement a good solution the better. Otherwise you can find yourself struggling through piles of receipts while hurtling toward a tax deadline.

Wave is best for businesses that are on a tight budget because it’s free. It is the best free small business accounting software overall. In fact, Wave meets seven out of the eight criteria listed above. The one area where it falls short is the inability to track and pay vendor bills. Wave Pricing.

If you're not sure which accounting software to use then there are free options available, so you don't have to commit to something you may find difficult to use. Free accounting software will at least get you used to using various features so you have a better idea of what you're doing, and what you need.

It is such a good idea to have something in place and organized at the start of your business for managing your accounts, and if you have to change later you can usually export the data into whichever program you decide to switch to.

In the meantime, here we'll feature the best in free accounting software to get you started on your journey.


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1. ZipBooks

Modern interface
Advanced features bundled into paid tiers

ZipBooks offers accounting software that has a contemporary interface along with a robust feature set. It promises to make accounting easy so the user can save time, and get on with other tasks.

The Starter tier is available for free. It provides unlimited invoices to an unlimited number of customers, making it less restrictive than some other free accounting offerings. It can also be used for unlimited bookkeeping, and can accept payments from credit cards and PayPal.

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Paid tiers begins at $15 (£12) per month, and includes most of the features you'll ever need. However, if you need really advanced ones such as smart tagging, with advanced reporting and intelligence, it will cost $35 (£30) per month.

2. Money Manager Ex

Straightforward enough for home use, as well as small businesses

Impressively user-friendly
Can be used straight from a USB stick

Another superb open source tool, Money Manager Ex is well designed and packed with enough features to rival premium software. It's easy to understand, and you'll have your accounts and transactions set up in no time. Money Manager Ex's simplicity makes it a particularly good choice for sole traders or your own home finances.

This free accounting software is a portable app, so you can save and use it straight from a USB stick without even needing to install it. There's an Android app for updating your accounts on the move, too.

3. GnuCash

Hugely flexible software
Handles multiple currencies

GnuCash is accounting software designed for individuals and small businesses, and was initially conceived as an open source alternative to apps such as Intuit's Quicken.

This app has been around since the late 1990s, and the most recent version is GnuCash 3.4. It's available for Linux, GNU, OpenBSD, Android, macOS and Windows.

It handles invoicing and credit notes, accounts payable and receivable, employee expenses and some payroll features too, and it's quite happy with multiple currencies, cards and accounts. Its sheer flexibility makes it our top choice when it comes to accounting software for kitchen table businesses.

4. TurboCASH

A heftier accounting tool that will suit owners of SMBs

Big online community

TurboCASH is free accounting software that's been in continuous development since April 1985, and it's hugely popular in Europe, the US, Canada and Australia. It's available in 23 languages and boasts an online community of more than 100,000 users.

Designed for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), it's probably a bit much for freelancers or sole traders, but if you need something a bit more useful than a cash book TurboCASH can handle VAT, debtors and creditors, purchase orders, multiple companies and multiple users.

While TurboCASH is free and covers most of the basics needed with accounting software, there's a paid-for version available as an upgrade which provides more advanced features. This paid-for version allows for it be to run from the cloud, as well as providing budgets, payroll, PDF reports, and a ledger analyzer among other things.

5. Wave

Slick, cloud-based free accounting that works well for freelancers

Nicely designed and put together

With more than two million users, Wave is one of the most successful online accounting services - and it's completely free for accounting, invoicing and receipts, although if you want personal technical support you'll need to pay for it. Payroll isn't included in the free service either, and you do get the occasional advert – just as you do with pretty much any free online service.

It's a very well designed and carefully thought out application, and while it's probably a little basic for medium-sized businesses it's a good option for sole traders, freelancers and small firms.

However, note that while Wave is free to use, you still pay per transaction, currently between 1.4%-2.9% plus a fee of around $0.25. For start-ups and businesses with low sales volume this may not matter, but for businesses with significant sales volume they may be able to find a more competitive pricing model.

Free Accounting Software For Small Business In Uae

6. NCH Express Invoice

Generate forms, invoices, quotes and orders in moments

Useful range of reports

With versions for PC, Mac, iPad and Android, NCH Express Invoice caters for most kinds of businesses - and if you have fewer than five members of staff, you can have it for free without time limits or other restrictions.

It's designed to create invoices, quotes and orders easily, to automate recurring ones and to send them by email or fax, and there's a decent range of reports to pore over. The free accounting software is really just a front-end for a web-based service, but that's no bad thing unless your business struggles to get a decent internet connection.

7. VT Cash Book

Minimalist bookkeeping that uses Excel for the grunt work

Can be used to prepare VAT returns

It's not going to win any awards for aesthetics, but VT Cash Book isn't there to look good: its priority is to record day to day cash transactions with the least amount of fuss. It uses Autocomplete to speed up data entry, supports multiple bank accounts and bank reconciliation, can be used to prepare VAT returns and enables you to create profit and loss, balance sheets and ledgers.

The free accounting software installs alongside its companion program, the paid-for VT Transaction+, but you don't need to buy the latter to use the former.

8. Invoice Expert Lite Edition

A good option for anyone selling physical products

Handles invoicing and quoting

The free (Lite) version of Invoice Expert is limited to 100 customers/products, but it retains the features of the paid-for Advanced Edition – which retails at $69.95 (about £55) – including inventory and customer management, invoicing and quoting, purchase orders and inventory management.

This free accounting software is a little bit intimidating at first glance, especially in the template-editing screens, but it's straightforward enough. It's an American program but it uses your Windows location to set the currency, so it should adjust itself accordingly for those outside the US.

9. Adminsoft Accounts

A complete money-management toolkit for small business owners

Handles stock control and more

Adminsoft Accounts is a software accounting package that's powered by advertising to generate revenue, making it free to download and use. According to the website, more than 300,00 people have taken advantage of what is a surprisingly thorough free accounting system (and an refreshingly honest set of terms and conditions).

It can handle not just invoicing and statements but remittance advice, stock control, purchase orders, budgeting and some HR functions too. It's a UK program so the default is pounds sterling, but it works happily in other currencies too.

There is a paid-for version you can buy to run the software without advertising, with pricing starting at $259 (£199) for the main accounting software platform, with a slightly higher cost if you also want to include AutoManager or Shop/Cafe Manager.

10. QuickFile

Free small business accounting in the cloud – no desktop software needed

Supports multiple currencies

Designed specifically for non-accountants, QuickFile offers multiple free tiers for small businesses while still delivering automatic invoicing, purchase/receipt management, quotations and multi-currency support. Add in a fully branded client area, and this makes for a professional solution at a hard to beat price.

It’s cloud-based rather than a software download, and if you like the free version you can upgrade to an ad-free, more advanced version with bulk invoicing, revision history and a host of power user features for a modest fee of $58/£45 annually.

  • You can get QuickFile here

Free Bookkeeping Programs To Download

  • Need something a bit more complex? Try one of these best accounting software packages