15 Best Bookkeeping Software Examples for 2024

Small businesses deal with monitoring accounts payable and accounts receivable, tracking cash flow, and preparing for tax season. However, using spreadsheets to handle bookkeeping processes is no longer ideal. To a certain extent, it is error-prone, frustrating, and labor-intensive.

A cloud-based bookkeeping software is here to save the day, reducing the time spent on data entry and minimizing errors that could bring negative effects to your business’ financial status. Discussed in this article are the best bookkeeping software examples for small businesses. We also focused on their top features, pricing packages, and other noteworthy strengths.

More than 90% of global businesses are small businesses, and bookkeeping is one of the most usual difficult tasks they have to deal with on a regular basis. Many small business owners also find it hard to juggle it with their operations.

But accurate financial documentation is crucial to the success of every business. Failing to do so may result in serious problems or put you in a bad light with the IRS. It could also ruin your business plans and goals. Despite the importance of efficient accounting and bookkeeping processes, though, research revealed that only 20% of small businesses hire employees to focus on these tasks.

To keep your business thriving and resilient, invest in a trustworthy bookkeeping software. These days, bookkeeping tools come in droves, so you shouldn’t have trouble choosing a system that fits your needs. Many bookkeeping systems offer simpler features for SMBs, while others have more comprehensive financial capabilities that accommodate rapid business growth and enable scalability.

Continue reading to find out what factors you should take note of when looking for bookkeeping software. We’ve listed down 15 bookkeeping software examples to consider for your business.

Bookkeeping Software Examples for 2022

1. FreshBooks

Award-winning accounting platform FreshBooks serves as a great example of what bookkeeping programs can do. The software comes with a comprehensive list of features to help businesses take care of nearly every aspect of their finances. Among others, these features include accounting, expense tracking, payment processing, invoicing, and even time tracking and project management.

For instance, FreshBooks also brings automation to important bookkeeping tasks such as expense tracking and invoicing. Business owners can connect their bank accounts to FreshBooks so the software can automatically log expenses. In turn, users can avoid the hassle of manual expense entry, which can be prone to errors. Likewise, the software makes invoicing easy through its built-in invoice generator. Payment reminders can be automated as well so business owners can focus on more important tasks.

FreshBooks

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FreshBooks also comes with various intuitive tools that streamline the process of double-entry accounting. One of the most important features of this software is that it makes it easier for users to identify revenue items and relevant expenses. As a result, business owners easily get an idea of their profits and losses.

Additionally, Freshbooks also runs automatic checks and balances, ensuring that all transactions are always reconciled. This makes tax season easier to navigate for small business owners. With all these features, it’s easy to see why FreshBooks leads the list of best cloud accounting software solutions today.

Price Range: FreshBooks is currently available in four paid plans: Lite ($6/month), Plus ($10/month), Premium ($20/month), and Select (custom pricing). Each paid plan comes with a free trial so you can find out if it fits your needs before you make an investment.

2. Netsuite ERP

Though it integrates a number of business management functions, Netsuite ERP offers a full range of features to streamline financial management. For instance, the platform comes with built-in capabilities for accounting, billing, and planning and budgeting. It can also help businesses in other financial aspects such as reporting and revenue recognition. With all these features, the software can help business owners organize all areas of their finances.

A core feature of NetSuite ERP, for instance, is that it also functions as an accounting tool. As such, the platform streamlines processes such as transaction recording, accounts payable and receivable, and tax reporting. Users get to avoid manual entry and minimize errors for tasks like creating journal entries and reconciling transactions. As a result of this automation, users can instead focus on identifying and analyzing trends in spending and payments.

NetSuite ERP

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Moreover, NetSuite ERP also comes with its own billing solution called SuiteBilling. SuiteBilling offers features for automating invoice generation and managing subscription lifecycles. This billing solution is designed to be flexible, with support for various consumption-based options and customer-specific rates. Users can also combine multiple charges into one invoice and auto-generate renewal invoices.

All these features help improve cash flow, which is especially crucial to businesses looking to get their finances in order.

Price Range: NetSuite ERP offers custom, enterprise pricing, so it’s best to contact the vendor for more specific information. Pricing depends on factors such as the number of users per month and modules chosen.

3. QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online offers accounting capabilities designed specifically for startups, small businesses, and independent bookkeepers. The software combines essential accounting features into one platform to make the process easier for SMBs. These features also include invoice customization, expense tracking, and financial and tax reporting.

For instance, one of the most important features of QuickBooks Online is that it helps businesses streamline invoice management. Through the software, users can create professional-looking invoices in seconds. Users can also include advanced invoice details such as discounts, payment terms, and custom payment schedules. The platform also allows progress invoicing based on different factors such as milestones and project status. Moreover, once invoices are sent, users get the ability to track invoice status in real-time.

In addition to invoicing, QuickBooks Online also helps business owners and entrepreneurs organize their finances. Users can connect their bank accounts, credit cards, PayPal accounts, and other financial accounts to QuickBooks Online. In turn, the software automatically imports and organizes expenses into categories. Users can also reclassify expenses or transactions in bulk if necessary.

For easier cash flow management, QuickBooks Online also seamlessly integrates with various POS systems. Moreover, the platform integrates bank feeds, which provide a full view of money coming in and going out of your bank accounts.

Price Range: QuickBooks Online comes at various price points, from $8 per month for the Simple Start plan to $17 per month for the Plus plan.

4. Sage Business Cloud Accounting

Sage Business Cloud Accounting comes with plenty of features to help businesses organize their bookkeeping tasks. For instance, a major feature of the platform is that it automates accounts receivable processes. This means the software allows users to automatically create and send invoices, track payments, and generate reports on metrics such as unpaid invoices. The software also helps business owners keep more accurate records, which ultimately provides better insights into cash flow.

Of course, Sage Business Cloud Accounting also brings automation to accounts payable workflows. The software keeps business owners updated so they always know exactly how much they owe and to whom they owe payments. To improve AP workflows, the software also offers features such as aged debtors reporting, credit limits, and credit term management. Users will also be able to organize suppliers through categories and tags.

Additionally, all these features come in an intuitive user interface. The platform comes with a centralized dashboard where you can view data such as your cash flow. From this dashboard, you can also generate reports on data such as your outstanding invoices and the amount you currently owe suppliers.

Aside from providing insights into your current financial status, the data also helps you make accurate forecasts and identify trends in your finances. You can easily share these reports with your team as well.

Price Range: Sage Business Cloud Accounting is currently available in a couple of paid pricing plans: Sage Accounting Start ($10 per month) and Sage Accounting ($7.50 per month). Both plans come with a free trial for interested users.

5. Tipalti Approve

Though primarily a procurement software, Tipalti Approve has various features that can streamline financial and bookkeeping workflows for businesses. For instance, the software helps users generate more efficient purchase request forms. These forms are designed to be intuitive and easy, so users can fill them out in minutes. You can also use dynamic fields to collect more accurate information on details such as the amount needed or the requesting department.

Likewise, Tipalti Approve also offers robust features for setting up approval workflows. With the software, you can base your approval workflows based on your organizational chart and quickly make changes to the flow when needed. Requests can be approved or rejected with notes. The software also comes with a consult feature so legal, finance, and IT teams can provide input when needed.

Aside from organizing purchase request and approval workflows, Tipalti Approve makes vendor management easier as well. Through the software, businesses can build a unified, searchable vendor database that provides the necessary business information. Onboarding vendors also becomes easier with webforms. This can help ensure that vendors are approved before they’re added to the list.

In addition, Tipalti Approve comes with built-in features for financial reporting. For instance, users can export lists of Purchases to get an overview of company spending.

Price Range: Tipalti Approve offers custom pricing for its different plans. These plans also include features for spend dashboards, vendor onboarding, and various third-party integrations.

6. AvidXchange

AvidXchange improves bookkeeping processes for businesses by automating various accounts payable workflows. The platform offers various modules to help businesses transition to automated AP processes. These four modules include invoice automation, bill payment automation, purchase order automation, and utility bill management.

AvidXchange automates invoice processing so businesses can go paperless while matching their current invoicing workflows. The software’s OCR technology also ensures that data is captured accurately and eliminates the problems caused by manual data entry. You can also create custom invoice approval workflows. Moreover, users will be able to check invoice status anytime, from any device.

Likewise, AvidXchange also serves as an automated bills payment software. Through the software, users can make secure payments to suppliers and vendors, thanks to the platform’s vast supplier network. You can set up custom workflows so you always have visibility into the approval process. Moreover, by going paperless, users also get to avoid costs associated with check printing and postage.

Lastly, the platform’s utility bill management module helps business owners keep a closer eye on utility spending. The software also does this through validation of start and end date continuity and detecting duplicate bills and charges.

Price Range: AvidXchange pricing is customized according to your business’ needs.

7. A2X

A2X is an ecommerce accounting system that works with a wide variety of sales channels, including Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify. The software works by directly integrating with ecommerce platforms to properly track and categorize each transaction. In this way, business owners don’t have to manually record and reconcile sales transactions.

Once connected to a sales channel, the software downloads transactional data and applies appropriate categories and transaction types. Transaction types supported include sales, fees, gift cards, and taxes for bank deposits. Users also have the option to map specific or all transactions into general ledger accounts. The transactional summaries created by A2X can also be used for bank reconciliation processes.

Using A2X, users can also create product groups, use advanced mapping or add categories to entries. These categories make it easier for users to generate customized reports and track certain transaction types. Once transactions are properly organized, A2X can also direct the data to bookkeeping software for bank reconciliation

For improved efficiency, A2X also offers bookkeeping solutions tailored specifically for Amazon and Shopify. Solutions for multichannel sellers are also available.

Price Range: A2X pricing is highly dependent on the solution you choose. For instance, a multichannel account costs $79 per month for a maximum of 1,000 orders.

8. Trolley

Trolley is a payment automation platform that can help improve bookkeeping workflows for businesses. Through the platform, businesses can also make payments to vendors and suppliers, sending mass payments to more than 200 countries and regions. The software also comes with robust security features to minimize risk and protect businesses against fraud.

Furthermore, Trolley streamlines payout processing for contractors, suppliers, and vendors. You can create payments manually or connect Trolley to your accounting software to import payment information. Users can set up customized payout approvals and automate these workflows. Moreover, approval rights can be assigned to individual users; these individuals are notified each time a payment requires their approval. Once payouts are sent, users have the ability to track transactions in real-time.

Moreover, Trolley offers various security features to help businesses keep their finances safe. Aside from customizable security management settings, the platform comes with end-to-end bank-level encryption. Vendors’ sensitive information, including bank account numbers and social security numbers, is tokenized for added security.,

Managers can also set appropriate roles and permission levels for each user to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information.

Price Range: Trolley comes in three paid pricing plans: the Grow Plan ($49 per month), the Platform Plan ($199 per month), and the Enterprise Plan (custom pricing). Even the most affordable plan lets businesses add unlimited users and send unlimited payments.

9. Docuphase

Docuphase works as accounting software for businesses of all sizes. The platform also brings automation to AP and AR workflows, helping business owners keep better track of their cash flow. Through the software, businesses can easily handle invoices and other financial documents.

Additionally, Docuphase lets users control the invoice lifecycle from start to finish. The software ensures that invoices are directed to the right approvers and sends email notices when invoices need your approval. Plus, automatic 3-way matching eliminates the need to search and manually match orders, receipts, and invoices. Best-in-class OCR technology also supports the software in properly identifying and capturing invoice data.

Docuphase also provides features for automating accounts receivable workflows. Clients can choose their preferred payment method, especially since the platform accepts a wide range of payment options. Users can even create a payment portal where customers can make payments.

Of course, Docuphase also comes with features to keep client payment data safe. These features include cloud-supported security protocols and fraud prevention tools as well.

Price Range: Docuphase comes in by-quote pricing that’s customized based on your business’ requirements.

10. Zoho Books

Zoho Books is among the first accounting products of a prominent software provider. For many small businesses, this is their go-to software when it comes to handling their finances and helping them manage their cash flow. This tool is simple and easy to use, guiding you to make data-based and smart business decisions.

Zoho Books lets you send invoices to customers and receive online payments from all of them in one location. It is a quick, robust, and convenient solution that helps you run your business’ finances and save more. Its features are cash flow statements, balance sheets, P&L, and so much more.

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Zoho Books has a smart design, boasts keen attention to detail, and a lot of helpful functions organized efficiently. Its dashboard always displays visual graphs and overviews of a company’s financial data. The rest of its features are arranged in the tabs for easy navigation as well.

Particularly created for small and growing businesses, Zoho Books is an affordable yet worthy bookkeeping software option.

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Price Range: Zoho Books pricing plans start from as low as $20 per organization per month. Try its free trial for 14 days.

Key Features of Zoho Books

• Zoho CRM-integrated. Its Zoho-CRM integration allows it to eliminate hindrances between sales and accounting teams. You can then use it to monitor credit statuses, make new orders, view product prices, and so on.
• Oversees stocks and inventory. Its inventory management feature helps you keep track and in control of orders and stocks in real-time. Making and sending purchase orders is efficiently fast, and inventory reports are created automatically.
• Supports several languages. Zoho Books can be used in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish German, Dutch, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Swedish.

11. Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense automates different operations related to expense management. It automatically converts receipts into expenses, then groups them together to help you make reports whenever necessary. Reporting only takes one click to be completed.

Zoho Expense can document expenses on the go and send finished reports both on traditional and modern devices. It also gets rid of all the confusion linked to spending limits and allowed expenditures, making sure that your expense policies are law-abiding and well-enforced.

Zoho Expense

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With Zoho Expense’s functional, hassle-free interface, numerous means to input or track information are at the tip of your hands. For example, receipts can be dragged and placed on the screen.

Zoho Expense is Zoho CRM- and Zoho Books-integrated. The three packages can be used with the same account.

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Price Range: Zoho Expense offers a free-trial period, a free plan, and a subscription plan at $15 per organization per month.

Key Features of Zoho Expense

• Records expenses easily. Zoho Expense enables you to quickly record company expenses as they happen, as well as add extra details and retrieve big and accurate reports anytime. You can also sync credit card transactions.
• Approves or rejects a large number of expense reports. With a single click of a button, you can approve or decline expense reports. Each user’s role can be quickly expanded, meaning users can summarize and approve their expenses and save a lot of time.
• Affordable and accessible. Zoho Expense is among the most affordable, flexible, and accessible bookkeeping software. Zoho’s productivity suite users can definitely use it as it is applicable to Zoho CRM and Zoho Invoice.

12. Melio

Melio is a web-hosted accounts payable solution that enables you to instantly pay bills through bank transfer and debit card at no extra charge. This app, however, is only accessible to US small business owners.

On your behalf, Melio deposits checks to vendors for free. Postponing payments by paying with your credit card with a 2.9% fee is allowed. Settling payments using your credit card lets you gain card rewards and at the same time, make the most out of the 45-day float until your next billing cycle.

Melio can be used immediately on smartphones or laptops. If you are a busy professional or entrepreneur, it can help you pay bills and oversee cash flow on the go at reasonable costs.

Melio is integrated with QuickBooks accounting software. It also lets you pay with any bank or credit card in the US.

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Price Range: Melio is a free bookkeeping software.

Key Features of Melio

• Adds vendor and bill details easily. Upload files or capture a photo of your invoice to easily add vendor and bill details. Manual input or connecting Melio to QuickBooks online to auto-sync your accounts payable details can be also done.
• Flexible payment methods. Pay via bank transfers, credit cards, and debit cards with Melio. You can also pay via credit card for stores that do not allow card payments.
• Payment scheduling. Melio’s payment scheduling functionality helps you avoid late payments and their penalties.

13. Xero

Xero is an international financial solution with years of experience in the field. Its range of online accounting features regularly lands it among the top choice for financial management applications. It has been recognized by the IDC MarketScape as a Leader in the Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Small Business Finance and Accounting Applications in 2020.

Xero offers a dynamic, visually appealing dashboard that gives freelancers or businesses a clear view of their bookkeeping practice clients, queries, jobs, and alerts. You can also look at client details and other important information and activities related to them with just one click.

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Xero caters to small and medium businesses. It now has more than 2 million users worldwide.

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Price Range: Depending on your business type, Xero has three paid plans that you can choose from.

Key Features of Xero

• All-inclusive payroll management. Xero teams up with Gusto to help you handle federal and local taxes, tax payments, and filings.
• Handles inventory. You will be informed when an item needs to get restocked. Xero also shows you which goods are selling and not.
• Multiple currencies. Xero can process 160 different currencies. It uses the latest exchange rates and automatic currency conversion.

14. Sage 50cloud

Sage 50cloud offers invoicing, inventory, budgeting, cash flow, and tax features to small and midsized businesses. It also offers plenty of extra features for payroll, credit card processing, and more. Its intuitive accounting best practices help businesses abide by regulations and monitor their finances.

Sage 50cloud is typically a desktop tool that has a cloud element for storage and access. It can monitor purchases and vendors, even pay bills. In terms of expense management features, it carries out mobile payment and bank feeds.

Work anywhere using Sage 50cloud as it is fully integrated with MS Office 365. Accounting data is also synced between computers and the cloud servers of the app.

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Price Range: Sage 50cloud has a free-trial period, while its plans are priced between $50.58 and $197.55 monthly.

Key Features of Sage 50cloud

• Vendor and purchase monitoring. Sage 50cloud can monitor vendors and purchases and pay bills. Financial reports can be accessed using any device, and powerful reports generated with the help of smart templates.
• On-the-go payments. Sage 50cloud can be merged with Sage Payment Solutions to secure payments and accept compliance. You can also document receipts and sales as they happen.
• Stock management and inventory add-ons. Update your inventory and manage assets by using audits and stock valuations. You never have to worry about losing information because all data are backed up.

15. Rossum

Rossum is designed to ease accounts payable workflows for businesses by improving document management. Primarily, the software uses automation for more efficient document organization and processing. This can also prove to be helpful to businesses that regularly process a high volume of documents like invoices and bills.

One of the most useful features of Rossum is that it also uses self-learning AI technology to speed up invoice processing. Using this cognitive data capture technology, the software more accurately captures data included on invoices. It prompts users to inspect empty fields and other data with low confidence scores. The software’s AI engine also continuously improves itself based on user corrections, so you can expect the software to get better over time.

Aside from improving the accuracy and speed of invoice data capture, Rossum also helps ensure that workflows are as friction-free as possible. The software automatically notifies senders about their transaction status and if there are data issues that need to be addressed. Moreover, the platform collects all transaction information into a single feed. This also makes it easier for users to spot duplicate documents.

For added convenience, the platform also seamlessly integrates with a wide variety of ERP software and document management systems.

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Price Range: Rossum is available on a by-quote basis. It’s best to contact the vendor via its website for more specific pricing information.

Key Features of Rossum

• Cognitive data capture technology. This data capture technology improves its accuracy with every use, ensuring more efficient invoice processing.
• Automated reminders. The software also sends notifications to document senders who need to address data issues.
• A single feed of transactions. Furthermore, the software collects all transactions into a single feed so nothing falls through the cracks.

Factors to Consider in Choosing Bookkeeping Software

As you can tell from this list, there is no shortage of bookkeeping software and accounting tools on the market today. As such, it can be a little confusing to determine which system best fits your business requirements. To help you out, we’ve put together a quick list of the most important considerations in choosing bookkeeping tools:

• Features – Of course, your choice is going to be affected by the features you’re looking for in a bookkeeping software. Do you need only a simple app that records transactions? Or are you looking for a comprehensive system that integrates accounts receivable and accounts payable workflows? The good news is that, either way, you’ll have plenty of choices.
• User interface – You want to choose a bookkeeping system that has an intuitive interface. A user-friendly interface makes the software easier to adopt, especially if you’re new to paperless bookkeeping.
• Affordability – Moreover, bookkeeping platforms come at a variety of price points, and some are even free to use. The important thing to keep in mind is that the more specialized features a bookkeeping software has, the more expensive it tends to be.

If you just want to get your feet wet right away, consider trying FreshBooks, our first-place holder in this bookkeeping software examples guide. FreshBooks integrates expense tracking, accounting, invoicing,, and payment processing to give users a comprehensive accounting tool. The software also comes with four paid plans to meet businesses’ different budgets.

If you’d like to read more about how accounting software can help businesses, check out our article about the importance of accounting software to businesses and organizations.

By Nestor Gilbert

Nestor Gilbert is a senior B2B and SaaS analyst and a core contributor at FinancesOnline for over 5 years. With his experience in software development and extensive knowledge of SaaS management, he writes mostly about emerging B2B technologies and their impact on the current business landscape. However, he also provides in-depth reviews on a wide range of software solutions to help businesses find suitable options for them. Through his work, he aims to help companies develop a more tech-forward approach to their operations and overcome their SaaS-related challenges.