5 Best Free Accounting Software

Microsoft Excel is the most popular accounting software out there, but it has a number of limitations. Instead, try these alternatives for free or low-cost options that are highly compatible with Microsoft’s productivity suite as well!

Free accounting software is often available for sole entrepreneurs and freelancers to manage revenue and spending and submit tax returns. The best free accounting software should allow you to manage all of your revenue and spending, import bank account transactions, and generate basic financial reports such as profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow. We’ve compiled a list of five excellent free accounting programs for small companies.

Small Business Accounting Software: Top 5 Free Options

• Overall, the best free accounting software is Wave (3.40 of 5 points)
• Sunrise is the best free accounting software for those who utilize mobile apps (3.35 of 5 points)
• GnuCash: For experienced bookkeepers, the best free desktop accounting software is GnuCash (2.63 of 5 points)
• Accounts with NCH Express is the most user-friendly free desktop accounting software available (2.45 of 5 points)
• ZipBooks is the best free accounting software for making basic invoices (2.10 of 5 points)

How to Select the Most Appropriate Free Accounting Software for Your Small Business

You don’t have to use an Excel spreadsheet if your small company can’t afford accounting software. During our study, we discovered many excellent accounting software solutions, at least one of which is free and never expires. When selecting free accounting software for your small company, keep the following points in mind:

• Price: Each of the software alternatives we give has at least one non-expiring free plan. You should also think about the expense of their more sophisticated programs, which may be required as your business expands.
• Connecting to your bank accounts, balancing bank accounts, making and sending invoices to customers, monitoring outstanding payments, and producing financial statements should all be included in your free accounting software.
• Ease of setup and use: Because free software sometimes offers little customer assistance, it’s critical that the product employs basic language that doesn’t need a background in bookkeeping or accounting.
• The option to provide access to other users: The ability to grant access to your data to a bookkeeper or a certified public accountant (CPA) is a big time-saving. This is one area where cloud-based software outperforms desktop software.

The Methods We Used to Evaluate Free Accounting Software

We looked at a variety of accounting software for small companies that provided a free plan for life. We looked at the free software for broad features that we’d expect to find in paying software, as well as if it included very basic functionality that we take for granted in premium software, such as bank feeds and bank reconciliations. Finally, we assess the program based on its cost, convenience of use, and our own professional assessment.

10% of the Total Points

To obtain all five points for cost, software must not only be free, but also provide an infinite number of users, customers, suppliers, and transactions.

20% of the Total Points

We factor in our subjective assessment of the software’s usability, as well as the availability of customer assistance and the simplicity with which online payments and payroll may be integrated.

50% of the Total Points

We look at whether the free software provides fundamental functions like live bank feeds, bank reconciliations, and comparative financial statements, in addition to more advanced capabilities like inventory and project accounting.

20% of the Total Points

Our expert review is a subjective assessment of each software based on features, mobile applications, invoicing, reports, and the program’s popularity. The number of integrations offered and a user’s ability to get accounting help from third parties are both influenced by the program’s popularity.

Wave

PROS

• Bank transactions are immediately loaded.
• Bank reconciliations are carried out automatically.
• It’s simple to produce and monitor vendor bills and client invoices.
• The Wave Receipts smartphone app may be used to generate transactions by scanning receipts.

CONS

• If there are checks made that have not passed the bank, bank reconciliations will fail.
• There isn’t a single mobile app with comprehensive accounting capabilities.
• Financial statements cannot be compared to previous quarters.
• It is impossible to monitor the profitability of a project.

Total Points 3.40 OUT OF 5

Expert Recommendation

Wave is simple to use and may import transactions straight from your bank and credit card accounts. The transactions are subsequently assigned to the relevant accounts by the users. Wave will learn from your work and begin to propose where transactions might be assigned. Many banks only enable transactions from the last 90 days to be imported automatically, however, if one is available from your bank, Wave may import earlier transactions via a comma-separated values (CSV) file.

While Wave is the greatest free program overall, it lacks several features that are standard in premium applications. If there are any pending transactions, such as checks that haven’t cleared the bank, you won’t be able to reconcile a bank account. This implies you’ll have to date checks based on the day they pass the bank rather than the date they were written. Because checks might be deducted when written, be sure to make an adjustment at the end of the year for outstanding checks.

Pricing

Wave is completely free and does not have a premium version. Wave charges a fee for processing payroll and receiving online payments. Even pricey software, on the other hand, usually costs extra for these services.

Sunrise

The Best Free Accounting Software for Users of Mobile Apps

PROS

• Excellent mobile app
• Make a comparison between the current and previous year’s financial statements.
• Create and monitor invoices for vendors and customers.

CONS

• There is no bank reconciliation.
• It is not possible to extract information from receipts that have been collected in order to construct transactions.
• There is no way to keep track of the project’s profits and costs.
• Expenses paid cannot be allocated to consumers and invoiced to them.

Total Points 3.35 OUT OF 5

Expert Recommendation

Sunrise takes a unique approach to small company accounting. Sunrise is primarily an online bookkeeping service, but it also provides free accounting software to any small firm that desires to perform its own bookkeeping. This is great for small businesses that prefer to handle their own books for now but will transition to supported bookkeeping as they grow.

Except for the absence of bank reconciliations, Sunrise is an excellent accounting tool for a service-based business. Monthly bank account reconciliation is an important part of excellent bookkeeping since it ensures that the transactions in your accounting records match the transactions executed by your bank. If you do all of your transactions online or with a debit card, the amount in your accounting records should always equal the balance in your bank account, and you won’t need to reconcile. If you issue checks that take a long time to clear the bank, however, I suggest using accounting software that includes bank reconciliations.

Pricing

The accounting application is included with the Sunrise Self Service package, which is free. Customers may subscribe to the monthly accounting plans for specialized bookkeeping assistance. Monthly accounting plans vary in price from $149 to $499.

GnuCash

PROS

• Programmers may make changes to open-source software.
• With the application, a new user instruction is downloaded.
• A large number of reports are available.

CONS

• It’s difficult to use if you don’t have any accounting knowledge.
• Only one desktop PC has access to it.
• It is not possible to send invoices straight from the software.
• Reports are unable to make comparisons between current and previous periods.

Total Points 2.73 OUT OF 5

Expert Recommendation

GnuCash offers the finest accounting functionality of all the free accounting software tested, but it’s also the most difficult to use, so I wouldn’t suggest it to anybody who doesn’t have a lot of expertise with bookkeeping. It enables you to connect to your bank and credit card accounts in real-time, but it requires some settings that may need IT support. You may still import your bank account transactions from a CSV file and execute a thorough bank reconciliation if you don’t establish a live connection with your bank.

Apart from its difficulty in use, GnuCash’s biggest flaw is its inability to access your company’s data while you’re not at your computer. Many small firms want to send invoices directly from the field, which GnuCash does not allow. GnuCash is strong free software if you have some accounting knowledge and wish to maintain your books on one machine.

Pricing

Although GnuCash is completely free, the volunteer developers who maintain it welcome contributions. No credit card is needed to download the program to your Windows, Linux, or Mac computer.

NCH Express

PROS

• CSV files may be used to upload financial transactions.
• Small company owners will find it simple to utilize.
• A fee-based inventory accounting add-on is offered.

CONS

• You’re unable to connect to your bank or credit card account live.
• Configuring your firewall and router for remote access to your software is required.
• There is no mobile app available.
• Images of receipts are not able to be attached to transactions.

Total Points 2.45 OUT OF 5

Expert Recommendation

NCH Express has comparable features to GnuCash but is much easier to use. Most transactions can be accessed from the home tab, which displays transaction types in an easy-to-understand format based on workflows. Banking transactions can either be entered manually during the month or uploaded from a bank statement at the end of the month. Customer invoices are easy to create, and any service or product descriptions are remembered for future invoices.

The major drawback to NCH Express is the lack of a live banking connection to transfer transactions daily to minimize data input automatically. However, when writing manual checks, I always recommend immediately entering them into your software so that you can track outstanding checks not yet paid by the bank. If most of your transactions are manual checks, then a live bank connection is not necessary, and this might be terrific software for you.

Pricing

Accounts with NCH Express is generally paid software, but small businesses with fewer than five employees can download and use the program for free. For larger companies, the program can be purchased for $79.99.

ZipBooks

PROS

• It’s simple to produce and monitor an unlimited number of invoices.
• Square and PayPal are both accepted for online payments.
• Transactions should include receipts.

CONS

• There is no mobile app available.
• Only one bank or credit card account may be linked.
• Transactions from CSV or spreadsheet files cannot be imported.
• Only one user is permitted.

Total Points 2.10 OUT OF 5

Expert Recommendation

ZipBooks is the greatest free accounting software for creating straightforward, attractive invoices. ZipBooks offers an invoice template that you can personalize with your branding and then fill up with your sales data. Creating and sending invoices has never been simpler. The disadvantage of the basic invoice interface is that you’ll have to input the whole product or service description for each invoice since it doesn’t utilize preset items or services.

ZipBooks is a full double-entry accounting system that can produce a balance sheet and income statement for your tax return, despite its limitations. The ability to monitor outstanding invoices, link multiple bank accounts, import transactions, and run a bank reconciliation are just a few of the capabilities lacking from other free applications. ZipBooks, on the other hand, is an excellent alternative if your primary objective is to create professional-looking invoices in the simplest method possible.

Pricing

ZipBooks offers three small company pricing options, ranging from free to $35 per month. ZipBooks provides the following plans:

• ZipBooks Starter is completely free.
• Smarter with ZipBooks: $15 per month
  • Multiple bank accounts may be connected
  • There are five people in this group.
• Sophisticated ZipBooks: $35 per month
  • Transactions should be labeled with their location and project.
  • Includes an unlimited number of users

Conclusion

We’ve provided a list of great free accounting software. Both Wave and Sunrise offer great full-featured accounting software while ZipBooks provides simple invoice creation. GnuCash and NCH Express are great free desktop accounting programs that provide incredible power and flexibility for users that are dedicated to learning the programs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there any free bookkeeping software?

There are a number of free bookkeeping apps available, such as QuickBooks. However, there is no software specifically designed for this purpose.

What is the easiest accounting software to use?

The easiest accounting software to use is QuickBooks.