Best Accounting Software for Small Business in 2026

QuickBooks Online is the cloud accounting product of Intuit, the US financial-software company that reports 93 million customers across products including TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks and Mailchimp. It is sold in the US and other markets and is designed to be shared with an outside accountant, who gets free access on paid plans.

The product is sold in tiers distinguished mainly by user counts and features. A Free plan supports one user. Simple Start costs US$38 a month for one user; Essentials US$85 for three users; Plus US$140 for five users; and Advanced US$340 for 25 users. All paid tiers include accountant access, two accountants on most plans and three on Advanced. At review, all paid plans were offered at 50% off for three months, and a 30-day free trial was available, with free phone support during the trial for Simple Start and above.

QuickBooks' scale brings the largest pool of trained bookkeepers and third-party app integrations in the US. The main drawbacks are cost and user caps: a business with more than five users must move to the Advanced plan at US$340 a month, whereas Xero and Kashoo charge no per-user fees.

Xero is a cloud accounting platform founded in New Zealand in 2006 and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. It reports 5.1 million customers in more than 180 countries, including Australia, the UK and the US.

On 15 October 2025 Xero completed its acquisition of Melio Payments, a US small-business bill-payment platform, for US$2.5 billion, paid in cash and Xero shares, with up to US$500 million more payable to Melio employees over three years. The deal is aimed at Xero's US growth; its US plans now include online bill payments with free domestic ACH transfers.

US plans are Early at US$27 a month, which allows 20 invoices and quotes; Growing at US$59; and Established at US$97, which adds multi-currency, project tracking, expense and mileage claims and industry benchmarking. Xero charges no per-user licence fees and includes free expert setup help. Payroll in the US is provided by Gusto at US$36 a month plus US$6 per employee or contractor. The Early plan's invoice cap makes it unsuitable for most trading businesses, and US payroll depends on a third party.

FreshBooks was founded by Mike McDerment in 2003 to simplify invoicing and accounting for small businesses, and says more than 500,000 small businesses in over 160 countries have used it. It started as invoicing software and remains strongest for service businesses that bill clients for time and projects.

Plans are priced by number of billable clients. Lite costs US$23 a month and allows invoices to five clients; Plus costs US$43 a month for 50 clients and adds accountant access, financial reports and receipt scanning; Premium costs US$70 a month for unlimited clients and adds project profitability and custom email templates; Select is quoted and includes advanced payments and two team-member accounts. At review, plans were offered at 80% off for four months.

Add-ons are charged separately: team members at US$11 a month each, Advanced Payments at US$20 a month and FreshBooks Payroll at US$40 a month plus US$6 per user. The client caps make costs rise quickly for businesses with many customers, and inventory features are limited compared with general-purpose ledgers.

Zoho Books is the accounting application of Zoho, which sells a suite of business software including CRM, HR, billing and analytics products. It is notable for the widest range of tiers in this list, from a free plan to an Ultimate plan with business-intelligence features.

The Free plan, for solopreneurs and micro-businesses, includes invoices, quotes, expenses, journals, receipt auto-scans and more than 50 reports for one user plus an accountant. Paid US plans, billed annually, are Standard at US$15 per organisation per month (US$20 monthly, three users), Professional at US$40 (US$50, five users, adding purchase and sales orders), Premium at US$60 (US$70, ten users, adding basic revenue recognition), Elite at US$120 (US$150, adding full inventory management) and Ultimate at US$240 (US$275, 15 users, adding advanced analytics). Extra users cost US$2.50 a month billed annually.

Zoho Books integrates most closely with other Zoho apps, and the number of tiers makes plan selection more complex than at rivals.

Wave is a Canadian accounting and invoicing service, backed by H&R Block, that says it has helped more than 5.9 million small-business owners in the US and Canada since 2010. It reports that customers send more than 22.5 million invoices a year and have moved over US$21 billion through its online payments and payroll since 2012.

The Starter plan is free and includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, with optional online payments at 2.9% plus 60 cents per card transaction (3.4% plus 60 cents for American Express). The Pro plan costs US$19 a month or US$190 a year and adds automatic bank-transaction import and categorisation, receipt capture, late-payment reminders and a reduced card fee of 2.9% with no fixed fee.

Wave's free tier is one of the few complete free double-entry ledgers for North American businesses. It is designed for sole proprietors and very small teams; it lacks the inventory, multi-currency and approval features of higher-tier products, and bank-feed automation requires the paid plan.

Odoo is an open-core business software suite whose apps cover accounting, invoicing, inventory, CRM, sales, manufacturing, HR and more. The company reports more than 8,000 employees, more than 21,000 partners and 28 million users, and describes its on-premise edition as the most installed business software in the world.

Odoo's pricing differs from most accounting products. The One App Free plan allows a single app, such as Accounting, with unlimited users at no charge. The Standard plan unlocks all apps on Odoo Online, and the Custom plan adds Odoo Studio, agentic AI features, multi-company support, the external API and the choice of Odoo.sh or on-premise hosting; both are charged per user per month in euros, with Standard listed between €11.90 and €18.60 and Custom between €22.90 and €33.90 depending on billing period and a 12-month introductory discount for initial users.

For a small business, Odoo's main attraction is growth: accounting can later be joined by inventory, point of sale or manufacturing without changing system. The trade-offs are greater configuration effort than single-purpose tools, and implementation through partners for complex setups.

FreeAgent is a UK accounting product created by three freelance designers and developers, Ed, Olly and Roan, frustrated by bookkeeping; it hired its first employee in 2008 and now employs more than 200 people. It was acquired by NatWest Group in early 2018 but says it remains operationally independent.

FreeAgent is aimed at UK sole traders, partnerships, limited companies and landlords, and prices by business type. For a UK limited company it costs £33 a month or £330 a year, excluding VAT, with a 30-day free trial and, at review, 50% off for the first six months or first year. Optional add-ons include unlimited receipt and bill capture at £5 a month and an Amazon UK Marketplace connection at £6 a month.

FreeAgent's practice dashboard lets accountants and bookkeepers manage their clients at a glance, and much of its growth has come through accountants. It is designed for UK tax rules and is not intended for businesses outside the UK.

MYOB is an Australian business software company that has served businesses in Australia and New Zealand since 1991, and says it has helped hundreds of thousands of organisations manage their finances. Its products range from a mobile app for sole traders to AccountRight Plus for established businesses and an ERP line for mid-sized enterprises.

Australian plans include Solo, a mobile app for sole traders at A$99 a year after an introductory offer; MYOB Business Lite, for sole traders and small businesses with up to two employees, at A$315 a year; and MYOB Business Pro, for businesses with multiple employees, at A$70 a month, with a 14-day free trial; payroll costs an extra A$5 a month per employee on Lite and Pro. Lite and Pro include tracking of GST and lodgement of the Business Activity Statement, and MYOB has introduced an AI BAS tool in beta that prepares BAS continuously during the quarter.

MYOB is a strong choice for Australian and New Zealand compliance and payroll. It has little relevance outside those two countries.

Clear Books is a UK online accounting product that prices its plans by business type, including sole traders, landlords, limited companies, partnerships and charities.

Sole traders who only need Making Tax Digital submissions can use Sole Trader Free at £0, or Sole Trader at £5 a month for bank feeds, invoicing and receipt scanning; VAT-registered sole traders use Sole Trader Plus at £15 a month. UK landlords have Property Free and Property (£5 a month) plans, including for foreign property. Limited companies, partnerships and charities choose Small at £16 a month, Medium at £34 for businesses filing VAT or CIS returns, or Large at £44 for projects, multi-currency and fixed assets.

All plans have no setup fees, can be cancelled at any time, include UK support and come with a 30-day free trial; accountants can join a free partner programme. Like FreeAgent, Clear Books is designed exclusively for UK tax rules.

Holded is a cloud business suite combining invoicing, accounting, banking, inventory, projects, team management and CRM for small and medium-sized companies, built around Spanish requirements: every plan includes Verifactu invoicing, the Spanish Tax Agency system, and B2G e-invoicing to Spanish public administrations through FACe.

Plans are priced in euros per month. Basic, for businesses that invoice daily, costs €34 a month and includes two users plus the company's accountant; Standard, combining accounting, banks, team and CRM, costs €69 a month for four users plus the accountant; and Advanced, adding roles, custom fields and priority support, costs €115 a month. At review, Holded offered 50% off the first three months on monthly billing and 70% off the first three months on annual billing. A Holded partner accountant gets free access in addition to the plan's user count.

A 14-day free trial needs no credit card. Businesses outside Spain will find fewer local integrations than with Xero or QuickBooks.

Pandle is a UK bookkeeping and accounting product that offers a free-forever version and a paid Pandle Pro tier. It targets sole traders, landlords and small limited companies that want to keep their own books at minimal cost.

Pandle Pro costs £5 a month plus VAT and adds bank feeds, receipt uploads, projects, cash-flow forecasting, user permissions, unlimited users, a mileage tracker and live support; a 14-day free trial of Pro is available. The free version covers basic bookkeeping without those automations.

Pandle's low price makes it one of the cheapest paid UK options. Its feature set is narrower than FreeAgent's or Xero's, with fewer integrations, and it does not target businesses with complex inventory or multi-currency needs.

Kashoo is an online accounting product, priced in US dollars, sold as one plan with every feature included. The plan includes unlimited invoices, online payment acceptance, expense and bill tracking, sales-tax tracking, bank feeds through Plaid, project and inventory item tracking, multi-currency, unlimited attachments and unlimited users, on a double-entry ledger.

The pricing page showed US$30 a month, against a listed annual price of US$324, with a limited-time offer of 50% off the first six months and a 14-day free trial that requires no credit card. After the trial, the account is kept for 90 days in case the user subscribes later. Integrations include Square and PaymentEvolution for payroll.

The company also markets TrulySmall Accounting, a newer app that sorts bank transactions automatically. Kashoo's single plan is simple to understand, but its integration ecosystem is much smaller than those of QuickBooks or Xero, and payroll depends on a partner.