Best Accounting Software for Bookkeepers

Any bookkeeper knows that the best accounting software is one that can accurately track incoming and outgoings, integrates with banks for easy reconciliation, and comes with a range of pre-built report templates for key financial statements.

We’ve tested several platforms and can confidently say that the best accounting software for bookkeepers is Zoho Books. It’s easy to use, has a free plan and a low starting price point of £10 per month, plus it comes with excellent tools for speeding up and automating record keeping, such as recurring invoices and automatic expense categorisation.

Seven platforms in total made the cut, and all are great options depending on what your priorities are. For more recommendations, see our picks for the best accounting software for small businesses.

Best Accounting Software for Bookkeeping: Summary

Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of the best accounting software for bookkeepers:

The scores we attribute to providers are general scores, taking into account all features. Our ranking for this article has been informed by the range of features on offer for bookkeepers

1. Zoho Books: Best Overall

We ranked Zoho Books as the best overall accounting software for bookkeepers for several reasons: it’s affordable with a free plan and cheap entry plans, it’s easy to use, and it comes with a great set of tools for accurately and efficiently tracking transactions and managing inventory.

Why we like Zoho Books

Zoho Books is a particularly good option for bookkeepers whose primary tasks consist of managing invoices and recording expenses since the platform offers tools to help streamline these tasks and reduce errors.

Firstly, the platform has an incredibly intuitive email-inspired layout for quotes and invoices. This makes creating them quick and easy, and advanced tools like multi-currency invoicing and automatic exchange rate calculation ensure accurate records. This is a feature that’s missing from competitor FreshBooks, although offered by other providers on this page.

Features such as a dedicated reminder button for late invoice payments, real-time inventory tracking, and mileage calculation for expenses also speed up day-to-day bookkeeping by reducing manual effort. When it comes to recording expenses, users can also upload them directly from receipts, and set transaction rules, so that outgoings imported from bank integration are automatically classified. That said, competitors QuickBooks and Xero allow for even easier categorisation as they don’t even require a rule set up, since they use smart sorting technology.

Like all accounting software worth its salt, Zoho Books can also integrate with several bank accounts and effectively reconcile transactions by matching bank feeds to accounting entries.

Zoho Books also has one of the best mobile apps of any provider we tested, which allows users to manage almost all aspects of bookkeeping on the go, including invoice creation and payment processing. Most competitors’ mobile apps have restrictions on payments.

Bookkeepers will also find all the tools they need to compile reports since Zoho Books has pre-built templates for key financial statements such as income statements, cashflow statements, and balance sheets. It has more advanced reporting tools for financial planning and budgeting, such as a cashflow projection, and a “what-if” scenario generator. This last feature isn’t offered by most competitors, besides QuickBooks and FreeAgent.

Our experience using Zoho Books

As we’ve noted, Zoho Books was the easiest-to-use accounting platform that we tested.

Besides its intuitive invoicing tool, we also thought that Zoho Books’ sidebar dropdown menus were particularly well signposted, and also appreciated the prompts when an error was detected, such as missing fields.

The very few usability issues we encountered related to hyper-specific tasks. For example, we couldn’t figure out how to send bulk reminders to multiple clients. The search function on Zoho Books also wasn’t great, since it required an exact match to come up with search results.

Where Zoho Books could improve

One downside to using Zoho Books is that it doesn’t offer any live support outside of 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Many competitors, such as QuickBooks, or FreshBooks, offer weekend support, making them better options for bookkeepers that work irregular hours.

Zoho Books also only integrates with around 12 third-party tools, instead pushing users towards its native suite of business software tools, which include CRM. If your business uses a lot of different software and needs easy integration, Xero or QuickBooks are better options, since they integrate with 1,000 and 750 third-party apps respectively.

2. QuickBooks: Best for Financial Reporting

QuickBooks is an especially good choice for bookkeepers focusing on creating reports and financial projections since it offers advanced reporting and analysis tools that are still accessible to those without an accounting degree.

Why we like QuickBooks

QuickBooks offers a great range of reporting tools, which make creating key financial statements and gaining oversight into business performance easy.

Like all good accounting software, QuickBooks offers a range of pre-built report templates for key financial statements, such as income statements, cashflow statements, and balance sheets. Unlike its competitors FreeAgent or FreshBooks, QuickBooks also allows users to modify existing report templates. This makes it easy to isolate key metrics, such as assets or income. You can also create customer reports from scratch.

We were also particularly impressed by QuickBooks’ data dashboard. It was easy to interpret, and summarised key metrics in easy-to-read graphs.

QuickBooks also has an excellent cashflow projection tool, which comes with alerts on potential cash shortfalls or surpluses. Xero’s cashflow projector doesn’t do this. QuickBooks also has a “what-if” scenario creator to evaluate potential financial outcomes, such as what would happen if the business lost a major client.

QuickBooks has more to offer than just reporting tools, it has effective tools for creating invoices and tracking expenses.

Users can create and send invoices to clients directly through the QuickBooks platform, view when clients have seen an invoice, and set up payment reminder automation to ensure quick cash flow. Unlike FreshBooks, QuickBooks also allows for multi-currency invoicing, making it suitable for businesses with international clients.

QuickBooks also has some great expensing automation. Data can be automatically captured and categorised from receipts, as well as through direct integration with a bank feed. This reduces manual input for bookkeepers and reduces the chances of discrepancies appearing during bank reconciliation.

Finally, along with Sage and Xero, QuickBooks is one of the rare accounting platforms to offer native payroll software. This makes it easy for bookkeepers to account for payroll-related deductions when logging incoming and outgoings.

Our experience using QuickBooks

QuickBooks wasn’t as easy to use as Zoho Books, but we were able to complete most basic tasks without too much trouble. The invoicing tool was particularly easy to use, thanks to a clear, uncluttered layout, and we appreciated being shown previews before sending off an invoice to a client.

We also found the overall layout of QuickBooks’ menu to be generally quite clear, and we liked the fact that we could customise the menu by adding tabs that linked to the most used tools.

That said, we did struggle a lot with certain tasks. For one, the process of adding tax to a sale was very complicated since there was no obvious way to do this from the invoice we were working on. We had to go into a separate settings page to do this, and the help centre didn’t offer instructions to help us along. We had the same issue when it came to setting up payment reminders for clients.

Where QuickBooks could improve

One area QuickBooks could improve is usability. Users need a bit of time to get to grips with the platform since it has a lot of quirks, and basic tasks like managing tax and setting up reminders require more steps than with competitors such as Zoho Books.

It’s also one of the few accounting platforms to not have a time-tracking tool included as standard, although there is a paid add-on that includes this tool. For bookkeepers looking to track time spent on their tasks, this could be an issue. Luckily, most competitors offer time tracking.

For more information on costs, see our QuickBooks pricing review.

3. Xero: Best for Established Businesses

Xero is a great option for bookkeepers working for established businesses. It offers extensive invoice and expense management tools, has advanced reporting capabilities, and integrates with a large number of third-party software.

Why we like Xero

Xero offers a range of tools that make handling large numbers of invoices and expenses easy, reducing the risk of error.

When testing the platform, we were particularly impressed by the amount of detail Xero allowed us to add to quotes, invoices, and expenses. Users can assign unique IDs and a wide variety of tax codes to invoices, making Xero great accounting software for bookkeepers with a large portfolio of clients to keep track of.

Xero’s expense management is also particularly effective. It’s the only platform we tested with an automatic mileage calculator, making logging trips easy. Like QuickBooks, Xero can also automatically categorise expenses based on receipt scans or bank feed integration, reducing time spent recording outgoings.

Like QuickBooks, Xero also has some excellent reporting tools that can help bookkeepers at established businesses effectively plan for the future. You’ll find all the pre-built templates you need for common financial statements and be able to generate custom reports to perfectly match your business’s needs.

Xero’s cashflow projection tool is a close second to QuickBooks’, although it can’t issue alerts for shortfalls and surpluses. That said, Xero has tools to track fixed assets and their depreciation and/or amortisation over time, a feature QuickBooks lacks, and which is useful for businesses with a physical inventory.

Other Xero strong suites are its wide number of integrations and its payroll software. Xero integrates with 1,000 third-party software tools, the most of any provider on this list. Plus, like Sage and QuickBooks, it offers native payroll software, although, unlike its competitors, Xero includes this feature at no added cost on three of its four plans.

Our experience using Xero

Xero was one of the most challenging platforms that we tested. We found its dashboard quite overcrowded, and the vague names for menu tabs made it hard to guess where common tools were. We also didn’t like the fact that extraneous fields came before core details when creating quotes and invoices.

That said, not everything was a struggle. Xero’s expense tool was very easy to use since there was a large variety of preset categories, and it calculated the cost of petrol based on mileage for use. Xero’s reporting tools were also quite easy to use while still offering advanced insights, especially its cash flow projection tool.

Where Xero could improve

As we’ve noted, Xero is quite a challenging platform to use, which means it’s not well suited for beginners, such as freelancers just starting their bookkeeping journey. Easier options include FreshBooks and Zoho Books.

Xero also has the highest starting price of all the platforms on this list, starting at £16 per month. Bookkeepers looking for basic accounting software that’s also affordable might prefer FreeAgent or Zoho Books, which both have free plans and a starting price of £10 per month.

4. FreeAgent: Best Value for Money

Any FreeAgent plan can be free to businesses and users that have a business bank account with four select banks. On top of this, all FreeAgent plans come with no user, client, or invoice limits, unlike competitors, making it the best value option.

Why we like FreeAgent

Businesses or individuals that have a business bank account with NatWest, Mettle, Royal Bank of Scotland, or Ulster Bank can get any FreeAgent accounting software plan for free. If not, FreeAgent’s maximum cost of £33 per month is much less than most competitors, especially compared to Zoho Books’ £165 and QuickBooks’ £115.

FreeAgent isn’t just low on price, it’s also got great features. For example, it’s the only software we tested to include tools for tax forecasting, and users get access to tax time reminders and pre-built end-of-year reports. This makes FreeAgent a great choice for bookkeepers that want to avoid an end of the fiscal year panic, thanks to software that helps them prepare well in advance.

It’s also easy to keep accurate records with FreeAgent. It integrates with bank feeds and imports all transactions, plus transactions, including expenses and invoice payments, can be automatically categorised based on previous categorisation, reducing workload overtime.

FreeAgent also has powerful reporting tools. Although it doesn’t offer custom reporting, unlike Xero or QuickBooks, it has a cashflow projection tool, which includes alerts about potential cash shortfalls or surpluses. It also has a “what-if” scenario generator to better plan for the future. Competitors Xero and Sage don’t offer these tools, and they’re a paid add-on with QuickBooks, making FreeAgent great value.

Our experience using FreeAgent

FreeAgent was generally quite easy to use when we tested it. Creating invoices and estimates was especially simple thanks to FreeAgent’s clear, pre-built templates. We appreciated the fact that the invoicing tool included a timeline feature, which made it easy to know how far along in the process we were.

The software’s clear end-of-year reports and tax reminders were another highlight, which made it easy to generate key financial statements.

However, not every task was straightforward. For example, we had trouble locating features like payment reminders and currency settings, and the search bar didn’t produce any results to help us find these features when we tested it.

Where FreeAgent could improve

FreeAgent’s accounting software wasn’t able to suggest options for frequently entered data or account codes when we were entering data. This slowed down the work process and is a feature that competitors such as QuickBooks and Xero offer.

It’s also not possible to import invoices onto FreeAgent directly from a computer, something all other competitors offer, and a useful feature when switching accounting software.

5. Sage: A Highly Scalable Option

Sage is a great option for bookkeepers who work for businesses that are looking to scale. It offers great invoice customisation, advanced reporting tools, and native payroll and HR software that can accommodate growing employee numbers.

Why we like Sage

Sage offers a robust set of tools for managing invoices, including notifications when clients open and pay invoices and settings to create recurring invoices and automated sending. These can speed up day-to-day administration for bookkeepers at busy, growing companies.

Invoice creation is particularly simple with Sage since the platform offers separate templates based on whether a service or product is being sold. Plus, it’s possible to customise invoice layout and logo positions, making Sage a good option for those that need to maintain strong branding.

Like many competitors, Sage offers automatic expense categorisation based on receipt data capture but not based on bank feed integration. However, we did appreciate the fact that when logging an expense, Sage had a notification letting us know whether we had enough funds to afford the expense. This isn’t something other accounting platforms do.

Part of what makes Sage a scalable option is that it offers advanced reporting tools. Users get access to custom reporting, and there’s a dedicated menu tab for viewing profit and loss reporting, a core report for most businesses. Like QuickBooks, Sage is also one of the few accounting software platforms with a cashflow projection tool.

One feature that sets Sage apart from the competition is its native payroll and HR tools. While competitors Xero and QuickBooks also offer payroll add-ons, neither offers HR, and their payroll software is only designed to support very small businesses. Sage, on the other hand, offers payroll and HR plans that can support up to medium-sized businesses.

Our experience using Sage

Sage was a bit of a mixed bag when it came to usability. We found it to be one of the most visually appealing accounting platforms we tested, and its clear templates made the process of creating quotes and invoices very simple. Its data visualisation dashboards and its pre-built reports, such as the profit and loss report, were also very clear and easy to interpret.

However, we had a lot of trouble finding core accounting features, such as payment reminders, currency settings, and expense logging. This was mainly due to vague signposting and very unclear self-help resources.

Where Sage could improve

Sage is missing a time-tracking tool, and unlike QuickBooks, it doesn’t offer this tool as a paid add-on. This means it’s not a good option for independent bookkeepers who want to track and charge billable hours.

Sage also doesn’t have a tool for sending automatic client payment reminders, meaning businesses have to manually check when payments are overdue.

6. Clear Books: Good for Simplifying Tax

Clear Books is a good option for bookkeepers looking to simplify tax returns since it supports a wide variety of tax types, has clear guidance and forms to support users with returns, and integrates with HMRC via the Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme.

Why we like Clear Books

Like all good accounting software tools, Clear Books automatically calculates and deducts tax on products or services. It supports UK VAT, the EU reverse charge (VAT from EU suppliers), the CIS (Construction Industry Scheme), as well as income tax and GST. This is more than competitors, so if the businesses you work for operate internationally or are in the construction sector, Clear Books can simplify returns.

Additionally, since Clear Books is compliant with the Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative, users can easily submit tax returns to HMRC via Clear Books’ portal and get access to pre-built returns templates. Most competitors do offer this as well, but Clear Books offers more guidance on this topic, making it a better option for users that want extra support.

Besides tax return support, Clear Books has other useful tools for bookkeepers.

It integrates with bank feeds and can automatically classify transactions, including expenses and inbound payments, thanks to smart AI technology. This reduces the number of manual entries bookkeepers have to make.

Clear Books’ invoicing and quoting tools are quite comprehensive and allow users to set up payment reminders and recurring invoices. That said, Clear Books is missing a feature that lets businesses know when clients have viewed an invoice, something QuickBooks and Xero offer.

Plus, Clear Books has a pop-up project creation feature, which makes it extremely easy to classify different tasks and is great for bookkeepers who need to keep a record of their work.

Our experience using Clear Books

Clear Books wasn’t the easiest platform to use. This was mainly because the navigation bar was confusing. It was quite cluttered, and there were a few naming inconsistencies, which made it hard to find the tools we needed.

That said, Clear Books had a great search bar, which, unlike a lot of competitors’ search bars, actually offered results without an exact match. Filling in a basic quote was also quite easy once we’d located where this tool was, although customisation options were very limited.

Where Clear Books could improve

Clear Books doesn’t offer many tools for reporting or financial planning. For example, it’s missing cashflow projections and a tool for creating budgets, and it’s one of the few providers on this list that doesn’t offer custom reporting. QuickBooks or Xero are good alternatives for businesses that need solid reporting and analytics features.

Additionally, Clear Books is one of the few providers that doesn’t let users view an invoice status, such as if it’s been opened by a client. This is a useful tool for predicting when payments are likely to be made and is offered by all the other providers on this list, except FreeAgent.

7. FreshBooks: Best for the Self-employed

FreshBooks is the best accounting software for the self-employed who are doing their own bookkeeping. It’s easy to use, offers good customer support, and comes with a great set of tools for recording payments and expenses.

Why we like FreshBooks

FreshBooks is easy to use, making it perfect for bookkeepers who aren’t experts, such as freelancers or sole traders.

With FreshBooks’ straightforward invoicing tool, users can send invoices directly to clients, set up recurring invoices and quotes, and automate payment reminders. Expenses can be logged manually via receipt data capture, made easy with the FreshBooks mobile app, or bank feed integrations. Additionally, all expenses can be assigned to employees or clients, so records stay accurate.

It’s also easy to ensure that records are kept accurate, thanks to FreshBooks’ bank reconciliation feature and the fact that mismatched entries are automatically flagged. This is a tool offered by a lot of competitors, but it’s missing from rival Clear Books.

FreshBooks also comes with a variety of useful pre-built reports, including key financial statements such as income statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets. Users also get access to tax time reports and can easily submit VAT returns with FreshBooks’ MTD portal. That said, FreshBooks only supports VAT and not CIS like some competitors.

Another FreshBooks strong suite is its strong help and support. FreshBooks has a phone line, a support email, and an agent-operated live chat. As a bonus, the support team operates from 1pm to 12am, seven days a week. A lot of competitors, such as Zoho Books and Clear Books don’t offer live support on the weekend, making FreshBooks a great option for freelancers that don’t work a typical nine-to-five.

Our experience using FreshBooks

FreshBooks was one of the easiest-to-use accounting platforms we tested after Zoho Books.

Its main menu was well organised, with key features highlighted by clear terms. FreshBooks’ invoicing and quote tools were also very intuitive to use since they had a clear layout, and we could edit settings directly from the invoice we were working on, saving us from having to go to a separate settings page.

However, we struggled to use some of FreshBooks’ messaging features. We couldn’t locate how to send clients tailored messages and instead had to resort to resending them an invoice. FreshBooks also doesn’t generate sales receipts, which made confirming a payment with a client tricky.

Where FreshBooks could improve

FreshBooks’ reporting tools could be improved. It doesn’t let users create custom reports, and, unlike competitors Zoho Books and QuickBooks, it doesn’t offer any type of cash flow projection tool or budgeting tool. This is why we recommend it to sole traders doing their own bookkeeping over bookkeepers working for a business.

It’s also not possible to create multi-currency invoices on FreshBooks, which makes it unsuitable for users who deal with international clients. Better options include QuickBooks and Zoho Books.

Bookkeepers vs Accountants

While many accountants undertake bookkeeping tasks, their role often extends beyond record-keeping to include tasks such as financial analysis and professional audits. Accountants also have more training and qualifications than bookkeepers, who can simply be employees or self-employed people keeping track of business finances.

Key tasks bookkeepers are in charge of can include:

• Recording incoming and outgoing transactions (including income and expenses)
• Reconciling financial statements (cross-referencing the books against bank statements)
• Creating and managing invoices from clients and suppliers
• Creating reports, such as balance sheets, and profit and loss
• Completing payroll
• Filing tax returns

Methodology: How We Tested the Best Bookkeeping Software