6 providersAll prices in USDPrices checked Jul 29, 2026

Compare Accounting Software in the United States

Compare accounting software for small business in the US. See subscription costs, sales tax automation, 1099 and W-2 reporting, payroll, bookkeeping, bank feeds, and integrations side by side.

Browse all Accounting Software in our directory

Updated

Invoices /mo

Employees

Your current cost /mo

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	Wave	Zoho Books	FreshBooks	Sage	Xero	QuickBooks Online
Est. Cost /mo (USD)	$0/moFreeCheapest	$15/moStandard	$23/moLite	$25/moAccounting Start	$25/moEarly	$38/moSimple Start
	Visit Wave	Visit Zoho Books	Visit FreshBooks	Visit Sage	Visit Xero	Visit QuickBooks Online

Ratings
	4.4Capterra (1,724)	4.4Capterra (673)	4.5Capterra (4,518)	4.1Capterra (614)	4.4Capterra (3,299)	4.3Capterra (8,460)
Plans & Pricing
	BestFree (Pro $16/mo)	$15/mo (Standard)	$23/mo (Lite)	$25/mo (Accounting Start)	$25/mo (Early)	$38/mo (Simple Start)
	✓	✓under revenue cap	✕	✕	✕	✕
	✓add-on	✕add-on	✕Gusto	✓add-on	✕Gusto	✓add-on
	Unlimited (with limited roles)	3 (Standard)	1	1 (Start)	Unlimited	1 (Simple Start)
	Add-on (+$6/emp)	N/A	N/A (Gusto)	Add-on	N/A (Gusto)	$50/mo + $7/emp
	✕	✕	✕	✕	✕	✕
Tax & Compliance
	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
	Limited	✓Professional	Limited	Limited	✓	✓
	✕	✓	✕	✓	✓	✓
	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
	✕	Partial	✕	✕	✕	✓
	✓Pro	✓Standard	✓	✓	✓	✓
	Unlimited (Pro)	Unlimited (Standard+)	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
	✓unlimited	✓annual caps	✓client caps apply	✓unlimited	20/mo (Early)	✓unlimited
AI
	Limited (receipt OCR on Pro only)	Native (Zia)	Native (AI categorization, receipt OCR)	Native (Sage Copilot)	Native (JAX)	Native (Intuit Assist)
	Via 3rd-party (community)	Native MCP (Zoho, official)	Via 3rd-party (Zapier)	Via 3rd-party (community)	Native MCP (via Anthropic Claude connection)	Via 3rd-party (Zapier)
Features & Integrations
	Limited	✓Professional	Limited	✓Plus	✓Established	✓Essentials
	✓Pro	✓	✓Plus	✓Standard	✓Hubdoc	✓
	✓Pro	✓free	✓Plus	✓free	✓free	✓free
	Live chat (Pro)	Email / voice / chat	Phone + email	US phone	24/7 online	Phone + chat

Estimates based on 20 invoices/mo and 0 employees. Rates can change without notice, confirm current pricing with the provider before signing on. Estimates cover the subscription plus a payroll add-on where the provider offers one (QuickBooks, Sage, and Wave charge a base fee plus a per-employee fee). Wave is free for core accounting, and Zoho Books is free under its revenue threshold. Card processing fees are not included.

How we calculate this

Estimated cost: each provider’s published prices and rates applied to the inputs you set above (such as volume, team size, or invoices), plus any fixed monthly fees.
Providers with an incomplete cost (shown as “+ processing”) and quote-only providers are never ranked as the cheapest while a complete-cost option exists. A “+ payroll” tag means payroll is not built in, so you would run it on separate software; those providers are still ranked on cost, and you can hide them with the Payroll included filter.
These are estimates. Published rates can change and your final pricing depends on your business, so confirm current pricing with the provider before switching.

Provider details

The top providers, expanded.

Same data as the table above, broken out per provider with the use cases each one fits best.

We may earn a commission when you click through to a provider. This never affects ranking or data shown. Read our terms.

Wave

Genuinely free core accounting and invoicing for US micro-businesses, with a low-cost Pro tier and add-on payroll in supported states.

Est. cost

$0/mo

Best for

US sole proprietors and micro-businesses wanting free invoicing and bookkeeping with optional low-cost payroll

Entry plan: Free (Pro $16/mo)
Users: Unlimited (with limited roles)
Payroll: Add-on (+$6/emp)
Bank feeds: Yes (Pro)

Visit Wave View full details

Zoho Books

Strong-value US accounting with a genuine free plan under a revenue threshold, an official AI MCP server, and a clear upgrade path to inventory and multi-currency.

Est. cost

$15/mo

Best for

Cost-conscious US sole proprietors and growing SMBs, especially Zoho users, wanting a free entry tier with a clear upgrade path

Entry plan: $15/mo (Standard)
Users: 3 (Standard)
Payroll: N/A
Bank feeds: Yes (Standard)

Visit Zoho Books View full details

FreshBooks

Invoicing-led accounting popular with US freelancers and service businesses, with strong project profitability tracking but no payroll built in.

Est. cost

$23/mo

Best for

US freelancers and small service businesses that mainly need polished invoicing, time tracking, and project profitability

Entry plan: $23/mo (Lite)
Users: 1
Payroll: N/A (Gusto)
Bank feeds: Yes

Visit FreshBooks View full details

Sage

Long-established accounting vendor with a cloud Sage Accounting product, unlimited invoicing from the entry plan, and the Sage Copilot AI assistant.

Est. cost

$25/mo

Best for

US businesses wanting an established vendor with unlimited invoicing from the entry plan and strong reporting heritage

Entry plan: $25/mo (Accounting Start)
Users: 1 (Start)
Payroll: Add-on
Bank feeds: Yes

Visit Sage View full details

Xero

Cloud accounting with unlimited users on every plan and a deep app ecosystem, increasingly popular with US small businesses and accountants.

Est. cost

$25/mo

Best for

US small businesses and accountants wanting unlimited users and a deep app ecosystem

Entry plan: $25/mo (Early)
Users: Unlimited
Payroll: N/A (Gusto)
Bank feeds: Yes

Visit Xero View full details

QuickBooks Online

Intuit's cloud accounting and the US market leader, with deep sales tax automation, built-in inventory, and a low-cost payroll add-on.

Est. cost

$38/mo

Best for

US small businesses wanting the market-leading platform with strong sales tax automation and the widest accountant network

Entry plan: $38/mo (Simple Start)
Users: 1 (Simple Start)
Payroll: $50/mo + $7/emp
Bank feeds: Yes

Visit QuickBooks Online View full details

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Ranked picks for specific business types, with our live cost calculator.

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