Zoho Books

Zoho Books entry pricing is Free / $15 Standard. There is a genuine free plan for US businesses under an annual revenue threshold, then Standard, Professional, Premium, and higher tiers add users, inventory, multi-currency, and projects. Annual billing saves around 20% over monthly. The comparison table on this page shows each tier so you can see where features like inventory unlock.

The free plan is available to US businesses under an annual revenue threshold, supporting one user plus your accountant. It covers core accounting, bank reconciliation, expense tracking, recurring invoices, and a client portal. Once your gross revenue exceeds the threshold, you move to the Standard plan even if profit is lower, since eligibility is based on revenue rather than profit. It is the best free entry point for very small businesses with a clear upgrade path.

Yes. Zoho Books tracks sales tax, supports 1099 contractor reporting, and adds multi-state sales tax handling via an Avalara integration on the Professional plan and above. It produces sales tax liability reports to help with filing. For multi-state online sellers, the Professional tier with Avalara is the relevant comparison point rather than the entry price.

No. Zoho Books does not include built-in payroll; payroll runs through the separate Zoho Payroll product, which is a distinct subscription. If you need accounting and payroll on a single bill, QuickBooks or Sage with their payroll add-ons fit better. For a business with no employees, or one happy to run Zoho Payroll alongside, this separation is not a problem.

You upgrade from the free plan when your annual revenue passes the threshold, when you need more than one user, when you need bank feeds and the API (which start on Standard), or when you need inventory, multi-currency, and project tracking (which start on Professional). The free plan also caps invoices per year. The comparison table on this page shows where each of these features unlocks across the tiers.

Yes. Zoho Books is one of the few accounting platforms with an official Model Context Protocol server, which lets AI assistants such as Claude read and update your books, create invoices, record expenses, and run reconciliation checks through natural-language prompts with permission-based access. It also includes Zia, Zoho's native AI assistant, across the paid tiers. This makes Zoho Books a standout for AI-driven bookkeeping.