Best Affordable Accounting Software (2026): Top 9 Compared

Wave is a cloud accounting and invoicing product for small businesses in the United States and Canada. Its pricing page lists two plans. Starter costs $0 and covers unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, a cash flow dashboard and a mobile invoicing app. Online card payments are optional on Starter at 2.9% plus $0.60 per card transaction and 3.4% plus $0.60 for American Express.

Pro costs $19 USD per month billed monthly, or $190 USD per year billed annually, and was shown with a promotional rate of $9.50 per month for the first three months. Pro adds automatic bank transaction import, auto-merging and categorisation of those transactions, receipt capture and automated late payment reminders. It also removes the fixed $0.60 card fee for the first ten transactions each month. The page states that Pro is priced per business, so an owner running three businesses pays three subscriptions.

Payroll, receipt scanning on Starter and the Wave Advisors bookkeeping service are sold separately. The fit is a sole trader or very small team with simple books. Businesses that need inventory, multiple currencies or many users will reach the product's limits quickly.

Zoho Books is the accounting application in the Zoho business suite. Its US pricing page lists a Free plan at $0 per organisation, aimed at solopreneurs and micro businesses. The FAQ states that the free plan remains available as long as revenue for the financial year stays under $50,000, and that it allows up to 1,000 invoices a year.

The free plan is unusually complete. It includes invoices, quotes, expenses and journals, receipt autoscans, vendor management, mileage tracking, online payments, a customer portal, payment reminders, bank reconciliation, recurring invoices, W-9 management, 1099 contractor tracking and filing, and more than 50 reports. It covers one user plus one accountant with email support.

Paid tiers are priced per organisation. Standard is $20 per month billed monthly or $15 billed annually, with three users and up to 5,000 invoices a year. Professional is $50 or $40 with five users, and Premium is $70 or $60 with ten users. Extra users cost $3 per month, or $2.50 billed annually, and add-ons are not supported on the free plan. Businesses expecting revenue growth should price the Standard tier now.

Akaunting describes itself as free, open-source online accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. Its homepage states that the Standard plan of the On-Premise, self-hosted version is free in price and in licence terms, and the product is translated into more than 50 languages by volunteer contributors.

Buyers who prefer not to run a server can use the hosted cloud plans. Standard Cloud, described as best for one-person businesses, costs $12 per month billed monthly or $8 per month billed yearly. It includes one company, one user plus one accountant, 1,000 invoices, four included apps, ticket support, unlimited customers, vendors, reports and products, and multiple currencies. Premium Cloud is $36 or $24 per month and adds bank feeds, expense claims, roles and permissions and a client portal. Elite Cloud is $84 or $56 and adds inventory, CRM and receipt scanning.

The self-hosted route moves cost from licence fees to hosting, backups and upgrades, which a technical owner may handle and a non-technical owner may need to buy in. The app store model means some functions cost extra.

Xero is a cloud accounting platform sold in the United States and several other markets. Its US pricing page lists three plans, each shown at 80 percent off for the first three months. Early costs $27 per month after the introductory period, Growing $59 and Established $97.

Early is the low-price entry point. It includes sending quotes and 20 invoices, five bills, online invoice payments, bank reconciliation, Smart Document Capture, real-time reports, W-9 and 1099 management, sales tax, basic graphs, a 30-day cash flow forecast and free domestic ACH bill payments. Auto-reconciliation is an optional add-on at $5 per month on Early and included on the higher plans.

Growing removes the invoice and bill caps and adds automatic bill entry. Established adds multiple currencies, project time and cost tracking, expense and mileage claims, a 180-day cash flow forecast and custom dashboards. Payroll is offered through Gusto at $36 per month plus $6 per employee or contractor. The Early plan suits a business that sends a handful of invoices a month; anything above 20 moves the buyer to Growing.

Odoo is a modular suite of business applications that includes accounting, invoicing, CRM, inventory, sales and HR. Its pricing page offers a One App Free plan that charges nothing for a single application with unlimited users on Odoo Online. The page states that any apps the chosen app depends on are also free, and that usage is free for unlimited users with no time limit. Multi-company is allowed on the free plan.

The free plan ends when a second app is installed, which moves the account to Standard. Adding Odoo Studio or extra companies beyond the free terms moves it to Custom. Both paid plans are charged per user per month, with yearly or monthly billing. The figures on the page were displayed in the visitor's regional currency, so they are not repeated here in US dollars.

Odoo Online hosting includes unmetered storage up to 100GB. Implementation services, in-app purchase credits and Odoo.sh hosting are excluded. The fit is a business that wants accounting alone today and expects to add inventory, sales or CRM in the same system, accepting that the second app changes the bill.

TrulySmall Accounting comes from Kashoo, the company behind the Kashoo accounting product, and is aimed at self-employed owners. Its pricing page lists three accounting plans in US dollars, each with a 14-day free trial.

Solo costs $14 per month or $150 per year. It includes one user, unlimited invoices and estimates, expense tracking, online payments, unlimited file attachments, automatic reminders, multiple currencies, receipt scanning, a profit and loss report, sales tax tracking, goods and services records, double-entry accounting and two-factor security. Growth costs $20 per month or $216 per year and adds up to five users, bank sync with auto-categorisation, bills, automatic bank reconciliation, recurring transactions, financial reports and sub-accounts. Pro costs $30 per month or $324 per year and adds unlimited users, projects, cash flow forecasting and integrations.

The same page sells a separate TrulySmall Invoices app at $8.99 per month with the first five invoices free, and a bundle of both. Buyers should note which product a price refers to. The Solo plan fits a one-person business that is happy to enter bank activity itself; owners who want bank feeds should price Growth.

Found is a US platform that combines business banking, bookkeeping and tax tools for self-employed people. Its pricing page lists a free plan at $0 per month with no required hidden fees. That plan includes a business bank account with a Mastercard debit card, team debit cards with spending controls, up to 20 sub-accounts called Pockets, expense categorisation, receipt scanning, a profit and loss view, real-time tax estimates, contractor payments with W-9 collection and 1099 e-filing, and unlimited free invoicing.

Found Plus costs $35 per month or $315 per year and comes with a 30-day free trial. It adds transaction import from other banks, cards and apps, unlimited auto-categorisation rules, custom tags and categories, priority phone support and interest on balances up to $20,000. Found Pro costs $80 per month or $720 per year and adds premium banking benefits and a dedicated account manager. Subscribers can cancel and keep the free plan.

Found is built around its own business account rather than a standalone ledger. It fits a sole proprietor who wants banking and bookkeeping in one place and will run business activity through the Found account. A business whose accountant needs a full chart of accounts and journals should compare it with the double-entry products here.

AccountEdge is desktop accounting software for Mac and Windows. Its pricing page, quoted in US dollars, lists three plans, and every plan includes ten company files. AccountEdge Pro costs $20 per month for a single user installed on a local computer, with additional non-networked licences available. Network Edition costs $30 per month and includes two users with simultaneous company file access. AccountEdge Hosted costs $50 per month per user and runs in a web browser.

The included feature list covers sales and invoicing, purchases and expenses, bank reconciliation, financial reporting, budgeting, inventory management, payroll processing, time billing, contact management, password protection, data backup and a free accountant copy. Optional add-ons include payroll tax tables at $20 per month for unlimited employees, telephone support at $10 per month, extra workstation licences at $10 per month per computer and bank feeds at $5 per month.

The fit is a small business that wants inventory and payroll on a local machine, particularly on a Mac. Buyers who want cloud access from several devices should price the Hosted plan instead.

GnuCash is personal and small-business accounting software released under the GNU General Public License. Its site lists the current version, 5.17, for Linux, Microsoft Windows 8, 10 and 11, and Apple macOS on both Apple Silicon and Intel, with older versions kept for legacy systems. The software is developed, maintained, documented and translated by volunteers, and the project asks for donations rather than charging a fee.

The feature list covers double-entry accounting, stock, bond and mutual fund accounts, small-business accounting, reports and graphs, QIF, OFX and HBCI import with transaction matching, scheduled transactions and financial calculations. The project describes it as being as quick to use as a checkbook register while following professional accounting principles to keep books balanced.

The cost of GnuCash is time rather than money. There is no hosted edition and no vendor support desk, so help comes from public mailing lists and the project wiki. It fits an owner who wants a rigorous ledger at no cost and is comfortable keeping and backing up files locally.