Whether it’s about getting more organized, keeping better records, tracking cash flow and tracking expenses, making better use of your financial statements, or finally contracting a professional bookkeeping service, developing a strong bookkeeping strategy will always change your business for the better and often enable you to grow in ways you didn’t previously have access to. 

It’s important that, as business owners, we take full advantage of technologies that might give us a leg up in our efforts. One area that often needs an upgrade is in our bookkeeping and money management. One affordable way to get a better handle on things, especially when you’re just starting out or fairly new, is picking up a good accounting software. 

While free options will not be as robust as paid choices like QuickBooks or Xero, several no-cost options exist that offer a range of possibilities for business owners hoping to better manage their books, simply handle invoicing with ease or take advantage of the sleek workflow and automated data organization that comes with accounting software. Let’s look at 4 choices for free invoicing or free accounting software in 2022. 

1. Wave

A top choice, Wave is a web-based software, which means you can access your account from anywhere with an internet connection. It may lack some advanced features, but it’s no slouch. Wave gives you the ability to connect unlimited credit card and bank accounts, and track income and expenses. You’ll also have the capability of invoicing clients and partners and scan receipts as well. 

Some additional Wave features include:

Journal transactions

Bill and invoice reminders

Payments made in foreign currency

Customizable sales tax

Customizable income and expense categories

Double-entry software

The ability to run multiple businesses through one account

Exportable Accounting Reports

Another great perk of Wave software is its security. It packs 256-bit SSL encryption and data backup. You’ll also get support via email, along with helpful hints from their blog, forum, and help center. Lastly, Wave expands your options by offering free add-ons like Wave Invoicing or pay-as-you-go add-ons like Payroll by Wave, that enhance your experience and give you more control over your accounting. 

As with any product, Wave does have a few drawbacks. It carries few tax capabilities and isn’t ideal for larger companies. Still, Wave, with its strong security, thorough collection of benefits and add-ons and ease of access, makes it one of the best choices for free accounting software. 

2. ZipBooks

ZipBooks contains most of the features you need for basic business bookkeeping, like expense management, bank syncing, billing, invoicing, and even reports. Additional features include bank reconciliation, auto-categorization, tagging and more, plus a wide range of detailed reports. ZipBooks helps you accomplish even more with data-driven insights to enable you to make the most of your financial reports. With greater financial intelligence comes better business decisions. 

ZipBooks offers an automated payroll option via a link with Gusto. You’ll need to subscribe with Gusto, which starts at $39 a month plus $6 per person per month. While this means an extra expense for you, Gusto is a great service that many business owners swear by. And paired with ZipBooks, can really streamline your payroll management. If you’re hoping to make online payments to your invoiced customers, you’ll need to use Square or PayPal and pay the associated fees. 

ZipBooks is an above average choice for free accounting software. With several built-in features and some of the best intelligence and reporting insights of any free software, it’s an excellent program for many businesses. Learn more about ZipBooks here.

3. CloudBooks

This one is sort of a cross between no-cost and low-cost. You can use CloudBooks to invoice, track expenses, create estimates, track time, easily communicate with your entire team, assign tasks, run projects, and more. However, you’ll need to upgrade and pay a very reasonable fee of $10 per month if you’d like to send more than 5 invoices, offer payments online for your invoices or brand your materials. 

For help, you can contact CloudBooks by email or even phone. They also keep a regular blog going with some great articles, featuring not only helpful hints about using CloudBooks, but timely posts about business, accounting, media, and marketing. Check out and sign up for CloudBooks here. 

4. Zoho Invoice

This self-admitted “forever-free” tool is an excellent choice for small business owners looking to create and manage invoices and collect payments, all with ease. Customize your templates with brand-specific choices, track expenses, communicate with customers using your client portal, create estimates, and run time-tracking on project billing.

Zoho is trusted by a wide range of businesses and entrepreneurs for its ease and automation. Everyone from freelancers, musicians and artists, to designers, lawyers, consultants, non-profit organizations, taxi and transportation, medical, travel and tourism, and everyone in-between, are using Zoho to manage their invoicing and payments. 

At its heart, Zoho isn’t just one, but a suite of apps, designed to help you manage your business better in just about every way. Their offerings include programs like Zoho Books, which goes beyond invoicing to include everything you need for complete bookkeeping. From there you get to choose programs or subscribe to the entire suite and gain a serious selection of features that allow you to email, invoice, manage bookkeeping, create and track marketing campaigns, manage projects, design, handle customer service and sales pipeline oversight, and book appointments. 

Zoho is customizable, features great mobile apps, and its interface is attractive and mostly intuitive. They’ve also made considerable upgrades over the past few years, allowing for a greater level of control and customization. 

Free for the basic service of Zoho Invoice, which includes one user, if you’d like to step up, which will be necessary for many if not most users, there are a range of paid Zoho Invoice plans, with a graduated system of features and pricing. From there, you can move into Zoho’s wider range of business products, requiring anywhere from $30 to $250 per month for a comprehensive suite of management tools to help you take care of just about anything. 

Conclusion

This is by no means an exhaustive list. And we’ll look at another set of free software options in the near future. But this should at least inspire you to take a look at bookkeeping or invoicing software if you’re not already taking advantage of the features and benefits of today’s available technologies. 

Remember, though, no program is a full substitute for an experienced bookkeeper. It’s important to create bookkeeping habits and strategies that are sustainable, comprehensive, easy-to-follow, and cover everything. A bookkeeper can make this happen for you and take the burden off your shoulders. 

Sound Accounts helps companies from all sectors achieve greater productivity with a range of superb bookkeeping services. Don’t leave your finances to chance. Reach out today to see the difference great bookkeeping makes in your business. 

For quick answers to questions about free accounting software, see our frequently asked questions below. 

FAQ

Is accounting software right for me?

The answer to this depends on a few things. It’s really never a bad idea to pick up a quality bookkeeping management tool. These programs, whether you’re handling your own books or outsourcing, can give you quick access to basic accounting tools and a range of reports. Not to mention keeping your records organized.

 How do I choose the best software for me?

There probably isn’t a “perfect” software for any business owner. So many of them will work just fine for most companies. It comes down to which features you need, the ease of use and the style of navigation you prefer, and how customizable your options are. You’ll also need to determine which is better for your success, a good free version or a more comprehensive paid program. 

Is accounting software a good replacement for a bookkeeper?

The short answer is no! While very small businesses, say one or two people, especially ones with a very basic business model, a limited range of expenses, and few customers, can manage their own books using accounting software and good habits, most growing businesses need to eventually transition to some kind of professional bookkeeping help. This might be an in-house employee or even the more versatile outsourced bookkeeping service, which offers you exactly the services you need at a price you can afford.