Zoho Books

What is Zoho Books?

Zoho Books is an online accounting software that helps small to medium-sized businesses manage their finances efficiently. Part of the larger Zoho ecosystem with over 55+ business applications, it provides a comprehensive set of tools to simplify financial management from tracking payables and receivables to automating business workflows.

With Zoho Books, you can customize invoices, set up automated payment reminders, connect and reconcile bank accounts with transactions fetched and matched automatically, and generate over 70 detailed financial reports. 

It’s also expanding across countries and it has over 16 country-specific editions addressing local tax compliance + 1 global edition that can be used across all regions

In this Zoho Books review, we will take a closer look at Zoho Books pricing, features, its benefits, and support quality.

Quick Review of Zoho Books

Pros and Cons of Zoho Books

Pros

• Forever free plan available: Zoho Books offers a genuinely useful free plan ideal for businesses that are starting up and want to explore digital accounting without breaking the bank.
• Best-in-class mobile app: The mobile app includes comprehensive functionality for invoicing, expense tracking, bill payments, time recording, and financial reporting.
• Strong inventory management capabilities: Advanced features like serial number tracking, batch tracking, warehouse management, composite items, and barcode scanning make it excellent for product-based businesses.
• Affordable pricing with robust features: Starting at just $15 per month (billed annually), Zoho Books delivers extensive accounting functionality at a price point significantly lower than competitors, providing excellent value for money.
• Seamless integration within Zoho ecosystem: If you already use other Zoho products like Zoho CRM, Zoho Inventory, or Zoho Projects, the integration eliminates data duplication and streamlines operations across your business tools.

Cons

• Limited third-party integrations: Zoho Books primarily integrates with Zoho’s own suite and a limited number of external apps, which can be restrictive for some businesses.
• Limited brand recognition in the US: While widely used globally, Zoho Books doesn’t have the same brand familiarity as its competitors in the United States yet.
• User limitations on plans: The maximum number of users is capped at 15 in the Ultimate plan, with additional users costing $2.50-$3 per month each, which can add up quickly for larger teams.

Zoho Books Pricing

Zoho Books offers six pricing tiers designed to accommodate businesses at different stages of growth. All paid plans come with a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Annual billing provides savings of approximately 20-25% compared to monthly billing.

Free Plan – $0/month

• Best for: Freelancers and very small businesses with annual revenue under $50,000.
• Users: 1 user + 1 accountant.
• Invoices: Up to 1,000 invoices annually.
• Features: Basic invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation, customer portal, multi-lingual invoicing, essential financial reports.
• Support: Email support.

Standard Plan – $15/month (billed annually) or $20/month

• Best for: Small businesses requiring multi-user support.
• Users: 3 users.
• Invoices: Up to 5,000 invoices annually.
• Features: Progress and retention invoices, recurring expenses, predefined user roles, timesheets, custom reports, basic tax management (W-9, 1099 forms).
• Support: Phone and email support.

Professional Plan – $40/month (billed annually) or $50/month

• Best for: Growing businesses needing advanced features.
• Users: 5 users.
• Invoices: Up to 10,000 invoices annually.
• Features: All Standard features plus retainer invoices, bills and payments, recurring bills, currency adjustments, stock tracking, landed costs, custom roles, project expense tracking, sales orders, and basic multi-currency handling.
• Support: Phone, email, and chat support.

Premium Plan – $60/month (billed annually) or $70/month

• Best for: Businesses with higher transaction volumes.
• Users: 10 users.
• Invoices: Up to 25,000 invoices annually.
• Features: All Professional features plus custom domain, multi-transaction number series, budgeting tools, and advanced reporting customization.
• Support: Priority phone, email, and chat support.

Elite Plan – $120/month (billed annually) or $150/month

• Best for: Businesses requiring advanced inventory control.
• Users: 10 users.
• Invoices: Up to 100,000 invoices annually.
• Features: All Premium features plus advanced inventory control, warehouse management, serial number tracking, batch tracking, shipment tracking, integration with up to 2 Shopify stores, and management of up to 5 warehouses.
• Support: Priority phone, email, and chat support.

Ultimate Plan – $240/month (billed annually) or $275/month

• Best for: Larger businesses with complex accounting needs.
• Users: 15 users.
• Invoices: Up to 100,000 invoices annually.
• Bills/Expenses: Up to 100,000 annually.
• Features: All Elite features with maximum transaction limits and advanced customization.
• Support: Priority phone, email, and chat support.

Additional Costs

• Extra users: $2.50 per user/month (billed annually) or $3 per user/month.
• Additional locations: $10 per location/month (billed annually).
• Advanced Autoscans: $8 per 50 scans/month (billed annually).
• Expense claims: $5 per active user/month (billed annually).
• Billpay: $30 per month (billed annually).
• Premium Support: $49 per month or $490 annually (or 20% of subscription fee, whichever is higher).

Zoho Books Key Features

Invoicing and Payment Management

Zoho Books provides comprehensive invoicing capabilities that allow you to create professional, customizable invoices with your company logo and branding. You can easily add products and services, apply taxes per item, include shipping charges, and integrate payment gateways for online payments.

The platform supports multiple payment gateways such as Zoho Payments in the US, Stripe, PayPal, Paytabs, Authorize.Net, Verifone, Braintree, and CSG Forte, giving customers flexible payment options. You can create recurring invoices for subscription-based services, set up automated payment reminders to clients, and track invoice status in real-time to tighten your accounts receivable cycle.

For international businesses, Zoho Books excels with automatic exchange rates, multilingual invoicing in multiple languages, and multi-currency transaction support for each customer, making it easy to work with clients worldwide.

Expense Tracking and Management

Track business expenses effortlessly by capturing receipts through the mobile app and categorizing expenses automatically. The expense tracking feature integrates seamlessly with bank feeds, allowing you to match transactions and reconcile accounts efficiently.

You can set up recurring expenses for predictable costs, create vendor bills and track payment status, and generate expense reports filtered by date, category, or project. The platform also supports mileage tracking for calculating travel expenses and reimbursements.

Bank Reconciliation

Zoho Books connects directly to your bank accounts and credit cards, automatically fetching transactions and matching them with existing entries in your books. This automation significantly reduces manual data entry and helps identify discrepancies quickly.

The bank reconciliation module supports multiple bank accounts and payment methods (cash, check, bank transfer, etc.), provides suggested matches for faster reconciliation, and maintains a complete audit trail of all transactions and adjustments for compliance purposes.

Inventory Management

Zoho Books’ inventory management system tracks stock levels in real-time, sets preferred vendors and reorder points, and generates purchase orders automatically when stock runs low.

You can organize items with SKUs, barcodes, purchase and sales costs, manage product images and descriptions, and handle serial number tracking and batch tracking for quality control. The platform supports warehouse management with multiple locations, composite items for bundling products together, and item groups for easier categorization.

For businesses needing even more advanced features, the Zoho Inventory add-on enables shipment tracking, package management, backorder handling, and integration with popular marketplaces like Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, and eBay.

Project Tracking and Time Management

Zoho Books includes project management features that allow you to create projects, add tasks, and assign them to team members. The built-in time tracker lets you log billable hours and convert them directly into invoices, making it ideal for service-based businesses and consultants.

You can track project profitability by monitoring expenses and revenue against budgets, generate project-specific reports to understand performance, and invoice clients based on time worked or fixed project amounts. The platform supports multiple billing methods, such as hourly rates, fixed fees, and retainer arrangements.

Financial Reporting

With over 70 detailed financial reports, Zoho Books provides comprehensive insights into your business’s financial health. Standard reports include Profit & Loss statements, Balance Sheets, Cash Flow Statements, Accounts Receivable Aging, Accounts Payable Aging, and Tax Summary reports.

You can create custom reports tailored to your specific needs, schedule reports to be automatically generated and emailed to stakeholders, and add reporting tags to transactions for drilling down into results by location, department, or other criteria. The dashboard provides visual charts and graphs showing cash flow trends, income versus expenses, and key performance indicators at a glance.

Customer and Vendor Portals

Zoho Books includes dedicated portals for customers and vendors to access their transaction history. The customer portal allows clients to view estimates, invoices, and statements, make online payments through integrated gateways, and provide feedback on services.

The vendor portal enables suppliers to track their own transactions with your business, view purchase orders and bills, and manage invoices they’ve sent to you. This transparency improves communication and reduces the volume of status inquiries your team needs to handle.

Automation and Workflows

Automate repetitive tasks to save time and reduce errors. You can set up automated payment reminders that notify clients about outstanding invoices, create workflow rules to update fields or send custom email messages, and establish recurring transactions for regular income or expenses.

The platform supports approval workflows for expenses and purchase orders, automatic tax calculations based on location and product type, and integration with Zapier for connecting to hundreds of additional business applications.

Zoho Books Support Quality

Zoho Books provides multiple support channels with varying levels of service depending on your plan:

Zoho Books Alternatives

Summary

Overall, Zoho Books is an excellent accounting solution for small to mid-sized businesses. It is easy to use and has a simple UI. It delivers comprehensive accounting functionality at a price point that’s hard to beat, with a generous free plan and paid tiers starting at just $15 per month.

The platform excels in several key areas. However, potential users should carefully consider the limitations. The restricted third-party integration options mean Zoho Books works best when paired with other Zoho products or when your business doesn’t rely heavily on external software. 

Zoho Books is the ideal choice for cost-conscious businesses that value strong core accounting features, need robust inventory tracking, and want excellent mobile access to their financial data. It’s particularly compelling for online retailers, product-based businesses, and companies already using Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, or other Zoho applications.

Try Zoho Books Now

Streamline your accounting operations with Zoho Books’ comprehensive platform. Start with the free plan or try any paid plan free for 14 days, no credit card required.

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