Best Accounting Software for Small Businesses of 2023

Tracking income, expenses, and other finances is an essential facet for Small business.

Business accounting is crucial for calculating and paying taxes, and it can help you lower your tax bill as well.

Every Small business needs robust accounting software to handle billing, invoicing, and expense tracking.

However, selecting the right accounting software for a small business that suits your requirements can be a tough task. To help you make a better decision. here’s a list of the seven most-used accounting software for small businesses that can be a perfect fit for your accounting requirements.

Below Are the Top Most Used Accounting Software for Small Businesses

1. Tally

Tally is an on-premise accounting software for small businesses across several industry verticals. It offers a wide range of business functions and features, including accounting, point of sales, job costing, payroll, and more.

It is one of the best accounting software for small businesses and offers simple and easy-to-use but advanced features to help you stay on top of your business processes. Tally provides an accounting module that supports activities such as bank reconciliation, voucher management, and reminder letters. The sales module of this software enables you to record payables & receivables, track orders, and facilitate billing and invoicing.

Key features

• Supply chain management
• Distribution management
• CRM
• Purchase order management
• Reporting and analytics

Pricing

The pricing of Tally.ERP 9, the latest version of Tally, starts at $8.57 per month per user. Tally has a free version, and it also offers a free trial.

2. BUSY Accounting

BUSY Accounting is one of the most-used accounting software by small businesses for managing their accounts, business processes, and operational controls. This web-based business accounting software is developed to work in three different tiers. These include:

Tier 1: This tier consists of the input channel that accepts data from users, processes it, and creates reports.

Tier 2: In this tier, data processing is performed for being utilized by the first tier for interpretation.

Tier 3: Here, data is stored for future cross-checking and monitoring purposes

Some of the major industries that use BUSY are FMCG, manufacturing, retail, distribution, trading, and service.

Key features

• Accounts receivable and payable
• Billing & invoicing
• Bank reconciliation
• Payroll management
• Tax management

Pricing

The pricing of BUSY Accounting starts at $240 as a one-time payment per user. No free version is available, but BUSY offers a free trial.

Read More: How Custom Invoice Approval Helps You Make Best Invoices

3. Horizon ERP

Horizon ERP is one of the best accounting software for small business in India. It addresses all the accounting needs of the retail, distribution, and manufacturing sector.

Horizon ERP simplifies the GST Billing and Filing procedure, E-way Bill generation, and other day-to-day accounting work. It helps you keep track of your inventory with its robust Inventory Management System.

Horizon ERP provides you with an accounting module that supports the multi-level classification of items, offers and discount management, and user-wise access. Besides, you can also email invoices, and print customized bills.

Moreover, this on-premise/Cloud software enables you to generate daily and monthly reports related to stocks, finance, and bills. Getting precise reports lets you make informed decisions and improve procedures.

Horizon ERP Live cloud subscription allows users to access and works on data from multiple locations over the internet. which makes the solution infinitely scalable. Businesses with operations in multiple locations, multiple godowns, or chains of stores will find it very easy to get all their teams to work on a single platform.

Key features

• Billing & Invoicing
• Inventory Management
• Statutory Capabilities
• Credit Management
• Financial Accounting

• Barcode Module (For retail)

• Dedicated POS Window

• Distribution special features

• BOM/Manufacturing Voucher

• Cloud Database

Pricing

The price starts at $185 only. There are no annual renewal charges (on-premise edition).

4. MARG ERP 9+

MARG ERP 9+ is one of the most-used accounting software used by small businesses of all types and sizes. It offers various models catering to the requirements of manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. This on-premise solution also provides mobile apps for suppliers, store owners, and customers.

MARG offers modules for order management, production planning, inventory management, costing, and more, along with providing a distribution module for multiple industries. The retail POS module of this most used accounting software includes reporting and integration with eCommerce and logistics platforms.

This solution is designed to automate time-consuming, recurring, but necessary business processes such as account management, report generation, reconciliation of bank transactions, and more.

Key features

• Multiple Branch Control
• Billing invoicing and invoice corrections
• Web reports
• Data transfer
• Integration modules

Pricing

MARG ERP 9+ is available in three different editions, with the basic edition priced at $300 per user per year. There is no free version available, but the provider offers a free demo.

5. Quickbooks

Quickbooks is a web-based and one of the most used accounting software programs by small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). This cloud-based accounting solution allows you to manage financial activities like projects, expenses, and invoices. Its centralized dashboard enables you to set and use key performance indicators (KPIs) to gain in-depth insights into business performance and upcoming trends.

One of the key reasons for Quickbooks being one of the most used accounting software is its ability to help users collaborate on specific projects. It allows you to capture receipts, sort tax-based transactions, and improve the overall financial operations of your organization. Besides, you can also manage recurring payments, create custom estimates, and export generated reports.

Key features

• Accounts receivable and payable
• Project accounting
• Payroll management
• Purchase orders
• Expense tracking

Pricing

The pricing of Quickbooks starts at $5 per person per user. There is no free version available, but it offers a free trial.

6. Freshbooks

Freshbooks is an award-winning and one of the most used accounting software for small business designed mainly for small and medium-sized businesses. It is powered by a comprehensive set of features that streamline time tracking and client invoicing processes.

This software is reliable, fast, and easy to use, and it turns complex business accounting into a seamless, enjoyable process. It enables you to create professional invoices in a few clicks, along with automating client follow-up and tracking processes to save you more time and resources.

Moreover, Freshbooks integrates with a wide range of third-party applications such as PayPal, Shopify, Stripe, etc. to help you get paid faster and extend your business capabilities.

Lastly, Freshbooks also has a mobile application available for both Android and iOS, which enables you to stay on top of your business anytime and from anywhere.

Key features

• Online Invoicing
• Expense Tracking
• Time Tracking
• Accounting Reports & Taxes
• Make and collect payments

Pricing

The pricing of Freshbooks starts at $6 per month. A free trial is available, and there is a free version as well.

Read more: How to Prepare MIS Report? (In Tally & Excel)

7. Zoho Books

Zoho Books allows you to easily manage the inflow and outflow of money in your organization. This most sued business accounting software for Small businesses provides a robust suite of features that enable you to keep your expenses in check and manage your customers and invoices. It helps you record and monitors your transactions and bank accounts.

This cloud-based solution is suitable for freelancers, startups, and small organizations. Arguably the most used accounting software, Zoho Books, automates repetitive, time-consuming activities, like payment reminders, billing, auto charge, etc.

This software allows you to manage sheets of different projects and track expenses that can be reimbursed. It also enables you to connect bank accounts and credit cards. Most importantly, Zoho Books helps you make more informed business decisions.

Key features

• Purchase orders
• Accounts payable and receivable
• Project accounting
• Billing & invoicing
• Expense tracking

Pricing

The pricing of Zoho Books starts at $9 per month. No free version is available, but Zoho Books offers a free trial.

8. Vyapar

Vyapar is one of the best accounting software for small business in India that serves mainly the Indian market. It enables you to create GST bills, estimates, payments, expenses, orders, and GSTR reports. Being an on-premise solution, Vyapar allows you to facilitate all the necessary business tasks without the internet.

You can share invoices across various online channels and collect payments directly online. This software also allows you to check your inventory status, get low-stock alerts, and track complete inventory activity.

Key features

• Proof of Delivery
• Order Tracking
• Quotation
• Accounting
• Billing & invoicing

Pricing

The pricing of Vyapar starts at $34 per year per user. It also offers a free version, and there is a free trial as well.

Wrapping it up

There was a quick look at the most used accounting software solutions across all industry verticals and business sizes. To pick the best solution, determine your business requirements, objectives, and budget, and compare them with the features offered by each software system to find the one that fits your needs.