by Zoho CorporationSmall business accounting software
Accounting in six plans from a free tier to Ultimate, with multi-currency, inventory, projects and custom roles from $50 a month.
Bills, multi-currency, inventory, projects and custom roles on a $50 plan with 5 users, backed by SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001.
Zoho Books Professional, at $50 a month ($40 billed yearly), covers bills, purchase orders, multi-currency with automatic exchange rates, stock tracking, project profitability and custom user roles for 5 users, features other suites place on higher tiers. Every plan includes an activity log, recurring invoices and payment reminders. Zoho states SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for all its cloud services, and Zoho Payments and Zoho Payroll publish their prices.
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Small business accounting software: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Zoho Books | QuickBooks Online | Xero | Wave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceBills, multi-currency, inventory, projects and custom roles on a $50 plan with 5 users, backed by SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001. | Built-in reachFull small business books with payments, payroll and bill pay from one vendor, and a plan ladder from a free tier to 25 users. | Worth the priceAccounting priced per business, not per user, with inventory, purchase orders and bank feeds on every plan. | Worth the priceInvoices, bills and bookkeeping for free, and bank imports, users and reminders for $19 a month per business. |
| Overall score | 8.2Best | 7.5 | 7.1 | 6.7 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan | 30-day free trial | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | No card needed | Card required | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $20/mo | $38/mo | $27/mo | $19/mo |
| Pricing model | Tiered | Tiered | Tiered | Tiered |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per organization per month, in plan tiers; extra users $3/mo each | Per company per month, in plan tiers; no extra seats sold | Per organization per month; no per-user license fees | Per business per month or year |
| Free option | Free plan under $50K yearly revenue (1 user + 1 accountant, no bills or bank feeds); 14-day trial | Free plan (1 user, 2 invoices/mo, 1 bank connection); 30-day trial of paid plans | No free plan; one month free with billing details taken at sign-up | Free Starter plan (unlimited invoices and bills, no bank import) |
| Reference scenario (3 users, monthly) | $50/mo on Professional, computed | $85/mo on Essentials, computed | $59/mo on Growing, computed | $19/mo on Pro, computed |
| Users per plan | 1 + accountant / 3 / 5 / 10 / 10 / 15; extra users $3/mo ($2.50 yearly) | 1 / 1 / 3 / 5 / 25 (Free to Advanced); 2 or 3 accountants free on paid plans | No per-user fees on any plan | Admins, editors and viewers on Pro; payroll manager and tax pro on all plans |
| Multi-currency | Professional ($50) and up | Essentials ($85) and up | Established ($97) | Foreign currency invoices and bills |
| Inventory and projects | Stock tracking and project profitability on Professional ($50) | Plus ($140) and up | Inventory in every plan (Inventory Plus $39/mo); projects on Established | Not listed |
| Card / bank payment fees | 2.9% + 30¢ / ACH 0.8% capped at $5 (Zoho Payments) | 2.99% / 1% (QuickBooks Payments) | 2.9% + 30¢ / ACH debit 1% capped at $9 (Stripe, managed by Xero) | 2.9% + $0.60 (first 10 a month at 2.9% + $0 on Pro) / 1%, $1 minimum |
| Payroll | Zoho Payroll from $39/mo + $6 per employee | Workforce Payroll bundles, e.g. with Essentials $125/mo + $6.50 per employee | Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto: $36/mo + $6 per employee or contractor | $40/mo + $6 per employee and per contractor paid |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for Zoho cloud services | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 on the Intuit Trust Center | SOC 2 Type II report on request; ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | Not stated; Level 1 PCI DSS |
| Custom roles / audit log | Custom roles on Professional; activity log on every plan | Custom roles on Advanced; audit log from Essentials | Fixed user roles; History and notes audit trail | Fixed roles that cannot be customized; no audit log described |
| Data export | Reports to CSV, XLS, XLSX or PDF; API on every plan | Export data tool (reports and lists to Excel); read-only access 1 year after cancelling | Any report exported to Excel or PDF; API | Data Export: journal entries and transactions, bills, customers, vendors (XLS or CSV) |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Zoho Books puts the broadest set of bookkeeping and control features at $50 a month, with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 behind it. Bills start on Professional, and the free plan is limited to businesses under $50K revenue. | From its public pages, QuickBooks Online is a full accounting suite with payments, payroll and bill pay from Intuit and a clear plan ladder. Users are tied to tiers, and inventory and projects start on Plus. | From its public pages, Xero is full small business accounting priced per organization with no per-user fees, with inventory and purchase orders on every plan. Most businesses that pay bills start on Growing, and currencies and projects need Established. | From its public pages, Wave is the lowest-cost way here to keep small business books: free invoices and bills, and bank imports and users for $19 a month. It lists fewer bookkeeping and security features than the larger suites. |
Evidence: Zoho Books: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; QuickBooks Online: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Xero: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Wave: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Review from public pages
Written from Zoho Books's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
We read Zoho Books' US pricing page with its add-ons and FAQ, the full pricing comparison page, the Zoho Payments and Zoho Payroll US pricing pages, Zoho's compliance and security pages and the Zoho Books API documentation on Oct 16, 2026; we did not sign up, start the trial or call the API for this review.
The comparison page is detailed and settles most questions. One line matters for small teams: "Bills are supported only in the Professional, Premium, Elite, and Ultimate plans." Standard has 3 users and bank feeds but records expenses only, so a business that enters vendor bills starts on Professional. The FAQ lists yearly limits per plan: 1,000 invoices on Free, 5,000 on Standard, 10,000 invoices and 10,000 bills and expenses combined on Professional.
One point needs a question to Zoho: the pricing page lists API access among the features Standard adds, while the comparison gives the Free plan 1,000 API requests a day. The Free plan is available while yearly revenue stays under $50K.
Professional includes bills, purchase orders, multi-currency, stock tracking, project profitability, sales and purchase approvals and custom roles for 5 users.
vs QuickBooks Online: QuickBooks Online places inventory, projects and purchase orders on Plus ($140); Xero places multi-currency and projects on Established ($97).
Zoho states SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for all its cloud services, with steps to download the documents.
vs Wave: FreshBooks announced a SOC 2 Type 1 report; Wave states PCI DSS only.
The comparison marks the activity log, recurring invoices, payment reminders and bank reconciliation on all plans, Free included.
Zoho Payments lists ACH direct debit at 0.8% capped at $5, and cards at 2.9% + 30¢.
vs Wave: QuickBooks Payments and Wave list 1% for bank payments with no cap stated.
Standard ($20) has 3 users and bank feeds but no bills, so paying suppliers through accounts payable starts at $50 a month.
Free is for businesses under $50K yearly revenue, with 1 user plus 1 accountant, no bank feeds and no bills.
Budgeting, fixed assets and locations (3) are marked on Premium ($70 a month), not Professional.
Zoho Books bills per organization in tiers, with extra users at $3 a month ($2.50 billed yearly). For our scenario, 3 users with invoices, bills and bank feeds, Standard has no bills, so the cheapest fit is Professional at $50 a month at list price (computed), or $40 a month billed yearly; it includes 5 users. Premium ($70) adds budgets and locations. On top: Zoho Payments at 2.9% + 30¢ for cards and 0.8% capped at $5 for ACH, the BillPay add-on at $69 a month ($59 yearly) for 100 ACH vendor payments, document autoscans from $10 a month, and Zoho Payroll from $39 a month plus $6 per employee.
Reports export to CSV, XLS, XLSX or PDF: up to 20,000 records at once in spreadsheet formats (5,000 in PDF) and 100,000 per asynchronous export (1,000,000 on Elite and Ultimate). A documented API is available on every plan within daily request limits. The FAQ says there is no contract and you can cancel at any time.
From its public pages, Zoho Books puts the broadest set of bookkeeping and control features at $50 a month, with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 behind it. Bills start on Professional, and the free plan is limited to businesses under $50K revenue.
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per organization per month, in plan tiers; extra users $3/mo each |
| Free option | Free plan under $50K yearly revenue (1 user + 1 accountant, no bills or bank feeds); 14-day trial |
| Reference scenario (3 users, monthly) | $50/mo on Professional, computed |
| Users per plan | 1 + accountant / 3 / 5 / 10 / 10 / 15; extra users $3/mo ($2.50 yearly) |
| Multi-currency | Professional ($50) and up |
| Inventory and projects | Stock tracking and project profitability on Professional ($50) |
| Card / bank payment fees | 2.9% + 30¢ / ACH 0.8% capped at $5 (Zoho Payments) |
| Payroll | Zoho Payroll from $39/mo + $6 per employee |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for Zoho cloud services |
| Custom roles / audit log | Custom roles on Professional; activity log on every plan |
| Data export | Reports to CSV, XLS, XLSX or PDF; API on every plan |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Zoho Books yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Zoho Books yet.
Zoho Books lists 6 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Standard (3 users; $15 billed yearly), costs $20/mo.
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: zoho.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.
We read the pricing, payments, payroll, security, help center and developer pages of three accounting suites on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. What 3 users with invoices, bills and bank feeds cost, where multi-currency, inventory and roles sit, and who should pick which.
