ZipBooks vs. Zoho Books

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ZipBooks
Score 7.0 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
ZipBooks is an accounting software solution for small business owners and accountants. Users can track expenses, manage their team, send recurring invoices and manage projects.
$0
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Zoho Books is an accounting solution that is designed to help small businesses manage their finances. This solution includes dashboards and a wide variety of reports. Business users can automate tasks and set up custom workflows. Zoho offers a 14 day free trial.
$0
For businesses with turnover <50K USD per annum
Pricing
ZipBooksZoho Books
Editions & Modules
ZipBooks Starter
$0
ZipBooks Smarter
$15
ZipBooks Sophisticated
$35
ZipBooks Accountant
Custom
Free
$0
For businesses with turnover <50K USD per annum
Standard
$20
per month per org
Professional
$50
per month per org
Premium
$70
per month per org
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ZipBooksZoho Books
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsZoho Books is available for both monthly and yearly plans. Users who sign up for the annual plan get a discount.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ZipBooksZoho Books
Considered Both Products
ZipBooks
Chose ZipBooks
I've primarily compared ZipBooks vs. Quickbooks because I've used Quickbooks at larger companies before. ZipBooks was the right fit for a smaller organization because it still had all the core features of Quickbooks but at a dramatically lower price that fits the budget.
Chose ZipBooks

PayPal for a very long time was my go to software, and I had many issues. PayPal was clunky, unattractive, and many parts of their website were broken (old links returning 404s). It was difficult to get a human on the line (in chat, in email, or on the phone) and the majority …

Chose ZipBooks
I've used QuickBooks which was too complicated and way too expensive. Also used the expensive but ideal subscription web based CVita software., which out priced itself for our usage. Tried other free software that did not do the job that we need, which Zipbooks does cover. …
Zoho Books
Chose Zoho Books
Affordability better, online access better, automations better, integration with our CRM and inventory better, customizability better
Chose Zoho Books
Zoho Books has a much simpler GUI and the reason we selected Zoho is because of the integration of Zoho Books across other applications and especially into Zoho products. One of the other reasons is the time log feature we can easily pair up with a client service ticket to show …
Chose Zoho Books
equally comparable to other payment processing made online, the benefit of using Zoho is that it has so many other apps and tools that are easily integrated like Zoho Sign, e.g. for sending out quotes etc. but also can be connected via an API to many other commercial platforms …
Chose Zoho Books
Much simpler than QuickBooks Desktop. For our needs, the pricing for Zoho Books when bought through a Zoho One subscription was a much better value. Our outside Audit firm was also able to follow Zoho Books much easier than our previous records.
Chose Zoho Books
I found Zoho Books to be more intuitive and user friendly. I also appreciated that it is cloud based, unlike the versions of QB I had used in the past. So our team was able to work remotely when needed, which was especially helpful during a pandemic.
Chose Zoho Books
We had a lot of problems with Exact Online, support-wise and price-wise. So Zoho Books wins on every point there. While Exact offers way more options, it tends to be really slow... and complex. Again Zoho Books wins.

If you want an easy-to-use tool and not pay a lot of money, …
Chose Zoho Books
Zoho Books is significantly inferior to the competition. The listings offered here would not allow me to choose QB or MYOB.
Chose Zoho Books
I believe it is way easier to use, has more robust features, seamless integration with other Zoho apps like CRM, Projects, etc. is super useful and has saved a lot of time. Streamlining this process has been easy, and the end result is better reporting, improved decision making …
Chose Zoho Books
  • QuickBooks Online is much harder to use than Zoho Books. We found that Zoho Books was easy to train staff, and the online help is excellent.
  • Qickbooks Desktop is endlessly buggy, requiring frequent IT support calls and a dedicated server for multi-user access.
  • Online payments for …
Chose Zoho Books
Cloud vs. desktop, this and the fact that Zoho Books syncs with our other Zoho apps were the most pressing reasons for switching to Zoho Books. As mentioned previously, we consider our accounting software to be an integral part of doing business efficiently, and we can now do …
Chose Zoho Books
Easier to integrate with other Zoho apps. It’s also customized for mobile use making it easy to use wherever I am. I can get real-time updates on payments while in the field via the mobile app. The software is customizable and adaptable so I can easily make it fit various …
Chose Zoho Books
[QuickBooks and Zoho] are very comparable until you open your wallet. While they are both neck-and-neck with one another in features, QuickBooks does have the integration advantage. There are many more platforms that integrate with QB than Zoho Books. But Zoho has so many …
Chose Zoho Books
The very easy to read dashboard, the clear categorization, the customization features, the easy learning curve and the seamless integration with other Zoho products (that we use a lot and frequently) are for our company the reasons why we favored Zoho books over other …
Chose Zoho Books
I love the price/quality ratio of Zoho Books, and it's an awesome application to handle all your accounting, inventory, and buying processes. It's simple to use so the company doesn't have to spend too much time and money on training new employees.

Chose Zoho Books
Zoho Books was an easy choice for us because of the features and smaller learning curve. Most of our staff have been able to come in and learn how to use it within hours versus the days it used to take to learn QuickBooks. Also being online, we are able to have real-time stats …
Chose Zoho Books
Quickbooks is the standard. ZOHO Books will give it a run for its money. Your accountant may not like the fact that you switch over to Zoho Books, but since it's completely web-based, you are able to give them access to your account easily.
Chose Zoho Books
The main difference here was the time tracking functionality that goes to a project specific nature. We do multiple projects with the same client and need to be able to split our time amongst those different projects for the purpose of reporting and invoicing.
Chose Zoho Books
Zoho Books is plain clunky. It does integrate with their CRM and other apps and that was why I had been attracted to it. But if you are in Australia, be very careful if you are moving from Zoho invoices. You won't get transferred data to the Australian platform and you will …
Chose Zoho Books
In comparison, Zoho is about the same price but comes with a lot more customizable fields. There are other solutions that feed right in and make it so there is only one place you need to go to get a full picture of your business and what you need to do to keep it running …
Chose Zoho Books
One of the best business decisions we have made in our company is getting Zoho Books. Customer service is really really fast. If you have a problem or questions they will get to you within minutes and they are constantly improving the application and listening to our feedback …
Chose Zoho Books
It's cloud based and AccountEdge wasn't at the time we needed it, a cloud based app. Zoho Books updates come automatically which makes it real convenient. Pricing was comparable and with AccountEdge it seems we were having frequent networking issues when being used by …
Chose Zoho Books
We made the switch from Quickbooks to ZohoBooks because of the CRM integration. Though Zoho Books has proven to be less hectic and less of a search when it comes to finding the needed features. In other words, its very user friendly! Everything is set up in a very simple, easy …
Chose Zoho Books
I selected Zoho Books initially for the best price, it offered and thereafter I became a fan of using the software and It was a nice experience using it overall, I even recommended at times in the place of Tally ERP 9. The more once used, the more it can be recommended to …
Chose Zoho Books
Would rank Zoho Books high up there among the options in the market. It has a wide feature base, smooth interface and comes highly trusted and reviewed.
Features
ZipBooksZoho Books
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
ZipBooks
9.1
Ratings
17% above category average
Zoho Books
7.8
Ratings
2% above category average
API for custom integration9.10 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Plug-ins9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
ZipBooks
9.5
Ratings
13% above category average
Zoho Books
9.2
Ratings
10% above category average
Single sign-on capability9.70 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Role-based user permissions9.30 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ZipBooks
10.0
Ratings
24% above category average
Zoho Books
8.7
Ratings
10% above category average
Dashboards10.00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Standard reports10.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
ZipBooks
8.8
Ratings
12% above category average
Zoho Books
8.4
Ratings
8% above category average
Accounts receivable8.00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Bank reconciliation8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Expense management10.00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Time tracking9.00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Multi-currency support9.10 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Accounts payable00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Cash management00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Regulations compliance00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Self-service portal00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
ZipBooks
9.2
Ratings
17% above category average
Zoho Books
8.7
Ratings
12% above category average
Credit card processing10.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Cost of goods sold8.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Pricing00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Order entry00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
ZipBooks
-
Ratings
Zoho Books
7.0
Ratings
5% below category average
Inventory tracking00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Automatic reordering00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ZipBooksZoho Books
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 6.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 10.0 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
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User Ratings
ZipBooksZoho Books
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
5.3
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ZipBooksZoho Books
Likelihood to Recommend
Small businesses are well suited for this software, as their pricing is very affordable. they have a FREE FOREVER Starter plan, for those that are bootstrapped with little cash. I'm on the $15/mo Smarter Plan, and it's perfect for my little boutique agency's needs.
Read full review
Zoho Books is good for a company or organization that wants to keep track of invoices, payments, and cash flow. If you do not have a full-time accountant in your organization, it can work well as whenever you hire one or have someone check your books, the information they need will be there, provided it has been entered into Zoho Books. It works as a one-man operation or a small team. For larger teams, it would depend on how much information needs to be input on a daily basis.
Read full review
Pros
  • The user experience is easily the best I have seen with any invoicing software.
  • They create clean, professional invoice templates.
  • They make setting up and managing projects easy.
Read full review
  • The projects feature is what we use a lot it helps setting up projects as well as tracking expenses and bills for the whole project. The budgeting feature is very developed, allowing you to budget by total project cost, total project hours, hours per task, or hours per staff.
  • Customer Estimates and Invoices are very easy to setup and send directly from the app (it also has a very nice and customizable reminder option).
  • Stock and pricing listings is very intuitive and easy and makes it a very helpful and time saving feature.
  • Bank reconciliation and Financial reporting are very developed and make it easy to share information with bookeepers and accounting specialists.
Read full review
Cons
  • I was an early adopter, and with this company and software being relatively new, I got to see a few minor bugs and quirks over the last year. The good thing is, most of the bugs are squashed, and the future is bright for this startup!
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  • Printing checks - they only offer one vendor and they are expensive compared to QuickBook alternatives.
  • Their interface for bids - retainers and applying them against income could be improved, but once you know how it's easy.
  • Their recurring fees don't seem to always work the way I'd want. But overall they work.
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Usability
No answers on this topic
Customization is the biggest struggle for us and most of the time we need to involve a tech person. The chat support is a great feature and very helpful. It would be great to be able to customize and create invoices and correspondence (templates) such are reminders in multiple languages within one organization. The currency (USD) would be the same. We have clients in different countries that don't speak English but pay in USD.
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Support Rating
No answers on this topic
The support team feels very disjointed. We have filtered through a number of "lead" contacts and are frequently spammed by other Zoho members. Once getting an appropriate support contact on the phone - the team is very helpful, it just takes a lot of hoop jumping to get there. We actually unsubscribed from their support package as we were not getting the value we were looking for.
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Alternatives Considered
I've primarily compared ZipBooks vs. Quickbooks because I've used Quickbooks at larger companies before. ZipBooks was the right fit for a smaller organization because it still had all the core features of Quickbooks but at a dramatically lower price that fits the budget.
Read full review
Cloud vs. desktop, this and the fact that Zoho Books syncs with our other Zoho apps were the most pressing reasons for switching to Zoho Books. As mentioned previously, we consider our accounting software to be an integral part of doing business efficiently, and we can now do that considering our systems are all integrated.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • I don't have a ROI for the use of Zipbooks though it has helped greatly with organizing for taxes. Our economy here has been so volatile for three years with deep dips down, that no software can aid in support the financial health other than to track the expenses and income and watch the balance to observe.
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  • I was able to cut my costs for a more complete and easy to use tool.
  • Many transactions, and accounting tasks on 1 platform, reduction in time by a lot.
  • Clients can pay without leaving your website (less drop-off, better conversions).
Read full review
ScreenShots

ZipBooks Screenshots

Screenshot of ZipBooks DashboardScreenshot of ZipBooks TransactionsScreenshot of ZipBooks InvoicingScreenshot of ZipBooks Accountant Messaging

Zoho Books Screenshots

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