If you’re like some small businesses, you may be under the wrong impression about the tools to maintain and close your books. You might think you have only two choices: spreadsheets or QuickBooks. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
You now have access to an ever-expanding field of cloud-based accounting apps. More importantly, a few accounting apps on the market stand out as strong alternatives to QuickBooks or humdrum Excel spreadsheets.
That’s what we’re covering in this article. But rather than looking at idle clones of older software tools, we’re discussing accounting apps that offer new and exciting features, integrations and forward-thinking pricing models.
Let’s dive right in and look at five spreadsheet killers from the cloud!
Xero
Xero is a cloud-based accounting app that’s made quite a name for itself since its inception in 2006.
Xero is made with mobile-friendliness in mind, allowing you to keep track of your income and expenses no matter where you go. The app’s simple interface allows you to see your current balances at-a-glance, as well as peek at upcoming bills and outstanding invoices.
Xero integrates with other business apps (like WorkflowMax, Vend, and Expensify.)
Xero makes reconciliation ultra simple (in a way that will be very familiar for anyone who’s ever reconciled on paper – albeit, more simply).
Advantages of Xero:
- Accounting and payroll in one app (at one price)
- Unlimited users (your staff + accounting professionals)
- Simple, powerful interface
- 99.9% up-time
- Free 24/7 email support
- Integrates with more than 300 third-party business apps
- Xero starts at $9 per month and its pricing scales up alongside your growing company, based on the size and complexity of your accounting and payroll needs – not the number of users.
FreeAgent
FreeAgent is an accounting app especially for freelancers and small businesses.
FreeAgent is fully cloud-based, meaning there is nothing to install and you can access the app from anywhere with a mobile or Internet connection.
FreeAgent departs from the old notions of accounting in the digital space because it incorporates proposals and invoicing. Those tasks are of particular interest to freelancers and small businesses, and FreeAgent manages them with ease.
FreeAgent also sports a squeaky-clean, mobile-friendly interface (for iOS devices). What’s more compelling to us though is he heightened security offered by FreeAgent. Your data is routinely backed up to FreeAgent’s servers. FreeAgent even encrypts your data with 256-bit SSL encryption. That gives you peace of mind, when you file away your accounting data in the cloud with FreeAgent.
Advantages of FreeAgent:
- Invoices and proposals
- Tax estimates
- PayPal and GoCardless integrations
- Bank statement importantly
- Real-time cash flow and P&L statements
- FreeAgent offers straightforward pricing at $24 per month.
KashFlow
KashFlow focuses squarely on the UK market.
It’s also utterly simple to operate, with its developers boasting that no accounting knowledge is necessarily – no jargon, no no complex operations, and, best of all, no complicated formulas to remember.
KashFlow even makes VAT a snap – and that’s reason enough alone to give it a try.
The development team responsible for KashFlow have seen fit to cut it down to only those essential features for small business accountants.
Advantages of KashFlow:
- Payroll functions
- Automation features
- Third-party integrations
- Invoicing
- Proposals and estimates
KashFlow is very simple to use. It’s unique focus on the UK makes it a no-brainer if that’s your market.
Nutcache
Nutcache is a free invoicing and time management app. Why does it make our list of accounting apps? The reason is that some businesses are just that simple – all they need is invoicing and time management.
Nutcache boasts easy invoicing and time management. If you’re a one person show, you’ll be able to keep your sanity as you keep track of multiple projects.
Nutcache also allow you to track expenses. This helps you gauge the profitability of your business (or micro-business).
Nutcache is completely free, and the company places no limit on the number of invoices and transactions available to you.
Advantages of Nutcache:
- Easy to use
- Ideal for freelancers, small businesses, and micro-businesses
- Professional invoicing
- Simple data export
- Free!
Nutcache is the accounting app for the rest of us – and it proves that no task is too small.
Street Invoice
Street Invoice is a mobile accounting app that works on Android, Blackberry and Windows PC.
Street Invoice makes it easy to send professional-looking invoices to your customers, as well as capture signatures.
This is great for your mobile business, as you can use your smartphone to collect payments and capture signatures on-the-go.
Street Invoice’s mobile integration is very well implemented. The app even allows you send invoices via text message, email or chat.
On the other end of the Street Invoice spectrum, the app provides clean, professional reports of all your transactions.
Advantages of Street Invoice:
- Mobile invoicing and payments
- Estimates
- Cost tracking
- Mobile printing
- Ultra-secure cloud-based services
Street Invoice is super simple and highly mobile. If that’s what fits the bill at your business, you owe it to yourself to give Street Invoice a shot. A freemium version of Street Invoice is offered and paid subscriptions start at $4.99 per month.
Are you rocking your small business accounting with modern tools?
If you’re stuck on an old application or, worse yet, a spreadsheet, you should give some serious consideration to the latest cloud-based accounting apps.
GetApp maintains a running list of all the accounting and financial reporting apps on the market. The ones on this list are some of the most novel alternatives to QuickBooks Online (and spreadsheets), and there are plenty to choose from. To help you track down the accounting app that’s right for you, we’ve even put together a collection of head-to-head comparisons. Don’t settle – get the app account that’s perfect for your small business.