Keeping the books is essential to the health of any company, helping you keep track of your business. With online accounting tools, you can ensure that you won’t miss a beat.
Here is a list of online bookkeeping and invoicing tools. Some are complete accounting platforms; others are specifically for processing invoices. Many are focused on small businesses and offer services that are inexpensive, or even free. All have features to help you manage the flow of your business and — since they are online — you can access them from anywhere.
- Outright. Free yourself from accounting. Outright automates your small-business accounting tasks by pulling all of your accounts into one place and organizing them. Integrates with financial accounts, as well as small-business tool sites, like Shoeboxed and Freshbooks. Price: $9.95 per month.
- Invoicera. Provides an online invoice and billing solution with multi-currency support and expense and time tracking management. Offers multiple payment options through PayPal, Authorize.Net, Google Checkout, and more. Price: Free for up to 3 clients. Plans start at $9.95 per month.
- FreeAgent. Online accounting for freelancers and small businesses. Manage your invoicing, tax expenses and time tracking, and analyze bank statements to build real-time accounts and tax predictions. Integrates with Google Apps. Price: $20 per month.
- Shoeboxed. Shoeboxed simplifies accounting by digitizing your paper documents. Send in your paper receipts and Shoeboxed digitizes everything, extracts the data and verifies it. Upload reports to FreshBooks, QuickBooks, Outright, Quicken, and more. Price: $9.95 – $49.95 per month, depending on volume.
- CurdBee. Create invoices with your own logo and branding. CurdBee integrates payments through PayPal or Google Checkout. Additional features include multiple currencies, and overdue and thank-you emails. Price: Standard account is free. Pro account is $5 per month.
- Pulse. Pulse is a cash flow management tool for small businesses. Analyze and organize your company’s cash flow, income and expenses, and generate reports. Price: $14 – $49 per month, depending on the number of users and amount of storage.
- Rhino Accounting. A free online accounting app for small businesses. Integrates with Google Apps. Create invoice PDFs and send. No bells and whistles, but this a good option for basic accounting and invoicing. Price: Free.
- FreshBooks. Online invoicing for freelancers and small businesses. Send and manage invoices, as well as track your staff’s time and expenses. Payment gateways through Google Checkout and PayPal. Integrates with other solutions such as Shoeboxed and Expensify. Mobile add-ons available on Android, BlackBerry, iPhone and Windows smartphones. Price: Free for up to 3 clients. Plans start at $19.95 for up to 25 clients.
- Kashoo. Online accounting designed specifically for small businesses. Create and send invoices, manage expenses, reconcile bank statements, track cash flow and generate real-time reports. Integrates with Google Apps. Multi-currency capabilities. Price: $9.95 per month.
- Invoice Journal. A free online invoicing program. Create and send invoices. Browse, sort and search all of your invoices. Invoice templates are customizable. Price: Free.
- LessAccounting. With this online bookkeeping tool, you can record and categorize expenses. Send and track invoices to clients. Connect directly to any online banking account, or import from QuickBooks. Create custom business proposals for launching a new product or project. Price: $30 or $100 monthly, depending on the size of your business and its needs.
- Blinksale. A solution for freelancers or contract workers to create, send, and track invoices. Create and send estimates, customize the look of invoices with your own CSS, and automate invoice billing for regular jobs. Create and send custom thank-you notes. Your clients can even pay you through Blinksale’s Blinkpay option. Price: $15 per month; $20 per month for Blinkpay.
- Yendo. Financial accounting software for small businesses. Send and manage invoices online, track expenses, and create real-time accounting reports to export. Access Yendo from your BlackBerry, iPhone or iPad. Price: Free for a single user with a maximum of 5 invoices per month. $9 – $52 per month, depending on number of users and features.
- Harvest. Track the time spent on given projects and send invoices to clients and customers. Create custom timesheets, generate visual reports to look at your company’s resources, and learn what you are spending the most time and money on at a glance. Price: $12 – $90 per month, depending on package.
- Zoho Invoice. Online invoicing with time-tracking that helps you send invoices, receive payments, and track the overall health of your business. Multiple currency and language support. Payment gateways through PayPal, Authorize.Net, Google Checkout. Automates follow-up reminders. Price: Free for 2 users with a maximum of 5 invoices per month; $15 – $35 per month, depending on numbers of users and invoices.
- Bill.com. Bill.com helps businesses manage the process of paying bills, invoicing and getting paid. Create invoices or upload them, track invoice and payment status, and get automated reminders. Integrates with QuickBooks and Peachtree. Pay vendors via check, e-payment (ACH) or PayPal. Price: Plans start at $19.99 per month.
- endeve. A simple site for creating and sending invoices, automating invoices, accessing contacts, managing expenses and checking revenues all in one place. Price: Basic plan is free. Advanced features are $9 – $19 per month.
- Citrus. An online billing website. Create, manage and send invoices. Create recurring invoices, follow invoices with time tracking, and accept payment from your customers by credit card or direct debit. Price: Free for up to 3 clients. Basic plan is $7.50 per month for up to 100 clients.
- QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Online makes your accounting easy. Import customer contacts from Excel, Outlook, or Gmail. Create, customize, and manage all your invoices. Track paid and unpaid invoices, and automate recurring invoices. Create customizable reports. Even create, print and track checks. See what you’re making and what you’re spending, and compare your business to industry averages. Price: $12.95 – $63.16 per month, depending on number of users and features.