The 5 Best Cloud Accounting Software - Is the Future of Accounting Already Here?

If you’re already familiar with traditional accounting software, then you’ve already got the idea of what cloud accounting is. ☁️

Yet, the question is: why giving up on your traditional accounting method?

The cloud-based solutions offer numerous benefits and selling points, having unique and innovative features. On top of that, a cloud-based tool is the key to hassle-free accounting.

However, with SaaS advancing at an accelerated pace, sometimes it’s hard to find the software that is best suited for your business. To help you make your choice, we selected some top cloud accounting software programs software and their costs.  👇

With 2.5 million users around the world, QuickBooks is the most trusted cloud accounting software program among small businesses. With their powerful and easy-to-use interface, small business accounting is no longer a long and tedious process. 

• Monitor your daily cash flow: track profit and loss to maintain an optimal level of liquid assets. QuickBooks helps you detect anomalies so that your financial team can act proactively.
  
  
• Make bookkeeping simple: enter account details in no time thanks to an integrated accounting plan and automated sales tax management. 
  
  
• Drive commercial management by creating and sending quotes and invoices directly from the QuickBooks platform. 
  
  
• Monitor the status of current payments, manage specific transactions and even send out reminders of late or upcoming payments to customers.
  
  
• Bank Reconciliation: upload bank statements and transactions directly from your account.
  
  
• Get an overview of your current activities: projected income, expense tracking, real-time result analysis, and more.

QuickBooks has four plans for different business needs:

• Simple Start at $25/month,

• Essential at $50/month, 

• Plus -at $80/month,

• Advanced at $180/month.

Like the rest of these programs, Xero is a cloud accounting solution designed to provide businesses with tools for their every accounting need. It allows you to manage and coordinate all of your accounting and financial processes in one simple and easy-to-use platform. 

Xero is specifically designed for small to medium-sized businesses that don’t have time to waste on figuring out all the technical details of accounting. More than accounting, it also drastically improves collaboration across teams and departments in a business. 

This software is trusted by over two million small businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers across the globe. 

• Billing and Expense Management: Manage and schedule bill payments, submit and approve expense claims, and monitor project expenses to stay on budget.

• Bank Integration and Reconciliation: Link your bank account for automatic transaction imports and reconcile bank statements directly within Xero for accuracy.

• Payments and Invoicing: Accept multiple payment methods, create, send, and manage invoices and professional quotes efficiently.

• Data and Contact Management: Maintain a detailed database of customers and suppliers, automate data capture, and store documents electronically.

• Reporting and Compliance: Generate comprehensive reports to analyze financial performance, handle multi-currency transactions, and automatically calculate and report sales tax.

• Inventory and Document Management: Track inventory levels, manage stock, and keep documents organized and accessible electronically.

Xero has three plans: 

• Early at $12/month,
  
  
• Growing at $34/month,

• Established at $65/month.

Zoho Books is a cloud accounting software that allows you to easily manage the money that comes in and out of your business, otherwise known as the basics of accounting. In addition, it allows you to properly manage clients, invoices, budgets, and finances, everything that will help your company keep expenses under control. 

Some of Zoho Books features include:

• Invoicing and Payments: Create custom invoices, accept secure online payments, and convert quotes into invoices with one click. Empower customers with a portal to view transactions.

• Expense and Document Management: Store and organize receipts to track spending and streamline document storage by attaching them to transactions.

• Bank and Tax Management: Categorize and reconcile accounts easily, keep track of tax liabilities, and prepare for tax season with ease.

• Project and Inventory Management: Track every billable minute and monitor inventory levels to keep fast-moving items well-stocked.

• Sales and Purchase Orders: Submit sales orders, confirm sales before shipping, and clearly communicate requirements to suppliers.

• Reporting and Automation: Schedule reports optimizing business performance in real-time, and save time by automating workflows. Access and work on the go with the mobile app for iOS and Android.

• Free at $50K or less,
  
  
• Standard at $20/month,
  
  
• Professional at $50/month,
  
  
• Premium at $70/month, 
  
  
• Elite at $150/month,
  
  
• Ultimate: $275/month. 

FreshBooks is one of the fastest ways to keep track of time spent, organize your expenses, and bill clients, meant for business owners and accountants.

There’s a reason why over five million users trust FreshBooks, what used to take hours with traditional accounting software will take just minutes.

Some of the best features FreshBooks has to offer include:

• Invoicing: Create stable cash flows with retainers, bill exactly what you are worth and even manage your time down to the minute. 
  
  
• Expenses: Track business expenses and never lose sight of your budget goals.
  
  
• Time Tracking: Track your time with an integrated time tracking system and know exactly how much time you spend on projects. 
  
  
• Estimates: Create proposals and send out invoices in record time.
  
  
• Accounting: Integrated and real-time reports based on real-time data that allow you to make important and informed decisions. 

FreshBooks offers four plans: 

• Lite at $4.50/month,
  
  
• Plus at $7.50/month,
  
  
• Premium at $15.00/month,
  
  
• Select, custom pricing.

Wave is a free invoicing, billing, and above all cloud accounting software. It bundles all the essential tools businesses need to deal with accounting up into one interface. It’s incredibly easy to use, intuitive and can be used from practically anywhere.  

Wave’s accounting features are free! Unless you decide to accept payments or pay for extra add-ons like a personal advisor, you won’t have to pay a dime.

Cloud accounting software performs all the same functions as traditional accounting software, except that it’s all done in the cloud.

👉 Everything you do on the platform is saved instantaneously and in real-time, on a remote server. This is different from traditional software because those types of programs require large amounts of physical IT infrastructure and storage in order to handle the amount of data.

Long story short, cloud accounting offers more flexibility, accessibility, and security.

• Setup and Maintenance: Traditional software requires installation and IT infrastructure, while cloud accounting is online, reducing maintenance needs.
  
  
• Accessibility: Cloud accounting is accessible from anywhere with internet, providing real-time updates. Traditional software is limited to installed machines.
  
  
• Data Management and Security: Cloud accounting stores data on secure remote servers. Traditional software relies on local storage, which can be more vulnerable to data loss.
  
  
• Scalability and Updates: Cloud solutions are easily scalable and updated automatically. Traditional software requires manual updates and can be harder to scale.

As we laid out already, cloud accounting software is a more convenient version of traditional accounting programs. But that’s not all there is to cloud accounting software. ☝️

When you rely on a program that’s been specifically designed and tailored for use on one computer or one server, you’ll inevitably run into some problems. And... one of those issues is that you’re tied to the office or device that runs the program.

👉 With cloud accounting software, you can access key data points wherever and whenever you may be, just as long as you have a stable internet connection.

Traditional accounting solutions require heavy initial investment and IT infrastructure. Of course, this may fit big companies with deep pockets and big IT departments, but it's definitely not meant for small businesses.

👉 Cloud computing offers an alternative with different payment options such as:

• freemium,
• pay as you go,
• pay per use,
• per user, and others. 

New cloud platforms give access to multiple users in a company, and allow them to collaborate with each other in real-time.

Whether users need to use the software to assign tasks, make comments, create multi-person projects, or more, you can rest assured that all concerned stakeholders will be up-to-date on project progress.

Another added benefit of cloud accounting programs is that they’re designed by expert accountants, meaning you’ll always be compliant with relevant regulations.

This is a giant step-up from traditional accounting programs which don’t have the same built-in features and lack the more frequent updates that allow cloud software to be legally compliant with the latest codes and regulations. 💯

With newer software comes newer features like automation.

😌 Instead of spending hours filling out forms, compiling financial information, and other manual work, cloud accounting programs automatically do these tasks for you. This way, your financial experts can focus on more essential business missions, increasing overall productivity.

Along with expert accountants, server and cybersecurity experts are also a part of the team that designs and constantly updates cloud accounting programs. Most interfaces have military-level encryption, meaning you can rest assured that your most valuable data is safe.

Unless it was designed from the get-go with additional integrations, chances are a traditional accounting program won’t have integration capabilities.

👉 When it comes to the number of integrations a cloud accounting program can have, your business often has extensive possibilities to connect your favorite tools and software.

So, as you’ve seen in this article, cloud accounting doesn’t only save you time and energy, it also saves you tons of money.

Whether it be by eliminating the need for heavy initial investment on technical infrastructure, or the dynamic pricing plans, you and your wallet won’t be disappointed that you decided to make the switch! 🫢

⚒️ Looking for more software? Take a look at our list of our best accounting software.