Software Development

Screenshots: Five alternatives to QuickBooks

By , April 11, 2013, 11:52 AM

  • Account Edge 1

    This screenshot gallery is also available as a post in the TechRepublic Five Apps Blog.

    Every business relies on up to date financial information. To achieve this, financial-specific software must be employed. The king of the mountain in small business finances is Intuit's QuickBooks. But not every small business can afford to keep up to date with that particular software title, nor does every SMB need software with every feature offered in QuickBooks.

    This blog post is also available as a TechRepublic Screenshot Gallery.

    Thankfully there are tons of cheap (or free) options available. Some of these options offer a near feature-for-feature comparison to the mighty QuickBooks. Some are much more simple minded and offer only a fraction of the features found in QuickBooks. But regardless of how feature-rich you need your financial software to be, there are options. In fact, I've uncovered five such options you've probably never heard of. Let's take a look at each and see if one (or more) of them will satisfy your small business financial needs.

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • Account Edge 2

    Five Apps

    1. AccountEdge

    AccountEdge probably offers the most feature-for-feature comparison to QuickBooks. AccountEdge is also in the same price point as Intuit's offering (running $299.00 for the full Pro version and $99.00 for the full Basic version). There are two versions: Basic and Pro. The Pro version features: Management of banking, sales and purchases, inventory, payroll, and time billing, and offers a number of add-ons and services (including credit cards and payroll). The Basic version only offers: Bank management, general ledger, and credit cards. One advantage you will find with AccountEdge is that it allows you to work from your desktop, your iPhone, or your iPad (both the iPhone and iPad software versions are free). You can run payroll, accept credit cards, and even track time.

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • Working Point 1

    2. WorkingPoint

    WorkingPoint is the only web-based entry in the list and offers many similar features to that of QuickBooks. Not only can you access your financial data from anywhere, WorkingPoint offers: Accounting, invoicing, financial reporting, tax reporting, contact management, time tracking, expense management, inventory management, cash management, a business-friendly dashboard, and much more. WorkingPoint offers two plans: Lightning ($9.00/month) and Thunderstorm ($19.00/month). With the Lightning plan, only one user can access the account and there is a limit of up to ten invoices per month. The Thunderstorm plan allows for unlimited users and unlimited invoices.

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • Working Point 12

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • CS Ledger 1

    3. CS Ledger

    CS Ledger is a bit of a step-down from AccountEdge, but it is free and does offer plenty of features that should appeal to many a SOHO or small business. CS Ledger features: Multi-user mode, general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory, histories (customers, vendor, accounts, and items), reports, user controlled display grids, and more. The multi-user mode can handle up to twenty-five users and millions of transactions. It is only available for Windows (XP or later).

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • CS Ledger 2

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • JMoney 1

    4. JMoney

    JMoney is an Eclipse Desktop application (written in Java) that offers basic accounting features and can be extended with plugins. Available plugins include: Categories Panel, Charts, Copier, Currency Page, GnuCashXML, jdbcdatastore, Bank Reconciliation, reports, stocks, and more. Because JMoney is open source, it is possible to write a plugin to further extend the application to better fit your needs. JMoney is free and is available for both Mac and Windows.

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • JMoney 2

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • Account Manager 1

    5. Account Manager

    Account Manager is another Eclipse Desktop application and offers only the most basic of functionality. For those looking for simplicity, this might be the tool to use. Account Manager features: Basic accounting functions (accounts, general ledger, etc.), add as many accounts as you need, multi-user, open source. Although Account Manager won't stand on its own as a complete replacement for the likes of QuickBooks, if you're looking for a free, open source, tool to manage various accounts (and include an easy to use general ledger), this hidden gem might do the trick.

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

  • Account Manager 2

    Bottom line

    Not every application can stand up to the power of QuickBooks. But when you don't need all that power (or the price that goes along with it), it's nice to know there are alternatives. From feature-lean, open source applications all the way up to power-house, full-blown accounting packages, you'll find plenty of alternatives to what is often called the de facto standard in small business accounting software.

    Also read:

    Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

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Account Edge 1

This screenshot gallery is also available as a post in the TechRepublic Five Apps Blog.

Every business relies on up to date financial information. To achieve this, financial-specific software must be employed. The king of the mountain in small business finances is Intuit's QuickBooks. But not every small business can afford to keep up to date with that particular software title, nor does every SMB need software with every feature offered in QuickBooks.

This blog post is also available as a TechRepublic Screenshot Gallery.

Thankfully there are tons of cheap (or free) options available. Some of these options offer a near feature-for-feature comparison to the mighty QuickBooks. Some are much more simple minded and offer only a fraction of the features found in QuickBooks. But regardless of how feature-rich you need your financial software to be, there are options. In fact, I've uncovered five such options you've probably never heard of. Let's take a look at each and see if one (or more) of them will satisfy your small business financial needs.

Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic

About Jack Wallen

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for Techrepublic and Linux.com. As an avid promoter/user of the Linux OS, Jack tries to convert as many users to open source as possible. His current favorite flavor of Linux is Bodhi Linux (a melding of Ubuntu ...

7 comments
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toxic psychotic avenger
toxic psychotic avenger

All of these, even "Free" programs cost more than Quickbooks online with payroll. If people can't do that simple a math equation, they won't be in business very long. Another drawback of these programs- none say you can import a QB data file. So, once one factors in the time (and possible errors) of re-creating client lists, sold goods/services lists, expense categories, open accts rec. and payable, where is the benefit? Intuit was brilliant in causing the dependency that they did. If you are just starting a company, you have options. Although you should ask your accountant how much easier for them (less expensive for you) it will be to do your taxes and year-end reconciliations if you use QB. I give my acct what QB calls "accountant copy"-she makes General Journal entries and fixes any errors, then I import her fixes back into the data file. I never even have to stop using QB (so there is no downtime). Before anyone accuses me of being a fanboy of QB- I assure you I am not. I clicked on this story because I would LOVE a viable alternative. They can charge what they want and I feel it borders on customer abuse. Read carefully the comments I made above about possible complications. WHICHEVER option you choose, it is a marriage, choose wisely! Divorce will be messy. Especially once you are with a program for many years (like I have been).

michael_adavis
michael_adavis

As an accountant I can't go past Xero, plus clients love it. Cloud based, Apple, Android, PC, Linux everything with an internet connection friendly. Plus it is extremely advanced and forward thinking. www.xero.com

glnz
glnz

Need your suggestions: One of my clients is a very small jewelry designer and maker (producing and importing from abroad and selling in the US at wholesale level, almost never retail) and needs a small business accounting system that's good for her. Many of her deliveries to retailers are consignment (not immediate sales), so the system must include easy-to-use consignment-oriented inventory AND the ability to generate tags with individual item-level bar codes for each piece of jewelry she sends out. And this system would generate invoices, keep track of revenue and expenses, print reports for each consignee-retailer-customer, etc., and the inventory function would naturally first track the new inventory received in. Ideally, this could also have a cost-of-goods function, but that's maybe more advanced for later. And there should be a few users, ideally with ability to communicate from different computers in different countries, possibly via cloud. Also, the output and even the internal data files should be Excel or Access or other non-monopoly database so she would not be trapped by QB. WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND FOR A SMALL BUSINESS LIKE THIS WITH ONLY A FEW USERS? Thanks.

NETech4u
NETech4u

I see a few significan omissions, like: * WaveAccounting.com cloud accounting = FREE, surpassing QB in many features, although lacking in some * NolaPro.com cloud accounting = Free (if hosted on private cloud) or $9.99 per month * RHINOaccounting.com = Free. Lacking in many features but has a has a unique twin RHINOdonations.com which is unique

obxbiker
obxbiker

There's also HomeBank: http://homebank.free.fr/ Free personal accounting software. Has limitations but works well for home accounting or very small offices.

brookeandy
brookeandy

MYOB is extremely popular in the UK and Aus etc. simple and features based on differing versions.. great for small businesses..

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