Top accounting software compared

About Top accounting software compared

Accounting software for small business rarely falls short on features. It falls short on price. A reader picks a plan at an entry fee, then meets the same vendor again at renewal, and the gap between those two moments decides whether the choice held. So this ranking weighs the price at entry, the price at renewal, what the plan includes, and where the software can legally file. The list covers 636 brands, and the same trade-off runs through all of them. Does the plan carry payroll, or is payroll an add-on? Does it speak to local rules such as e-invoicing or Peppol? Can you reach a person when a filing is refused? Entry prices across the wider set run €0 to €876.09, with a middle case in this ranking of €16.66. The shortlist mixes European vendors, a Japanese one and a UK focused one, so plan names and currencies differ, and the order follows what a small business can afford and use.

How we picked

Every brand here is scored on three things: cost at 40%, what the plan offers at 40%, and trust at 20%. Cost reads the price a reader meets at entry and the price that returns at renewal, so a low start that renews high does not score as low. Offer reads the plan itself: a free plan or a free trial, bank feeds, payroll inside the plan or as an add-on, and the local compliance a small business must file, such as e-invoicing or Peppol. Trust reads the company behind the software and the support routes a reader can reach, whether that is email, phone, chat or a help centre. Prices, plan models, payroll and support routes come from each vendor's published pricing and support pages, and company details such as founding year, legal entity and headquarters come from company records and business profiles. Brands judged more on plan and market than on a published fee still compete on the offer and trust weights. Partners are listed first, in the order set for this ranking, and the remaining entries follow on score.

Our top picks

1. 5. Qonto: best for top-pick

   Qonto takes the top pick in this ranking because it pairs bank feeds with e-invoicing and a free trial of 30 days, rather than a free plan, at entry fees of €9. The company behind it is OLINDA SAS, based in France, and it serves small business with an iOS app. Support runs on email and phone. Compared with Accountable, ranked next, Qonto starts a paid relationship sooner but states a narrower filing coverage, e-invoicing where Accountable adds Peppol. The trial is the fair way to see whether the bank feeds and the e-invoicing handle your filing before you commit at renewal.

   • Price from: €9
   • Free plan: No
   • Free trial length: 30 days

   Pros

   • Entry price of €9 sits below the €13.15 median across the brands we track, and under €9.90 and €69
   • A 30 free trial runs on the free trial model, so you can judge the platform before you pay
   • Local compliance covers e-invoicing, the most common of the compliance features across the brands we track
   • Bank feeds are included, so accounts can connect to your bank
   • Support runs on email and phone, which covers both email and phone

   Cons

   • There is no free plan, so testing ends when the 30 trial ends
   • Entry price ranks at 57 of 200 on our price comparison, behind the cheaper entries we track
   • Support runs on email and phone only, with no live chat among the channels listed
   • Trial length ranks at 9 of 166 on free trial length, behind the longest trials we track

What to look for

Entry fee and renewal price

Take the published starting fee, then look at what you pay to keep it. The middle entry fee in this ranking is €16.66, the lower quartile is €8.76 and the upper quartile is €38.75. Across the wider set of brands, starting fees run €0 to €876.09. A trial only defers the first payment, so read the renewal terms before you read the discount.

Free plan against free trial

Both routes are common here: brands with a free plan sit at 49.7% and brands without one at 50.3%. Trials are the more usual offer, at 72.1%, and trial lengths run 3 to 365 days, with the middle case 15 days. A free plan that stays free helps cash flow, while a longer trial helps you judge the plan before paying.

Local rules where you file

A small business files on local terms, so compliance matters as much as features. E-invoicing appears on 94.7% of entries and Peppol on 9.4%. If your market expects one of these standards, check the brand before you check the discount, and expect that coverage to be market specific rather than universal.

Payroll inside the plan

Payroll bundled with accounting removes a second subscription and a second filing date. Included payroll appears on 70% of entries, while add-on payroll appears on 25%. If you already run a separate payroll tool, the add-on route may cost less. If you want pay and books in one place, the included route removes a decision.

Bank feeds and support

Bank feeds are close to standard in this category, present on 96.8% of entries, so treat them as a check rather than a differentiator. Support is the better separator: email sits on 57.4%, phone on 44.2%, chat on 21.7% and a help centre on 70.2%. A help centre answers most questions, a phone line answers the urgent ones.

Frequently asked questions

Top accounting software compared by country

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• Mexico
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

Software products compared head to head

• Finom vs Riibase

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV