# Alternatives to Akaunting

> Source: https://tickmarkbooks.com/akaunting/alternatives/ (re-verified)
> Updated: 31 October 2026

## At a glance

| Name | Best for | Starts at | A month at 100 transactions | Better than Akaunting at | Checked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Akaunting](https://tickmarkbooks.com/akaunting.md) | Freelancers and small businesses that want open-source books they can host themselves | Free, then $12 a month | $36 | — | 28 October 2026 |
| [Zoho Books](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zoho-books.md) | Small businesses and startups that want one ledger plus the wider Zoho app suite | Free, then $20 a month | $20 | Users included, Reads receipts and bills | 26 October 2026 |
| [FreeAgent](https://tickmarkbooks.com/freeagent.md) | UK sole traders and small limited companies filing their own VAT and Self Assessment | From about $13 a month | About $25 | Reads receipts and bills, Bank and card feeds | 26 October 2026 |
| [Puzzle](https://tickmarkbooks.com/puzzle.md) | A US startup on Mercury, Brex, Ramp, Stripe and Gusto that wants to replace QuickBooks | Price not established | $30 | Gusto payroll, Support | 26 October 2026 |
| [Pilot](https://tickmarkbooks.com/pilot.md) | A US startup or small business that wants its books done for it in QuickBooks Online | Price not established | $137 | Square, Gusto payroll | 26 October 2026 |
| [Booke AI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/booke-ai.md) | A business or bookkeeping firm already on QuickBooks Online or Xero | Price not established | $156 | Support | 26 October 2026 |
| [Stampli](https://tickmarkbooks.com/stampli.md) | Finance teams with high invoice volume, many approvers and several entities | On quote | — | Reads receipts and bills | 26 October 2026 |
| [SimpleAI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/simpleai.md) | Accounting firms and finance teams processing high volumes of invoices and bank statements | From $79 a month | $106 | Users included, Reads receipts and bills | 27 October 2026 |
| [Xero](https://tickmarkbooks.com/xero.md) | Small businesses wanting the whole team and their advisor on the books, no per-user fees | From $27 a month | $27 | Users included, Reads receipts and bills | 28 October 2026 |
| [QuickBooks Online](https://tickmarkbooks.com/quickbooks-online.md) | Small businesses that want one ledger plus payroll, payments and an accountant login | Free, then $38 a month | $38 | Users included, Reads receipts and bills | 28 October 2026 |

“About” figures are converted at the European Central Bank rate of 30 October 2026.

The ones people open most here come first, then the closest matches.

## Shortlist

### 1. Zoho Books

Cloud accounting ledger with Zia AI, bank feeds, sales tax and 1099 e-filing, from $20 a month.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Users included: yes — Free includes one user plus an accountant, Standard three, Professional five, Premium and Elite ten, Ultimate fifteen; extra users cost $3 each a month.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/)
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Receipts can be photographed in the mobile app, uploaded or auto-forwarded from an email inbox, and autoscans turn them into transactions within a plan-wise monthly scan allowance.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/pricing-comparison.html)
- [Accrual books and reports: yes — Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow sit among 70+ built-in reports you can run at any time; the pages read do not state whether the books are kept on a cash or accrual basis.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/accounting-software/accounting-financial-reports/)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Promotion and regular price: no — none — the $20 Standard rate is the standing month-to-month price; the lower $15 figure is simply the yearly billing rate, not a time-limited introductory offer.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/)
- [Pays your bills: partial — Bills and vendor approvals are in the paid plans, but paying vendors by ACH with two- and three-way matching is the separate BillPay add-on at $59 a month billed annually ($69 monthly).](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/)
- [Your accountant can sign in: partial — The Free plan is quoted as one user plus one accountant, so an accountant seat is free there; the paid plans are quoted only as user counts, with extra users at $3 a month.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/pricing-comparison.html)

[View Zoho Books](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zoho-books)

### 2. FreeAgent

UK cloud accounting with HMRC filing, bank feeds and AI receipt capture, priced per business type.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Photograph, share or drag in a receipt or bill and Smart Capture extracts the key data, suggests a category and attaches it to the matching bank transaction for approval.](https://www.freeagent.com/features/expenses/)
- [Bank and card feeds: yes — Open Banking and third-party API bank feeds import business transactions automatically for the major UK banks; unsupported banks fall back to statement upload or manual entry.](https://www.freeagent.com/features/banking/)
- [Payroll: yes — built in: monthly payroll with RTI submission to HMRC, payslips and P60s is part of the subscription, and extra employees cost nothing more.](https://www.freeagent.com/features/payroll/)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Pays your bills: partial — Bills are captured, recorded and tracked as accounts payable inside FreeAgent, but actually paying them is left to partner products in its own Payment solutions directory rather than done in the product.](https://www.freeagent.com/features/expenses/)
- [Shopify: no — Its partner directory carries Stripe, PayPal, GoCardless, Tyl, SumUp, WooCommerce and a paid Amazon UK add-on, but no Shopify, Square or Gusto appear in any category of that directory.](https://www.freeagent.com/integrations/)
- [Moves your history in: partial — Switching imports contacts, opening balances from your trial balance and up to two years of bank transactions at no stated cost, but historical sales invoices and bills need a third-party tool such as AutoEntry, Dext or Fabio.](https://www.freeagent.com/switch-to-freeagent/)

[View FreeAgent](https://tickmarkbooks.com/freeagent)

### 3. Puzzle

AI-native accounting software with optional bookkeeper services for startups and small businesses.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Gusto payroll: yes — Stripe and Gusto yes](https://puzzle.io/integrations/stripe)
- [Support: yes — In-app chat, Mon-Fri 10am-4pm PT; no phone. Chat inside Puzzle, staffed Monday to Friday 10am-4pm Pacific, with replies within one business day and an AI assistant at any time.](https://help.puzzle.io/en/articles/12657717-how-to-contact-support)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Reconciles your accounts: partial — You reconcile on Starter; AI drafts it from Complete. Every plan has a reconciliation screen where you match the month's transactions to the statement until the difference is $0, then Puzzle runs an auto-validation check.](https://help.puzzle.io/en/articles/6986882-how-to-reconcile-bank-and-credit-card-accounts-in-puzzle)
- [Pays your bills: partial — Records bills; payment through Ramp or Bill.com. Bills can be entered, imported by CSV or synced from Ramp and Bill.com, matched to payments and shown in AP aging.](https://help.puzzle.io/en/articles/9165703-faq-accounts-payable)
- [PayPal: partial — PayPal, Square not named. PayPal: not named on any page read.](https://puzzle.io/integrations/stripe)

[View Puzzle](https://tickmarkbooks.com/puzzle)

### 4. Pilot

A bookkeeping and tax service for startups that pairs software-driven dashboards with human financial advisors.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Square: yes — PayPal, Square listed](https://pilot.com/platform/integrations)
- [Gusto payroll: yes — Stripe, Shopify, Gusto yes](https://pilot.com/platform/integrations)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Ledger included: no — Works in QuickBooks Online; you pay for the license. Every bookkeeping plan is done in QuickBooks Online (FAQ: 'Pilot does all of its bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online').](https://pilot.com/terms/client-terms)
- [Pays your bills: partial — Bill payment is an add-on; Core manages 10 bills. Accounts payable is not in the bookkeeping plans by default.](https://pilot.com/faq)
- [Sends invoices: partial — Invoicing is an add-on service. Pilot has no invoicing feature in its bookkeeping plans.](https://pilot.com/faq)

[View Pilot](https://tickmarkbooks.com/pilot)

### 5. Booke AI

An AI bookkeeper that works inside QuickBooks Online and Xero to categorize transactions and match documents.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Support: yes — Chat (weekdays 9-6 EST) and email; no phone listed. Chat: in the platform, Mon-Fri 9 AM-6 PM EST, 2-hour response (the SLA's header says 3 hours).](https://booke.ai/sla)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Ledger included: no — No: you also pay for QuickBooks Online or Xero. Booke works inside an existing QuickBooks Online or Xero file, joining it as a user; it is not a ledger and no ledger license is in its price.](https://booke.ai/)
- [Reconciles your accounts: partial — Prepares reconciliation; your team completes it. In QuickBooks Online it prepares work for reconciliation and does not promise a reconciled file; in Xero it can perform 'supported reconciliation actions for eligible configured cases' and leaves the rest open.](https://booke.ai/bookkeeping-automation-software)
- [Sends invoices: partial — Matches payments to ledger invoices; sends none. It matches incoming payments to invoices that already exist in QuickBooks Online or Xero, including multi-invoice payments.](https://booke.ai/quickbooks-online)

[View Booke AI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/booke-ai)

### 6. Stampli

Procure-to-pay workspace for invoices, vendors, payments and card spend, with AI coding and routing.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Receipts can be submitted by web, mobile, messaging, upload or inbox, and are matched to card expenses with employees prompted when something is missing.](https://www.stampli.com/expenses/)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Ledger included: no — Stampli runs the buying and paying workflow but not the books themselves: you keep paying for QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, Sage Intacct or whichever accounting system you already run, which stays the book of record.](https://www.stampli.com/erp/quickbooks/)
- [Reconciles your accounts: partial — Payments are reconciled one-to-one against the bank transaction and the record in your accounting system, but Stampli reconciles its own payments rather than closing out every bank and card account each month.](https://www.stampli.com/payments/)
- [Payroll: no — none built in: approved out-of-pocket claims are prepared for whatever payroll the company already uses, and the vendor says payroll still pays the employee.](https://www.stampli.com/expenses/)

[View Stampli](https://tickmarkbooks.com/stampli)

### 7. SimpleAI

AI agents that extract, classify and reconcile accounting documents, then publish them into Xero or QuickBooks.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Users included: yes — Every published SAAM plan, Starter included, carries unlimited users and unlimited entities, so adding a colleague or an outside accountant costs nothing extra.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/pricing)
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Receipts, invoices and bills are extracted and classified automatically and can be sent in from desktop, mobile or email; the reconciliation step is what matches the resulting entries to bank transactions.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Promotion and regular price: no — none on the SAAM plan cards: the only discount the vendor names on them is 10% for annual billing, and the separate Bank Statement Extraction module is the one that runs a labeled limited-time promotion.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/pricing)
- [Ledger included: no — SAAM is not the ledger: it extracts and classifies documents and then publishes entries into the accounting software you already pay for, so a Xero, QuickBooks or Accurate subscription sits on top of its price.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/contact)
- [Pays your bills: partial — Bills are captured and classified and every plan includes an approval workflow, but the agent's documented end point is publishing entries into your accounting software, not paying suppliers.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en)

[View SimpleAI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/simpleai)

### 8. Xero

Small-business ledger with a JAX assistant that answers questions in plain language; unlimited users on every plan.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Users included: yes — Every plan takes unlimited users at no extra cost, so adding staff, a treasurer or an advisor does not change the monthly bill.](https://www.xero.com/us/versus/quickbooks-alternative/)
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Smart Document Capture is on all three plans and pulls bills and receipts straight into Xero so they sit with the records they belong to.](https://www.xero.com/us/)
- [Accrual books and reports: yes — Real-time profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow reports are on every plan and can be customized and compared against budget; the pages do not name the accounting basis.](https://www.xero.com/us/accounting-software/run-financial-reports/)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Sends invoices: partial — Invoicing with online payment acceptance is on every plan, but Early is capped at 20 invoices a month before you must move up to Growing.](https://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/)
- [Moves your history in: partial — Xero says switching from QuickBooks is straightforward with hands-on setup help, and historical data can be imported when you first connect a bank, but no page states what moving prior-year books costs or how far back it goes.](https://www.xero.com/us/versus/quickbooks-alternative/)
- [Other currencies: partial — Invoicing and accounting in other currencies is reserved for the top plan: the comparison table marks multiple currencies excluded on Early and Growing and included on Established.](https://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/)

[View Xero](https://tickmarkbooks.com/xero)

### 9. QuickBooks Online

Intuit's cloud ledger, now with Intuit Intelligence agents that categorize, reconcile and flag errors.

**Where it improves on Akaunting:**
- [Users included: yes — Seats are bundled by tier rather than sold singly: Free and Simple Start one user, Essentials three, Plus five, Advanced twenty-five, with accountant logins on top.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/)
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Photograph a receipt in the mobile app and it is stored and matched to the transaction automatically; the Free plan has no mobile app, so this needs a paid tier.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/accounting/mobile/)
- [Accrual books and reports: yes — Profit and loss and balance sheet reports are produced on every tier including Free; the pages read do not state whether the books are kept on an accrual basis or name a cash flow statement.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/)

**Trade-offs against Akaunting:**
- [Reconciles your accounts: partial — Automated reconciliation is a Plus-tier and above feature on the plan cards; the Simple Start and Essentials cards do not list it, so cheaper tiers leave the matching to you.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/)
- [Stripe: partial — Third-party app integrations are offered with paid plans and an app marketplace, but they are explicitly unavailable on the Free plan, and the pages read name no individual app such as Stripe or Shopify.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/)
- [Shopify: partial — Third-party app integrations are offered with paid plans and an app marketplace, but they are explicitly unavailable on the Free plan, and the pages read name no individual app such as Stripe or Shopify.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/)

[View QuickBooks Online](https://tickmarkbooks.com/quickbooks-online)