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Tick Mark Books

Ranking Bookkeepers and accounting firms

The best bookkeepers and accounting firms tools (2026): cost at 100 transactions a month

The best bookkeepers and accounting firms tools in October 2026 are ZipBooks, Akaunting and Webgility. ZipBooks is the pick for small businesses and freelancers wanting free invoicing and books in one place. We read the price of 16 of the 17 on their own sites.

Tick Mark Books ResearchUpdated

17 ranked · 16 checked against their own site 26–28 October 2026

Bookkeepers and accounting firms tools, first paid plan, October 2026 15 of the 16 tools that publish a monthly price start under $100 a month. The median first paid plan is $22.
  1. Under $2599 of 16
  2. $25 to $9966 of 16
  3. $100 to $29911 of 16
  4. $300 or more00 of 16
17
ranked
$22
median first paid plan
4
of the 17 have a free plan

tickmarkbooks.com · First paid plan from each tool's own pricing page, read 26–28 October 2026.

On this page
  1. The short answer
  2. Pick by what you need
  3. All 17 picks at a glance
  4. The ranking
  5. Side by side
  6. Questions buyers ask
  7. Sources and method

The short answer

ZipBooks ranks first. It has a free plan, and paid plans start at $15 a month.

Akaunting ranks second with a free plan, then $12 a month, and Webgility third from $79 a month.

Half of the 16 tools with a monthly paid plan charge $22 a month or less.

4 tools here have a free plan to try before you pay. The highest ranked are ZipBooks, Akaunting and Inkle.

All 17 picks at a glance

#ToolBest forStarts at
1ZipBooksSmall businesses and freelancers wanting free invoicing and books in one placeFree, then $15 a monthits pricing page
2AkauntingFreelancers and small businesses that want open-source books they can host themselvesFree, then $12 a monthits pricing page
3WebgilityMultichannel ecommerce sellers reconciling Amazon and Shopify payouts in QuickBooksFrom $79 a monthits pricing page
4UncatAccounting firms chasing clients for missing transaction detail at month endFrom $9 a monthits pricing page
5BotkeeperAccounting firms taking on more client bookkeeping without hiringFrom $149 a seat a monthits pricing page
6XeroSmall businesses wanting the whole team and their advisor on the books, no per-user feesFrom $27 a monthits pricing page
7FreshBooksService businesses and freelancers who bill clients and want their books in the same placeFrom $23 a monthits pricing page
8DigitsA US startup or small business that wants its own AI-kept ledger in place of QuickBooksFrom $65 a monthits pricing page
9CranstonCPA firms that want returns and monthly books drafted inside their own softwareFrom $30 a monthits pricing page
10fileLedger by fileAISmall accounting firms drowning in client invoices and statements that already run on XeroFrom $13 a monthits pricing page
11SimpleAIAccounting firms and finance teams processing high volumes of invoices and bank statementsFrom $79 a monthits pricing page
12PennylaneSmall businesses in France and their accounting firm working in one shared fileFrom about $7.82 a monthits pricing page
13InkleUS-incorporated startups and foreign founders needing books and US filings togetherFree, then $30 a monthits pricing page
14DoubleAccounting firms closing many QuickBooks Online and Xero client files each monthFrom $10 a monthits pricing page
15Zoho BooksSmall businesses and startups that want one ledger plus the wider Zoho app suiteFree, then $20 a monthits pricing page
16FreeAgentUK sole traders and small limited companies filing their own VAT and Self AssessmentFrom about $13 a monthits pricing page
17Booke AIA business or bookkeeping firm already on QuickBooks Online or XeroPrice not established

Checked between 26 October 2026 and 28 October 2026. “About” figures are converted at the European Central Bank rate of 30 October 2026.

17 tools, ranked. How we rank

About this list

17 of 30 bookkeepers and accounting firms tools match “Cost at 100 transactions a month”. Of the rest: 0 on some plans only, 0 no, 13 unknown.

How the bookkeepers and accounting firms tools matching “Cost at 100 transactions a month” differ: 17 of 17 also match “Cost at 500 transactions a month”, against 0 of 13 in the rest of the category.

The ranking

  1. A free plan before you pay

    Best forsmall businesses and freelancers wanting free invoicing and books in one place

    Cost at 100 transactions a month: Yes — $10 a month on Accountant for 100 transactions. Includes required fees: USD per client account license a month $10.“Your account is free, and client account licenses are $10 each per month.”Help article on signing up for the Accountant plan, pricing line · checked 2026-10-28

    Price
    Free, then $15 a month · source
    Visit ZipBooks ↗Read the reviewGet a quote →
  2. Freelancers and small businesses

    Best forfreelancers and small businesses that want open-source books they can host themselves

    Cost at 100 transactions a month: Yes — $36 a month on Premium Cloud for 100 transactions.“$36 per month”Plan cards, PREMIUM CLOUD column, price cell with the MONTHLY toggle selected · checked 2026-10-28

    Price
    Free, then $12 a month · source
    Visit Akaunting ↗Read the reviewGet a quote →
  3. Best formultichannel ecommerce sellers reconciling Amazon and Shopify payouts in QuickBooks

    Cost at 100 transactions a month: Yes — $376 a month on Complete, on Xero Early for 100 transactions. Includes Xero Early at $27 a month, which Complete, on Xero Early needs.“$349 /mo”Plan cards, Complete column price cell with the billing control set to Monthly · checked 2026-10-28

    Price
    From $79 a month · source
    Visit Webgility ↗Read the reviewGet a quote →
  4. Lowest monthly price in the top five

    Best foraccounting firms chasing clients for missing transaction detail at month end

    Cost at 100 transactions a month: Yes — $36 a month on Uncat, on Xero Early for 100 transactions. Includes Xero Early at $27 a month, which Uncat, on Xero Early needs.“You can add a credit card at any time to start a paid subscription at $9 per client (i.e. client file) per month.”Billing article 'Uncat has a free 7-day trial', body paragraph on starting a paid subscription · checked 2026-10-28

    Price
    From $9 a month · source
    Visit Uncat ↗Read the reviewGet a quote →
  5. Accounting firms taking on more client bookkeeping without hiring

    Best foraccounting firms taking on more client bookkeeping without hiring

    Cost at 100 transactions a month: Yes — $97 a month on 25+ Licenses, on QuickBooks Online Simple Start for 100 transactions. Priced per user: 1 user at $59 each. Includes QuickBooks Online Simple Start at $38 a month, which 25+ Licenses, on QuickBooks Online Simple Start needs.“25+ Licenses $59 per license/mo”Plan cards, 25+ Licenses column, price with the billing control set to Billed Monthly · checked 2026-10-28

    Price
    From $149 a seat a month · source
    Visit Botkeeper ↗Read the reviewGet a quote →

Side by side

Every field, side by side

Scroll sideways to see them all.

FeatureZipBooksAkauntingWebgilityUncatBotkeeperXeroFreshBooksDigitsCranstonfileLedger by fileAISimpleAIPennylaneInkleDoubleZoho BooksFreeAgentBooke AI
DescriptionFree-forever double-entry books whose machine learning categorizes transactions and learns from your corrections.Open-source small-business books you host free yourself or run on its cloud, extended by 50+ paid apps.Posts every marketplace order, fee and payout into QuickBooks or Xero at line-item level, not as a summary.Asks your clients to explain uncategorized transactions, then syncs their answers back into the books.Bookkeeping automation an accounting firm runs itself, priced by client entity inside QuickBooks Online or Xero.Small-business ledger with a JAX assistant that answers questions in plain language; unlimited users on every plan.Double-entry small-business ledger built around invoicing, with a read-only Claude connector for questions.AI-native general ledger that books and reconciles itself, replacing QuickBooks or Xero for US businesses.AI prepares draft returns and monthly books inside a firm's own QuickBooks, Xero and tax software.Agent plans that read invoices and bank statements and post them into your Xero or QuickBooks books.AI agents that extract, classify and reconcile accounting documents, then publish them into Xero or QuickBooks.AI-native invoicing, accounting and business banking for small businesses and their accounting firms.US accounting software with AI categorization, plus bookkeepers, tax filing and compliance in one app.Month-end close platform for accounting firms, built on QuickBooks Online and Xero.Cloud accounting ledger with Zia AI, bank feeds, sales tax and 1099 e-filing, from $20 a month.UK cloud accounting with HMRC filing, bank feeds and AI receipt capture, priced per business type.An AI bookkeeper that works inside QuickBooks Online and Xero to categorize transactions and match documents.
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