Ranking Small businesses

The best small businesses tools (2026): cost at 100 transactions a month

The best small businesses tools in October 2026 are ZipBooks, Akaunting and Wave. ZipBooks is the pick for small businesses and freelancers wanting free invoicing and books in one place. We read the price of 15 of the 18 on their own sites.

Tick Mark Books ResearchUpdated 31 Oct 2026

18 ranked · 15 checked against their own site 26–28 October 2026

Compare all 18 picks Markdown

Small businesses tools, first paid plan, October 2026 All 15 tools that publish a monthly price start under $100 a month. The median first paid plan is $20.

Under $251010 of 15
$25 to $9955 of 15
$100 to $29900 of 15
$300 or more00 of 15

18: ranked
$20: median first paid plan
7: of the 18 have a free plan

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

On this page

The short answer
Pick by what you need
All 18 picks at a glance
The ranking
Side by side
Questions buyers ask
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 Wave third with a free plan, then $19 a month.

Half of the 15 tools with a monthly paid plan charge $20 a month or less.

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

Pick by what you need

A free plan before you payZipBooksFree, then $15 a month
Freelancers and small businessesAkauntingFree, then $12 a month
Freelancers and solo ownersWaveFree, then $19 a month
Small businesses wanting the whole team and their advisor on the booksXeroFrom $27 a month
Lowest monthly price in the top fiveFreshBooksFrom $23 a month
The lowest monthly price we foundPennylaneFrom about $7.82 a month

This ranking

18 tools ranked
7 free or freemium
verified 28 October 2026

How we rank →

All 18 picks at a glance

#	Tool	Best for	Starts at
1	ZipBooks	Small businesses and freelancers wanting free invoicing and books in one place	Free, then $15 a monthits pricing page
2	Akaunting	Freelancers and small businesses that want open-source books they can host themselves	Free, then $12 a monthits pricing page
3	Wave	Freelancers and solo owners who want real double-entry books without paying for software	Free, then $19 a monthits pricing page
4	Xero	Small businesses wanting the whole team and their advisor on the books, no per-user fees	From $27 a monthits pricing page
5	FreshBooks	Service businesses and freelancers who bill clients and want their books in the same place	From $23 a monthits pricing page
6	QuickBooks Online	Small businesses that want one ledger plus payroll, payments and an accountant login	Free, then $38 a monthits pricing page
7	Digits	A US startup or small business that wants its own AI-kept ledger in place of QuickBooks	From $65 a monthits pricing page
8	Bookkeeper360	Startups and growing small businesses wanting books, tax and CFO help from one US team	From $19 a monthits pricing page
9	fileLedger by fileAI	Small accounting firms drowning in client invoices and statements that already run on Xero	From $13 a monthits pricing page
10	Pennylane	Small businesses in France and their accounting firm working in one shared file	From about $7.82 a monthits pricing page
11	Inkle	US-incorporated startups and foreign founders needing books and US filings together	Free, then $30 a monthits pricing page
12	Sage Accounting	VAT-registered sole traders and small firms up to 49 employees wanting payroll built in	From about $27 a monthits pricing page
13	QuickBooks Solopreneur	Self-employed one-person businesses filing a Schedule C	Free, then $20 a monthits pricing page
14	Zoho Books	Small businesses and startups that want one ledger plus the wider Zoho app suite	Free, then $20 a monthits pricing page
15	FreeAgent	UK sole traders and small limited companies filing their own VAT and Self Assessment	From about $13 a monthits pricing page
16	Booke AI	A business or bookkeeping firm already on QuickBooks Online or Xero	Price not established
17	Puzzle	A US startup on Mercury, Brex, Ramp, Stripe and Gusto that wants to replace QuickBooks	Price not established
18	Pilot	A US startup or small business that wants its books done for it in QuickBooks Online	Price not established

Show all 18 picksShow fewer

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

18 tools, ranked. How we rank

About this list

18 of 27 small businesses tools match “Cost at 100 transactions a month”. Of the rest: 1 on some plans only, 0 no, 8 unknown.

How the small businesses tools matching “Cost at 100 transactions a month” differ: 18 of 18 also match “Cost at 500 transactions a month”, against 0 of 9 in the rest of the category.

The ranking

1
ZipBooks
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 reviewCompare ZipBooksGet a quote →
2
Akaunting
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 reviewCompare AkauntingGet a quote →
3
Wave
Freelancers and solo owners
Best forfreelancers and solo owners who want real double-entry books without paying for software
Cost at 100 transactions a month: Yes — $19 a month on Pro for 100 transactions. Pro is 50% off for 3 months for new customers ($9.50 a month), on offer until 6 January 2026. The figure is the regular $19, paid after it.“$19USD/month Billed monthly”Plan cards, Pro Plan column, price cell with the Monthly/Annual tab set to Monthly · checked 2026-10-28
Price
Free, then $19 a month · source
Visit Wave ↗Read the reviewCompare WaveGet a quote →
4
Xero
Small businesses wanting the whole team and their advisor on the books
Best forsmall businesses wanting the whole team and their advisor on the books, no per-user fees
Cost at 100 transactions a month: Yes — $27 a month on Early for 100 transactions. Early is 90% off for 6 months for new customers ($2.70 a month), on offer until 2 November 2026. The figure is the regular $27, paid after it.“Then $27 per month”Plan cards, Early column · checked 2026-10-28
Price
From $27 a month · source
Visit Xero ↗Read the reviewCompare XeroGet a quote →
5
FreshBooks
Lowest monthly price in the top five
Best forservice businesses and freelancers who bill clients and want their books in the same place
Cost at 100 transactions a month: Yes — $43 a month on Plus for 100 transactions.“Plus ⭐ Most Popular $ 8 .60 USD/mo 80% Off for 4 Months Was $43.00 | Save $137.60 $ 43 .00 USD/mo ... Send invoices to 50 clients”Plus plan card · checked 2026-10-26
Price
From $23 a month · source
Visit FreshBooks ↗Read the reviewCompare FreshBooksGet a quote →

Side by side

Every field, side by side

Scroll sideways to see them all.

Feature	ZipBooks	Akaunting	Wave	Xero	FreshBooks	QuickBooks Online	Digits	Bookkeeper360	fileLedger by fileAI	Pennylane	Inkle	Sage Accounting	QuickBooks Solopreneur	Zoho Books	FreeAgent	Booke AI	Puzzle	Pilot
Description	Free-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.	Free double-entry books for solo owners, with bank imports, receipts and payroll kept behind the paid Pro Plan.	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.	Intuit's cloud ledger, now with Intuit Intelligence agents that categorize, reconcile and flag errors.	AI-native general ledger that books and reconciles itself, replacing QuickBooks or Xero for US businesses.	US-based outsourced bookkeeping, tax and CFO team working in your QuickBooks Online or Xero.	Agent plans that read invoices and bank statements and post them into your Xero or QuickBooks books.	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.	Sage's cloud small-business ledger with built-in payroll and the Sage Copilot assistant; US edition retired.	Intuit's one-person-business ledger: bank feeds, receipts, mileage and Schedule C tax readiness.	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.	AI-native accounting software with optional bookkeeper services for startups and small businesses.	A bookkeeping and tax service for startups that pairs software-driven dashboards with human financial advisors.
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Questions buyers ask

How much do small businesses tools cost?

The median first paid plan is $20 a month, across the 15 of the 18 that publish a monthly price. They run from $7.82 to $65.

Which small businesses tools have a free plan?

7 of the 18 have a free plan.

How current are these figures?

The prices were read 26–28 October 2026.

Sources and method

Every price was read on the maker's own pricing page.

Pricing pages 15 read

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