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Small business accounting tasks can be tedious, time-consuming and error-prone. Thankfully, Zoho Books makes your company’s finances easier to manage by automating processes and helping business owners develop custom functions using a unique scripting language. You can also use the platform’s scheduled reminders and additional notifications to reduce errors and prevent financial items from slipping through the cracks.
Small business owners usually aren’t accountants or bookkeepers but they often play that role out of necessity, issuing invoices, sending payment reminders and tracking expenses. For business owners who want to offload time-consuming financial tracking tasks — particularly those related to accounting — Zoho Books is worth considering.
During our testing, we determined Zoho’s strength lies in automation of tedious, error-prone accounting tasks. Unlike many competing accounting software products we reviewed, Zoho features a dedicated automation component packed with valuable tools, including the ability to set up workflow automations. We loved that we could automate complex tasks using a single workflow rule.
These automation were easy to set up. During our testing, we were able to create a custom workflow rule in less than 10 minutes. We created an invoice follow up automation that would send an email reminder to the client once an invoice was overdue. Doing so was as easy as naming our rule, selecting the invoice module from a drop down, and selecting our triggers and actions. In this case, our trigger was if an invoice was still unpaid seven days before it was due, and the action was to send a reminder email to the client with a PDF copy of the original invoice.
We were also impressed that we could program email alerts, update fields, send automated invoice reminders, and set up in-app notifications to ensure we didn’t forget critical tasks. Even better is that tech-savvy business owners can build custom tools using Zoho’s proprietary coding language “Deluge”. For these reasons and more, Zoho Books is our top pick for businesses searching for accounting software with automated processes.
During our test of Zoho Books, we paid particular attention to ease of use. We like that Zoho keeps the interface minimalistic and uncluttered. The dashboard displays essential business statistics, such as accounts receivable, accounts payable and cash flow, without feeling overwhelming.
A toolbar on the left side houses the software’s primary features, each with a drop-down menu of additional tools. The “recent activity” icon near the top left made it particularly easy to navigate the software, directing us to recent invoices, inventory items and more in a single click. Similarly, we found the search bar toward the top helpful for navigation too, especially since we could easily limit our search by module, such as credit notes, banking and inventory adjustments.
That said, we found that things get trickier beyond the main dashboard. Zoho allows users to drill down into their financial data and automate tedious tasks — a significant strength over alternative programs. However, we faced a learning curve when performing more advanced automations. Zoho features its own scripting language that will likely delight tech-minded users but may discourage less tech-savvy ones.
Zoho Books shines thanks to its must-have accounting software features coupled with automation tools. Here’s an overview of some of Zoho’s most notable capabilities, especially those designed to automate processes.
During testing, we found that Zoho makes it easy and convenient to automate payment email reminders and create multiple messages that go out at different times. For example, we created a payment reminder email and set it to be sent a week before an invoice was due, again on the due date and once more a week after the due date if we hadn’t yet received payment.
We liked that, if you connect your account to a credit card processor, you can accept invoice payments online. Compatible payment gateways include Authorize.Net, PayPal, Braintree, Zoho Payments, Stripe and Square. (Learn more about some of these options in our review of Stripe and our Square review.)
One cool feature we liked from our test run was the ability to schedule reports to be automatically generated weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually and emailed to us in the format of our choice (PDF or XLS). We were happy that we could set up the software to automatically send a weekly report with an overview of just about anything we wanted. The options included general ledger reports, profit and loss statements, sales by item, timesheet details, accounts receivable aging and aged payables.
Another part of our demo that stood out was Zoho’s ability to create customized automation tools. Tech-savvy business owners will appreciate Zoho’s ability to code custom functions with the program’s scripting language.
During our test of the software, we saw firsthand how small businesses can leverage Zoho’s scripting language, called Deluge, to create custom solutions. Of all the accounting software we reviewed, the only other service that allows such extensive customization is Sage 50. (See our Sage 50 review to learn more.)
Not every accounting vendor we reviewed provides a mobile app, so we appreciated that Zoho Books has one available for iOS and Android devices (as well as a Windows desktop app). The mobile app allowed us to create invoices, run reports, capture receipts, record expenses and track billable time from any location. Users rate Zoho’s app highly; it scores 4.8 out of 5 in the Apple App Store and 4.6 out of 5 in the Google Play Store.
We were impressed by Zoho’s client portal, which neatly arranged all our clients and allowed us to take quick accounting actions for one client or across several clients. We used the portal to create and send estimates and invoices, including recurring invoices. We appreciated that we could record customer payments from this portal too.
We liked Zoho’s invoicing tool, which allowed us to bill customers for billable time on a project. We created projects, tracked time and stored timesheets in the Time Tracking module. We were impressed that we could track and invoice billable expenses at all since not all competitors offer this feature. We were also able to set up recurring invoices and enter credit memos for customers.
During testing, we went through the process of creating an invoice. We liked the template gallery’s extensive invoice customization options — more than most competitors. Among our choices were 16 templates, several languages and multiple fonts we could use to customize and create professional invoices.
While we appreciated the customizability, we found the functionality a bit less intuitive than some competitors we reviewed, something less tech-savvy users should consider.
Although inventory tracking tools are available only on Zoho’s Professional plan and above, we found them helpful during our test run of the software. Zoho showed us the available quantity when we entered an item on an invoice. If we entered a higher number than the amount of stock we had on hand, the number turned red. We also liked that we could set up the system to automatically email us a notification when inventory dropped below a specific threshold.
If your inventory needs are more advanced — for instance, if you need to bundle items — you can add the Zoho Inventory app to the accounting program for an additional cost. Businesses that carry many items, customized products or have more complex inventory needs might want to read our review of Xero. This platform offers more advanced inventory automation features.
Zoho Books offers a fixed assets module on its Premium and higher tiers. We went to General Preferences to enable this feature, start recording fixed assets and automatically calculate depreciation. We were impressed that Zoho Books can help manage business assets throughout their lifecycle. We liked that we could sell or write off an asset when it was likely to generate a profit, had completed its useful life or had been fully depreciated.
We were impressed with Zoho’s payroll module, Zoho Payroll, which automates payroll processing and fulfills compliance obligations for all 50 states. It integrates directly with Zoho Books, Zoho Expense and Zoho People and offers a mobile app for employees to manage their payroll and employee benefits information. It also allows for automated payroll tax filing, auto-generated reports and efficient employee benefits administration.
We like that Zoho Books integrates with other Zoho systems and several third-party programs, including payment gateways, tax programs and Zapier, which allows you to connect to hundreds of additional apps. Check out our review of Zoho CRM to learn how this platform seamlessly connects to Zoho Books to sync and centralize customer data.
While Zoho may not offer as many third-party integrations as QuickBooks Online, its comprehensive suite of apps allows for seamless automation. In addition to Zoho CRM, it also offers Projects, Expense, Analytics and Bigin.
One particularly helpful feature we noted during our testing was Zoho’s audit trail. This powerful tool, which we accessed via the Reports module, listed every activity taken within our account and briefly described it. When we clicked “View Audit Trail” to the right of an activity, we could see the full history of changes to the corresponding item, similar to viewing a version history in Google Docs.
We loved that the audit trail noted the name of the user who made edits alongside the date and time of those edits. This functionality is ideal for businesses that have multiple people tracking company finances. It is important to note that you must be an Admin in the organization to view the audit trail.
Zoho can be an affordable accounting software solution for small businesses, particularly on its lower tiers. Notably, there’s a robust free version for solopreneurs and microbusinesses — something we haven’t seen with many of its rivals.
Here’s how its tiers break down. (Prices reflect monthly billing; you’ll pay less with annual payments.)
Plan | Monthly price | Features |
|---|---|---|
Free | $0 |
|
Standard | $20 | Everything in the Free plan, plus:
|
Professional | $50 | Everything in Standard, plus:
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Premium | $70 | Everything in Professional, plus:
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Elite | $150 | Everything in Premium, plus:
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Ultimate | $275 | Everything in Elite, plus:
|
In addition to the Free plan, you can try a paid plan for free for 14 days.
We tested Zoho’s onboarding process and found that adding new users is extremely easy. Within minutes of visiting Zoho’s site, we were able to create a new user account. A standout feature along the way was that we could choose our current accounting software so that Zoho Books could give us specialized assistance in migrating to the platform. We felt this would make a difference for established businesses looking to switch to Zoho Books from a different vendor.
Better still, through Zoho’s sales number or via email, it offers personalized setup advice. Zoho maintains offices worldwide, so time zone differences are unlikely to be an obstacle to accessing this support.
While some software vendors provide only minimal customer service, we were impressed that Zoho Books offers its paying customers multiple interactive support resources, as listed below. Note that the free version of the software includes only email-based customer support.
While Zoho Books has excellent accounting features and automation abilities, we found a few drawbacks:
We studied dozens of the best accounting and invoicing software solutions to help small businesses choose the right accounting software for their needs. During our hands-on testing and independent research, we evaluated features such as payment and invoicing capabilities, integrations, mobile apps, report generation, supported user count and customizability. We also considered pricing, the availability of free trials and customer service.
When conducting our analysis, we relied on vendor websites and software demos. We also examined user reviews to gather independent opinions on each product’s highlights and drawbacks. When determining the best accounting software for business owners looking for automation features, we focused on the number of processes that could be automated via built-in tools and the ability to create custom tools. You can read more about our editorial process here.
We recommend Zoho Books for …
We don’t recommend Zoho Books for …
Danielle Bauter contributed to this review.
