QuickBooks vs Zoho Books

July 02, 2023 | Author: Michael Stromann
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QuickBooks
QuickBooks Online puts you in control of your finances, your time, your business—and where you work. From setup to support, QuickBooks Online makes your accounting easy. With simple tools to get you started, free support, and a money-back guarantee, QuickBooks Online is the effortless choice.
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Zoho Books
Zoho Books is an online accounting software with time tracking that allows you to easily manage the money flowing in and out of your business. Manage your customers and invoices, while keeping expenses in check. Record, monitor and reconcile your bank accounts and transactions, and collaborate with your accountant in real-time. Most importantly, Zoho Books helps you make better, more informed decisions and stay on top of your business.
QuickBooks and Zoho Books are both popular accounting software options that offer features to help businesses manage their finances effectively. QuickBooks is widely recognized and used by many small to medium-sized businesses. It provides a comprehensive set of accounting tools, including invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation, and financial reporting. QuickBooks offers different versions tailored to specific business needs, such as QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and QuickBooks Self-Employed. Zoho Books, on the other hand, is part of the broader Zoho suite of business applications. It offers similar accounting functionalities, including invoicing, expense management, bank feeds, and financial reports. Zoho Books also integrates well with other Zoho applications, such as Zoho CRM and Zoho Inventory, for a seamless end-to-end business management experience.

See also: Top 10 Online Accounting software
QuickBooks vs Zoho Books in our news:

2023. Intuit launches generative AI–powered digital assistant for small businesses and consumers



Intuit, the prominent U.S. financial and accounting software company, has introduced its inaugural customer-centric generative AI-driven solution known as Intuit Assist. Functioning as a digital assistant, it is seamlessly integrated into Intuit's suite of platforms and products, including TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp. With a consistent user interface, Intuit Assist leverages contextual datasets to deliver personalized recommendations to the company's vast customer base of over 100 million small businesses and consumers worldwide. This innovative offering also facilitates human assistance through Intuit's live platform when necessary. The digital assistant was created using GenOS, Intuit's proprietary operating system based on generative AI, which was launched in June to empower developers in incorporating AI across the company's product portfolio.


2021. Zoho Books gets a Free Plan



Zoho has introduced the free plan for Zoho Books, a solution specifically designed to address the accounting requirements of small businesses, startups, and freelancers. The aim of Zoho Books' free plan is to revolutionize the financial workspace for small businesses by offering a modern cloud-based accounting platform that replaces traditional or spreadsheet-based accounting methods. This transition helps eliminate the risk of data loss, reduces manual effort and errors, and provides a more efficient accounting process. By utilizing the free plan, you can embrace a paperless approach, automate various accounting tasks, and access your accounting system from anywhere. The free plan enables you to create, customize, and send up to 1,000 invoices annually. You can conveniently collect payments both online and offline while automating payment reminders. Additionally, the plan allows you to upload expense receipts and effectively monitor expenses by category, helping you stay within your budget. By enabling the client portal feature, your customers gain access to view their outstanding invoices, provide transaction comments, make online payments, and leave reviews.


2020. Intuit acquires inventory management software TradeGecko



Intuit, a US-based business and financial software company, has made a deal to purchase TradeGecko, a Singaporean software-as-a-service company specializing in online inventory and order management software for small businesses. The acquisition, valued at $80 million, aims to combine TradeGecko's inventory and order management capabilities with Intuit's QuickBooks accounting platform. This integration will enable QuickBooks Online customers to effectively launch and oversee products across online and offline sales channels. Additionally, they will be able to handle orders and inventory fulfillment from different channels and multiple inventory locations, as stated in the announcement.


2017. Intuit acquired time-tracker TSheets



Intuit, the company renowned for products like QuickBooks, has recently made a significant acquisition. They have acquired TSheets, a time-tracking service and employee scheduling app with a customer base exceeding 35,000, for a total of $340 million. Given the substantial overlap in their target markets, primarily catering to small and medium-sized businesses, it's evident that QuickBooks and TSheets complement each other. In fact, Intuit reveals that the two companies already share 12,000 customers, indicating an existing synergy. This acquisition is not primarily aimed at acquiring new customers but rather at enhancing the QuickBooks ecosystem. It's worth noting that TSheets already integrates with QuickBooks. Throughout my discussions with Intuit in recent months, it has become apparent that their current product plans revolve around minimizing friction, particularly in relation to QuickBooks, aligning with their commitment to creating seamless experiences for their users.


2017. Zoho Books gets document hub and receipt auto-scanning



The Zoho Books online accounting app has incorporated valuable features to enhance document management. The Auto-scan functionality within Zoho Books enables you to effortlessly scan your documents and automatically extract relevant details, which can then be converted into expenses, bills, or purchase orders. In case you have already scanned your documents, you can directly upload them, and our software will intelligently extract the essential data for you. With the Documents feature, a unique email address is provided, allowing you to conveniently import files into Zoho Books simply by sending an email. Upon receiving a file, you can organize it into folders or create a transaction, subsequently clearing the inbox. All uploaded documents are instantly stored in a secure centralized hub, providing a unified location for convenient viewing and management.


2014. Zoho Books became available on iPad



Zoho has recently unveiled the new Zoho Books iPad app, designed specifically for iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Mini. This native application has been optimized to provide a seamless experience on your tablet, enabling you to manage your business operations from anywhere. The iPad app offers all the key functionalities available in the web version, empowering you to efficiently run your business on the go. Upon launching the app, you will be greeted with an interactive dashboard that delivers crucial insights into your business. Instantly access information regarding your receivables, payables, and cash flow, enabling you to evaluate the performance of your business and identify areas that require attention. Moreover, Zoho Books for iPad offers various features, including business expense management, time tracking, timesheets, estimates, and a range of informative reports.


2014. Intuit acquired cloud integration service ItDuzzit



Intuit is further expanding its cloud platform for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) through the acquisition of itDuzzit, a startup offering integration tools for connecting various web and mobile apps within enterprises. This can be likened to the functionality of IFTTT but tailored for business needs. Intuit's intention is to incorporate itDuzzit into its QuickBooks platform, which not only provides accounting services but also offers a growing range of additional services for businesses. itDuzzit competes with similar platforms like Zapier and Cloudwork. The platform currently supports integration with numerous apps, including Asana, Box, Coinbase, Freshbooks, PayPal, and Shopify, with the promise of adding more apps in the future. In essence, this acquisition allows Intuit to provide its customers with a seamless way to utilize these integrated apps on its platform, alongside Intuit software, even if Intuit doesn't have a direct hand in each of those services.


2014. Zoho Books app for Windows 8.1 released



Zoho has introduced a Windows 8 version of its accounting app designed for growing businesses, known as Zoho Books. This app enables users to send invoices to clients instantly, record payments, track expenses, and categorize them by type. It also helps identify and reduce unnecessary expenditures, providing instant insights into business performance through interactive graphs and charts. With Zoho Books, users can efficiently organize contacts, capturing crucial information like currency, email, phone numbers, and billing addresses in a centralized location. Additionally, the app facilitates the maintenance of a product and price list for streamlined management.


2014. Intuit buys Lettuce for $30M to add inventory and order management to Quickbooks



Intuit has expanded its portfolio by acquiring Lettuce, a platform designed for online order and inventory management, aiming to solidify its position as the leading provider of cloud-based office solutions for small and medium businesses. Unlike typical acquisitions where the purchased product is either shut down or its technology repurposed for a new service, Intuit plans to keep Lettuce functioning as an independent application. Additionally, Intuit intends to enhance the integration of Lettuce into its flagship small and medium business accounting product, Quickbooks, building upon the existing integration to provide a more comprehensive solution.


2011. Zoho launched online accounting service Zoho Books

Zoho has recently addressed a notable gap in its suite of online applications for small businesses by introducing the online accounting service Zoho Books. With this addition, Zoho now offers a comprehensive set of tools tailored to meet the needs of small businesses. Zoho Books facilitates the management of financial transactions, bank accounts, invoice creation and delivery, as well as receipt of payments through PayPal or credit cards. It also enables revenue and expense planning. The integration of Zoho Books with Zoho CRM, Email, and spreadsheets enhances its suitability for accountants and other staff members. Existing users of Zoho Invoice will be provided with a straightforward upgrade path to Zoho Books. Unlike other Zoho products, Zoho Books does not offer a free version, instead providing a 30-day trial. This decision is understandable considering that most small companies typically have only one accountant, and offering a free single-user version would not be practical. The service is priced at $24 per month for a single account, with an additional cost of $5 per month for each additional user.

Author: Michael Stromann
Michael is an expert in IT Service Management, IT Security and software development. With his extensive experience as a software developer and active involvement in multiple ERP implementation projects, Michael brings a wealth of practical knowledge to his writings. Having previously worked at SAP, he has honed his expertise and gained a deep understanding of software development and implementation processes. Currently, as a freelance developer, Michael continues to contribute to the IT community by sharing his insights through guest articles published on several IT portals. You can contact Michael by email stromann@liventerprise.com