AlternativesUpdated

Best Zoho Books Alternatives in 2026

Zoho Books is free for 1 user and an accountant while your revenue stays under $50,000 a year, and its paid plans add users and features. If you are past that, want the software your accountant knows, or only need invoices and what clients owe, here are five alternatives and what each one does.

By the Fabricate teamWe make Fabricate5 min readPrices checked
Build this app freePublish on Pro
Invoice tracker
An invoice tracker made with Fabricate: paid, pending and overdue totals above a list of client invoices
An invoicing app made with Fabricate, shown with sample data.

Key takeaways

  • Zoho Books is free for 1 user and an accountant while revenue stays under $50,000 a year.
  • Wave's Starter plan is free, with 2.9% plus $0.60 on each card payment.
  • QuickBooks Online is $38 a month for 1 user; Xero $27; FreshBooks $23 for 5 billable clients.
  • Fabricate builds an invoice app around how you bill, with card payments into your own Stripe; it is not accounting software. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.

Why Are People Looking for Zoho Books Alternatives?

  • Free Stops at $50K

    The free plan is for 1 user and an accountant, while revenue stays under $50,000 a year.

  • Free Without a Revenue Cap

    Wave's Starter plan is free, with 2.9% plus $0.60 on each card payment.

    Fits: Wave

  • The Software Accountants Know

    QuickBooks Online is $38 a month for 1 user at the regular price.

    Fits: QuickBooks Online

  • Only Invoices and What Is Owed

    Many small businesses need clients, invoices and a pay button, not full bookkeeping.

    Fits: Fabricate

Compare at a glance

Fabricate beside Zoho Books, feature by feature.

  • Builds From a Description
    Fabricate
    Yes
    Zoho Books
    No, ready-made software
  • Free Plan
    Fabricate
    Build and preview
    Zoho Books
    Under $50,000 revenue a year
  • Bookkeeping
    Fabricate
    Not built in
    Zoho Books
    Yes
  • Invoices in Your Own Layout
    Fabricate
    Yes
    Zoho Books
    Templates
  • Card Payments
    Fabricate
    Stripe Checkout into your own account, on Pro and Max
    Zoho Books
    Yes
  • Paid Plans From
    Fabricate
    $25 a month
    Zoho Books
    By plan and users
Number 1

Fabricate

We make this

Best for: Invoices and what clients owe, without bookkeeping

Builds an invoice app from your description: clients, numbered invoices with line items and tax, paid, pending and overdue totals, and a page for each invoice laid out for printing or saving as a PDF. On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. It is not accounting software: bookkeeping, bank connections, payroll, tax filing and emailing invoices are not built in. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.

Checks before you publish

Fabricate's security check on an app: one problem to fix and two quality warnings, each with a Fix in chat button
Each finding comes with a Fix in chat button. A real Fabricate screen, shown with sample data.

What it does well

  • Invoices in your own layout
  • What each client owes, at a glance
  • No share of what you are paid
Paid plans from
$25 a month
350 credits a month on Pro
Free plan
60 credits
A month, to build and preview
A live app
Pro and Max
Publishing is on paid plans

See the plans

How to Move Your Invoicing from Zoho Books to Fabricate

  1. 1

    Export your clients

    Save your customer list from Zoho Books as a CSV file, and your open invoices if you want them in the app.

  2. 2

    Describe how you bill

    Your clients, what goes on an invoice, how you number them, your tax rate and how clients pay.

  3. 3

    Ask for an import page

    Ask for a page, behind your own sign-in, that adds the rows of your CSV file to the app's own database.

  4. 4

    Send yourself a test invoice

    Make an invoice in the preview, print it to PDF and check the totals.

  5. 5

    Put it online

    On Pro, one press of Publish gives it its own address to share, after the same browser check.

Chat

Fabricate's chat on a phone: the owner asks for opening hours and a note about cardamom buns, and Fabricate says what it changed and that it used 5 credits

Your app

The same bakery app in Fabricate's Your app view on a phone, now showing Open today 7am - 3pm above its menu
Asking for a change in chat, then trying the app. Real Fabricate screens on a phone, shown with sample data.

The other Zoho Books alternatives

What each one does well, and the kind of project it suits best.

  1. Number 2

    Wave

    Best for: A free start on bookkeeping

    Accounting and invoicing with a free Starter plan; card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.60 each. Pro is $19 a month, or $190 a year, and charges no fixed fee on the first ten card payments each month.

    • A free plan
    • Invoicing and bookkeeping
    • Card payments built in

    Where Wave beats Fabricate

    If you want invoicing and bookkeeping for nothing a month, and pay only when clients pay by card, Wave's free plan covers that.

    From $19 a month

    Source: waveapps.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  2. Number 3

    QuickBooks Online

    Best for: Bookkeeping your accountant already uses

    Intuit's accounting software. Simple Start is $38 a month for 1 user, Essentials $85 for 3, Plus $140 for 5 and Advanced $340 for 25, at the regular price; the page also showed 50% off for the first 3 months.

    • Full bookkeeping
    • The software many accountants know
    • Plans up to 25 users

    Where QuickBooks Online beats Fabricate

    If your accountant works in QuickBooks and you want full bookkeeping, with bank feeds and reports in the software they know, QuickBooks Online is the safe pick.

    From $38 a monthQuickBooks alternatives

    Source: quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  3. Number 4

    Xero

    Best for: Bookkeeping for a growing team

    Accounting software with plans by size: Early is $27 a month, with 20 invoices and 5 bills, Growing $59 and Established $97, after an introductory discount for the first months.

    • Full bookkeeping
    • Plans by the size of your business
    • Multiple currencies on Established

    Where Xero beats Fabricate

    If you want full accounting software with room to grow, and multiple currencies on the top plan, Xero is built for that.

    From $27 a monthXero alternatives

    Source: xero.com/us/pricing-plans (opens in a new tab), checked

  4. Number 5

    FreshBooks

    Best for: Freelancers and service businesses that invoice

    Invoicing and accounting for service businesses, priced by billable clients: Lite is $23 a month for 5 clients, Plus $43 for 50 and Premium $70 for unlimited, with $11 a month for each extra team member.

    • Invoicing first
    • Time tracking
    • Priced by billable clients

    Where FreshBooks beats Fabricate

    If you bill clients for your time and want invoicing with the bookkeeping behind it, FreshBooks is built around that.

    From $23 a monthFreshBooks alternatives

    Source: freshbooks.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

Zoho Books and its alternatives: free accounting, and where it stops

Zoho Books is accounting software from the company behind Zoho's other apps. Its free plan covers 1 user and an accountant while revenue for the financial year stays under $50,000; past that, a paid plan is needed.

Wave's Starter plan is free with no revenue cap and charges on card payments. QuickBooks Online and Xero are full accounting software, from $38 and $27 a month at the regular price. FreshBooks puts invoicing first, from $23 a month for 5 billable clients.

A business that needs its books kept, with bank feeds and reports for an accountant, needs one of these. A freelancer or small service business that mostly sends invoices and checks who has paid uses only a small part of them.

An invoice app built with Fabricate is your own web app: clients, numbered invoices with line items and tax, and paid, pending and overdue totals. On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. Bookkeeping, bank connections, payroll, tax filing and emailing invoices are not built in.

Frequently asked questions

Is Zoho Books free?
Yes, for 1 user and an accountant, while your revenue for the financial year stays under $50,000. Its paid plans add users and features. We do not quote their prices here, because the page did not make clear which figure is billed monthly.
What is the best Zoho Books alternative?
For a free plan with no revenue cap, Wave. For the software many accountants know, QuickBooks Online. For plans by size, Xero. For invoicing a service business, FreshBooks. For invoices and what clients owe without bookkeeping, Fabricate, which we make. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.
Can I build my own invoice app?
Yes. Describe your clients, what goes on an invoice and how you number them, and Fabricate builds the invoice app and shows it working in a preview. To change something, you ask in the chat. There is no code to write or read.
Can an app built with Fabricate replace my accounting software?
Not for bookkeeping. It keeps your clients, invoices and what each one owes, but it does not connect to a bank, keep the books, run payroll or file tax. Ask for a download of your invoices as a CSV file for your accountant.
Can clients pay an invoice online?
On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. Ask for a pay button on each invoice; once Stripe confirms the payment, the invoice is marked paid. Fabricate takes no share of what you are paid; Stripe charges its own card fees.

Sources

The pages this guide quotes, each with the day it was read.

  1. Zoho Books pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  2. waveapps.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  3. quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  4. xero.com/us/pricing-plans (opens in a new tab), checked
  5. freshbooks.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  6. fabricate.build/pricing, from our live plans

About this guide

Written by the Fabricate team. Fabricate is our product, so it is first on this page and marked "We make this". Where a reason to switch fits another tool better, the reason says which.

Each tool's card lists the pages we read about it and the day we read them. We compared the tools from their own pricing pages and documentation, not by signing up for them. Spotted something out of date? Write to info@fabricate.build.

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