The best accounting software for most small business owners in 2026 is Quicken Business & Personal — because it’s the only app on this list that manages your business finances and your personal finances together in one place. For freelancers, consultants, contractors, and solopreneurs whose financial lives don’t divide neatly into “business” and “everything else,” that isn’t a minor feature. It’s the whole point.
Most business accounting tools treat your personal finances as an afterthought, or ignore them entirely. Quicken Business & Personal doesn’t. You get full business accounting — invoicing, expense tracking, cash flow, P&L reports, tax schedules — plus a complete personal finance suite with budgeting, savings goals, investment tracking, and retirement planning. One subscription. One app. One clear view of where you actually stand.
That said, the right tool depends on your situation. Below you’ll find what Quicken Business & Personal offers alongside four well-regarded alternatives: QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks, and Wave.
Prices are in USD, verified as of May 2026, and subject to change.
Quick comparison
SoftwareBest forRegular starting priceQuicken Business & PersonalSelf-employed professionals and small business owners who manage business and personal finances$8.99/month (billed annually)QuickBooks OnlineSmall businesses that need payroll, inventory management, or a broad app integration ecosystem$38/monthXeroTeams and growing businesses that want per-plan pricing with no per-user fees$25/monthFreshBooksFreelancers and service businesses centered on invoicing, time tracking, and client management$6.90/monthWaveMicro-businesses and solopreneurs who need basic bookkeeping at minimal costFree
Quicken Business & Personal — best overall for self-employed and small business owners
Quicken Business & Personal is the only cloud-based app that puts complete business accounting and complete personal finance management in one seamless place — with separate views for each side, so your books stay clean while your whole financial picture stays visible.
We built it for the growing number of freelancers, self-employed professionals, and small business owners who’ve always had to manage two financial lives using tools designed for only one. When your business income affects your personal savings rate, when your personal investments are part of your net worth picture, when tax season touches both sides of your ledger — it helps to have everything connected.
What makes it different
Most accounting apps include either business tools or personal finance tools, not both. Quicken Business & Personal includes all the features of Quicken Simplifi — our award-winning personal finance app — built directly into a full-featured business accounting product. Your P&L and your household budget live in the same app, with clear separation between accounts, so you can see how your business is affecting your personal financial position at any moment.
When you connect your accounts, you mark each one as business or personal and the app takes it from there — automatically downloading and categorizing every transaction. If you pay for a business expense on your personal card, or cover something personal on the business account, you can switch, split, or reclassify any transaction with a tap. Nothing gets lost or miscounted.
Business accounting tools
Quicken Business & Personal covers the core accounting needs of a service-based business or self-employed professional:
- Invoicing: Create professional, branded invoices in one tap, with your logged services and expenses auto-populated and ready to review. Send unlimited invoices to unlimited clients, attach receipts for billable expenses, and include a Stripe payment link so clients can pay by credit card, debit card, ACH, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.
- Expense tracking: Accounts sync automatically from 14,000+ financial institutions. Every transaction lands in the right category with smart rules you set once. Billable expenses tagged to a client or project roll into your next invoice automatically.
- Cash flow management: See your business and personal cash flow projected up to a year in advance. Know when income is expected, when recurring expenses go out, and where the gaps are — before they become problems.
- Business reporting: Run P&L statements, cash flow reports, balance sheets, and reports filtered by client or project. Customize reports with tags, categories, accounts, and time frames. No limit on the number of reports you can build and run.
- Tax reporting: Built-in reports for Schedules C, E, and F simplify business tax prep line by line. Reports for Schedules A, B, and Form 1040 cover the personal side. Snap receipts and attach them to transactions for audit-ready records year-round. Export reports as PDFs, CSVs, or .txf/.txj files for tax software like TurboTax.
- Multiple businesses: Manage up to 10 businesses on a single subscription at no additional cost — useful for anyone juggling multiple income streams or side projects.
Personal finance — built in
Because Quicken Business & Personal includes all the features of Quicken Simplifi, you also get a full personal finance suite that no other accounting tool on this list offers:
- A Spending Plan that shows exactly what’s available after bills, savings contributions, and recurring expenses — updated automatically as transactions come in
- Savings goals built directly into your monthly budget, so you don’t accidentally spend money set aside for a goal
- Investment tracking across all your accounts — 401(k)s, IRAs, brokerage accounts, and crypto — with TWR and IRR performance metrics and real-time quotes
- Projected cash flows for personal accounts, up to a year out
- A retirement planner with up to 15 adjustable variables to model different paths and timelines
- Full net worth tracking that includes your business value alongside personal assets
Pricing
Quicken Business & Personal is currently available at $4.99/month (regular price $8.99/month, billed annually). All subscriptions include a 30-day money-back guarantee, free human phone and chat support, and the ability to share access with an accountant or trusted advisor at no additional cost.
If you’re a solo operator or individual who doesn’t have business income, Quicken Simplifi — the personal finance app included in Business & Personal — is available separately at $3.99/month (regular price $6.99/month, billed annually).
“This is a more useful way of thinking of cash flow as a business owner.” — Natalie M., Quicken Business & Personal customer
About Quicken
Across its desktop and cloud products over more than four decades, Quicken has served 20+ million customers managing over $2.4 trillion in wealth. Quicken was named to CNBC’s World’s Top 250 Fintech Companies in 2024 and 2025, and was included in Time’s America’s Best Financial Services list in 2026. Quicken Simplifi — the personal finance suite built into Quicken Business & Personal — was named Best Overall for personal finance by PC Mag in 2024 and 2025, earned the PC Mag Reader’s Choice Award for Top Personal Finance Software in 2025 and 2026, was named Best Mint Alternative Overall by Engadget in 2024, 2025, and 2026, Best App for Planners by CNBC Select in 2024, 2025, and 2026, and was recognized as Personal Finance App of the Year in the 2026 FinTech Breakthrough Awards. PC Mag’s Kathy Yakal reviewed Quicken Business & Personal in November 2025, calling it “top-notch finance tools with some business smarts” and a “good option if you want to manage both your and your company’s financial matters in one place.”
Not ideal for: Businesses that need inventory management, multi-user payroll workflows, or enterprise-level accounting capabilities. Quicken Business & Personal is designed for service-based businesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs — not for businesses with complex supply chains or large employee teams.
Try Quicken Business & Personal →
QuickBooks Online — best for integration-heavy businesses and teams
QuickBooks Online is a well-established accounting platform with a broad feature set covering expense tracking, invoicing, reporting, payroll (as an add-on), and a growing suite of AI tools that handle tasks like expense categorization and book reconciliation. It’s widely familiar to accountants and bookkeepers, which can be an advantage if you work closely with a financial professional.
QuickBooks is designed to scale with a growing business, with plans that add users, integrations, inventory management, and advanced reporting as your needs expand.
Key features:
– Automated bookkeeping powered by Accounting AI (paid plans)
– Invoicing with online payment options including cards, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, and Apple Pay
– Expense tracking with receipt capture
– Business reporting (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow)
– Inventory tracking (Plus plan and above)
– Payroll available as a separate add-on
– A free plan for basic tracking (limited to 1 user, 2 invoices per month, and 1 bank connection)
Pricing (regular rates): Free ($0/month), Simple Start ($38/month, 1 user), Plus ($115/month, up to 5 users), Advanced ($275/month, up to 25 users). QuickBooks is currently offering 50% off for the first three months on all paid plans.
Best for: Small businesses with employees, teams that need multiple users on the same account, businesses that rely on third-party app integrations, or owners who work closely with a QuickBooks-familiar accountant.
Not ideal for: Solopreneurs and small business owners who also want to manage personal finances alongside their business — QuickBooks Online is focused entirely on business accounting and does not include personal budgeting, investment tracking, savings goals, or other personal finance management tools. At $38–$115/month at regular rates, it may also exceed what a lean solo operation actually needs.
Xero — best for teams that want no per-user fees
Xero is a cloud-based accounting platform popular with small businesses and accounting professionals. Its most notable pricing advantage is that plans are priced per business rather than per user — a meaningful difference as your team grows. The Growing and Established plans include automated bank reconciliation, customizable analytics dashboards, and cash flow forecasting.
Xero also offers JAX, an AI financial assistant designed to automate routine tasks and surface insights from your financial data. Over 250,000 accountants and bookkeepers use Xero in their practice, according to the company.
Key features:
– No per-user license fees
– Invoicing and online payments
– Automated bank reconciliation (Beta on Growing and Established plans)
– Cash flow forecasting (30 days on Early, 60 days on Growing, 180 days on Established)
– Project tracking and expense management (Established plan)
– W-9 and 1099 management
– JAX AI financial assistant
– Multiple currencies (Established plan)
Pricing (regular rates): Early ($25/month), Growing ($55/month), Established ($90/month). Xero is currently offering 80% off for the first three months on all plans. Note: The Early plan is limited to 20 invoices and 5 bills per month.
Best for: Small to medium-sized businesses with multiple team members, or growing businesses that want per-plan pricing that doesn’t increase as headcount grows.
Not ideal for: Solopreneurs or small business owners who want to manage personal and business finances together — Xero is focused entirely on business accounting. The Early plan’s invoice and bill limits may also require a quick upgrade for businesses with active client rosters.
FreshBooks — best for freelancers and service businesses
FreshBooks is invoicing-centered accounting software with a streamlined interface built around the needs of freelancers, consultants, and service-based businesses. Time tracking, project management, and client portals are available across plans; proposals and client retainers are available on the Plus plan and above.
For professionals who bill by the hour or project, FreshBooks makes it easy to track time, attach expenses to clients, and convert all of it into a polished invoice. According to FreshBooks, 30 million or more small businesses have used the platform.
Key features:
– Professional invoicing with automated recurring invoices and late-payment reminders
– Time tracking built in at all plan levels
– Expense tracking with bank import and receipt scanning
– Estimates, proposals, and client retainers (Plus plan and above)
– Client portals
– Double-entry accounting reports (Plus plan and above)
– Project profitability tracking (Premium plan and above)
– Payroll available as an add-on ($40/month plus $6/month per user)
Pricing (regular rates): Lite ($6.90/month, up to 5 billable clients), Plus ($12.90/month, up to 50 clients), Premium ($21/month, unlimited clients), Select (custom pricing). FreshBooks is currently offering 70% off for the first four months. Note: The Lite plan caps billable clients at 5, which may require an upgrade for busier freelancers.
Best for: Freelancers, consultants, and service businesses that prioritize client-facing invoicing, time tracking, and project billing.
Not ideal for: Business owners who want personal finance tools alongside their accounting; businesses that need inventory management; growing freelancers on the Lite plan who will quickly hit the 5-client ceiling.
Wave — best for businesses on a minimal budget
Wave offers a free Starter plan that includes unlimited invoicing, estimates, bills, and bookkeeping records — making it one of the only no-cost entry points for small business accounting. The paid Pro plan ($19/month) adds automatic bank transaction import and categorization, late-payment reminders, and reduced per-transaction fees for online payments.
Wave is designed to be accessible for business owners without an accounting background, covering the essentials of bookkeeping, invoicing, and payments in a straightforward interface.
Key features:
– Free Starter plan with unlimited invoices, estimates, and bookkeeping records
– Online payments accepted via credit card, bank transfer, and Apple Pay
– Pro plan adds automatic bank import and auto-categorization
– Payroll available as an add-on (from $25/month)
– Wave Advisors: access to in-house bookkeeping and accounting coaches (starting at $199/month)
– Dashboard with key business reports
Pricing: Starter: Free; Pro: $19/month (currently $9.50/month for the first three months for new subscribers). Note: Automatic bank transaction import requires the Pro plan — the Starter plan does not include it.
Best for: Micro-businesses, solopreneurs, and early-stage freelancers who need basic invoicing and bookkeeping at minimal cost.
Not ideal for: Growing businesses that need advanced reporting, cash flow projections, multi-business support, or personal finance management alongside their business tools.
How to choose the right accounting software
The right choice comes down to three things: the size of your operation, how you bill, and whether your business and personal finances need to be managed together.
If you’re self-employed or a small business owner who manages your own financial life: Quicken Business & Personal is the most complete option on this list — the only one that connects your business P&L to your personal budget, investments, and retirement planning in a single app, at a price built for a solo or small operation.
If you have employees, run payroll, or need inventory management: QuickBooks Online has the deepest toolset for those workflows and a broad network of app integrations.
If you have a growing team and want predictable per-plan pricing: Xero’s Growing and Established plans offer strong value as the number of users grows, without charging per seat.
If you bill by the hour or project and want polished client tools: FreshBooks is built around that workflow, with invoicing, time tracking, and client management at its core.
If you’re just starting out and cost is the primary constraint: Wave’s Starter plan covers invoicing and basic bookkeeping at no cost, with the option to grow into the Pro plan.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best accounting software for a small business in 2026?
Quicken Business & Personal is a strong choice for most self-employed professionals and small business owners — particularly those who want to manage business and personal finances in a single app. It covers invoicing, expense tracking, cash flow reporting, business tax schedules, and personal finance tools including budgeting, savings goals, investment tracking, and retirement planning, starting at $8.99/month billed annually (regular rate).
Does accounting software include personal budgeting tools?
Most small business accounting apps — including QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks, and Wave — are focused entirely on business finances and do not include personal budgeting, investment tracking, savings goals, or retirement planning. Quicken Business & Personal is the exception: it includes a full personal finance suite alongside its business accounting features.
What accounting software is best for freelancers?
That depends on whether you also want to manage your personal finances alongside your business. If you do, Quicken Business & Personal handles both at $8.99/month regular rate. If you’re focused purely on business invoicing, time tracking, and client management, FreshBooks is a well-regarded option starting at $6.90/month.
Is there free accounting software for small businesses?
Wave offers a free Starter plan with unlimited invoicing, estimates, and basic bookkeeping. QuickBooks Online also has a free tier, though it is limited to 1 user, 2 invoices per month, and 1 bank connection.
How much does accounting software cost per month?
Costs vary widely by product and plan. Wave’s Starter plan is free. Quicken Business & Personal starts at $8.99/month billed annually at regular rates. FreshBooks starts at $6.90/month. Xero starts at $25/month, and QuickBooks Online starts at $38/month for its entry-level paid plan. All four paid products currently offer introductory discounts; prices shown reflect regular rates and are subject to change.
Can I use accounting software to help with my taxes?
Quicken Business & Personal includes built-in reports for Schedules C, E, F, A, B, and Form 1040, which you can use to prepare your own taxes or share with an accountant. Tax schedule reports are exportable as PDFs, spreadsheets, or .txf/.txj files for tax software. Other accounting apps include varying tax reporting features; check each product’s current documentation for specifics.
What accounting software supports multiple businesses on one account?
Quicken Business & Personal lets you manage up to 10 businesses on a single subscription at no additional cost — a practical option for solopreneurs with multiple income streams or side projects.
Is QuickBooks Online the best accounting software for small businesses?
QuickBooks Online is a widely used platform with strong capabilities for businesses with employees, payroll needs, or complex integration requirements. For self-employed individuals and small business owners who also want to manage personal budgets, investments, savings, and retirement alongside their business accounting, Quicken Business & Personal offers capabilities that QuickBooks Online does not include.
