The Top 5 Accounting Software for Startups: Keep Your Brand on Track in 2025

Additionally, tracking expenses manually or using outdated methods increases the risk of inaccuracies in financial reporting. We’d be remiss to not include our own services in the overview of the ultimate finance stack for startups. Free online accounting software can be ideal for basic needs, but it’s not likely to meet your needs as your startup grows and scales.

A Unified Financial Operations Platform And The Power Behind It

Limited budgets often force startups to prioritize immediate needs over long-term scalability. But cheaper software that may not accommodate future growth, potentially resulting in costly migrations down the line. As hard as it can be to spend precious dollars, it’s crucial to balance current affordability with future needs when selecting accounting software retained earnings for your startup.

Manage Invoices and Accounts Receivable

• All the accounting services we reviewed let you add customers, products, and vendors during the process of completing transactions.
• Learn about different matching types, implementation strategies, and how automation can improve accuracy and reduce errors.
• Good bookkeeping provides entrepreneurs and small business owners with detailed, accurate, timely records that assist decision-making, taxes, and audits.
• I was able to complete and send the invoice in less than 30 seconds.
• Users say that after a small learning curve, the software is easy to use and navigate.

This consistent monitoring allows you to catch any discrepancies, adjust your strategies, and ensure you’re on track to meet your financial goals. FinOptimal’s Accruer software can provide automated reporting and deeper insights. The Brex business account Certified Bookkeeper consists of Checking, a commercial demand deposit account offered by Column N.A. (“Column”), member FDIC, and Treasury and Vault, which are cash management services offered by Brex Treasury LLC (“Brex Treasury”), member FINRA/SIPC, an affiliate of Brex.

Essential Features

It also lost one point for customer support because you have to upgrade to Advanced to be able to contact phone support directly; in comparison, Zoho Books offers phone support in all paid plans. However, unlike competitor software, the invoice creation feature didn’t automate sales tax calculations in my testing experience. After saving the invoice and accessing it under the “unfiled” menu option, I encountered an issue. Unlike clicking on other document types, such as receipts, I was unable to send the invoice directly from the platform or export it to send it through my own email inbox. Still, I could at least right-click on its listing in “unfiled” documents and move it to a folder of my choosing, allowing me to save it as an expense I could refer to later come tax time.

Easily customize and send invoices wherever you are

• Get a business bank account that provides $3M in FDIC insurance coverage and generates up to 3.73% APY on your deposits.
• Regularly reconciling bank statements, as suggested in this guide from Stripe, helps you catch any discrepancies early on.
• One of the great things about using small business accounting software is that it reduces repetitive data entry.
• User-friendly software ensures that you can make the most of its capabilities.
• We chose FreshBooks only for service-based businesses because it is focused on project accounting and has no features for inventory management.

Most of them are good at providing a quick overview of your finances, though they’re understandably not accounting services for startups great at displaying reports. Reports are your reward for keeping up with your daily accounting and doing it correctly. Every small business accounting service has templates for numerous types of insightful output. You select one, customize it with the filter and display options, and let the software pour your company data into it. Creating records can be tedious work, but you’ll thank yourself later when you don’t have to pause in the middle of a transaction to add one.