Zoho Books
Accounting with a free plan under $50K revenue, six US plans priced per organization and the Zia AI assistant
What is Zoho Books?
Zoho Books is cloud accounting software for small businesses and accounting firms. It covers quotes, invoices, recurring billing, bills, expenses, purchase orders, inventory, projects, bank reconciliation and 50+ reports, with a customer portal and online payments. The Free plan is for businesses under $50K annual revenue. Paid plans are priced per organization, from Standard at $20 a month ($15 billed yearly) with 3 users up to Ultimate with 15 users, and add bank feeds, multi-currency, projects, inventory, custom modules and analytics. Zia, its AI assistant, answers questions in plain English, flags anomalies and pre-fills bank statement categorisation.
Good for
- Micro businesses under $50K revenue that want free double-entry accounting
- Product businesses that need inventory and purchase orders inside the accounting tool
- Teams that want custom workflows, approvals and custom modules
Key features
- Quotes, invoices, recurring invoices, progress invoicing, retainers and a self-service customer portal
- Bank reconciliation on every plan, with automatic bank feeds from Standard
- Receipt autoscans: 50 a month on Free, 200 on Standard and Professional, 1,000 on Premium and above
- Zia AI assistant: plain-English questions, anomaly detection in reports, pre-filled bank statement categorisation, drafted emails
- AI collections summaries with risk flags and bulk reminders for overdue invoices
- Connects finance data to AI agents through MCP to create invoices, track payments and pull reports
- Sales and purchase orders, multi-currency, projects and inventory from Professional; warehouses and marketplace connections on Elite
- US sales and use tax tracking, W-9 management and 1099 filing
Limitations to know about
- The Free plan applies only while annual revenue stays under $50K, with 1 user and no bank feeds
- Annual invoice and bill caps on every plan, from 5,000 on Standard to 100,000 on Elite and Ultimate
- Multi-currency, projects and inventory need Professional ($50/mo); budgets and cash flow forecasting need Premium
- Payroll is a separate Zoho product that the Books pricing page does not price
Zoho Books pricing
Zoho Books has a free plan. Standard, Professional, Premium, Elite and Ultimate cost $15 to $240 a month billed annually, or $20 to $275 billed monthly.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 (annual revenue under $50K) | 1 user plus 1 accountant, 1,000 invoices and 1,000 expenses a year, recurring invoices, bank reconciliation, online payments, 1099 filing, 50+ reports |
| Standard | $20/mo, or $15/mo billed yearly | 3 users, 5,000 invoices a year, bank feeds, recurring expenses, sales and use tax tracking, custom fields and reports, API access |
| Professional | $50/mo, or $40/mo billed yearly | 5 users, 10,000 invoices a year, sales and purchase orders, multi-currency, timesheet billing, project profitability, retainers, inventory, approvals, custom workflows and roles |
| Premium | $70/mo, or $60/mo billed yearly | 10 users, 25,000 invoices a year, 1,000 autoscans a month, fixed assets, budgets, cash flow forecasting, vendor portal, custom modules and functions |
| Elite | $150/mo, or $120/mo billed yearly | 10 users, 100,000 invoices a year, advanced inventory, warehouses, serial and batch tracking, shipping labels, Etsy, eBay and Amazon, up to 2 Shopify stores, blueprints |
| Ultimate | $275/mo, or $240/mo billed yearly | 15 users, advanced analytics with 50+ pre-built visualisations, KPI tracking, embedded reports, 3 million records |
Free plan limits: For businesses with financial-year revenue under $50K: 1 user plus 1 accountant, up to 1,000 invoices and 1,000 expenses a year, 50 receipt autoscans a month, 5 scheduled reports, email support. Bank feeds are not included; document autoscans are the only add-on allowed.
Costs on top of a plan
- Additional users: $3/user/mo, or $2.50 billed yearly (Paid plans only)
- Document autoscans: $10 per 50 scans/mo, or $8 billed yearly (The only add-on available on the Free plan)
- Locations: $12/location/mo, or $10 billed yearly
- Expense claim: $9 per active user/mo, or $7 billed yearly
- BillPay: $69/mo, or $59 billed yearly (100 ACH vendor payments, document autoscans, purchase approvals, PO matching, vendor batch payments)
Zoho Books alternatives
QuickBooks Online
Intuit's cloud accounting for US small businesses, from a free tier to plans with AI bookkeeping
Xero
Cloud accounting with three US plans, no per-user fees, Gusto payroll and the JAX AI assistant
FreshBooks
Invoicing and accounting for freelancers and service businesses, priced by number of billable clients
Wave
Free invoicing and double-entry bookkeeping for small businesses, with a $19 Pro plan for bank sync
Sage Accounting
UK cloud accounting with payroll and the Sage Copilot AI assistant included in all three plans
FreeAgent
UK accounting for sole traders, companies and landlords, free with a NatWest Group business account
Compare Zoho Books with these side by side
Head to head: Zoho Books vs QuickBooks Online
Frequently asked questions
Is Zoho Books free?
Zoho Books has a free plan. For businesses with financial-year revenue under $50K: 1 user plus 1 accountant, up to 1,000 invoices and 1,000 expenses a year, 50 receipt autoscans a month, 5 scheduled reports, email support. Bank feeds are not included; document autoscans are the only add-on allowed. Paid plans start at $15/mo billed annually.
How much does Zoho Books cost?
Standard, Professional, Premium, Elite and Ultimate cost $15 to $240 a month billed annually, or $20 to $275 billed monthly. There is also a free plan. On Standard: per organization; 3 users, up to 5,000 invoices and 5,000 bills/expenses a year, 200 receipt autoscans a month. Extra users $3/user/month ($2.50 billed yearly). Prices exclude local taxes. Prices as published on Zoho Books's pricing page on 21 October 2026.
How long is Zoho Books' free plan free?
As long as your revenue for the financial year does not exceed $50K, the Free plan is available indefinitely. It includes 1 user plus 1 accountant and up to 1,000 invoices a year.
How many users does Zoho Books include?
Standard includes 3 users, Professional 5, Premium and Elite 10, and Ultimate 15. More users cost $3 per user a month, or $2.50 billed yearly.
What is Zoho Books used for?
Zoho Books is cloud accounting software for small businesses and accounting firms. People use it for micro businesses under $50K revenue that want free double-entry accounting, product businesses that need inventory and purchase orders inside the accounting tool and teams that want custom workflows, approvals and custom modules.
What are the alternatives to Zoho Books?
Tools that do a similar job include QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks, Wave and Sage Accounting. Each has its own page here with its plans, limits and prices.
Who makes Zoho Books?
Zoho Books is made by Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd., based in Chennai, India. The company was founded in 1996.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from the pages below, read on the dates shown: Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd.'s own pages first, and a named public reference where they are silent.
- zoho.com/us/books/pricing/ (plan prices (monthly and yearly), users, invoice and bill limits, autoscan limits, add-on prices, free plan revenue threshold, 14-day trial, devices) read 21 October 2026
- zoho.com/us/books/ (product description, audience, mobile and Windows apps) read 21 October 2026
- zoho.com/us/books/accounting-software/ai-in-accounting/ (AI features: Zia, anomaly detection, categorisation, collections, MCP) read 21 October 2026
- zoho.com/aboutus.html (legal company name (Zoho Corporation Pvt Ltd) and company timeline) read 21 October 2026
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoho_Corporation (company founding year and headquarters) read 21 October 2026
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