Zoho Books provides a rich feature set in terms of functionality, paired nicely with a neat dashboard. Here is an overview of the features offered by Zoho Books Online:
Zoho Books offers more transaction types and more flexible forms than any other product I reviewed. Beyond the standard sales forms that competitors support, it includes retainer invoices, delivery notes, and packing slips. Invoices contain fields for shipping charges and adjustments in addition to discounts and sales tax. Purchase transactions – expenses, bills, purchase orders, and so on – are similarly detailed and flexible.
Zoho Books shines in its report functionality. There are a mind-boggling number of criteria where you can filter your reports in the most minute detail. The reports are well categorized, and easy to navigate for simple drill-downs. The Import/Export functionality is what you would expect in a good accounting platform (i.e., all major features are available).
In multiple domains – contact and item records, transactions, inventory management, project management, customizability, automation, dashboard, and user interface – Zoho Books is the most powerful and flexible accounting service I’ve reviewed. The only real issue is the lack of integral payroll features.
The price is significant, but it is often not a deal-breaker; just ask anybody who has run into problems with accounting solutions. $15 a month extra is nothing compared to the hassle a subpar accounting platform can cause.
Thankfully, Zoho Books offers excellent pricing and great service. There are 4 basic pricing plans:
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Free – For businesses with less than $50K yearly revenue, 1 user + 1 accountant
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Basic ($15 per month) – 50 contacts, 3 users, 5 workflows.
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Standard ($40 per month) – 500 contacts, 5 users, 10 workflows.
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Professional ($60 per month) – More than 500 contacts, 10 users, 10 workflows.
The following table gives a comparison of base prices for well-known software vendors:
| BRAND |
BASE PRICE |
WHAT IS ON THE PLAN |
ADVANTAGES |
| Zoho Books |
$9 per month |
All basic accounting functionality. Excellent invoicing functionality. |
Very intuitive and easy to use. Excellent customer support. |
| Quickbooks Online |
$25 per month |
All basic accounting functionality. Excels at payroll. |
Superb level of functionality. Lots of integrations. 50% off the first 3 months. |
| Onpay |
$36 per month |
Basic accounting functionality. Integrates easily with Patriot Payroll. |
Simple pricing structure. + $4 a month for each person |
| Patriot Accounting Software |
$15 per month |
Basic accounting functionality. Integrates easily with Patriot Payroll. |
Simple pricing structure. Very easy to use. Ideal for small businesses. Excellent customer reviews. |
Zoho Books Comparison With Other Platforms
When you try to understand any given software, it’s always best to compare it with others, as you get a better idea of where it stands out and where it falls short. It’s also worth noting that it is not a strict apples-to-apples comparison.
Sometimes, you need software that provides specific functionality. At other times, you will simply like the dashboard and navigation in one given platform, even if that is not a general consensus. The main thing to keep in mind with Zoho Books is the lack of payroll functionality, which is a shame.
It is the one thing that holds it back as a premium all-in-one accounting solution. With this in mind, the following table will give a broad comparison between the top names in online accounting.
| VENDOR |
PRICE |
EASE OF USE |
DASHBOARD |
INTEGRATIONS |
FUNCTIONALITY |
| Zoho |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4.5 |
4.5 |
| Quickbooks Online |
4 |
4.5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
| Onpay |
5 |
4 |
4.5 |
4 |
5 |
| Patriot |
5 |
4 |
4.5 |
4 |
5 |
Accounting Software Integrations & Add-Ons
Zoho’s add-on feature is a unique and novel addition. You can add an additional user for $2 a month which is very helpful and was a common complaint before it was introduced. Zoho Books also offers an auto-scan option, and you’ll have to pay $15 per 25 auto-scans. You can send invoices and estimates by mail directly through Zoho Books if you purchase snail mail credits. The cost is $2/credit; one credit is needed for US mail, two credits for international mail.
In terms of integrations, Zoho Books is simply unparalleled (except for the payroll integrations, of course). You can easily connect Zoho books with all the other Zoho products, and do pretty much anything you can think of. I am a huge supporter of the Zoho suite of products that all work in unison, bringing you an all-encompassing user experience. Here is the list of the Zoho suite of apps:
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Zoho People
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Zoho Books
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Zoho Inventory
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Zoho CRM
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Zoho Sites
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Zoho Projects
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Zoho Desk
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Zoho Social
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Zoho SalesIQ
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Zoho Expense
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Zoho Recruit
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Zoho One
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Zoho Motivator
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Zoho Contact Manager
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Zoho Sales Inbox
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Zoho Sites
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Zoho Campaigns
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Zoho Survey
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Zoho Forms
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Zoho Page Sense
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Zoho Desk
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Zoho Assist
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Zoho Mail
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Zoho Cliq
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Zoho Sprints
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Zoho Connect
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Zoho Show Time
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Zoho Writer
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Zoho Show
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Zoho Sheets
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Zoho Docs
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Zoho Sign
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Zoho Vault
You can also get bundles, like Zoho One, which is the entire Zoho suite of products. But the point is, whatever you need to do, you are nearly guaranteed that Zoho has an application that can do it. Because all are a part of the same platform, the integration is seamless, and to use them; you only need to pay for your subscription and login. The Zoho Books integrations are not as comprehensive as certain competitors (Quickbooks Online comes to mind) in terms of external applications.
Zoho Books User Experience
Zoho Books offers an amazingly smooth user experience. I would go as far as to say that it offers the best user experience you will find. Zoho has created a product that is a sheer delight to use which also offers an excellent level of functionality. I have broken down user experience into five key areas:
Overall User Experience – Unlike Zoho Books is simple to use, even without previous knowledge. The advanced features are there, but they do not get in the way while navigating the platform initially. Novice users will not be confused with the easy tutorials and step-by-step instructions, as well as the neat design. Everything with Zoho Books is intuitive, and the directories are easy to find and located where they should be.
Client Portal – To this day, this is still one of my favorite client portals out there; it is easy to use and has a very appealing UI. Clients have the option to view their home dashboard, estimates, invoices, and project details and can make partial or full invoice payments directly through the portal. They can comment on estimates as well. The best part is, you get real-time notifications about when your invoices and estimates have been viewed and paid.
Contact Management – You can manage both customers and vendors in Zoho. You can add basic contact information, multiple contact persons, custom fields, reporting tags, internal notes, and more. When you click on a contact, you’re taken to a beautiful dashboard where you can see an overview of that contact’s information, sales, comments, and statements. Even better, you can request reviews and testimonials directly from your clients within Zoho Books.
Dashboard – The Zoho Books dashboard is appealing and makes it easy to view your financial state. The dashboard features graphs for Total Receivables, Total Payables, Cash Flow, Income and Expense, Your Top Expenses, Projects, and Bank and Credit Cards. You can also change the color theme of your whole dashboard and main menu, which is a neat addition.
Mobile Applications – The excellent user experience is also reflected in its Android and IOS mobile applications. A multi-screen dashboard displays charts for elements like Total Receivables, Cash Flow, and Income & Expenses. The contact records, which are quite robust in the browser-based version, are well executed in the mobile app, though not nearly as detailed. Open one, and you instantly see contact information and the receivables/payables balance. Icons on this screen let you call, email, or message the contact, while another icon takes you to links for creating new transactions, accepting payments, and more.
Zoho Books Customer Service & Support
Zoho Books’ customer service is exceptional. The two tickets that I sent in were answered promptly, the first within 90 minutes and the second within 2 hours. What’s great about the Zoho Books customer support is that you can quickly contact a live representative who is polite, knowledgeable, and friendly. It is exceedingly rare in the online accounting industry and many other sectors. Customer service is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday.
Zoho Books also offers many support options, including a YouTube series, live webinars, Twitter and Facebook accounts, a knowledge base, live chat, contact, form, phone, and email.
While there might be some complaints about Zoho Books on social review sites, you have to take this with a pinch of salt. Because Zoho has so many products, some users are inevitably going to complain. You would be hard-pressed to find any serious negative reviews or complaints about Zoho Books specifically, the main complaint is related to the lack of payroll support. Overall, Zoho Books’ support and customer service exceeded my expectations.
Zoho Books Software Security
Zoho Books takes its security precautions seriously, as can be seen on its whitepaper. They have divided their security features into ten major areas:
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Organizational security
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Physical security
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Infrastructure security
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Data security
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Identity and access control
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Operational security
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Incident management
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Responsible disclosures
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Vendor management
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Customer Controls For Security
Each category is broken down into subcategories. For instance, organizational security is broken down into employee background checks, security awareness, dedicated security and privacy teams, internal audit and compliance, and endpoint security. It is typical of Zoho’s granular approach of breaking everything down and interlinking them.
In terms of the security features within the platform itself, you have complete control. You can restrict each user’s access and disable the capability to identify personally identifiable information (‘PII’), in line with the latest GDPR regulations. When you create new custom fields, you can also choose to encrypt personally identifiable information. Users without access will be unable to export it. An example of PII would be a bank account number or social security number.
Moreover, all the payment pages created using Zoho Checkout are SSL encrypted. When it comes to PCI compliance, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) enforces a set of practices to be followed by companies (companies that process, store, or transmit card details) to protect their customers’ card information. All backup data is AES-256 encrypted.
Conclusion: Zoho Books Is an Excellent Cloud Accounting Platform
Zoho Books is an amazing account software perfect for small business owners who want an easy but competent means to perform their bookkeeping without needing a payroll feature. It is one of my favorite companies and my favorite platforms. Everything is so easy, and the customer service is superb.
The downside is that there is no US payroll (yet, but Zoho has announced they are developing one), which is a significant disadvantage. If you want to keep your existing payroll but need a separate accounting solution, Zoho Books is an excellent choice. If you need payroll, it’s not for you.
