KickBestBest AI accounting for small businesses
Best AI accounting for small businesses
MercuryRecommendedBest for SMBs already using Mercury for finances
Best for SMBs already using Mercury for finances
XeroRecommendedBest for non-US businesses
Best for non-US businesses
QuickBooks OnlineRecommendedBest traditional accounting software
Best traditional accounting software
GeltRecommendedFor high-income individuals and business owners
For high-income individuals and business owners
Best Accounting Software at a Glance
Watch the Full Breakdown
Best Accounting Software Ranked & Reviewed
Watch our full breakdown of the top accounting software, how they performed in testing, and what makes each one worth considering
How We Evaluate Accounting Software
We score each accounting software across reliability, AI assistance, automated bank & payment sync, accrual accounting, trustworthy reporting, and hands-on expert evaluation
- ReliabilityDoes the tool balance and reconcile accurately, with no discrepancies, missing data, or sync issues?
- AI AssistanceDoes the tool use AI to automate repetitive accounting tasks and reduce bookkeeping hours?
- Automated Bank & Payment SyncHow seamless is the connection to banks, cards, and payment platforms (Stripe, PayPal, etc.)?
- Accrual AccountingSupports prepaid annuals, mid-cycle starts, deferred revenue, and amortization automatically.
- Trustworthy ReportingProduces dependable financial reports that are easy to understand and review.
- Expert EvaluationCurated by, our rankings reflect in-depth testing, industry insights, and hands-on experience.AlexandAndra
Kick
Best AI accounting for small businesses
Best AI accounting for small businessesKick is a new AI-powered bookkeeping and accounting platform that we are super bullish on. We've been using QuickBooks Online (QBO) since 2010 because for a long time it was one of the only options available, but it has been absolutely dreadful software to use. If you're a new business, we strongly urge you to consider using Kick from the get-go; it's about 500 times more user-friendly than QBO.
That said, if you need full accrual accounting, or have heavy inventory, fixed assets, or a complex e-commerce business, Kick is not ready for you (yet)—but they're catching up quickly.
What is Kick?
What is Kick?Kick is an AI-powered bookkeeping and accounting tool that took us from having a miserable "reconciling days" every month, to barely thinking about the books.
When we were using QuickBooks Online for 12 years, Alex would usually spend 12-ish hours every month just reconciling and fixing random issues. Kick cut that down to about 1 hour a month. That's because it plugs directly into your financial accounts, pulls in transactions automatically, and uses AI to keep everything organized. It is not just a huge timesaver, it also gives us the ability to actually sit back and trust our books.
If you're a founder managing your books, Kick is definitely a no-brainer. It’s also a great option for anyone managing multiple businesses because Kick allows for multi-entity support. This means you don't need a separate subscription for each business.
That said, it’s not built for every use case yet. It’s still limited when it comes to international businesses, multi-currency support, complex accrual accounting, or inventory-heavy operations. If you’re running a more advanced financial setup, traditional tools are still the safer option for now.
Pros and Cons
Pros and ConsPros
Pros- Frees up time by taking over manual bookkeeping work (saved us 11 hours or so a month)
- Much easier to navigate than traditional accounting software like Quickbooks Online
- Automatically categorizes and reconciles transactions
- Direct integrations with modern financial tools like Mercury, Ramp, Gusto
- Supports multiple entities within a single, free account
Cons
Cons- Only available to US-based businesses
- Limited support for more complex accounting like deep accrual models or long-term contracts
- Still evolving in certain integrations (e.g., brokerage accounts)
Key Features
Key FeaturesAI-driven Bookkeeping
AI-driven BookkeepingUnless you're an accountant, you probably didn't start your business so you could spend all your time monitoring and reconciling transactions.
But unfortunately that just becomes the reality when you're using something like QuickBooks to manage your finances. There's always something to check in on or fix, and accounting turns into a mood-ruining task that you didn't really sign up for in the first place.
Kick automatically pulls in transactions from connected accounts and categorizes those so reconciliation happens in the background, automatically, using AI 🫶. Over time, it learns from your adjustments and rules, so you're "fixing" less and less.
The AI saves you time and busy work, sure. But this really boils down to making it so you're not managing the system anymore.
Multi-Entity Support
Multi-Entity SupportIf you're a multipreneur, the last thing you want to do is manage a handful of Quickbooks subscriptions and accounts. With Kick, you don't have to. You can add multiple businesses to Kick, and even personal accounts. Everything lives in one place, which makes managing multiple businesses a lot simpler. You also do not need to pay per entity, it all works under the same subscription.
You can take something like a single account (even inside a personal or shared bank account) and treat it as its own entity, with its own transactions and reporting. That means you don’t need to go set up a new bank account every time you start something new just to stay organized. And, everything is already segmented in a way that makes sense, so you're not trying to untangle things when tax time comes around.
Integrations
IntegrationsWe love that Kick focused on making direct integrations for the tools their customers actually use, instead of a ton of integrations that feel kind of bolted-on. The integrations make it so transactions to flow in and get matched up without any manual syncing. And, since the data is pulled in directly, there's a lot less duplication and inconsistencies (something we ran into a lot with QBO.)
Pricing
Pricing- Free: $0/mo. Best for businesses just starting out or evaluating the product (up to $25k in annual expenses). This is a genuinely useful free tier, not just a trial.
- Basic: $35/mo ($420/yr). Best for small businesses that want more customization and automation beyond the basics.
- Plus: $125/mo (billed quarterly). Best for growing businesses that need deeper financial reporting and more control.
- Custom: Starts at $200/mo. Best for larger or more complex businesses that need dedicated support, tax services, and advanced accounting.
You can manage multiple businesses within Kick, so keep that in mind too (as you'd normally need to pay for separate subscriptions per business).
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Mercury
Best for SMBs already using Mercury for finances
Best for SMBs already using Mercury for financesIf you're a small business that has generally basic accounting needs, that's running cash-basis accounting, and already sold on and using Mercury for your banking and expense management, then Mercury Books is a modern, hands-off accounting solution.
It requires a Mercury banking account though, so if you don't yet have an account, get $250 by grabbing our Mercury offer.
What is Mercury Books?
What is Mercury Books?Mercury Books is the accounting layer built directly into Mercury, for existing banking customers.
You can't use it without using their banking product, and it also works best when you're already using Mercury IO for expense management (their credit card solution), along with their built-in billing and invoicing features.
The major unlock with having your accounting software built directly into your business banking, is that you get a live updating transaction feed that automatically categorizes itself and reconciles as transactions come in. This is massively different from traditional accounting solutions like QuickBooks Online which require that you connect in your bank accounts which sync over throughout the days/weeks and require manual reconciling.
So if you've just registered a business and are building out your financial stack, then grabbing Mercury for banking and Mercury Books for accounting is all you need. If you're already using an existing expense management solution that isn't Mercury IO, you'd want to use a different product from our best accounting software rankings.
Those who will get the most from Mercury Books would be small businesses who are fine with having cash-basis accounting, who haven't yet committed to QuickBooks Online or Xero yet. If you're already using QuickBooks Online or Xero, and have more complex accounting needs, or sell physical products, Mercury Books isn't quite where it needs to be to give it a shot yet.
Pros & Cons
Pros & ConsPros
Pros- An all-in-one solution for businesses already using Mercury for their banking needs along with their IO card for their expense management needs.
- You'd normally need 4 separate apps (Banking + Expense Management + Payroll + Accounting), but all of this can be handled with just using Mercury
Cons
Cons- They currently only integrate with Gusto and Mercury Payroll (formerly Central), so if you're using Deel, Rippling, Warp, or most of the best payroll providers on the market, you're not able to integrate with Mercury Books at the moment.
- If you're already using something like Ramp for your expense management needs (as we do), you'll not be able to connect it to Mercury Books currently, so we'd say skip it and use Kick instead.
- You must be using Mercury as your business bank account in order even use Mercury Books (even though they do allow for external bank connections via Plaid).
- Built primarily for cash-basis accounting, while you can do accrual, things like amortizing subscriptions will be time consuming and manual.
Pricing
Pricing- Mercury itself is free (plus for a limited time you can get $250 free when open an account via our Mercury offer)
- Mercury Books has its own pricing, requiring a separate $35/mo subscription
Not a tool. A hire.
What is Xero?
What is Xero?We find that most teams based outside of the US tend to use Xero, while the US seems to favor QuickBooks Online, although we believe Xero to be a leader in the accounting space even within the US.
If you're a smaller business, running on a cash-basis, and looking for the most modern accounting software, you might want to consider Kick, but if you're looking for something tried, true, and tested, or run an accrual-basis business, Xero is a great choice, regardless of whether you're a US or non-US business.
QuickBooks Online
Best traditional accounting software
Best traditional accounting softwareQuickBooks Online handles accounting with a strong focus on US businesses, especially around US sales tax laws, and most US accountants are more familiar with it than with alternatives.
If you're in the US and need accounting software with a solid API, it's the standard choice, but don't rely on it for expense management, payroll, or time tracking because those areas are clunky, limited, and better handled elsewhere.
What is Quickbooks Online?
What is Quickbooks Online?We find that teams based in the US tend to use QuickBooks Online, and businesses outside of the US tend to lean more toward Xero.
This is important because it means that the features QBO is building is more focused on things like US Sales Tax laws, while Xero may have more accounting features helpful outside of the US especially.
Also, accountants inside of the US are often more proficient with QBO as compared to Xero (although they should be familiar with both).
P.S. We highly recommend QBO over QuickBooks Desktop because of their robust API—you're not going to be integrating QuickBooks Desktop easily with anything.
Key Features
Key FeaturesAccounting
AccountingQBO helps companies manage core financial tasks like invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation, financial reporting, and tax preparation.
Payroll & Benefits
Payroll & BenefitsThis is one of those areas that it makes sense that they cover, but you can tell it was an add-on versus being their core service. Payroll is boring, and hey, QBO does the job, it's just not a straightforward user-experience, and let's just say we used it for 4 years before switching to Gusto, and there's not a single bone in my body that misses QBO for payroll. It was also incredibly painful closing it down with them, reporting to all the Department of Labor agencies, and everything. Save yourself the time and skip out on QBO for Payroll.
Time Tracking
Time TrackingIf you compare QuickBooks Online to any of the best time tracking software on the market, you'll see just how wildly barebones, slow, and underwhelming it is. Even just the process of logging into QBO feels like you're pushing a boulder uphill, now you need to do it any time you track software? No thanks, I'll pass.
They designed it more to be for people who just need to submit their time one-per-day or once-per-week, they are building to check a box, not to be leading the time tracking space.
Not a tool. A hire.
Gelt
For high-income individuals and business owners
For high-income individuals and business ownersIf you're a high net worth individual that has a startup and has complexity with investments (from angel investing to crypto and more), Gelt does a fantastic job at helping you reduce your tax burden, leveraging the best tax strategy.
What is Gelt?
What is Gelt?We've switched business CPAs (Accountants) a handful of times over the past decade in business, as our personal and business needs have evolved over time.
Having tried everyone from the expensive big accounting firms, all the way down to the small boutique family offices, there has always been something missing.
Think of Gelt as the experience of the small boutique family office, with the experience of the big accounting firms (with the price somewhere in-between the two).
Gelt is a modern accounting firm that leverages modern software to do your business and personal taxes better.
They have a robust personal dashboard (similar to that of Compound), so you can aggregate all of your business and personal finances (even angel investment tracking), all in one place.
Their strategic help has easily saved us $20k in taxes, just on the advice we were given the first year. No other accountant has their own modern tech, nor have they been this helpful in actually working with the unique needs of our complex financial situation.
