6 Best Mobile Accounting Apps for 2022

A mobile accounting app should let its users access, encode, and process accounting data wherever and whenever, regardless of the device used, so you want one that’s easy to use and accessible through different platforms. We’ve researched apps from many of the top names in bookkeeping software to help you find the one that’s best for your small business:

• Zoho Books: Best overall mobile accounting app
• QuickBooks Online: Best companion mobile app for QuickBooks Online users
• Sage Accounting: Best bookkeeping app for a large mobile sales force using Apple devices
• Zoho Invoice: Best free mobile invoicing app
• Sunrise: Best free mobile accounting app
• Rydoo Expense: Best mobile app for expense management and approval

Best Mobile Accounting Apps Compared

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Zoho Books: Best Overall Mobile Accounting App

Zoho Books is the dedicated accounting software service within the Zoho Suite. Zoho Books offers a competitive free plan and affordable pricing on higher plans up to $70, making it much more affordable than QuickBooks Online. By choosing higher plans, you’ll enjoy advanced accounting features for inventory and project accounting. Moreover, Zoho users will enjoy seamless integration between Zoho Books and any Zoho app.

Our Expert Opinion

Zoho Books is one of our top choices in mobile accounting because of its outstanding mobile app. You can do more accounting tasks using the Zoho Books mobile app than you can with QuickBooks’ app. That’s why we highly recommend Zoho Books to freelancers and small business owners who prefer entering transactions through their smartphones and tablets. However, a major turn-off about Zoho Books is that advanced accounting features like inventory management and project accounting are available only with higher plans. To experience the full functionality of the mobile app, we recommend Zoho Books Professional.

QuickBooks Online: Best Companion Mobile App for QuickBooks Online Users

QuickBooks Online, our choice for overall best small business accounting software, offers a mobile app that complements the web-based version. The layout is similar to the online dashboard, with most transactions initiated easily with the click of the “plus” button. Access to the app is included with your QuickBooks Online subscription, including during your 30-day free trial.

Our Expert Opinion

The QuickBooks Mobile App provides nearly every function available in the online interface. You can issue invoices, receive payments, categorize bank transactions, review reports, record expenses, deposit checks, and more. The dashboard provides an instant look at your profit and loss (P&L), outstanding invoices, breakdown of recent expenses, and bank account balances.

In addition, the app provides functions not available in the online interface, such as receipt scanning and GPS mileage tracking. Employees can report their time through a mobile website, but not through the app itself. However, QuickBooks Online is limited as to the number of users. We recommend choosing Zoho Invoice if you need a free mobile accounting app for unlimited users.

Sage Accounting: Best for a Large Mobile Sales Force Using Apple Devices

Sage (formerly Peachtree Accounting) has been in the bookkeeping industry for a long time and has developed Sage Accounting as a more affordable alternative to QuickBooks. Its mobile app is similar to the program itself in that it provides an easy way to perform basic bookkeeping tasks, but it lacks the more advanced features of some competitors. Unfortunately, the Android app is rated poorly, with users reporting many technical issues that don’t seem to affect the Apple version. You can evaluate the app during a free 30-day trial of Sage Accounting.

Our Expert Opinion

With unlimited users, Sage Accounting is ideal for companies that need to be able to issue invoices, quotes, estimates, and receipts in the field. The app also allows users to manage vendors, enter bills, and make payments. While the app is simple to use, it lacks more advanced features like GPS tracking and report viewing. Users can attach images of receipts to transactions, which is great for recordkeeping, but the receipt data isn’t extracted and can’t be used to create transactions.

Sage offers outstanding features, but it’s not a native accounting software provider in the US. Most Sage products cater to the United Kingdom, including their Sage Advisor program. If you want accounting software with robust support in the US, we recommend QuickBooks Online—it’s the industry-standard software used by the vast majority of US-based certified public accountants (CPAs) and bookkeepers.

Zoho Invoice: Best Free Mobile Invoicing App

Zoho Invoice is an app that allows your mobile labor force to track and assign their hours to clients and projects while on the go. Zoho Invoice integrates with an entire suite of apps from Zoho that can be used to manage your entire business, including Zoho Books, which is a comprehensive bookkeeping system. Zoho Invoice is now totally free, with no hidden charges or in-app fees.

Our Expert Opinion

Zoho Invoice is a totally free invoicing app. Users can assign their hours and expenses to a customer or project. App admin users can record hours for other employees, which allows a foreman or supervisor to record the hours for an entire crew. In addition to recording time, Zoho Invoice is a great app for customizing, sending, and tracking invoices. If you need a complete bookkeeping system, we recommend integrating it with Zoho Books, which requires an additional subscription. However, Zoho Invoice isn’t a full bookkeeping system. It only records and manages invoices.

Sunrise: Best Free Mobile Invoicing and Bookkeeping App

Sunrise is a great software solution for small businesses that are looking for invoicing and bookkeeping software. Aside from its free self-service plan, which made our list of the best free accounting software, Sunrise also offers a paid plan for $19.95 per month with unlimited users and companies.

Our Expert Opinion

Sunrise is a free accounting software solution. We see Sunrise as an accounting software app for freelancers and self-employed service providers. Given that Sunrise doesn’t have inventory management features, it’s not suitable for businesses that need to track inventories and the cost of goods sold (COGS)—Sunrise is best suited to service providers rather than merchandisers or retailers.

Sunrise did well on the user interface design. Even non-CPAs or people with little accounting experience can learn the app easily. If inventory tracking is something you can’t give up, we recommend QuickBooks Online because it has robust inventory tracking features such as computing ending inventory balance and tracking (COGS).

Rydoo Expense: Best for Expense Management and Approval

Rydoo Expense Management can help you process and reimburse expenses. It’s also one of our choices for the best business expense tracker apps. With its approval flow features, you can accept and reject submitted expense reports before processing them for reimbursement. Rydoo lessens excessive paperwork and integrates the whole expense and approval process within the app.

Our Expert Opinion

Our rubric rewards apps for performing a wide array of accounting functions. Rydoo isn’t a full bookkeeping system, which is why it scored only 3 out of 10 points. However, Rydoo is an excellent system to consider if you’re laser-focused on establishing a workflow for documenting, approving, and reimbursing employees’ business expenses. If you choose Rydoo, you’ll also need bookkeeping software like QuickBooks Online.

Rydoo’s user interface is clean and simple. It’s easy for first-time users to understand and learn. Moreover, Rydoo’s expense approval feature helps managers and team leaders filter out disallowed expenses submitted by employees.

With its web dashboard and mobile app, users can manage their submissions easily, whether by mobile or web. In addition, submitted reports can be approved via phone, making the approval process faster and more time-efficient. Rydoo is merely an expense tracker, so if you want a mobile accounting app that has bookkeeping features, we recommend Zoho Books.

How We Evaluated Mobile Accounting Apps

In our case study, we created 11 key areas for features that we want to see in small business accounting software. Mobile app functionality is one of the 11 key areas, and we used the scores of the mobile app section for this article. Here are the criteria we used in evaluating mobile app functionality:

• Sending invoices to customers (15%)
• Receiving payments from customers (10%)
• Entering bills from vendors and suppliers (15%)
• Capturing or scanning receipts (10%)
• Assigning expenses to customers and projects (5%)
• Entering bill payments (10%)
• Categorizing expenses in bank feed (10%)
• Recording time worked (10%)
• Assigning time worked to customer or project (5%)
• Viewing reports (10%)

How To Choose Your Accounting or Bookkeeping App

Most accounting programs don’t allow you to do all of the bookkeeping functions from the mobile app. Things like bank reconciliations and general journal entries are done infrequently and are much easier on a bigger screen. However, when choosing your app, think about the types of things you do on a daily basis that the app should allow. A good mobile accounting app should allow you to:

• Issue invoices: You should be able to quickly generate and email invoices to customers.
• Receive payments: You can record payments received from customers and apply them against outstanding invoices.
• Pay bills: Inputting bills received may be easier on your PC, but you should be able to pay the bills through the mobile app.
• Scan receipts: Many apps will allow you to scan receipts and then extract the data to create new accounting transactions. For more information, check out our guide to the best receipt scanner apps.
• Categorize transactions: Good bookkeeping programs will transfer transactions automatically from your checking account. The mobile app should allow you to categorize these transactions.
• View reports: A good app will allow you to view financial reports without the need to print them.

Bottom Line

We’ve provided a list of the best mobile accounting apps to help your small business succeed. Before choosing your bookkeeping software, be sure to consider which functions like invoicing you’ll want to perform directly from the app. If you want to perform most accounting functions on the go, QuickBooks Online might be your best choice.

SOURCES FOR USER RATINGS:

1. App Store, QuickBooks Accounting, Accessed March 3, 2022
2. Google Play, QuickBooks Online Accounting, Invoicing & Expenses, Accessed March 3, 2022
3. App Store, Zoho Books – Online Accounting on the App Store, Accessed March 3, 2022
4. Google Play, Accounting App – Zoho Books, Accessed March 3, 2022
5. App Store, Sage Accounting, Accessed March 3, 2022
6. Google Play, Sage – Accounting: invoicing & expenses, Accessed March 3, 2022
7. App Store, Zoho Invoice, Accessed March 3, 2022
8. Google Play, Zoho Invoice – Free Online Invoicing & Billing App, Accessed March 3, 2022
9. App Store, Sunrise Bookkeeping & Invoices, Accessed March 3, 2022
10. Google Play, Sunrise Bookkeeping & Invoices Accessed March 3, 2022
11. App Store, Rydoo, Accessed March 3, 2022
12. Google Play, Rydoo – Travel & Expense, Accessed March 3, 2022