Free QuickBooks alternatives for a small business

QuickBooks Online now has a free plan, but it is small: 2 invoices a month, 1 connected bank and no accountant access (see Righto vs QuickBooks Online). The free alternatives that cover real small-business bookkeeping are Righto (a free Mac app, books kept on your computer), Wave (free cloud plan, paid extras), Zoho Books (free under $50,000 of yearly revenue) and GnuCash (free, open source, every platform).

We make Righto, so read this with that in mind. Every fact about another product links to its source, read in October 2026.

The short list

• Righto: every feature is free, with no plans or limits. Books are a file on your Mac.
• Wave: accounting, invoices and bills are free. Bank import, receipt capture and user roles need Pro.
• Zoho Books: free while revenue stays under $50,000 a year, for one user plus an accountant.
• GnuCash: everything is free and open source, on your own computer.

Righto

A free accounting app for Mac, and the easiest one on this list: it is made for business owners, not bookkeepers, with plain words and setup from a year of bank statements. You import bank statements, rules sort them, you reconcile to the cent and get cash-basis reports for your accountant. Each business is one encrypted file on your Mac, with no account. Your own AI agent, such as Claude Code or Codex, can do the work with you through the command line or MCP. Righto does not do payroll, inventory or live bank feeds. See what Righto does not do.

Best for: freelancers and small businesses on a Mac who want their books private and free.

Wave

A cloud accounting service with a free Starter plan for accounting, invoices and bills. Automatic bank import and receipt capture are on Pro at $19 a month, and card payments and payroll cost extra (Wave pricing).

Best for: service businesses that send many invoices and want card payments.

Zoho Books

A cloud accounting service whose free plan is for businesses with under $50,000 of revenue in the financial year, for one user plus an accountant, with up to 1,000 invoices a year (Zoho Books pricing).

Best for: small businesses that already use other Zoho apps.

GnuCash

Free, open-source double-entry accounting for Mac, Windows and Linux (gnucash.org). It is powerful and keeps your books on your computer, but it expects you to know bookkeeping.

Best for: people comfortable with accounting who want open source.

How to choose

• Want it easy, free with no limits and on your own computer: Righto. GnuCash is free too, but it expects you to know bookkeeping.
• Need to send invoices and take card payments: Wave or Zoho Books.
• Need payroll, inventory or a team in the books: stay with a paid service such as QuickBooks Online.

Moving from QuickBooks? The switching guide shows what comes over.

QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Wave, Zoho and GnuCash are trademarks of their owners. Righto is not affiliated with any of them.