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ERP & Accounting

Accounting software and ERP software overlap, but they solve different problems. If you mainly need invoices, bills, bank reconciliation and financial reports, pick accounting software such as Xero, Zoho Books, FreshBooks or Wave. If you also need inventory, purchasing, manufacturing, projects and several departments working from one system, you are shopping for ERP, and the price tags change from per-organization plans to per-user licenses and sales conversations.

On vendor pages checked November 4, 2026, Xero, Zoho Books, FreshBooks and Wave publish prices you can compare in a few minutes. Microsoft lists Dynamics 365 Business Central by user, Odoo lists an all-apps plan per user, and Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP sends buyers to a demo. A solo consultant, a 15-person services firm and a 200-person distributor should not end up in the same product.

This hub explains the software types, shows how we plan to evaluate them and points you to the right guide. It is a research draft built from vendor pages, not a lab report. New to the term? Start with what is ERP.

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What This Category Covers

Business accounting tools sit on a spectrum. At one end are bookkeeping and invoicing apps for freelancers and very small companies. In the middle are cloud accounting platforms with bank feeds, bill pay, budgets and reporting. At the far end are ERP suites, which Oracle describes as a system that connects finance and accounting, HR, supply chain management, customer experience and other departments into a single unified system.

This category page covers all three layers, plus the special case of nonprofits and churches that need to track restricted funds and donations. Each layer has its own buying guide, and this hub links to them so you can start at the level that matches your business rather than reading about tools you will never use.

Here is how the seven products we looked at line up. Prices are in USD, as each vendor shows them, and exclude taxes.

Product Type Entry price listed Trial, free tier or offer Worth knowing
Xero Accounting $27 per month (Early) 80% off the first 3 months No per-user license fees
Zoho Books Accounting Free plan at $0; Standard $15 per month, billed annually Free plan; free trial on paid plans Priced per organization
FreshBooks Accounting and invoicing $23.00 per month (Lite) 30-day free trial Plans limited by billable clients
Wave Accounting Starter at $0; Pro $19 per month Free Starter plan Card fees apply to payments
Odoo ERP suite Per-user plans; One App Free plan Free trial on paid plans Implementation not included
Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP $80.00 per user per month (Essentials), paid yearly 30-day free trial Sold through partners
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP ERP suite Not publicly listed (quote-based) Demo Finance, procurement, projects, planning

Pricing checked November 4, 2026. Plan details change; confirm them on the vendor's page before you buy.

How We Evaluate

This draft relies on vendor documentation. When we run the final version, we plan to put each product through the same scenario: set up a company, connect a bank feed, send an invoice, enter a vendor bill, reconcile a month of transactions, run a profit and loss report and invite an accountant. For ERP products, we add purchasing, inventory movement and a multi-user approval flow.

The scorecard will weigh price clarity, accounting depth, user limits, inventory and project tracking, integrations, support access and how hard it is to move up a tier. Weights will be published beside the results. Our full approach is on the how we test page.

The Software Types

Small-Business Accounting Software

This is the right starting point for most companies under about 20 people. These tools handle invoicing, expenses, bank reconciliation and reports, and they are priced per organization or per plan rather than per seat.

Xero lists three US plans. According to its pricing page, Early is $27 per month and caps you at 20 invoices and quotes and 5 bills. Growing is $59 and removes those caps. Established is $97 and adds multiple currencies, project time and costs, and employee expense claims. Xero says its plans carry no per-user license fees. Payroll through Gusto is optional at $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor, and Inventory Plus is an optional add-on on Growing and Established, not available on Early. New buyers see an offer of 80% off the first three months.

Zoho Books lists a Free plan at $0 for one user plus one accountant, aimed at solopreneurs and micro businesses. Paid plans, billed annually, are Standard at $15 (3 users), Professional at $40 (5 users), Premium at $60 (10 users), Elite at $120 (10 users) and Ultimate at $240 (15 users). Inventory tracking, multi-currency and project profitability start at Professional, while advanced inventory control and warehouse management arrive at Elite. Zoho lists higher monthly-billing prices on the same page.

FreshBooks is built around invoicing and client work. Lite is $23.00 per month for 5 billable clients, Plus is $43.00 for 50 clients and Premium is $70.00 for unlimited clients, with a custom Select tier by consultation. Extra team members cost $11 per month each, and payroll is $40 a month plus $6 per user. FreshBooks offers a 30-day free trial.

Wave is the lowest-cost option on this list. Its Starter plan is $0 for unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, with card payments at 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction. Pro is $19 per month billed monthly, or $190 per year, and adds automatic bank transaction import and unlimited digital receipts.

Best fit: freelancers, consultants and small service firms that do not carry stock. Trade-off: the cheaper plans cap invoices, bills, users or clients, so check the limit that matches how you work.

ERP Software

ERP replaces a stack of separate tools with one database for finance, purchasing, inventory, sales and often HR. Buyers usually pay per user, and setup is a project rather than an afternoon. Our erp software guide compares these systems in depth.

Odoo sells apps under a modular model. Its pricing page lists a One App Free plan with one app and unlimited users, and two paid plans, Standard and Custom, that include all apps for a per-user fee. Custom lists on-premise or Odoo.sh hosting and the external API in addition to the hosted option. Support, hosting and upgrades are included, but the page says implementation services are not. The page displayed euro prices when we opened it, so we give no dollar figures; check the live page for your region.

Dynamics 365 Business Central is Microsoft's ERP for small and midsize companies. Microsoft's page lists Essentials at $80.00 per user per month and Premium at $110.00, paid yearly, with a Team Members license at $8.00. Premium adds service management and manufacturing to Essentials. Microsoft says to contact a partner to purchase, offers a free 30-day trial, and notes that displayed prices may differ by currency, country and region. The page says Copilot agents require Copilot Credits sold separately.

Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP targets larger organizations. Oracle's ERP page lists finance and accounting, financial management, project management, procurement and enterprise performance management applications, plus supply chain modules. No prices are published; the page offers a demo and a contact route.

Best fit: companies with inventory, multiple entities, manufacturing or approval chains that have outgrown accounting software. Trade-off: per-user licensing and implementation costs, and the price is often unclear until you talk to sales.

Accounting Software for Nonprofits and Churches

Nonprofits and churches track money differently: donations, restricted gifts, grants and reporting to boards and donors. Our guide to accounting software for nonprofits covers fund tracking and what to ask a vendor.

Vendors do address this segment. Xero's site lists Non-Profit among its industry pages, and Odoo lists a Nonprofit Organization industry page. We have not verified how either product handles fund accounting, so treat those pages as a starting point. Ask any vendor whether restricted funds, class tracking and donor reports are included in the plan you are pricing.

Accounting With Inventory and Projects

Some small businesses need inventory or job costing before they need ERP. Zoho Books lists inventory tracking and project profitability at Professional ($40, billed annually). Xero's Established plan lists project time and costs, and Growing and Established list optional Inventory Plus. FreshBooks lists project profitability on its Premium plan. If your inventory involves warehouses, serial numbers or batches, Zoho's Elite plan lists those, and ERP systems cover them natively.

Which Tools You Need by Business Size

  • Solo and freelance: Wave Starter ($0) and Zoho Books Free ($0, one user plus one accountant) cost nothing. FreshBooks Lite ($23.00) and Xero Early ($27) are the paid entry points, with the invoice, bill and client caps described above.
  • Two to ten employees: Xero Growing ($59) and FreshBooks Plus ($43.00) remove most volume caps. Zoho Books Standard ($15 annually) and Professional ($40 annually) cover three and five users respectively. Xero advertises no per-user license fees, which helps if you add part-time staff.
  • Ten to fifty employees: Zoho Books Premium ($60 annually, 10 users) and Elite ($120 annually) add budgets, forecasting and inventory control. This is also where Odoo and Business Central start to make sense if inventory or multiple entities are involved.
  • Fifty employees and up: Business Central at $80.00 or $110.00 per user per month, Odoo's all-apps plans and Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP are the realistic candidates. Expect a partner-led implementation.
  • Nonprofits and churches: start with the nonprofit guide, then price the same products with fund tracking in mind.

As arithmetic from the published prices, a ten-user Business Central Essentials subscription is $800 per month ($80.00 times ten), before implementation, apps or Copilot Credits. Zoho Books Premium covers ten users at $60 per month billed annually, but it is accounting software, not ERP. Compare features, not just totals.

What You'll Really Pay

List price is only part of the cost. The vendor pages checked show several extras:

  • Payroll: Xero Payroll is optional at $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor. FreshBooks Payroll is $40 a month plus $6 per user.
  • Team members: FreshBooks charges $11 per month per extra team member. Business Central's Team Members license is $8.00 per user per month for limited access.
  • Payment fees: Wave's Starter plan lists 2.9% + $0.60 per credit card transaction and 3.4% + $0.60 for Amex. FreshBooks sells Advanced Payments at $20 a month on Lite, Plus and Premium.
  • Implementation: Odoo says implementation services are not part of its plans. Microsoft sends Business Central buyers to partners. Oracle publishes no price.

Promotional offers also muddy comparisons. Xero shows 80% off for three months, FreshBooks shows 80% off for four months and Wave shows a discount on Pro for the first three months. We use the standard price throughout.

FAQ

What is the difference between accounting software and ERP?

Accounting software records money: invoices, bills, bank transactions and reports. ERP connects finance with inventory, purchasing, sales, projects and often HR in one system. Small firms often start with accounting tools and move to ERP when stock, multiple entities or approvals become hard to manage in spreadsheets.

Is there free accounting software for small businesses?

Yes, with limits. Wave's Starter plan is $0, and Zoho Books lists a Free plan at $0 for one user plus one accountant. Odoo offers a One App Free plan with unlimited users. Free tiers usually leave out bank feeds or automation, so check what each plan includes before you migrate your books.

How much does ERP software cost?

It varies. Microsoft lists Business Central Essentials at $80.00 and Premium at $110.00 per user per month, paid yearly. Odoo prices its all-apps plans per user. Oracle publishes no price. Budget separately for implementation, because Odoo says implementation services are not included in its plans.

Do I need ERP or accounting software?

If invoices, bills and reports cover your needs, accounting software is simpler and cheaper. Consider ERP when you manage inventory across locations, run manufacturing, need purchase approvals or operate several legal entities. Our best ERP software guide helps you check which of those apply.

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