BooksTime vs Zoho Books Comparison
Compare BooksTime vs Zoho Books features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
BooksTime
5.9/10
Outsourced bookkeeping service that gives small businesses and nonprofits a dedicated bookkeeper who works in QuickBooks, Xero, or other accounting software.
Zoho Books
7/10
Cloud accounting software from Zoho for small and growing businesses, covering invoicing, bank reconciliation, bills, inventory and financial reporting.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 5.9/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Compliance | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $320/mo Essentials | $20/mo Standard |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $320/mo Essentials | $70/mo Premium |
| Features | ||
| Accountant Access | ||
| Accounts Payable | ||
| Bank Reconciliation | ||
| Budgeting and Forecasting | ||
| Financial Reporting | ||
| General Ledger | ||
| Inventory Accounting | ||
| Invoicing | ||
| Multi-currency | ||
| Tax Compliance | ||
| Audit Trail | Not listed | |
| Expense Management | Not listed | |
| Multi-entity Consolidation | Not listed | |
| Online Payments | Not listed | |
| Payroll | Not listed | |
BooksTime vs Zoho Books cost by team size
Zoho Books costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | BooksTime | Zoho Books |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $320/moEssentials | FreeFree |
| 5 users | $320/moEssentials | $50/moProfessional |
| 10 users | $320/moEssentials | $70/moPremium |
| 25 users | $320/moEssentials | FreeFree |
| 50 users | $320/moEssentials | FreeFree |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose BooksTime
- Higher Support score (7/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Zoho Books
- Has a free plan (BooksTime does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: $70/mo vs $320/mo
- Higher Security score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Cost score (8/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
BooksTime
Pros
- Bookkeepers work in the client's existing software, and BooksTime says it supports more than 25 options including QuickBooks and Xero, so clients are not locked in.
- Essentials pricing is public, and it does not cap transactions or connected accounts.
- Monthly contracts can be cancelled at any time with no cancellation fees.
- It offers nonprofit-specific services such as Form 990 preparation and restricted fund tracking.
- All nine Trustpilot reviews give 5 stars and praise its accuracy and on-time work, including for books with several entities.
Cons
- It is not a CPA firm, so tax returns are handed to referred CPAs and quoted separately.
- There is no public security or compliance documentation.
- Essentials pricing rises with monthly expenses, and the Complete plan has no public price.
- It has few independent reviews; Trustpilot shows only 9.
- The pricing page does not say which services come with Essentials and which need Complete.
Zoho Books
Pros
- The free plan includes online payments, bank reconciliation, recurring invoices and 1099 tracking for one user plus an accountant.
- Pricing is per organization, not per user, so small teams avoid per-seat costs.
- It connects natively with Zoho CRM, Zoho Payroll, Zoho Inventory and Zoho Analytics.
- Professional and higher plans include custom workflows, custom roles and approvals, and Premium adds custom modules and functions.
- On the Elite plan, inventory features cover warehouses, serial and batch tracking, and marketplace sync.
Cons
- Budgets, multi-currency and advanced inventory are only available on higher-priced tiers.
- Reviewers on Capterra and in NerdWallet's write-up describe slow or unhelpful customer support.
- It has fewer third-party integrations than its main competitors, according to NerdWallet.
- A PeerSpot reviewer found it awkward to invoice the same customer in different currencies.
- Even the top plan has a hard cap of 15 users, plus annual transaction limits.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Zoho Books scores higher on our Finance Software criteria: 7/10 against 5.9/10 for BooksTime. The largest gap is in Cost: 5/10 for BooksTime and 8/10 for Zoho Books.
Zoho Books costs less for 10 users: about $70/mo on its Premium plan, against about $320/mo on its Essentials plan for BooksTime, billed monthly.
Zoho Books has a free plan; BooksTime does not list one.
