You probably don’t need us to tell you that growing a retail business depends on having the right software tools for handling payments and financials. What might not be so obvious is how costly it can be if you choose a solution that doesn’t meet your needs. Retail is a very broad term, and the concerns of an online-only ecommerce brand and a brick-and-mortar local shop are distinct and varied.
Knowing where to look and what to look for in retail accounting apps isn’t necessarily straightforward, though. Given the sometimes confusing nature of the tech industry, it can be a challenge to identify which solutions are suited to your use case.
Fortunately, we know the landscape of this market and can help you by signposting noteworthy brands, features, and trends. This article can jump-start your search for retail accounting apps, so you can shorten your time-to-value for getting new software up and running.
This comparison table displays key features that retailers need in their accounting software, from cost to POS support to inventory tracking. For a deeper discussion of each product, see down below.
If you were expecting to see any specific brand name in our list, I’m betting it was this one. Intuit’s flagship app has a reputation that precedes it, and basically anyone who’s had to create an invoice for their company can tell you why. QuickBooks is a reliable, trusted solution, with a deep feature list and broad recognition among finance professionals.
QuickBooks Online represents the general product, aimed at the majority of small to midsize businesses. It’s cloud only, so you can’t install it locally like you could in years past. Even so, it’s so widely known and used that there are plenty of resources available on the web from QuickBooks and its user base to help you work through or around major problems.
I included QuickBooks here for the same reason I would include Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Salesforce in lists for their respective categories: They’re the big name on campus, so to speak. It meets the needs of a very diverse customer base, and it’s a familiar system to those who work in accounting, veterans, and newcomers alike.
For more information, read our full QuickBooks Online review.
QuickBooks Online offers four core pricing tiers, with a host of optional add-ons, including payroll, and often offers discounts for new customers when they sign up for several months at a time. We’ve listed their standard pricing below:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Market leader in financial software, with industry-defining features and functionality. | Not the most inexpensive option available, especially if you don’t need so many bells and whistles. |
| Well known, widely integrated, and heavily documented. | Certain industry-specific needs aren’t supported natively in the software and require integrations or workarounds. |
| One of the most broadly applicable accounting tools on the market, serving teams in nearly every industry. | Some key features, such as inventory tracking, require higher tier subscriptions to access. |
If QuickBooks is the “kitchen sink” option, offering just about everything available in this market wrapped up in a single package, Wave Accounting is the “less is more” counterpart.
A simpler, more straightforward solution, Wave provides the most foundational accounting software functions, such as invoicing and billing, expenses, taxes, and so on, all for free, plus add-ons for running payroll and getting live support from accounting experts. You can even use it to accept online payments.
That’s where most of Wave’s features end, though. It’s comparatively stripped down unless you upgrade via add-ons or with the premium version. And while the paid plan is still comparatively light on features and capabilities, it does include some noteworthy additions to the offerings, like discounted rates for the payments you accept, digital receipt capture and expense tracking, and so on.
Quite a few SaaS brands have a frustrating penchant for minimizing pricing transparency. Even in this list, you’ll find offerings that require you to contact sales to find out what you’ll pay. It’s one of the big reasons that Wave stands out from the crowd the way it does. In addition to being upfront with pricing, Wave makes its most important features available to use for free.
Wave is not the most powerful piece of software, and it’s not well-suited to in-person retail use cases. However, for those who already do most of their financials via invoices, including recurring invoices, Wave is worth a look.
For more information, read our full Wave Accounting review.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| If the available features cover your current needs, there’s no solution more affordable out there. | Does not natively support inventory management or POS functionality. |
| Paid subscribers get access to useful automation features, discounted processing fees, and a few other compelling benefits. | Add-ons are much more expensive than the core application. |
| Add-ons available for payroll, expert advisor support, and even bookkeeping services. | May be limited for teams that have more complex use cases. |
Sage 50 is part of a larger family of apps and solutions, covering a range of financial and ERP use cases. What Sage 50 covers specifically are the accounting needs of small and midsize businesses, especially those with retail and inventory concerns.
The wider suite boasts features like advanced forecasting and planning, AI-empowered analytics insights, and a lot more. But even just this standalone product is comparable in most aspects to more widely recognized brands like QuickBooks and is more tailored to the needs of organizations whose profitability is tied to accurate inventory planning and management.
Not every accounting software includes native inventory tracking — or provides access to it with a standard subscription. These factors are major selling points for Sage 50: It stands out both for the impressive inventory capabilities it brings to the table and how easy it is to get access to those tools, compared to some of Sage’s competitors.
Additionally, for those businesses that can benefit from it, Sage 50 integrates with a larger suite of products, including an AI-based tool.
For more information, read our full Sage 50 Accounting review.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Industry-leading inventory management tools. | More expensive on average than most of its peers for entry-level functionality. |
| First-rate accounting software with a user-friendly interface. | Auxiliary functions like time tracking, HR, payroll, and others cost extra beyond the base subscription. |
| Part of a larger family of business solutions, which may lead to a less complex tech stack down the road. | No native POS support. |
Depending on who will actually be using the software, the learning curve involved may ultimately be its most important characteristic. The most capable, flexible, and powerful app in the world is useless if the customer can’t actually make it work.
Xero is an example of an accounting solution built around maximizing interface intuitiveness and flattening learning curves. Not everyone is a “power user,” and not everyone is a finance expert. These are the very reasons most teams look for software to help with their problems in the first place.
Xero can alleviate many of the pain points that come from trying to track and manage your own business finances, without forcing you to get a degree in accounting or computer science first.
For more information, read our full Xero review.
As impressive as some of the more premium options in this list are, they often require a fair bit of onboarding to get the most out of them. Xero isn’t like that. It’s purpose-built to have you up and running as quickly as possible, maximizing the value the app provides in the minimum amount of time.
Via automation functions, “smart data insights” powered by advanced analytics, and a number of other efficiency-boosting features, Xero can help you “spend less time in the books,” so you can get back to actually running your business.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Incredibly easy to learn, set up, and use, with 90 days of support access for smoother onboarding. | Some popular features are add-ons, integrations, or otherwise an upcharge like payroll, POS functionality, and advanced analytics. |
| Automation features to minimize tedious and repetitious tasks. | Though they often offer steep starter discounts, standard pricing for Xero is comparatively high for all but the Early tier. |
| Key functionality like inventory tracking, recurring billing, and even POS support via integration. |
Zoho covers some very disparate business verticals with some of its offerings: CRMs, email automation, HR, legal and compliance, ITSM, business intelligence, and project management. Frankly, it can be a bit overwhelming if you’re not prepared for everything the company offers.
Fortunately, each of these products can be used as a standalone solution, so you can always start with the area of greatest need and adopt or migrate to the other products as appropriate.
Zoho Books covers finance and accounting, and the feature list is extensive. It’s a powerful application that’s part of a powerful platform, and it even has a free tier that can give you a chance to try it out and see if it works. Unfortunately, Zoho doesn’t currently support POS functionality, but it does cover just about everything else.
Rapid growth is hard to predict, and even harder to accommodate, especially when the former didn’t happen as expected. For brands that start relatively small with simple accounting needs, a sudden surge in sales, headcount, inventory, and/or other metrics of upward scaling can change the nature of their use case overnight.
Zoho Books makes it easier to address this kind of scenario (among others) by giving you the freedom to scale up or down at your convenience. There are no contracts, fees for cancellations or subscription changes, or any other penalty along those lines. Zoho even has a refund policy. Oh, and they’re a pretty awesome accounting platform, too, with an array of tools for any budget.
For more information, read our full Zoho Books review.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The leading solution for decentralized organizations. | No support for POS functionality. |
| Scale up and down freely, with multiple pricing tiers to choose from. | Add-on modules can quickly drive up what is otherwise very affordable subscription fees. |
| Free version gives ample opportunity to test drive for yourself. | There are rigid limits on lower tiers, such as on user counts, which may be a bottleneck. |
At this point, you probably have a good idea about which of these accounting software options, if any, fit your use case. Big brand on campus? Go for QuickBooks Online. Need an inexpensive solution? Go for Wave or Zoho Books. Want extensive retail-specific features? Go for Sage 50.
Ultimately, we’re just here to help point you toward the best accounting software for your business needs. As long as you find a tool that makes your professional life easier, and we were able to assist you in that search, we’re happy, no matter what vendor you choose.
We looked at a wide range of accounting solutions to compile this list of the best software. We assessed different parameters for each software, including its usability, scalability, standout features, and relevance to the retail market. We also considered customer testimonials and ratings as vital components of our overall assessment of each software.
