ZipBooks Review: A Free Plan, Two Cheap Tiers and No Mobile App

ZipBooks is a small cloud accounting product from Utah with a free Starter plan and two paid plans at $15 and $35 a month. This ZipBooks review finds it a fit for freelancers and small service businesses that mainly send invoices and want time tracking cheaply. It is a weaker choice for anyone who needs bank reconciliation below the top plan, inventory, or a mobile app: ZipBooks has discontinued its app and now runs in a browser only.

The short version: ZipBooks is inexpensive and simple, with unlimited invoicing free and time tracking at $15 a month. The catches are that reconciliation and unlimited users only arrive at $35, there is no inventory, and there is no app.

ZipBooks at a glance

What ZipBooks does

Invoicing and getting paid

Every plan, including the free one, lists unlimited invoices, quotes and estimates, custom invoices, taxes and discounts, custom notes and terms, and automated emails and receipts. Customers can pay by card through Square or PayPal, and ZipBooks’ help center names Stripe as an option for international users. Smarter adds recurring invoices with automatic billing, payment reminders and saved items and tasks.

Time tracking

Time tracking starts on Smarter at $15 a month, and ZipBooks lists it alongside the invoicing features so hours can be billed to clients. On Sophisticated, transactions can also be tagged by location, project or a custom tag, which is how ZipBooks handles project and location reporting.

Bank feeds, categorization and reconciliation

Starter connects one bank account; Smarter and above connect several. ZipBooks claims it can “automate categorization with personalized Machine Learning”. Account reconciliation is listed on the Sophisticated plan, along with locking completed periods, switching reports between cash and accrual, and consolidated reports across locations.

Expenses and 1099s

All plans record expenses, store receipts and record 1099 payments. From Smarter up, ZipBooks tracks 1099 amounts automatically for the vendors you select.

Multi-currency

ZipBooks’ help center says it supports more than 100 currencies.

Payroll through Gusto

ZipBooks does not run payroll itself. It points customers to “our partner Gusto” and lists the Gusto integration on its pricing page.

Accountant plan

A separate Accountant plan is aimed at bookkeeping firms, with a client dashboard, co-branding, bulk editing and data migration. ZipBooks publishes no price for it.

Security and support

ZipBooks states that data is encrypted in transit with 256-bit TLS and at rest with AES256 or AES128, and that card data is handled by Stripe, Square or PayPal rather than stored by ZipBooks. It does not claim a SOC 2 report or other third-party attestation. Support is by in-app chat and email; ZipBooks’ terms of service give live chat hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.

ZipBooks pricing

As of September 2026, ZipBooks lists these plans. Prices are unchanged from 2024.

• Billing: monthly only. ZipBooks’ help center says paid plans auto-bill a card every month, and no annual price is published.
• Trial: the help center refers to a 30-day trial. Downgrading to Starter keeps your data.
• Promotions: none listed.

What forces the upgrades: a second bank account or any need for time tracking or recurring billing moves a business from Starter to Smarter. A sixth user, or the need to reconcile accounts and lock closed periods in ZipBooks, moves it to Sophisticated. For a four-person consultancy that needs time tracking, Smarter costs $15 a month, or $180 a year. The same team reconciling its bank accounts in ZipBooks pays $35 a month, or $420 a year.

Limitations

• No mobile app. ZipBooks’ help center says “The ZipBooks app has been discontinued” and recommends using a phone’s browser instead.
• Reconciliation sits on the top plan. ZipBooks lists account reconciliation among the Sophisticated features, so a business on Starter or Smarter should confirm how it would reconcile before relying on those plans for its books.
• No inventory. Inventory does not appear on ZipBooks’ plan comparison.
• Payroll is a separate subscription. Payroll runs through Gusto, billed separately.
• Monthly billing only. There is no annual discount to lower the cost.
• Limited support hours. Live chat is staffed 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, per ZipBooks’ terms.
• No third-party security attestation claimed. ZipBooks describes its encryption but no SOC 2 report.

Who ZipBooks is for

ZipBooks fits when:

• The work is services: invoices, time and client payments rather than stock.
• The business wants to start free and pay $15 a month only once it needs time tracking or recurring billing.
• The team is five people or fewer, or is willing to pay $35 for unlimited users.
• Everyone is comfortable working in a browser.

Look elsewhere if you sell physical products, want a phone app, or need reconciliation on a low-cost plan.

How ZipBooks compares

Prices below are list prices as of September 2026.

• Wave: the closest free alternative. Wave Starter is free with unlimited invoices, estimates and bills, and Pro is $19 a month or $190 a year with automatic bank imports. Wave has mobile invoicing and sells its own US payroll at $40 a month plus $6 per person, but has no time tracking, which is where ZipBooks is ahead. Our Wave vs FreshBooks comparison covers the free-versus-billing trade-off.
• FreshBooks: stronger client billing, with proposals, retainers and project profitability on its higher plans. It costs more: $23, $43 or $70 a month, plus $11 a month for each extra team member, with billable-client caps on the lower plans. See FreshBooks alternatives for other billing-led options.
• Zoho Books: free for businesses under $50,000 of annual revenue, then $20 a month for Standard. Timesheets and project profitability start at Professional, $50 a month. Zoho’s range goes far higher, up to advanced inventory, so a growing business can stay put longer.
• Kashoo: one plan at $30 a month with unlimited users, multi-currency, project and item tracking, but no time tracking and payroll only in Canada.
• Xero: Early is $25 a month with caps of 20 invoices and 5 bills a month, rising to $27 on October 1, 2026; Growing and Established rise from $55 and $90 to $59 and $97. Xero offers US payroll through Gusto at $36 a month plus $6 per person.
• QuickBooks Online: Simple Start is $38 a month for one user, and project profitability starts on Plus at $140. It costs far more than ZipBooks for a small team.

Frequently Asked Questions