Patriot Accounting vs ZipBooks

QuickBooks Enterprise

QuickBooks Online

FreshBooks

Xero

Zoho Books

Sage Accounting

Compare Patriot Accounting and ZipBooks based on features, pricing, verified reviews, integrations & more on GetApp. Find out which software is best for your business in 2026.

QuickBooks Online is an all-in-one online business software designed to help manage business finances. The platform is built to scale businesses, unlocking insights and providing the functionality of a larger team, all on one integrated platform.

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is an accounting software for small businesses which provides users with real-time access to customer, employee, and vendor information. The software includes tools for managing inventory, shipping, sales orders, pricing, tasks, invoicing, reporting, and more.

Xero is an award-winning online accounting software designed for small business owners and accountants, available on any computer or mobile device with an internet connection. Simplify business admin and get a range of financial insights to help you make better decisions for your business.

Accounting Basic $20/month - flat rate, unlimited use
Accounting Premium $30/month - flat rate, unlimited use
Accounting Software for businesses in the United States. Keep track of all of your money easily with our patent pending cash to accrual toggle & so much more.

1099 Preparation

Access Controls/Permissions

Accounting

Accounting Integration

Accounts Payable

Accounts Receivable

Activity Dashboard

Activity Tracking

Aging Tracking

AI/Machine Learning

Approval Process Control

Audit Trail

Bank Reconciliation

Billing & Invoicing

Billing Portal

Business Process Automation

Cash Flow Analysis

Cash Management

Chart of Accounts

Check Processing

Check Writing

Commission Management

Contact Database

Credit Card Processing

Customer Accounts

Customer Statements

Customizable Branding

Customizable Invoices

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Dashboard

Data Import/Export

Data Visualization

Discount Management

Document Management

Document Storage

Duplicate Payment Alert

Electronic Payments

Email Management

Email Reminders

Email Templates

ERP integration

Expense Management

Expense Tracking

File Sharing

Financial Analysis

Financial Management

Financial Reporting

For Medical Purposes

For Real Estate

For Small Businesses

For Trucking Industry

General Ledger

Income & Balance Sheet

Income/Expense Tracking

Invoice Creation

Invoice History

Invoice Management

Invoice Processing

Journal Entry Processing

Mobile Access

Mobile App

Mobile Payments

Multi-Location

Multiple Payment Options

Multi-Property

Notes Management

Online Invoicing

Online Payments

Overpayment Processing

Partial Payments

Payment Collection

Payment Processing

Payment Reconciliation

Payroll Management

Profit/Loss Statement

Purchase Order Management

Purchase Order Reconciliation

Purchasing & Receiving

Quotes/Estimates

Real-Time Analytics

Real-Time Data

Real-Time Reporting

Receipt Management

Receivables Ledger

Recurring Invoicing

Recurring Payments

Recurring/Subscription Billing

Refund Management

Reminders

Remote Access/Control

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Revenue Recognition

Sales Tax Management

Search/Filter

Self Service Portal

Status Tracking

Tax Calculation

Reviews for Patriot Accounting come from a wide variety of industries, including construction (13% of reviewers), accounting (8%), and real estate (6%). The most frequent use case for Patriot Accounting cited by reviewers is accounting (61% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Most users consider Patriot Accounting affordable and highlight its strong value for money, especially for essential features. Most reviewers indicate transparent pricing with no hidden fees, but some reviewers report concerns about recent price increases and long-term affordability.

Value for money

Patriot Accounting is an accounting program with key features that include general ledger management, financial reporting, bank reconciliation, billing and invoicing, and more.

Patriot Accounting

Web-based

Windows

Linux

Chromebook

Accounting Basic

 Premium Accounting

Manager

Allows for different types of access and the direct deposit integration is seamless.  

President

Inability to copy a JE or create a recurring JE, lack of dashboard metrics (net income vs last year, monthly revenue and expense trends, etc...), inability to add additional description to imported transactions without having to delete auto generated details, inability to mark transactions as billable

Founder

I am not a bookkeeper, and this software program allowed me to "do the books" for our insurance benefit advisory Firm

Mechanic

not having the reports for city and state taxes, and also would be nice to have a little bit more explanation

Family Nurse Practitioner Owner

I like that it treats me like I'm doing bookkeeping and not a bunch of meaningless icons laid out oddly.

I wish they would also handle all my yearly audits from my insurance company and also the State of Maryland yearly audits as well, my old accountant handled that for me.

Administrative Assistant

We didn't need a lot of bells and whistles, just something simple that could allow our teachers to see their bi-weekly paystubs and tax reporting at the end of the year.

FreshBooks has no account reconciliation feature, terrible support, one sided transaction entry, and as a result was an overall mess in the GL.

Double entry accounting, transaction account suggestions from previous entries, account reconciliation, and invoice format.

Treasure

great security function for banking change in payroll.

I enjoy the simplicity of it I like that I can get threw it without a problem, enjoy that it mostly self-explanatory

Owner

with being overwhelming it covers all the features like billing, expenses and reports.

This restriction becomes problematic when a customer wants to add or remove a service from their project, or if I want to apply a discount for any reason.

Practice Manager

We are a small company and I didn't want to pay crazy amounts for something that I had been doing on an excel spreadsheet for free but as we were growing I knew I needed something a bit more stream lined and Patriots was what we needed.  

MObile access is basic  and all the things make it harder to use for growing businesses.

OWNER

SIGNING IN A PROBLEM-LOCK OUT AFTER SO MANY ATTEMPTS 15-20 MIN WAIT TO RETRY.

Administrative Manager

Needing to create all the accounts for the donors to our organization.

I WAS GOING TO SWTICH TO FULL SERVICE FROM PAYCHECX BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE THE FEATURE TO HAVE 2 BANKS ON SYSTEM TO ISSUE PAYROLL

Office Manager

I would like the ability to select multiple invoices to open at the same time to print. When we invoice our clients, we typically do them in batches and printing each one separately is time consuming.

Timing of credit card payments marked as paid in Patriot but funds not received for several days from Stripe.  

NO HELP ON  WEEKENDS, IF YOU DO PAYROLLS ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY.

The interface is also pretty simple and I feel confident that if I run into any issues (usually my fault) their live representatives will help me!

Advisor

You have to jump through a ton of hoops in order to correct any minor error which is the reason I cannot recommend this software to anyone, unfortunately.

Someone is always there to help and they are always taking recommendations for improvement.

owner operator

It appears a few IRS forms are not available and I would like a feature to keep track of  self employment tax and estimated tax payments that may be due to help me better meet my tax responsibilities.

Occupational Therapist

I am still struggling with the reports and reconciling my bank statements, which was never a problem before.

I also think that notifications when the bank accounts get disconnected would be helpful.

Business Manager

There is plenty of room in the vendor payment heading to see each and every part of a vendor invoice number, dates account charged, date paid & check number.

Nothing, the tool helped a small business like ours provide the Accounting capabilities we needed.

Owner and Chief Instructor

I used another product for a few years so when I first began using Patriot Accounting there was a learning curve that I had to work through.

Accountant

Some of the accounts payable entries are time consuming.

I would love it if could have billable expenses and a simple cashflow statement

so when I request help I was told multiple times that they can't help with that  that I needed to talk to an accountant.  

Great product and great customer service.

Ease of use  Great reporting features   Payroll easy to do.  

It can be difficult moving from a different accounting program to this one.

I also need to be able to enter vendor credits.

Owner, Chief Content Officer

Patriot accounting is helpful and simple, it links directly to my business banking!

Preo

It;s very  easy to navigate it and pricing is also affordable.

We reviewed Manny non-profit accounting packages.  

Sadly, in today's market place this type of customer service seems to be rare. Because of your great customer service, I would go as far as to call Patriot Software "the Chick-Fil-A of accoutning and payroll software."

Private company, US based support with very clear English.

Nothing as it doesn’t seem to be working with me and taxes

I could not ask for a better accounting system.

Account and Bank

Customer Support

Bookkeeper and Bookkeeping

Payroll

Payment

Integrations

Account Balance and Reconciliation

11-50

Self-Employed

201-500

Most users consider Patriot Accounting to offer strong value for money, frequently highlighting its affordability compared to other popular brands and noting that it provides essential features at a lower cost. Most reviewers indicate that the software is transparent with no hidden fees, and they appreciate the cost-effectiveness for small businesses that do not require advanced functionalities. Some users say the pricing is reasonable for the features included. However, some reviewers report dissatisfaction with recent price increases and express concerns about the pace of these changes, feeling that rising costs may impact long-term affordability.

Patriot Software

ZipBooks is a cloud-based accounting software that caters to the bookkeeping and accounting needs of small to medium-sized businesses and bookkeeping firms. The solution offers core accounting, financial reporting, online invoicing, expense tracking, credit card processing, and more.

Patriot Accounting vs ZipBooks Comparison (2026)

Patriot Accounting

ZipBooks

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives