Zoho Invoice vs Zoho Books

Ever since we launched Zoho Books one question we hear over and over
again is “What is the difference between Zoho Invoice and Zoho Books?”.
Here’s a clarification for those of you who asked and for those who
have the same question.

Zoho Invoice is an online invoicing software
which helps you get your invoicing done. It has all the essential
functionalities related to invoicing like estimates, quotes,
multi-currency support, online payments, credit notes, customizable
invoice templates, an iPhone app for invoicing on the go, a web
app(beta version) for invoicing from android & other mobile devices
and multi-lingual support.

online invoicing software vs online accounting

Zoho Books on the other hand is a comprehensive online accounting software
that lets you get your accounting done online. With Zoho Books you can
keep up with the your income and expenses, manage your banking and
credit card transactions and work with your accountant online. Within
Zoho Books you will see a comprehensive invoicing module which includes
all the features of Zoho Invoice, except for the ones listed below:

  • API
    – The Zoho Books APIs are in the making. If you are planning to
    integrate with us you may need to hold on for a little while more.
  • Contextual
    Gadgets- We are integrated with Google Apps, the only missing piece is
    the contextual gadget, which will be included soon.
  • iPhone app- Again we are saving this for later. But this is certainly on our agenda.

Here are the answers to some popular questions on the same topic:

How do I choose between Zoho Invoice & Zoho Books?

If all you require to do is manage invoices and expenses online then go for Zoho Invoice. However, apart from plain invoicing if you want to track your purchases, reconcile your bank and credit accounts, view a complete snapshot of your business, generate performance reports like Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet then Zoho Books would be a better fit. 

The equation you’ll need to remember is Zoho Invoice = Accounts Receivable while Zoho Books = Accounts Receivable + Accounts Payable  + more…
Will Zoho be adding more features to Zoho Invoice?

Absolutely,
with hundreds of thousands of users on board, we need to keep Zoho
Invoice updated and young as ever.  The possibilities of interesting
inclusions are endless. We will be adding features to both Zoho Invoice and Zoho Books. 

I am on an elite plan in ZI, a little
birdie tells me that the $24 subscription to Zoho Books gets me
unlimited invoices. Can I switch…


Why not? We’ll help you switch if you wish to. You can dial the Zoho Invoice support toll free and our support folks will switch you over in no time.

Oh,
before signing off, we’d like to thank everyone for the overwhelming
response to Zoho Books. We couldn’t have asked for more. Thank you!

Follow Zoho Books on Twitter and Facebook. And Zoho Invoice on Twitter and Facebook.

Comments

22 Replies to Zoho Invoice vs Zoho Books

  1. First of all please correct any statement I make that is not true. I would love to be wrong, but how can you say invoicing or books handles accounts receivables? From my perspective you have almost no accounts receivable capacity on either platform other than creating invocies. The collections/statements for your customers that tracks outstanding invoices and payments and that automates your collections efforts (that is accounts receivables). I don't even see a link to statements or collections which shows how little you understand the need. So for all of the businesses who use terms other than pay now, how do you manage your collections aka (accounts receivables)? I see forum posts telling customers to send statements one at a time from each customer record and other such nonsense? Come on guys this is the most very basic requirement for an accounts receivable application. ALL apps in the world can generate an invoice including zoho sheets. Tracking those invoices, tracking payments made over the course of a month, sending statements on a predefined date for the prior month to all customers who require one, that shows all payments made, credits applied, new invoices, interest and fees due on outstanding invoices, account aging, and so on... That is accounts receivable. To say that your INVOICE app is an accounts receivable app drives home a complete miss conception. Outside of generating invoices, not even your books app handles accounts receivables well from what I can see, and it needs to if you want real companies who have customers with credit (net 30 day etc..) Terms to use Zoho books. If I missing something please let me know but for me the lack of those features and the fact that i see people on the forums asking for that functionality many many years ago and it still doesn't exist is very telling about your understanding of how the vast majority of b2b, wholesale, and businesses offering credit terms operate in the US at least. You have a fantastic CRM app, and I would love to lose my accounting software and use your books software that integrates with your awesome CRM but for the price it is just missing way too many necessary functions. Keep working on it please.

  2. I would really love to get rid of QuickBooks, but it has been almost 3 years and still NO iPhone app for Zoho Books! I use the QB app to capture receipts, payments, send out invoices, etc... I won't be able to switch back to Zoho Books until there is an iPhone/iPad app to go with it. The app has be promised for years, but no recent mention of anything in the works. Guess I'm stuck with QuickBooks.

  3. I will have to agree again with the comments above. In Australia we have MYOB and is a competitor to QuickBooks.

  4. I will have to agree again with the comments above. In Australia we have MYOB and is a competitor to QuickBooks.

  5. I agree with the above. I am actively looking for a comprehensive online accounting package. I want what both ZI and ZBooks have in a package. I am so excited about what I see, but I don't want simple & seamless integration. CRM, ZI and Zbooks integrated...PRICELESS!

  6. I agree with the above. I am actively looking for a comprehensive online accounting package. I want what both ZI and ZBooks have in a package. I am so excited about what I see, but I don't want simple & seamless integration. CRM, ZI and Zbooks integrated...PRICELESS!

  7. I agree, looking forward to CRM integration. I vote for Books to-be mobile and think that Invoice should be a subset of Books.

  8. I agree, looking forward to CRM integration. I vote for Books to-be mobile and think that Invoice should be a subset of Books.

  9. I agree with the comments here. Keep it simple, no point in having two separate modules; it just confuses people. Also, the integration with ZohoCRM seems to be missing.

  10. I agree with the comments here. Keep it simple, no point in having two separate modules; it just confuses people. Also, the integration with ZohoCRM seems to be missing.

  11. I think you should combine these two components. There is no point having both especially if you want to compete against QuickBooks which is the primary product choice for users in USA.

  12. I think you should combine these two components. There is no point having both especially if you want to compete against QuickBooks which is the primary product choice for users in USA.

  13. I agree with slamhang! Invoicing is a subset of full fledged bookkeeping. The two are two close to each other to have their own personalities. Here's some suggestions from my vantage point:
    1.Combine the two. Have both teams focus their creativity and effort on a single app. Have them give QuickBooks a run for their money (and features too!). You may call it Zoho iBooks?!
    2.Since Invoice can be had for free and Books can not, combine the two and lower the price of Books to say, $15-20 and give a x number of clients version of Books for free (you may limit some features too). If you did this, imagine how much of resources you would save that are now being spent on a separate product - Invoice! On the other hand, the lowered price of Books will make it so much more attractive, it will shoot up like a rocket! QuickBooks will shiver in the pants!
    3. I think the number of people who need ONLY invoicing and do not deliberately want Cash in / Cash out features even if it is there for the taking for free, are VERY small indeed. Fine, even if they absolutely do not want it, the simplicity of Books should enable them to use only the Invoice functionality and leave the rest alone.

  14. I agree with slamhang! Invoicing is a subset of full fledged bookkeeping. The two are two close to each other to have their own personalities. Here's some suggestions from my vantage point:
    1.Combine the two. Have both teams focus their creativity and effort on a single app. Have them give QuickBooks a run for their money (and features too!). You may call it Zoho iBooks?!
    2.Since Invoice can be had for free and Books can not, combine the two and lower the price of Books to say, $15-20 and give a x number of clients version of Books for free (you may limit some features too). If you did this, imagine how much of resources you would save that are now being spent on a separate product - Invoice! On the other hand, the lowered price of Books will make it so much more attractive, it will shoot up like a rocket! QuickBooks will shiver in the pants!
    3. I think the number of people who need ONLY invoicing and do not deliberately want Cash in / Cash out features even if it is there for the taking for free, are VERY small indeed. Fine, even if they absolutely do not want it, the simplicity of Books should enable them to use only the Invoice functionality and leave the rest alone.

  15. I think you should combine these two components. There is no point having both especially if you want to compete against QuickBooks which is the primary product choice for users in Canada.

  16. I think you should combine these two components. There is no point having both especially if you want to compete against QuickBooks which is the primary product choice for users in Canada.

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