The Battle for Accounting Software

Dozens of startups are challenging Intuit's QuickBooks with new online tools that aim to make financial management easier

By Venessa Wong

Since its launch 12 years ago, Intuit's QuickBooks has dominated the market for small business accounting software. Now dozens of startups are challenging QuickBooks with new online tools that aim to make accounting and financial management easier. Here are some fast-growing new rivals.

Outright

Users: 100,000
Price: Charges only for tax filings—$5 per 1099 form
Backers: Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, Shasta Ventures, SoftTech VC, Felicis Ventures
Synchronizes with bank, credit-card, and PayPal accounts, categorizes income and expenses, and calculates taxes.

Xero

Users: 22,000
Price: $19-$39 monthly
Backers: Founder Rod Drury and board members Sam Morgan and Craig Winkler; publicly traded since 2007
Organizes a company's bank and credit-card accounts, expenses, invoicing, and contacts. New Zealand-based Xero offers limited services to American users today, but is upgrading its U.S. site in December.

inDinero

Users: 6,000
Price: Basic version is free; enhanced services $30-$100 monthly
Backers: Y Combinator, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, Eventbrite CEO Kevin Hartz
Organizes and analyzes information from credit-card and banking accounts to create financial reports and graphs and offers algorithms to forecast a user's cash flow.

Kashoo

Users: 2,400
Price: $10 monthly for unlimited users at a company
Backers: Canadian tax preparation firm FBC
Helps users create audit-ready, shareable financial statements. By yearend, companies will also be able to automatically synchronize their bank and credit-card accounts with Kashoo accounts.

Data: Companies; Registered Users for Outright, Active Users for the Others

Wong is a lifestyle and real estate reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek.

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