A free QuickBooks alternative for small shops

What you get in BuckLoad for $0

• Profit on every sale, after sales tax, the card fee and what the item cost you. QuickBooks shows profit for the month, not per sale.
• Staff and your accountant at no charge. Employees record sales but never see your profit or costs; your accountant reads everything and changes nothing. QuickBooks' $38 plan is for one user.
• Invoices and estimates by link, PDF or email, with "viewed" tracking, customer signatures, repeating invoices, automatic reminders when they're late, and a Pay button for card or bank transfer through your own Stripe account (no BuckLoad cut).
• Square sales come in by themselves: connect Square and each sale from your reader arrives with Square's real fee.
• Stock counts and a cash drawer count, which QuickBooks only has on its $140 Plus plan (stock) or not at all (drawer).
• Expenses, receipts and mileage: read a receipt photo, import your bank's statement file, and log miles at the IRS rate.
• A list of tax due dates for federal and state estimated tax and sales tax returns in your state, plus a one-click tax packet laid out like Schedule C, as a PDF or spreadsheet.

What QuickBooks does that BuckLoad doesn't

Be sure before you switch. QuickBooks is full double-entry accounting: it connects to your bank automatically, reconciles your accounts, makes a full balance sheet, pays bills, runs payroll and works with hundreds of other apps. BuckLoad doesn't do those yet (it has a simple balance sheet and a cash forecast). If you have a bookkeeper who works in QuickBooks, or you need payroll, stay with QuickBooks.

How to move over

1. Make your free account and pick My business.
2. Add your products or services with their price and what they cost you, and your payment methods with their fees (Square, Stripe and cash are set up for you).
3. Bring in this year's expenses: download a CSV file from your bank's website and import it under Expenses. Rules sort it into categories.
4. Add your customers, then send your next invoice from BuckLoad. Keep your QuickBooks reports from before the switch for your records.