QuickBooks alternatives for product, inventory and ecommerce sellers
QuickBooks Online only tracks inventory on Plus ($140/mo) and Advanced. Here's where inventory starts in Zoho Books and Xero, when to add a stock app like Zoho Inventory, and what Shopify and Amazon sellers should plan for, using each vendor's official pages. Checked .
The short version
- Inventory is gated in QuickBooks Online. Intuit's help center says inventory tracking is only on Plus and Advanced. Simple Start and Essentials can't track quantity on hand.
- Cheapest real inventory in an accounting tool: Zoho Books Professional, $50/mo or $40/mo billed annually, which lists inventory tracking, sales orders and purchase orders.
- Selling on Shopify, Amazon, Etsy or eBay? Zoho Books Elite ($150/mo, $120 annually) adds warehouses, serial and batch tracking, shipping labels, Etsy/eBay/Amazon channels and up to 2 Shopify stores. Or pair any ledger with Zoho Inventory, which has a free plan for 50 orders a month.
- Want a full ledger your accountant already knows? Xero includes tracked inventory for up to 4,000 items in its plans, valued at average cost. Multichannel selling and reorder points need the paid Inventory Plus add-on or an app.
- FreshBooks and Wave aren't inventory tools. Neither pricing page lists inventory tracking.
- Prices are from each vendor's official US pages, checked (QuickBooks list prices from Intuit's page on October 27). Intro discounts are noted separately because they expire.
What QuickBooks Online gives product sellers now
Intuit's help articles say inventory features are available only on QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. You turn on "Track quantity and price/rate" and "Track inventory quantity on hand", then QuickBooks lowers quantity on hand as you record invoices and sales receipts, raises it when you receive purchase orders, and can warn you when an item hits its reorder point. If you downgrade to Simple Start or Essentials, you have to turn inventory items off first.
On Intuit's pricing page on October 27, 2026, Plus was listed at $140/mo and Advanced at $340/mo, before a temporary 50%-off offer. That's what a small seller pays just to count stock in QuickBooks, before any Shopify or Amazon connector.
The other common complaint is the sync, not the ledger. On X, a seller asked "If you sell on Amazon or Shopify, how are you getting your transactions into QuickBooks or Xero? A2X? Something else? Still using spreadsheets?" (@theaaronmack), and another described a paid Shopify order with no SKU match in QuickBooks that "still got typed in by hand" (@michaelheredia). Switching accounting tools doesn't fix that by itself, so plan the store connection along with the switch.
The alternatives
Zoho Books: inventory from $40/mo, full multichannel on Elite
- Professional, $50/mo ($40 billed annually), 5 users: Zoho's pricing page describes it as the plan to "track your inventory, and handle purchases". It lists sales and purchase orders, inventory tracking, price lists, multi-currency and project profitability.
- Elite, $150/mo ($120 billed annually), 10 users: "advanced accounting bundled with full-fledged inventory management". The page lists advanced inventory control, warehouses, composite items (kits and bundles), serial numbers, batch tracking, shipping labels and shipment tracking, Etsy, eBay and Amazon channels, up to 2 Shopify stores, and bin locations.
- Limits: annual invoice caps are 10,000 on Professional and 100,000 on Elite. Extra users are $3/user/mo ($2.50 annually). There's a 14-day free trial.
- Good fit if: you want stock, purchasing and the books in one subscription, and you're priced out of QuickBooks Plus.
- Watch out for: the jump from Professional to Elite is where the online-store connections live, so check which channels you need before picking a plan.
Xero: tracked inventory in the plans, add-ons for multichannel
- Plans: Early $27/mo (capped at 20 invoices and 5 bills), Growing $59/mo, Established $97/mo. Xero's inventory page says "inventory tracking is included in Xero plans".
- What's built in: per that page, tracked inventory shows quantity on hand and total value for up to 4,000 items, updates when you approve an invoice or bill, records cost of goods sold, and lets you import and export items by CSV. SKUs are tracked as item codes.
- Costing: Xero uses average cost. If you need FIFO, Xero points you to an app from the Xero App Store.
- When you need more: Xero says Inventory Plus (a paid add-on on Growing and Established) or an inventory app such as Cin7 Core or Unleashed is for multiple locations, reorder points, and selling on Shopify and Amazon FBA. Xero's pages we checked don't publish an Inventory Plus price, so confirm it before you budget.
- Intro offer on the check date: 90% off for the first 6 months (Early $2.70, Growing $5.90, Established $9.70), ending November 2, 2026.
- Good fit if: you sell mostly by invoice to wholesale or trade customers, or your bookkeeper works in Xero.
- Watch out for: Early's 20-invoice cap rules it out for almost any product business, so budget for Growing at least.
Zoho Inventory: a separate stock app (with a free plan)
- Free plan: 50 orders a month, 1 user, 1 location, with composite items, dropshipments and backorders.
- Paid plans, billed annually, per organization: Standard $29/mo (500 orders/mo, 3 users, 2 locations), Premium $79/mo (3,000 orders, 5 users, 4 locations; adds barcodes, stock counts, serial and batch tracking), Plus $129/mo (7,500 orders, 10 users, 6 locations), Enterprise $249/mo (15,000 orders, 10 locations).
- Connections: Zoho lists integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Walmart, and with accounting tools including Zoho Books, Xero and QuickBooks Online.
- Good fit if: you want to keep (or pick) one ledger and run stock and orders in a dedicated app.
What about FreshBooks and Wave?
Neither FreshBooks' nor Wave's pricing page lists inventory or stock tracking on any plan on the check date. They can work if you sell a handful of products and count stock in your store platform, but they aren't inventory accounting tools. See our freelancer page for where they fit.
Side by side
| Question | QuickBooks Online | Zoho Books | Xero | Zoho Inventory (add-on app) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan with inventory | Plus, $140/mo | Professional, $50/mo ($40 annually) | Included in plans; Growing $59/mo is the first without invoice caps | Free (50 orders/mo); Standard $29/mo billed annually |
| Costing method | FIFO or moving average (pick once) | Check Zoho's help docs | Average cost (FIFO via apps) | Check Zoho's help docs |
| Multiple warehouses | Not covered here | Elite, $150/mo | Inventory Plus or an app | 2+ locations from Standard |
| Shopify / Amazon | Through third-party apps | Elite: Etsy, eBay, Amazon, up to 2 Shopify stores | Inventory Plus or an app | Listed integrations |
| Serial / batch tracking | Not covered here | Elite | Not listed | Premium, $79/mo |
"Not covered here" and "not listed" mean the official pages we checked didn't say. QuickBooks prices are Intuit's list prices before its temporary discount. Check the vendor's feature pages before you decide.
Selling on Shopify, Amazon or Etsy
Most online sellers end up with three layers: the store, something that moves orders, fees and payouts into the books, and the ledger. The sales channel usually stays the source of truth for stock counts. Before you switch:
- List every channel and payout source (Shopify Payments, PayPal, Amazon settlements) and check that the new setup supports each one.
- Decide where stock lives. In Zoho Books Elite or Zoho Inventory it can live in the Zoho app; with Xero's built-in inventory it's a single item list without channel sync.
- Book payouts, not just orders. A payout is sales minus fees and refunds, so record it in a way that matches the bank deposit, or reconciliation becomes detective work.
- Switch connectors at a month end so one month isn't split between two systems.
FIFO vs. average cost: why it matters when you switch
Intuit's help center says QuickBooks Online uses FIFO (first in, first out) or moving average cost, that the choice can't be changed later, and that it defaults to FIFO if you created items before choosing. Xero's inventory page says Xero uses average cost. Moving between methods changes your cost of goods sold and inventory value. Intuit's inventory setup article says to let the IRS know if you're moving from average costing to FIFO, and Xero points to IRS Publication 538. Talk to your accountant before you move a FIFO inventory to an average-cost system.
How to choose (our suggestions)
- A few dozen products, sold by invoice? Zoho Books Professional, or Xero Growing if your accountant prefers Xero.
- Selling on Shopify plus Amazon, Etsy or eBay? Zoho Books Elite, or your ledger of choice plus Zoho Inventory or another inventory app.
- Need FIFO or lot and serial tracking for compliance? Confirm the costing method in writing before you switch.
- Your bookkeeper only works in QuickBooks? Keeping QuickBooks and adding a sync app may be cheaper than a switch.
Moving your books off QuickBooks
Before you cancel, run an inventory valuation report and a product/service list as of your cutover date, so you can enter opening quantities and costs in the new tool. Intuit gives paid subscribers read-only access for one year after canceling. Our step-by-step guides cover what moves and what doesn't:
- QuickBooks Online to Xero
- QuickBooks Online to Zoho Books
- QuickBooks Online to FreshBooks
- QuickBooks Online to Wave
Compare every tool we track in QuickBooks alternatives by business type, or see the pages for freelancers, nonprofits and churches and contractors.
Sources
Prices and plan features come only from each vendor's official pages. Plans change, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.
- Intuit QuickBooks Help: Set up and track your inventory in QuickBooks Online (checked )
- Intuit QuickBooks Help: Upgrade or change your subscription (feature limits) (checked )
- Intuit QuickBooks Help: Inventory valuation methods for cost accounting (checked )
- QuickBooks: Job & project costing software (plans and prices) (checked )
- Zoho Books (US): Pricing (checked )
- Zoho Inventory: Plans and pricing (checked )
- Xero (US): Inventory management software (checked )
- Xero (US): Pricing plans (checked )
- FreshBooks: Pricing (checked )
- Wave: Pricing (checked )
- Intuit QuickBooks Help: What happens to my QuickBooks Online data after I cancel? (checked )
Last checked: . Not tax, legal or accounting advice.
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