For a brand new online business, the cheapest way to keep clean books is a free ledger such as Wave, whose Starter plan costs nothing (as of 2026-10-06), opened after a separate business account is in place. A seller who has not yet formed the business should start one step earlier, with the entity, the EIN and the account, and ZenBusiness Money Pro at $30 per month is one way to have bookkeeping handled for you from the start. Once payouts arrive daily or from several channels, a ledger paired with a settlement connector is the stronger fit.
When does a spreadsheet stop working for an online seller?
A spreadsheet is a fair starting point for a seller with a few orders a week. It costs nothing, and every number is visible. The trouble is that online selling generates records faster than most spreadsheets can absorb them.
The first trigger is payout volume. A marketplace or payment processor does not deposit what customers paid. It deposits a net amount after fees and refunds, so each deposit has to be split back into sales, fees and refunds. Done by hand, that is one set of rows per payout.
The second trigger is a second channel. Two or more sales channels mean two sets of settlement reports with different layouts, and the totals have to be reconciled against each bank deposit. The third is a bank feed: once transactions number in the hundreds a month, typing or pasting them is where errors enter.
A fourth trigger is tax time. A spreadsheet has no audit trail, so changes to old rows are invisible. A ledger records who changed what and when, which matters if the figures are ever questioned.
What do the alternatives look like?
The options below are listed alphabetically. The order is not a ranking. Prices are as of 2026-10-06 from each provider's pricing page, and promotional rates are labelled as such.
A2X
A2X is a settlement connector, not a ledger, so it needs QuickBooks Online or Xero underneath it. It starts at $29 per month per sales channel, with Walmart from $79 per month. It addresses the payout trigger directly, by posting each settlement as a summary entry. For a seller with a handful of payouts a month, it is likely more than is needed.
Bench
Bench is a bookkeeping service rather than software. Bookkeeping Light is $199 per month, Bookkeeping is $399 per month, and Bookkeeping + Tax is $649 per month. A fractional bookkeeper is $55 per hour plus a $1,200 onboarding fee. It suits a seller who wants the books taken off their hands, though whether a plan reconciles marketplace payouts is not published here.
Link My Books
Link My Books is the other settlement connector in this comparison, aimed at online sellers. It is priced by order volume and channel count through a calculator, with no flat published tier, so no figure can be quoted here. A new seller with modest volume may find the calculator gives a lower number than a per-channel rate.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online has a Free plan at $0, then Simple Start at $38 per month, Essentials at $85, Plus at $140 and Advanced at $340. The 50% offer for 3 months is promotional and not the ongoing price. It is the most common ledger and easy to hand to an accountant. It is the usual partner for a connector.
Wave
Wave's Starter plan is free, and Pro is $19 per month or $190 per year. The introductory rate of $9.50 per month for 3 months on Pro is promotional. Card processing is 2.9% + $0.60, the receipts add-on is $8 per month, and payroll starts at $25 per month. It is the lowest-cost route off a spreadsheet and suits a new seller with low volume. Payout-level reconciliation for Shopify or Amazon is not documented here.
Xero
Xero's plans are Early at $27 per month, Growing at $59 per month and Established at $97 per month. The 80% discount for 3 months is promotional and not the ongoing price. The Early plan is the one a new seller would look at, and like QuickBooks Online it is typically paired with a connector once payouts multiply.
Zoho Books
Zoho Books has a Free plan at $0, limited to under $50K in annual revenue. Paid plans are Standard at $20 per month, Professional at $50, Premium at $70, Elite at $150 and Ultimate at $275. It suits a new seller below the revenue limit who wants a free option, with the caveat that crossing $50K means moving to a paid plan.
ZenBusiness Money Pro
ZenBusiness Money Pro is $30 per month, according to ZenBusiness's own site, and is sold as an add-on alongside formation. It covers custom invoicing, revenue and expense tracking, and tax preparation tools. It is a service, not accounting software, so it should not be compared feature by feature with a ledger. It suits a seller who is forming a business and wants one provider for setup and bookkeeping support.
How do the options compare?
Providers are listed alphabetically, not by preference. Figures are monthly as of 2026-10-06.
| Provider | Type | Published starting price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2X | Settlement connector | $29 per channel | Needs QuickBooks Online or Xero |
| Bench | Bookkeeping service | $199 | Done for the seller |
| Link My Books | Settlement connector | Not published | Calculator by volume and channels |
| QuickBooks Online | Ledger | $0 (Free), $38 (Simple Start) | Easy to hand to an accountant |
| Wave | Ledger | $0 (Starter) | Pro $19 |
| Xero | Ledger | $27 | Established $97 |
| ZenBusiness Money Pro | Bookkeeping service | $30 | Add-on to formation |
| Zoho Books | Ledger | $0 (Free), $20 (Standard) | Free limited to under $50K revenue |
Why does the separate business account come before the software?
The Internal Revenue Service is direct about the order. Publication 583 says one of the first things to do when starting a business is open a business checking account and keep it separate from the personal one. It adds that the account should be used for business purposes only, with the source of deposits and the type of expense indicated in the checkbook, which it calls the basic source of information for recording business expenses.
For a new seller, this is also the cheapest step. When every transaction in the account is a business transaction, a ledger's bank feed needs almost no sorting, and a spreadsheet needs far fewer rows to clean.
A seller who has not yet formed an entity can start with ZenBusiness, which handles the entity and EIN steps and offers a free accounting consultation to customers who form with it. It does not offer business banking, which it has shut down, so the account itself has to come from a bank. A seller who already has the entity and account, and whose volume is low, can reasonably go straight to Wave.
What records should be kept, and for how long?
Publication 583 names the documents that support the books. Gross receipts are supported by items such as cash register tapes, bank deposit slips, receipt books, invoices and credit card charge slips. Purchases and inventory are supported by canceled checks, cash register tape receipts, credit card sales slips and invoices. Expenses are supported by canceled checks, cash register tapes, account statements, credit card sales slips and invoices.
A marketplace settlement report is not named on those lists, so keeping the matching bank deposit slips and invoices with it is the safer approach.
On how long to keep them, the IRS sets the general period at 3 years. That applies unless one of three exceptions does: under-reporting income by more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return (6 years), not filing a return at all (indefinitely), or filing a fraudulent return (indefinitely). The same IRS guidance gives 7 years for a claim for a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction, and at least 4 years for employment tax records.
For a seller who hires, the U.S. Department of Labor's Fact Sheet 21 says payroll records, collective bargaining agreements, and sales and purchase records must be kept for at least three years, with time cards and wage-related supporting records kept for 2 years. For sales tax, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration's Publication 116 says to keep records at least 4 years, and through the end of any audit. Other states are not covered here.
How should a seller decide when to leave the spreadsheet?
Count the triggers. One channel, a few payouts a month and no employees can stay on a spreadsheet, or move to a free ledger for the bank feed and audit trail. Daily payouts or a second channel are the point at which a connector starts to pay for itself.
Then decide who does the work. An owner who will keep the books pairs a ledger with a connector when volume demands it. An owner who wants to hand it off looks at a service such as Bench or ZenBusiness Money Pro, after confirming how payouts are handled.
Finally, budget on ongoing prices. QuickBooks Online, Wave and Xero all lead with a 3-month discount, and the plan prices above are the figures that matter after it ends.
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service, "Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records"
- Internal Revenue Service, "How Long Should I Keep Records?"
- U.S. Department of Labor, "Fact Sheet #21: Recordkeeping Requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)"
- California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, "Publication 116, Retaining Records"
This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.