For a solo seller who wants the easiest way to track income and expenses, the simplest starting point is a free ledger such as Wave, whose Starter plan costs nothing (as of 2026-10-06), after a separate business account is in place. A seller who has not yet formed the business or separated personal and business money should do that first, and ZenBusiness Money Pro at $30 per month is one way to have bookkeeping handled for you alongside formation. Once payouts arrive from several channels, a ledger paired with a settlement connector is the stronger fit.
What is the easiest way for one person to track income and expenses?
The easiest setup has three parts: a separate account for business money, a ledger that pulls in transactions from that account, and a habit of saving receipts as they arrive. Everything else is refinement.
For a solo seller, the useful test is time. How long does the tool take to set up, how much does it do without being touched, and what does the year-end look like? A free ledger with a bank feed answers the first two reasonably well. The third depends on whether income was recorded properly, and that is where online selling gets awkward.
A marketplace or payment processor rarely deposits what a customer paid. It deposits a net amount after fees and refunds. If that deposit is simply labelled as sales, income and expenses are both understated, and the figures at tax time will not match the sales report.
Which tools suit a seller working alone?
The tools 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 earns its place once payouts are frequent enough that building entries by hand eats the week. For a seller with a few payouts a month, it is probably 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 solo seller who would rather pay to never touch the books, though whether a plan reconciles marketplace payouts is not published here, so ask first.
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 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. For a solo seller, Simple Start is the plan most likely to fit. It is the most common ledger, which makes it easy to hand to an accountant at tax time.
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 way to get a real ledger, and it suits a seller with low volume and no employees. 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 solo seller would look at, and like QuickBooks Online it is typically paired with a connector once marketplace 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 solo 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 solo 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 a separate business account come first?
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 to keep it separate from the personal checking account. 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 solo seller, this is the single biggest time saver. When every transaction in the account is a business transaction, the ledger's bank feed needs almost no sorting. When groceries and shipping labels share a card, every month becomes a manual cleanup.
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. After that, any ledger above has something clean to work with. A seller who already has the entity and account, and whose volume is low, can reasonably go straight to Wave.
What records should a solo seller keep for tax time?
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.
A seller with no employees can skip the payroll rules. For one 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 solo seller choose?
Start with the time budget. A seller who will spend an hour or two a month on the books can use a free or low-cost ledger. A seller who will not should look at a service, accepting the higher monthly cost.
Then look at payouts. A handful a month from one channel can be handled by hand. Daily payouts across several channels justify a connector, and the cost is measured against the hours saved.
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.