Karbon vs Zoho Books Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Karbon | Zoho Books | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $79/mo | $20/mo |
| Number of plans | 3 | 6 |
| Free plan | — | |
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | per-seat | flat-rate |
Team
- Integrated Email
- Team Collaboration Tools
- Workflow and To-Do Lists
- Time Tracking & Budget Reporting
- Billing
- Payments
- Engagements
Business
Popular- Automatic Client Reminders
- Task Automation
- Industry Integrations
Enterprise
- Enterprise Platform
- Dedicated Karbon Contact
- Customization
- Unlimited Usage Limits
FREE
- Create invoices, quotes, expenses & journals
- Receipt autoscans
- Sales receipts
- Manage vendors
- Mileage tracking
- Accept online payments
- Enable self-service customer portal
- Retention payments
- Automate payment reminders
- Bank reconciliation
- Setup recurring invoices
- W-9 management
- Track 1099 contractors
- Prepare and file 1099s
- P&L, Balance Sheet & 50+ Reports
STANDARD
- Progress invoicing
- Track sales tax and use tax
- E-File 1099-MISC & 1099-NEC
- Connect bank feeds
- Setup recurring expenses
- Enable transaction period locking
- Add custom fields
- Create custom reports
- Create journal templates
- API Access
PROFESSIONAL
- Track sales and purchase orders
- Record multi-currency transactions
- Bill timesheets
- Project profitability
- Manage retainers
- Track inventory
- Create price lists
- Setup sales and purchase approvals
- Customize business workflows
- Collaborate with users (chat, voice, video and screen sharing)
- Create custom user roles
PREMIUM
- Revenue recognition - Basic
- Fixed asset management
- Profit Margin
- Manage budgets
- Cashflow forecasting
- Enable self-service vendor portal
- Set up custom domain
- Create business-specific custom modules
- Add custom button
- Create custom field validation rules
- Embed contextual web pages/apps
- Manage custom functions
ELITE
- Revenue recognition - Advanced
- Dashboard customization
- Advanced Inventory Control
- Manage warehouses
- Composite items
- Track serial numbers
- Batch tracking
- Print shipping label
- Track shipments
- Connect online sales channels (Etsy, eBay, Amazon)
- Integrate Shopify stores (Up to 2)
- Track bin locations
ULTIMATE
- Advanced analytics
- 50+ Pre-built data visualization
- Add and track KPIs for your business
- Analyze along with other data sources (with Zoho Analytics add-on)
- Collaboratively create reports with colleagues
- Embed reports in web sites/applications
- Records/Rows (3 Million)
Karbon vs Zoho Books FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- Zoho Books is the cheaper option, starting at $20/mo vs $79/mo for Karbon.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Zoho Books has a free plan. Karbon doesn't — you'll need to pay from day one.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Karbon uses per-seat pricing, while Zoho Books goes with flat-rate. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Karbon: Karbon sits in the premium tier of accounting practice management software, pricing above lighter tools like Jetpack Workflow but competing head-to-head with platforms like Financial Cents and Canopy. They're clearly going after mid-size to larger CPA firms that treat workflow infrastructure as a serious operational investment, not a nice-to-have. Zoho Books: Zoho Books is the aggressive underdog play against QuickBooks and Xero — a free tier that actually works, and paid plans that undercut competitors at nearly every level. They're going after cost-conscious SMBs and bootstrapped businesses who don't want to pay Intuit prices.
Keep tabs on both.
We'll monitor pricing changes for Karbon and Zoho Books and let you know when something moves.