ZipBooks vs Chargify

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Our analysts compared ZipBooks vs Chargify based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Accounting Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Chargify Software Tool

Product Basics

ZipBooks is a cloud-based accounting and invoicing platform designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses. It works independently or with certified accountants who will prepare monthly financial statements for a user's business.

It's also available as an iOS app with credit card processing, chart of accounts, business listings, machine learning, time tracking, team management and other capabilities that are specifically designed for the app.
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Chargify is a billing and revenue management system for B2B SaaS companies. Acquired by Scaleworks in 2016, it addresses the complexities associated with recurring bills. It combines the latest technology, extensive subscription expertise and customer service to work on the pain points of the subscription business. With an understanding of the challenges associated with billing and revenue management, it implements the right technology to resolve issues across company portfolios. It removes bottlenecks and empowers the team to launch products, sign up customers and manage the process.
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$15 Monthly, Freemium
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Tailored to your specific needs
$299 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • User-Friendly Interface: Users don't require a master's degree in accounting to operate ZipBooks because its features and interface are intuitive, making it easy to use no matter the level of experience.  
  • Affordable: ZipBooks offers four payment options with distinct features such as free, smarter, sophisticated and the accountant plan offers adjustable pricing. This makes it a viable option for anyone with a small budget, such as small businesses or freelancers trying to get their careers off the ground. 
  • Knowledgeable Experts: ZipBooks' certified bookkeepers can provide users with financial advice and recommendations when assisting with accounting practices. 
  • Record and Document Tasks: Keeping track of every task, project and file can be cumbersome. Thanks to ZipBooks, users can create and allocate responsibilities to specific projects so everything is chronicled and accessible in one place.  
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  • Improve Efficiency: Digitize every part of accounting, including subscription management, event-based billing, revenue recognition and retention and billing to prevent duplication, manual error and improve accuracy and efficiency. 
  • Accurate Billing: Gain the flexibility to charge, rate and invoice the way a business wants, whether through simple subscription payments or an event-based structure. 
  • Better Insights: Get real-time data to more accurately comprehend the revenue inflow, products and customer behavior. Provide a more complete understanding of the billing pattern and revenue cycle. Make a well-informed decision. 
  • Effective Onboarding: Get quick and assisted implementation with three levels of onboarding support — email, guided, and strategic. Finish the process without signing any contracts, sign-up or transaction fees. 
  • More Affordable: Leverage fixed monthly pricing structure and round-the-clock support provided by dedicated team members without giving up any revenue percentage. Run a subscription management system without any contract, transaction fee or sign-up cost. 
  • Greater Compliance: Ensure that every process is carried out correctly by keeping stringent tax laws and policies in mind. 
  • Flexible Payments: Manage several billing scenarios, including trial periods, setup charges, custom dates, annual or monthly cycles, extra fees for add-ons, by usage, by user, through invoice and automatic payments. 
  • Out-Of-The-Box Functionalities: Get started in minutes with public sign-up pages and a billing portal for consumer-facing subscription management. 
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  • Accountant Access: Users can easily share information with accountants and financial experts with ZipBooks' accounting accessory. This tool enables users to effortlessly track routine transactions and extend completely accurate data for filing taxes, preparing financial reports and asking for sound financial advice to their accountants. The accounts receivable feature enables users to monitor invoices and payments so the money they make and amounts they owe will promptly update in their accounts receivable reports. Users can also review what their clients have already paid, outstanding amounts and the normal amount of time it takes them to pay. Transactions made outside of ZipBooks can be added manually for full accuracy. 
  • Oversee Accounts Receivable: The accounts receivable tool enables users to review their accounts receivable history while also providing smart insights on which particular accounts are paying in a rational timeline. This module also extends an elaborate list of customers who make late payments so users can establish more payment reminders. Users can also create a snapshot of general payment trends in a given year for proper budgeting.  
  • Perform Accurate Bank Reconciliations: Users can employ the bank reconciliation extension in the accounting tool to automatically transfer transaction information into their ZipBooks account so they can always see the most current account balance. This function also allows users to sort and study transactions by placing a checkmark on each transaction that appears on users' bank statements. ZipBooks will even monitor transactions that aren't verified so users will always stay in the know about their finances. Other extensions included within the accounting tool include bank connecting, auto-categorization, chart of accounts, project accounting and tagging. This tool is also supplied with several reports such as aging, balance sheet, general ledger, income statement, taxes invoiced and trial balance. 
  • Regulate Billing Processes: ZipBooks' billing management accessory allows users to choose regular or subscription-based invoicing for constant billing to fit their needs. Users can personalize their invoices with logos, particular colors and contact information. This tool can also trace customer payments, invoice history, overdue balances and collected taxes and alert users when an invoice has been paid. The credit card processing extension enables users to accept payments from every major credit company from approximately 22 various countries. Users can also take digital payments from Square and PayPal.  
  • Initiate Concurrent Bills: Thanks to the recurring billing function, users can set up future payments and never worry about them getting to the right customer again. There are dynamic features users can adjust to instantly autofill invoices with precise customer information. This function can immediately bill customer credit cards on a monthly basis and securely store credit card information. Other functions that come with the billing module include estimates, invoices, customer management, mobile access, multi-currency, reminders, saved items, team management and time tracking.  
  • Machine Learning Insights: ZipBooks' machine learning function of the intelligence module is similar to adding a supercomputer to a user's team because it blends work with research to immediately pick a category for each transaction. The more users work with the machine learning tool, the more it can learn about the way they chronicle and sort their transactions until it can auto-categorize. If there's a classifying error, users can make the correction and the extension will learn from its mistakes. The machine learning function will also categorize every bank transaction that a user imports and provide a confidence score based on their accounting knowledge and history.  
  • Thorough Business Wellness Check: Users can implement the business health score extension to check and finetune the health of their business that will aid in making better business decisions. This function can search for concurrent clients, punctual payments, sales growth and repeating revenue. Other helpful functions within the intelligence accessory include invoice quality score, recommendations and smart search.  
  • Manage Billable Expenses: To get reimbursed for expenses users' business accrue for customers such as paint supplies needed to paint a house or parts to fix a car, users can develop a transaction, mark it as billable and add the name of the client to be billed with the billable expenses function in the expense management tool. The expense will be added to the customer's invoice. The vendor management extension enables users to view expense histories, keep vendor contact information updated, and review payments owed. When users attach a bill or expense to a vendor's name, ZipBooks will instantly pinpoint general contacts as vendors. If users no longer use someone as a vendor but want to keep their contact information handy, they can easily change the name back to contact. Other functions included in the expense management module include receipt saving and split categories. 
  • Deliver Review Invitations: ZipBooks' growth accessory's reviews extension enables users to automatically or manually send invitations via email or text message to clients to review their business online. Users can employ ZipBooks' widget component to share customer reviews onto their website. This extension also allows users to reply to customer reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp and other platforms. 
  • Locate and Manage Search Ranks: The ranking function in the growth module permits users to see where their business ranks in search results based on specific keywords customers may use when searching for a business, service or product on maps, computers or mobile search apps. Users can accordingly add keywords for more insight and install parameters to identify searches within particular target areas. This function also allows users to track the progress of their rankings such as rising, falling or consistencies. Other extensions within the growth accessory include widgets and business listings.  
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  • Subscription Management: Eliminate the compounding management burden on the employees by providing a centralized interface to keep a tab on all the subscription activity. Empower the team with the tool to deliver better customer service, strengthen relationships and increase lifetime value. 
  • Revenue Retention: Prevent payment failure by sending the clients customized emails regarding the end of trial, renewal or credit card expiration. Implement a dunning strategy to communicate with past customers, monitor past-due account reporting and manage the cancellation process. 
  • Billing:
    • Offer Management: Turn the product into a custom catalog with Rapid offer builder, where the customer receives an offer with a unique price that changes over time. Use flexible and customizable pricing and test its elasticity without affecting existing offers. 
    • Event-based Billing: Create multi-dimensional billing models with real-time data streaming and analytics. Bill on value and stay ahead of the marketing trend. 
    • Billing Scenarios: Align pricing strategy by experimenting with different recurring models concerning how consumers use the product. Align monetization, both based and metered, with the way customers consume the data quantity. Maximize revenue growth by combining multiple billing models to create hybrid pricing. 
    • Payments: Connect with Stripe and leverage its automatic card updater feature. Integrate with leading payment gateways to scale payment solutions like Braintree, Forte, Square, BlueSnap and more. Work with various payment gateways and rest assured that the billing is compliant with all the tax laws. 
  • Data and Analytics:
    • Stream: Get pre-configured data infrastructure to power event-driven products. Identify problems in real-time and empower the customer success team to respond to the situation immediately. Build cutting-edge, event-driven products with Stream. 
    • Business Intelligence: Obtain real-time custom analytics with the self-service analytics tools. Use intuitive analytics tools which can help create actionable metrics with customizable dashboards. 
  • Revenue Recognition: Automatically calculate the revenue schedule by checking the billing frequency and transaction price. Ensure accuracy and compliance with the ASC 606 and IFRS 15. Provide the business with a deferred revenue report to help make an informed decision regarding converting it from liability to income. 
  • Integrations: Integrate with CRM, SFDC and other programs such as Avalara, Gmail, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Quickbooks, Slack, Salesforce, SMS by Zapier, Xero and Zendesk. 
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Product Ranking

#33

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Accounting Software

#132

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Accounting Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 300 reviews
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92%
of users recommend this product

ZipBooks has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 300 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

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5.0 (15)
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4.8 (78)
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4.5 (93)
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4.5 (99)
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4.1 (15)
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Awards

ZipBooks stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Free Plan: ZipBooks offers a free plan that includes unlimited invoices, the ability to accept digital payments, and basic reporting features, making it a cost-effective solution for freelancers and small businesses with basic accounting needs.
User-Friendly Interface: The platform is known for its intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, allowing users to quickly create professional invoices, track expenses, and manage their finances without extensive accounting knowledge.
Time Tracking: ZipBooks includes time-tracking tools that enable users to accurately record billable hours for projects and clients, simplifying the process of generating invoices based on actual time spent.
Integrations: ZipBooks integrates with popular payment gateways like PayPal and Square, as well as other business tools such as Slack and Google Calendar, streamlining workflows and reducing manual data entry.
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Flexible Billing Options: Chargify accommodates various billing models, including subscriptions, one-time purchases, usage-based billing, and hybrid models, making it suitable for diverse business needs.
Automated Recurring Billing: Chargify automates recurring billing processes, reducing manual effort and ensuring timely payments. It handles proration, discounts, and taxes, streamlining the billing cycle.
Revenue Recognition: Chargify assists with revenue recognition by providing reports and tools that align with accounting standards. This helps businesses accurately track and report revenue, ensuring compliance and financial transparency.
Integrations: Chargify integrates with various payment gateways, accounting software, and other business tools, enabling seamless data flow and process automation. This reduces manual data entry and improves efficiency.
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Limited Integrations: ZipBooks may not integrate with all the applications a business uses, potentially leading to manual data entry and reduced efficiency.
Scalability Concerns: Some users have expressed concerns about ZipBooks' ability to handle the needs of larger businesses or those with more complex accounting requirements as they grow.
Customer Support: While ZipBooks offers support, some users have reported challenges in obtaining timely or comprehensive assistance for their inquiries.
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Limited Accounting Software Integrations: While Chargify integrates with Xero and QuickBooks Online, it lacks direct integration with other popular accounting software, potentially requiring manual data exports and imports, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors.
Complex Revenue Recognition: Chargify's revenue recognition features may not be suitable for businesses with complex revenue recognition requirements, such as those with multi-year contracts or subscription upgrades/downgrades, potentially necessitating manual adjustments or workarounds.
Customization Challenges: Some users find Chargify's customization options to be limited, particularly for invoices and customer communications, which may not align with specific branding or workflow preferences.
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ZipBooks: Accounting made easy. ZipBooks is a cloud-based accounting software that helps small businesses manage their finances, but how does it stack up against the competition? Users appreciate its ease of use and affordability, making it a great choice for those who are new to accounting software or have a limited budget. The platform offers features like invoicing, expense tracking, and basic reporting, which are essential for many small businesses. However, some users have noted that ZipBooks lacks more advanced features found in other accounting software, such as inventory management and in-depth financial reporting. Additionally, customer support has received mixed reviews, with some users finding it helpful while others have experienced challenges. One of ZipBooks' unique features is its integration with popular business apps like QuickBooks, Google Drive, and Salesforce, allowing for seamless data transfer and increased efficiency. The software also includes project management tools, which can be beneficial for businesses that need to track time and tasks. ZipBooks offers a free starter plan, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious businesses. Paid plans provide additional features, such as payroll integration and reputation management. Overall, ZipBooks is a solid choice for freelancers and small businesses that prioritize ease of use and affordability. However, businesses with more complex accounting needs or those requiring extensive customer support may want to explore other options like QuickBooks Online or Xero.

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Chargify helps businesses manage their recurring revenue and billing processes. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface and flexibility, making it a breeze to set up subscriptions, handle payments, and generate invoices. The platform's scalability is another plus, allowing it to grow alongside your business. Chargify also plays well with other popular business tools like Salesforce and QuickBooks, streamlining your workflow. However, Chargify isn't without its downsides. Some users find the price tag a bit steep, especially for smaller businesses or startups. Additionally, it lacks certain features like multi-currency support, which can be a dealbreaker for companies with international customers. While Chargify might not be the perfect fit for every business, it's a solid choice for those needing a reliable and scalable solution to manage their recurring revenue. Its ease of use and integration capabilities make it particularly well-suited for businesses that value efficiency and want to avoid the headaches of manual billing processes.

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