Made for South African buyers. Every price in rand, read from the vendor.
In depth review
Zoho Corporation · Accounting software
The value pick: a genuine free plan and rand pricing that stays low as you grow.
Zoho Books is Zoho's cloud accounting product, with a free plan for businesses under R1 million of annual revenue and paid plans from Standard at R99 a month, up to Ultimate at R2 490, all excluding VAT and per organisation rather than per user. Standard is where VAT tracking, VAT returns and bank feeds begin. Zoho publishes a South African support line, and paying for a year cuts about 17 percent off every paid plan.
Free plan
R0
For revenue up to R1 million a year
Standard
R99 a month
Excluding VAT, VAT and bank feeds
Professional
R199 a month
Excluding VAT, inventory and multi currency
Ultimate
R2 490 a month
Excluding VAT, fifteen users
Paying for a year
About 17% off
Every paid plan, from Zoho's yearly prices
Plans
6
Free plus five paid
Pricing basis
Per organisation
Not per user
Founded
1996
Zoho Corporation
Figures marked as a vendor's own are that vendor's claims about itself and are not tested here.
Every plan Zoho Books lists, in rand, with a button to Zoho Corporation's own pricing page.
Free plan
R0
Free to use, as the vendor lists it
One user and one accountant, while revenue stays under R1 million a year.
Plan
R99
a month excluding VAT
R113.85 including VAT
Save 17 percent paying for a year
Three users, VAT tracking, VAT returns and bank feeds. R82.50 a month when billed annually.
Plan
R199
a month excluding VAT
R228.85 including VAT
Save 17 percent paying for a year
Five users, inventory, purchase orders and multi currency. R165.83 a month annually.
Plan
R299
a month excluding VAT
R343.85 including VAT
Save 17 percent paying for a year
Ten users, budgets, fixed assets and cash flow forecasting. R249.17 a month annually.
Plan
R1 290
a month excluding VAT
R1 483.50 including VAT
Save 17 percent paying for a year
Advanced inventory with warehouses and serial tracking. R1 075 a month annually.
Plan
R2 490
a month excluding VAT
R2 863.50 including VAT
Save 17 percent paying for a year
Fifteen users and advanced analytics. R2 075 a month annually.
Each button opens Zoho Corporation's own page in a new tab, where you buy or sign up. Prices are the vendor's, shown in rand.
Zoho Books lists 6 priced plans: Free at no cost, Standard at R99, Professional at R199, Premium at R299, Elite at R1 290, Ultimate at R2 490. Every figure is shown in rand.
The vendor states a VAT basis, so both footings are known: Standard is R99 excluding VAT, R113.85 including VAT. A business registered for VAT claims the VAT back, so the figure excluding VAT is its real cost.
Paid prices are per organisation and exclude VAT.
Read from zoho.com/za/books/pricing on 11 October 2026.
A plan priced per user or per employee shows the price of one. Both VAT footings are shown where the vendor states its basis.
StandardSaves 17 percent
ProfessionalSaves 17 percent
PremiumSaves 17 percent
EliteSaves 17 percent
UltimateSaves 17 percent
Prices in rand, converted at the day's reference rate where the vendor lists in another currency.
How much paying for a year takes off the monthly price
17%
Taken off the monthly price when the year is paid at once.
R99 a month, R83 paid yearly
17%
Taken off the monthly price when the year is paid at once.
R199 a month, R166 paid yearly
17%
Taken off the monthly price when the year is paid at once.
R299 a month, R249 paid yearly
17%
Taken off the monthly price when the year is paid at once.
R1 290 a month, R1 075 paid yearly
Pick a plan, your team size and any extras. It adds Zoho Books's own prices in rand and shows the month and the year, with VAT in and out where the vendor states its basis.
Your bill
R113.85
a month including VAT
R113.85
a month including VAT
Paying for a year instead of monthly saves about R683 over three years at the team size and extras above.
| Time | Paying monthly | Paying for a year |
|---|---|---|
| Start | R0 | R0 |
| 6 months | R683 | R569 |
| Year 1 | R1 366 | R1 138 |
| 18 months | R2 049 | R1 708 |
| Year 2 | R2 732 | R2 277 |
| 30 months | R3 416 | R2 846 |
| Year 3 | R4 099 | R3 415 |
Opens Zoho Corporation's own page in a new tab. Nothing is bought on this site.
Free to start
Starting prices of the priced products in the same category, cheapest first. This is a price sort, not a ranking: the cheapest product is not the best one, and some are priced per user, some per month and some excluding VAT.
Bar lengths use a square root scale, so a very high price does not flatten the rest. The figures are exact.
The middle starting price of the paid products here is R415.
Positions use a square root scale, so a very high price does not flatten the rest. The figures are exact.
A dot is one plan. Free plans and plans on request have no price to place. A per user price is the price of one user.
A founding year says how long a company has existed. It says nothing about how good the product is.
An official video from Zoho Books on YouTube. Software Register did not make or edit them. They are the vendor's own account of the product, so read them beside the prices and limits on this page.
Signing up and getting started, South Africa edition
How to, 16:16, published 12 January 2023. From the Zoho Books channel on YouTube.Made for South Africa
A video loads from YouTube only when you press play. The still picture before that comes from YouTube's image servers.
Zoho Books is a full accounting package in the cloud: invoices, quotes, sales orders, bills, purchase orders, projects, banking, inventory, expenses, documents and reporting. Zoho sells it as part of a wide software suite, so a business that already uses Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps can connect them.
Even the free plan carries invoices, quotes, expenses, journals, online payments, a customer portal, bank reconciliation, recurring invoices and more than 50 reports. Paid plans stack inventory, projects, approval workflows, budgets and forecasting.
Zoho says it supports VAT in line with SARS requirements and lists VAT 201 reports among its outputs. It publishes a South African support phone number and email address, which is a good sign for local help. The page does not name the South African banks its feeds support, so ask before you rely on an automated feed, and do not assume the free plan will import transactions.
Zoho Books undercuts Xero and Sage on price at every step, and it matches them on core VAT reporting. Xero has the bigger marketplace and Sage the stronger local brand. See the full comparison with Xero.
Zoho prices per organisation, so a bigger team does not raise the bill. The plans step up by features and limits.
Strengths
Limits
Best for
Think twice if
In short
The best value in its category on paper. Start on the free plan if you are under R1 million and not VAT registered, move to Standard at R99 when you need VAT and bank feeds, and confirm that your bank and your accountant are both compatible.
Start where the vendor sells it, and keep this page open beside you for the limits.
Free to start
Zoho offers a free plan for one user and one accountant while the business's revenue stays under R1 million a year. It leaves out VAT tracking and bank feeds, which begin on Standard.
No. Zoho's paid prices are per organisation and exclude VAT.
Zoho Books starts at R99 a month excluding VAT, with a free plan as well. It lists 6 priced plans, from Free to R2 490.
No. The prices are quoted excluding VAT. Adding 15 percent to the first paid plan makes it R113.85. A VAT registered business claims the VAT back.
Yes: Zoho Books offers a free plan and a free trial.
Zoho Books's own page lists these: VAT201. Ask the vendor to show the step that reaches SARS in a trial, because preparing a return and submitting it are different jobs.
A South African Zoho Books site priced in rand, with VAT 201 reports and a South African support line.
On this register the closest are FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Sage 50cloud Pastel, Sage Accounting, Sage Intacct. Each has its own page, and the compare tool sets any two side by side.
South African guides that help you weigh Zoho Books: what the rules ask, what to test and what to put in writing.
Six products, one checklist
Most advice on accounting software is written for America or Britain. These are the six questions that decide whether a product works for a South African business, with the register's own tables to check each one against.
Read the guideWhere a full tax invoice starts to need more detail
R5 000
A customer who is registered for VAT can only claim back the VAT on an invoice that meets the law. Your software should produce one every time, and you should know what to look for.
Read the guidePrepared by your software, filed on SARS eFiling
VAT201
The VAT201 is the return a registered vendor submits to SARS. Accounting software can prepare it, and some can transfer it into eFiling. Those are different things.
Read the guideEvery price and fact on this page was read from Zoho Corporation's own pages, researched on 11 October 2026. A figure the vendor states about itself is marked as the vendor's. This review gives no score and no rank, and a vendor cannot pay to change it. Read how the register works.
Something wrong on this page? Suggest a correction, with a link to the vendor's page that shows it.
Zoho Books is free to start. Go to the vendor to buy or to ask, or compare it with another product first.
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