Top 3 Accounting Software For Musicians

As a band leader or solo musician, it's important to have an accounting tool to help you keep track of your income and expenses as you will need this information to help you complete your tax returns each year. It also helps calculate your expenses and track your profits and losses. Every band or musician should be using some sort of online bookkeeping software, but which one do you choose? 

We've put together this short guide to help you choose the right one, but of course please do your own research and pick the product best suited to you and your needs.

1. QuickBooks

We're putting QuickBooks as our number one accounting software as it is the most popular of accounting/ bookkeeping software used by bands and musicians using Band Pencil. It's so popular we're building an integration to automatically sync your invoices between Band Pencil and QuickBooks! If you're running your band as a business and need (or will need) to deal with tax, such as VAT, this might be the best choice for you.

Alongside the normal accounting software, QuickBooks also has a build in inventory management solution to help you keep track of your equipment.

QuickBooks Pros:

• Easy to use - there's a lot of tutorial videos out there as it is such a well used system.
• Easy to track unpaid invoices.
• Inventory management solution.

QuickBooks Cons:

• Doesn't offer a free trial so you can't try before you buy.

2. FreshBooks

FreshBooks is very similar to QuickBooks, but more aimed at freelance, so perfect for solo musicians. It offers everything QuickBooks offers (invoicing, track unpaid invoices and reporting). If you're running your band as a freelance this might be a better choice for you.

FreshBooks Pros:

• Easy to use - there's a lot of tutorial videos out there as it is such a well used system.
• Offers a free trial.
• More pricing plans depending on what sort of business you are running.

FreshBooks Cons:

• Can be slow to load
• Uses report of tricky onboarding process

3. Bokio

If you're a smaller band or musician just getting started Bokio is a really good piece of software as it's free! They offer everything the larger providers offers, but with no cost at all. If you need to start doing invoicing through the software you may incur costs, but you always have the option to upgrade to another accounting software when your band grows.

Bokio Pros:

• Free for life.*
• User-friendly app and online platform.
• iOS and Android app.

Update (8 December 2021): From the 1 February Bokio will keep a free plan, but will offer two pricing plans starting at £8.99 per month. 

Bokio Cons:

• No phone support.
• Premium help comes at a cost.

How can Band Pencil help? Band Pencil allows you to manage your gigs online and connect your musicians and clients together. We have a system to manage your finances and create and send invoices online. Although we will not replace your accounting software, we help musicians and band leaders speed up invoicing and getting paid. Check out our online invoicing and online payment solutions.