What Is the Best Free Accounting Software for African Freelancers?

Key takeaways

• Zoho Books Free is the best choice for most freelancers in Kenya and South Africa. It has local editions, is free while your revenue stays under KSh 5 million or R1 million a year, and allows 1,000 invoices a year.
• Wave Starter is the best free option almost anywhere: unlimited invoices and proper double-entry bookkeeping. Its built-in payments only work in the US and Canada, but you can still send invoices and record payments.
• Manager.io Desktop is completely free, works offline, and suits freelancers who deal with power or internet cuts.
• Zoho Invoice and Invoice Ninja are fine if you only need invoicing. Invoice Ninja's free plan is capped at 5 clients.
• If you're VAT-registered in Kenya and need eTIMS-compliant invoices, Zoho's free plan won't do. Its Standard plan starts at KSh 849 a month, billed yearly.

For most African freelancers, the best free accounting software is Zoho Books Free if you're in Kenya or South Africa, and Wave if you're elsewhere or want unlimited invoices. Both let you invoice clients, track expenses and produce a profit-and-loss report for tax time without paying anything. If your internet is unreliable, Manager.io's desktop app is free, works offline, and has no invoice limits.

The options at a glance

Software	Free plan	Main limit	Best for
Zoho Books Free	Yes, local editions in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria	Revenue cap (KSh 5m / R1m), 1,000 invoices a year	Kenyan and South African freelancers
Wave Starter	Yes	Payments only in US and Canada; no bank feeds	Freelancers anywhere who want unlimited invoices
Manager.io Desktop	Yes, fully	Single user; no cloud access	Offline work, multi-currency books
Zoho Invoice	Yes	Invoicing only, not full accounting	Freelancers who only need invoices and time tracking
Invoice Ninja	Yes	5 clients on the hosted free plan	Freelancers with a few regular clients
Google Sheets	Yes	Manual; no reports	Absolute beginners

Zoho Books Free: best for Kenya and South Africa

Zoho Books has local editions for Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, which means local tax settings and local-currency pricing when you upgrade.

What's free, according to Zoho's Kenya and South Africa pricing pages:

• 1 user plus 1 accountant
• Up to 1,000 invoices and 1,000 expenses a year
• Invoices, quotes, expenses and journals
• Online payments, a customer portal and payment reminders
• Bank reconciliation and recurring invoices
• Profit and loss, balance sheet and 50+ reports
• 50 receipt scans a month

The revenue cap: the free plan stays free while your revenue is under KSh 5 million a year in Kenya or R1 million in South Africa. That covers most solo freelancers.

When you'll need to upgrade: in Kenya, eTIMS-compliant invoicing, VAT tracking and VAT3 return reports start on the Standard plan. In South Africa, Standard costs just R82.50 a month billed yearly.

Zoho Books Standard	Billed yearly	Billed monthly
Kenya	KSh 849/month	KSh 999/month
South Africa	R82.50/month	R99/month

Those local prices are a big advantage. You can pay in shillings or rand rather than dollars.

Nigeria: Zoho Books has a Nigeria edition with a Free plan, and Zoho has said it prices its products in naira. We couldn't find the Nigerian revenue threshold or naira prices on a page we could load, so check Zoho's Nigerian pricing page before you sign up.

Ghana: we didn't find a Ghana-specific edition, so Ghanaian freelancers would likely use Zoho's global edition. Check what plan and currency it offers you.

Wave Starter: best free option almost anywhere

Wave is popular with freelancers because its free plan doesn't cap invoices.

What's free on Wave Starter, according to ecommerce-platforms.com's September 2026 review:

• Unlimited invoices, estimates and bills
• Double-entry bookkeeping, so your books are properly balanced
• Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow reports
• One user, with limited free access for an accountant

What's missing:

• Payments and payroll only work in the US and Canada. Elsewhere, you invoice in Wave but collect payment through your own route, such as a USD receiving account or bank transfer, then record the payment.
• No automatic bank feeds on the free plan. You enter or import transactions yourself.
• No automated payment reminders, and invoices carry Wave's branding.
• No email or chat support, just a help centre and chatbot.

Wave Pro costs $19 a month or $190 a year, billed in dollars, and adds bank feeds, receipt scanning and reminders. For most African freelancers, the free plan plus a little manual entry is enough.

Manager.io Desktop: free, offline and unlimited

Manager.io's desktop edition is fully functional and free on Windows, Mac and Linux, according to Maqtoob's July 2026 review. It works offline, which is a genuine advantage when the internet or power drops in the middle of invoicing.

It's also a proper accounting system, with multi-currency support, so it suits freelancers who earn in dollars but report in naira, cedis, shillings or rand.

The trade-offs:

• The desktop version is single-user. Multi-user access needs the Cloud edition at $59 a month.
• Your data lives on your computer, so back it up regularly, ideally to cloud storage.
• It looks plainer and takes a bit longer to learn than Zoho or Wave.

Best for: freelancers who want full, unlimited accounting for free and don't mind a learning curve.

Zoho Invoice: free invoicing with time tracking

If you don't need full accounting, Zoho Invoice is a free invoicing tool from the same company as Zoho Books. CostBench lists its free features as:

• Tax-compliant invoices and quotes
• Recurring invoices and automated payment reminders
• Expense tracking
• Time logging and project tracking
• A self-service customer portal

That makes it handy for freelancers who bill by the hour, like developers and designers. Zoho says the free plan has usage limits but we couldn't confirm the exact caps, so check them when you sign up. When you outgrow it, you can move to Zoho Books.

Invoice Ninja: good for a few regular clients

Invoice Ninja's hosted free plan includes unlimited invoices and recurring invoices, but it's capped at 5 clients, according to CostBench. Paid plans start at $14 a month.

It's also open source, so if you're technical, you can host it yourself for free with no client cap. That's a good fit for developers who already run a server.

Google Sheets: the simplest start

Don't underestimate a well-organised spreadsheet. If you send five invoices a month, a Google Sheet with columns for date, client, invoice number, amount, currency, exchange rate, amount received and expenses will get you through tax time.

Its limits show up quickly, though: no automatic reports, no payment reminders, and it's easy to make mistakes. Move to Zoho Books or Wave once you have more than a handful of clients.

What African freelancers should look for

Multi-currency invoicing

Many African freelancers invoice foreign clients in US dollars, pounds or euros, but report income to the tax office in local currency. Make sure your software can invoice in foreign currency and record the local equivalent. Manager.io supports multi-currency. For Zoho Books and Wave, check which plan includes it before relying on it.

Tax compliance

• Kenya: if you're VAT-registered, you'll need eTIMS-compliant invoices. Zoho Books Standard includes them; the free plan doesn't.
• South Africa: you must register for VAT once turnover passes R1 million in 12 months, which happens to be where Zoho's free plan ends.
• Nigeria and Ghana: foreign income is taxable. Clean records make your annual return far easier.

Our guides to Kenya's digital taxes and South African VAT on software cover the business side.

Getting paid

Wave's payment processing doesn't work outside the US and Canada, and Zoho's online payment options vary by country. In practice, many African freelancers invoice from their accounting software and get paid through a separate USD account. See our guide to the cheapest way to get paid in USD.

Which should you choose?

• Kenya or South Africa, earning under KSh 5m or R1m a year: Zoho Books Free.
• Anywhere, and you want unlimited invoices: Wave Starter.
• Unreliable internet, or you want full books offline: Manager.io Desktop.
• You bill by the hour and only need invoices: Zoho Invoice.
• You have five or fewer regular clients: Invoice Ninja.
• You're VAT-registered in Kenya: Zoho Books Standard, from KSh 849 a month.