The best farm accounting software depends on the size of your farm and the services you need. General accounting software can provide basic invoicing and income and expense tracking, while accounting software designed for farmers may offer features like crop and livestock reports and farm expense forecasting.
The six best farm accounting software options are:
- QuickBooks Desktop: Best Desktop Accounting Software
- QuickBooks Online: Best Comprehensive Accounting Software
- FarmBooks: Best for Farm Reports
- EasyFarm: Best for Crop Tracking
- The Farmer’s Office: Best for Payroll
- CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture: Best for General Ledger
Pricing | Farm-specific Reports | Invoicing | Cloud-based | Income and Expenses | |
QuickBooks Desktop | $2,250/year | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ (cloud access is available as an add-on) | ✔️ |
QuickBooks Online | Plans start at $85/month, with a special promotion of 70% off your first three months | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
FarmBooks | $495/year, then $95/year for maintenance. Backup plans are $5/month for the database, or $20/month for your computer and servers. | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
EasyFarm | EasyFarm Lite plan starts at $650 | ✔️ | ❌ (accounts receivable add-on available for an additional fee) | ❌ (but Android users can use its app) | ✔️ |
The Farmer’s Office | Available via consultation | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture | Customized pricing available via email or phone | ✔️ | ✔️ (basic accounts receivable module included; can purchase an enhanced module for more advanced needs) | ✔️(also accessible via desktop installation) | ✔️ |
6 Best Farm Accounting Software
We’ve analyzed accounting software for farmers and selected the options that provide features that modern farmers need–including invoicing, income and expense tracking, and inventory management.
Read on to find out why these six accounting software options made the cut for the best accounting software for farmers in 2023.
QuickBooks Desktop: Best Desktop Accounting Software
Benefits
QuickBooks Desktop is perfect for farmers with unreliable internet connections, as you can install it directly to your desktop computer (don’t forget to back up your files!). While not farm-specific, QuickBooks Desktop provides everything you need to manage your farm’s accounting tasks, including income and expense tracking, invoicing and accepting payments, inventory management, and payroll tools.
Pros
- Ecommerce integration add-on
- Employee time tracking feature
- Project profitability tool can help you track labor costs and identify spending and income trends to forecast cash flow
Cons
- No monthly subscription option
Pricing
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise plan is $2,250 a year and can be purchased annually.
QuickBooks Online: Best Comprehensive Accounting Software
Benefits
While not specifically geared toward farmers, QuickBooks Online is an accounting software option with many of the bookkeeping tools you need to manage your farm’s finances. Its features include invoicing, income and expense tracking, and inventory, sales, and profitability reports.
Pros
- Accessible from anywhere with an internet connection
- Three tiers of plans available for farms of all sizes
- Customizable reports can show you where you make and spend money
Cons
- Automated payroll only available for top-tier plans
Pricing
QuickBooks Online offers a special promotion of 70% off for your first three months, then plans start at $85/month.
FarmBooks: Best for Farm Reports
Benefits
FarmBooks’ easy farm accounting software provides essential bookkeeping services and an extensive selection of over 25 reports, including financial statements, payroll reports, livestock and crop production transactions, invoicing, customer listing, and codes reports.
Pros
- Tax planning reports help you calculate employee withholdings and enter employees’ paychecks
- You can order checks, deposit tickets, and year-end tax forms from FarmBooks
- Check Writer feature prints and records employees’ paychecks and checks for vendors
Cons
- You have to manually download updates
Pricing
FarmBooks is $495 for a single farm for your first year, and then $95 for yearly maintenance. You can call (785) 865-5111 for pricing for multiple farms. FarmBooks database backup plans are $5/month, or $20/month to back up your entire system.
EasyFarm: Best for Crop Tracking
Benefits
Whether you need multi- or small-farm accounting software, EasyFarm has got you covered. EasyFarm offers reporting, crop tracking, and livestock management tools that help you stay on top of your inventory, income, and expenses. EasyFarm’s Crop and Field Manager software helps track your field history and crop rotations with more than 50 reports and tools, including a bin volume calculator and a forward grain contract tracker.
Pros
- Easy to differentiate between fields with identifying labels such as field names, legal descriptions, FSA numbers, and acreage
- 90-day money-back guarantee
- Mobile app to link data from Crop and Field Manager available for Android users
Cons
- Accounts receivable only available as an add-on
Pricing
Account Software Pricing:
- EasyFarm 8.3–Lite: $650
- EasyFarm 8.3–Plus: $750
- EasyFarm 8.3–Premier: $1,250
- EasyFarm 8.3–Pro Livestock: $950
- EasyFarm 8.3–Pro Crops: $950
Add-ons Pricing:
- Accounts Receivable Module: $299
- EasyFarmHand Android App: $399
- Oil Sales and Royalty Distribution: $299
- Co-Op Inventory Management Software: $159
- Reference and Training Manuals: $50
- Anhydrous Management Software Manual: $50
- 8 GB USB Flash Drive: $15
The Farmer’s Office: Best for Payroll
Benefits
The Farmer’s Office provides agricultural payroll, human resources, and accounting software. Its payroll software integrates with Farm Labor Contractor Billing and Crop Cost Accounting and automatically calculates deductions and workers’ comp.
Pros
- Crop Cost Accounting enables you to print income and expense reports based on your crop year, rather than the fiscal year
- Harvest yield and customizable inspection tracking
- Document storage feature
Cons
- Pricing is only available via consultation
Pricing
Pricing depends on the type of farming you do and is only available via consultation.
CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture: Best for General Ledger
Benefits
CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture software’s general ledger feature includes a ratio module to help you analyze your farm’s financial trends, the capability to export reports to other apps, balance sheets that are viewable by book, market, or modified cash value, and the ability to create personalized shortcuts for the functions you use most.
Pros
- Can be installed directly on your computer or you can access software via the internet
- Farm industry standard ratios included
- Budgeting and forecasting tools to help project cash flow
Cons
- Payroll software is not included
Pricing
Customized pricing is available via email or phone.
Methodology
We reviewed accounting software that offers the features that farmers need, including accounts receivable, financial tracking and reports, and payroll capabilities. We chose software for farm accounting that could fit a range of budgets and included both desktop and cloud-based accessibility options.
FAQs
What is the best farmers’ accounting software?
The best accounting software for farmers offers features like invoicing, inventory tracking, income and expense tracking, and automated payroll that help you save time and increase your productivity (and revenue) by enabling you to focus on what you do best–running your farm.