Accounting · Full Double-Entry Accounting
Patriot Accounting Review
Low-cost online bookkeeping from Canton, Ohio that posts Patriot Payroll entries to your books automatically
Quick verdict
Who Patriot Accounting fits: Cost-conscious solo and small US trades (plumber, electrician, small HVAC, handyman) that want simple books, ideally alongside Patriot Payroll. Trade-offs: No job costing; estimates, recurring invoices and payment reminders need Premium; no direct QuickBooks import tool; Stripe card fees and a 7-14 day wait on the first payout.
Pricing
Accounting Basic $20/mo · Accounting Premium $30/mo. 30-day free trial, then 50% off for the first 3 months. Unlimited users at no extra charge. Online invoice payments run through Stripe: 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment; 0.8% per ACH payment, capped at $5.
Affiliate disclosure: The link to Patriot Accounting on this page goes to its own site and is not an affiliate link.
About Patriot Accounting
Patriot Accounting is online bookkeeping software from Patriot Software LLC of Canton, Ohio, which also sells Patriot Payroll. The Better Business Bureau lists the company as started in August 2002, with Kyle Dreger as CEO.
Patriot lists two plans: Accounting Basic at $20/mo and Accounting Premium at $30/mo, with a 30-day free trial followed by 50% off for three months. Both include unlimited customers, invoices and vendors, unlimited users at no extra charge, bank connections through Plaid (or spreadsheet upload), invoicing with online card and ACH payments through Stripe, departments for grouping transactions in reports, and what Patriot calls patented dual-ledger accounting, which tracks cash, modified cash and accrual books at the same time. Premium adds estimates, recurring invoices, invoice payment reminders, receipt and document management, subaccounts and accounting user permissions.
The main pairing is Patriot Payroll: if you use both, Patriot creates a journal entry in your books automatically each time you run payroll. Online payments carry Stripe's fees, which Patriot lists as 2.9% plus $0.30 per card payment with no cap and 0.8% per ACH payment capped at $5 (plus $1.50 when a customer uses instant bank verification); the first payout has a waiting period of 7 to 14 days.
The trade-off: Patriot is simple, low-cost bookkeeping, but its help center describes no job costing (departments are the closest tool), estimates and recurring invoices need Premium, and moving in from QuickBooks means entering or importing your trial balance and uploading customer and vendor lists rather than using a direct import tool.
How it works
Start the 30-day free trial and work through the setup checklist on the Accounting home page: upload your chart of accounts, connect your bank through Plaid or upload a spreadsheet, and enter or import your opening trial balance. Customer and vendor lists import from .xls, .xlsx or .csv files; open invoices and bills are entered one at a time. You then send invoices that customers can pay online by card or ACH through Stripe, and you can tag transactions with departments to filter reports. If you also use Patriot Payroll, each payroll run posts a journal entry to your books automatically.
Pros & cons
What works
-
Low monthly price
Accounting Basic is $20/mo and Premium $30/mo, with a 30-day free trial and then 50% off for three months.
-
Unlimited users at no charge
Patriot says you can add users without extra charges on both plans, along with unlimited customers, invoices and vendors.
-
Automatic payroll entries
With Patriot Payroll, each payroll run creates a journal entry in Patriot Accounting automatically.
-
Online invoice payments
Customers can pay invoices by card or ACH through Stripe on both plans.
-
Dual-ledger accounting
Patriot tracks cash, modified cash and accrual bases at the same time, so you can view reports either way without converting.
What doesn't
-
No job costing
Patriot's help center describes departments for grouping transactions but no job costing, a gap for shops that track profit by job.
-
Key invoicing tools need Premium
Estimates, recurring invoices, payment reminders and receipt management are Premium-only.
-
No QuickBooks import tool
Moving from QuickBooks means entering or importing your trial balance and uploading customer and vendor spreadsheets; open invoices and bills are entered one at a time.
-
Stripe fees and first-payout wait
Card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.30 with no cap, and the first Stripe payout waits 7 to 14 days.
Features & integrations
Key features
Integrations
Frequently asked
How much does Patriot Accounting cost?
Patriot lists Accounting Basic at $20/mo and Accounting Premium at $30/mo. There is a 30-day free trial, then 50% off for the first three months. Online invoice payments through Stripe carry Stripe's fees: 2.9% plus $0.30 per card payment and 0.8% per ACH payment, capped at $5.
Is Patriot good for contractors with job costing needs?
Not really. Patriot's help center describes departments, which let you tag invoices, bills and other transactions and filter reports by group, but it does not describe job costing. If per-job profitability is central to your business, look at the tools in this category that offer job costing.
Does Patriot Accounting work with Patriot Payroll?
Yes. If you use both Patriot Payroll and Patriot Accounting, Patriot creates a journal entry in your books automatically each time you run payroll.
Can Patriot sync with QuickBooks?
No. Patriot Accounting is meant to replace QuickBooks as your books, and its help center describes no QuickBooks sync or import tool: you enter or import your trial balance and upload customer and vendor spreadsheets. Patriot Payroll, a separate product, can send payroll journal entries to QuickBooks Online.
Other accounting software
QuickBooks Online
Intuit's cloud accounting, from a free plan to Advanced, with job costing and inventory from the Plus plan up
Xero
Cloud accounting with no per-user license fees and three simple US plans
FreshBooks
Invoicing-first accounting for solo and small service businesses
Wave
Free accounting and invoicing for very small and new businesses
QuickBooks Desktop / Enterprise
QuickBooks' Windows desktop accounting for larger contractors, with a Construction & Contractors edition
Sage 50
Sage 50: installed accounting software with job, phase and cost code tracking, inventory and purchase orders