Best Nonprofit Accounting Software 2025

What Is Nonprofit Accounting Software?

Nonprofit accounting software are accounting products designed to meet the specific needs of nonprofits compared to for-profit organizations. These products could simply offer specific nonprofit addons to their more general-use accounting platforms, or be tailored from the ground up for nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofit Accounting vs. For-Profit Accounting Software

Like for-profit businesses, nonprofits need to be able to track income and expenses, and submit the appropriate filings for legal and tax purposes. However, nonprofit accounting software has emerged as a more robust market in response to the unique and stringent financial needs many nonprofits face.

For instance, nonprofits must abide by strict legal standards and guidelines that require enhanced financial tracking and reporting compared to for-profits. The most well-known examples of these standards in the United States are FAS 116 and 117, but the specific requirements vary by regulatory jurisdiction.

Accounting software that offers features for nonprofits specifically can streamline the processes required to abide by these rules. They are also more likely to offer financial features specific to nonprofits, such as donor management capabilities. Some nonprofit accounting software is also designed to be usable by employees or volunteers who lack accounting experience, since nonprofits don’t always have the budget for keeping accountants on staff.

Like more general-use solutions, there is a range of cloud-based and on-premise nonprofit accounting products. Nonprofits that operate nationally, or internationally in particular, would benefit from the flexibility that a cloud-based software offers. However, some high-end products or very cheap/free products are only available on-premise.

Nonprofit Accounting Software Comparison

There are some common factors to consider when comparing nonprofit accounting software:

1. Donor Management Features: Does the software include native donor management and tracking capabilities? This is particularly important if the nonprofit fundraising through high-volume or grassroots channels, where manual donor management is too time intensive to be feasible. Having a native donor management system can be more efficient than adding on a separate system for tracking donors.
2. Cloud-base vs. On-Premise: Cloud-based systems can be easier to administer, but may also be more expensive than their on-premise counterparts. Single-location nonprofits could utilize an on-premise solution better, but multi-location organizations may prefer the additional flexibility of a cloud accounting solution.
3. Ease of Use: How ease to use or beginner-friendly is each accounting option? Buyers should consider the level of accounting expertise the nonprofit has on hand, as this will determine what level of complexity or simplicity they can manage in an accounting system.

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Pricing Information

Nonprofit accounting software is priced on an annual subscription basis, and often per user per year for cloud-based products. The cheapest nonprofit accounting software starts as low as $100/year, though most full accounting products start closer to $400-500/year. The more advanced and complex accounting solutions can reach $4,000/user/year. There are some free nonprofit accounting options, though these will only be viable for very small nonprofits that require the accounting basics only.