Alternatives, with limits
Zoho Books alternatives in Saudi Arabia
Zoho Books is strong on SAR price, a real free plan, and the Zoho suite. Choose an Arabic-first alternative if daily collections, a no-signup invoice, or in-product Saudi payroll is the job.
Zoho’s cloud accounting with a Saudi edition. The Saudi pricing page lists a free plan, then Standard at SAR 69/month or SAR 60/month billed annually.
Zoho Books and Fawtar
| Criterion | Zoho Books | Fawtar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Zoho Books Saudi page: Free SAR 0; Standard SAR 69 / 60 annual; Professional SAR 129 / 90; Premium SAR 159 / 120; Elite SAR 349 / 280; Ultimate SAR 799 / 660 per org/month. Verified 2026-08-29. | Free: SAR 0 for up to 3 invoices/month with a watermark. Pro: 12.99 USD/month via PayPal after a 7-day trial (about SAR 49). Business: 25.99 USD/month (about SAR 99). Fawtar has no mada/SAR rail for its own subscriptions as of 2026-08-29. |
| Intended company size | From solopreneurs (free) up through Elite/Ultimate. | Freelancers and service SMEs. |
| Invoicing | Invoices and quotes from Free; Phase 2 listed from Standard. | Ordinary or tax invoice, Arabic PDF, Phase 1 QR, public generator with no signup. |
| Quotations | Quotes are listed on the Free plan. | Arabic quotes with accept / revise / reject, then invoice and staged payments. Pro plan. |
| Collections | Reminders and online payments exist in the Zoho suite, not an Arabic-first collections queue. | Payment requests, collection links, transfer proofs, receipts, a daily follow-up list, and reminder copy you send yourself. Pro. |
| Receivables aging | Zoho Books includes accounting reports; bucket-level aging is in product docs, not the price card. | Customer aging (current / 1–30 / 31–60 / 61–90 / 90+) and CSV, plus a no-account calculator. |
| Accounting | Full cloud books; assets from Professional, budgets/cash-flow from higher plans per the page. | Double-entry ledger with automatic posting on Business. Not a multi-company practice suite at Wafeq/Qoyod scale. |
| VAT reporting | VAT tracking and returns listed from Standard. | VAT report on Business, plus a public return estimator that does not store your figures. |
| ZATCA Phase 2 | The Saudi pricing page lists e-invoicing Phase 2 from Standard. Zoho markets Phase 2 support in its Saudi materials. | A Phase 2 integration path exists on the Business plan: device onboarding with a Fatoora OTP, simplified-invoice signing, and Reporting/Clearance routes. As of 29 August 2026 no customer has completed production onboarding end to end, and Fawtar is not described as a ZATCA-approved or listed solution. |
| Inventory | Inventory from Professional; warehouses and serial/batch from Premium/Elite. | Stock deduction with POS on Business. Not multi-warehouse / BOM inventory. |
| POS | POS is a separate Zoho product, not Books itself. | POS issues a simplified tax invoice with QR, deducts stock, and runs cash-drawer shifts. Business plan. |
| Payroll | Payroll is Zoho Payroll, a separate product. | Payroll with GOSI by nationality/scheme and a WPS file. Business plan. Not a full HRIS. |
| Project profitability | Project profitability from Professional on the pricing page. | Project margin from quotes, invoices and costs on Business, including deposit and milestone billing. |
| API | API access is listed on the pricing page. | Documented REST + OpenAPI + MCP on Business. Filter grammar aligned with Qoyod to ease migration. |
| Webhooks | Automation/webhooks exist in the Zoho platform; details are in docs. | Signed webhooks for invoice and payment events, plus Google Sheets feeds. Docs are public. |
| Bank reconciliation | Bank feeds listed from Standard. | User-reviewed statement matching on Business. Not a direct Saudi bank feed. |
| Branches | Business customisation from Professional; multi-company is higher tiers. | Branches on the Business plan. |
| Cost centers | Project tracking and reporting from Professional up. | Cost centres on Business. |
| Mobile experience | iOS, Android and desktop apps are listed on the pricing page. | A PWA in the mobile browser. No native app-store application. |
| Integrations | Zoho ecosystem plus Shopify (up to two stores) on Premium. | Salla was tested on a real production store. Zid/Shopify/Woo paths exist. MCP, Sheets and webhooks. Not Foodics. |
| Free tier / trial | A genuine free plan for solopreneurs/micro businesses, plus trials on paid plans. | Public tools with no signup, a free account at 3 invoices/month, and a 7-day Pro trial that requires a card. |
| Arabic UX | Arabic RTL is available; the product is global-first. | Arabic-first RTL, with Arabic PDFs rather than mirrored English templates. Wafeq and Qoyod are Arabic too. |
| Limitations | Phase 2 is not on Free. Payroll and POS are separate products. Arabic collections are not the product centre. | Subscriptions are PayPal USD with a card. Phase 2 has no completed customer production onboarding. Customer WhatsApp is not operationally enabled pending template approval. No third-party ratings republished here. |
| Best for | A business that wants SAR pricing, a real free plan, and the Zoho ecosystem. | A Saudi service business that needs an Arabic invoice today, then collections and a ledger, without starting on an ERP. |
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