Best accounting software for cleaning business owners (2026)

What does a cleaning business need from accounting software?

A cleaning business needs accounting software that pulls in bank and card transactions on its own, sorts them into income and expense categories, stores receipts, tracks mileage and gives you a profit and loss report your tax preparer can use. Once you hire, add payroll and 1099 tracking.

Cleaning is a simple business to account for: no inventory, few big assets, lots of small transactions. That is good news, because almost any mainstream accounting tool can handle it. The question is which features you will actually use each week. Here is the short list for good cleaning accounting software:

• Bank feeds. The software connects to your business bank account and card and imports every transaction. Without this, you type everything in by hand, and most owners stop doing it by March.
• Income categories. Separate standard cleans, deep cleans, move-out cleans and Airbnb turnovers if you want to see which service pays best. Track tips separately from cleaning income so payroll and tax reports stay clear.
• Expense categories that match your tax form. Supplies, vehicle, insurance, wages, contract labor, software, phone, advertising and card fees. Sole proprietors report these on Schedule C, so match those lines.
• Receipt capture. Snap a photo of the receipt for mop heads and microfiber cloths in the store parking lot and attach it to the bank transaction.
• Mileage tracking. Driving between clients is one of the largest deductions most cleaners have, and it needs a log. Some accounting apps track it automatically from your phone. A separate mileage app works too.
• Payroll and 1099s. If you hire employees, you need payroll that files payroll taxes. If you pay subcontractors, you need to track what you paid each one for the 1099-NEC.
• Sales tax. Some states and provinces tax cleaning services. If yours does, the software should track tax collected separately from income.
• Accountant access. A free login for your bookkeeper or CPA saves you exporting files at tax time.

What a cleaning business usually does not need: inventory, purchase orders, multi-currency, project accounting or invoicing for hundreds of clients if a booking tool already charges cards. Do not pay for a higher tier to get those.

QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, FreshBooks and Zoho Books: what do they cost?

Entry plans with bank feeds run from $19 a month (Wave Pro) to $38 a month (QuickBooks Simple Start). Plans that fit a crew with several users run $59 to $85 a month. All prices below are US list prices from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked October 5, 2026. Prices change often, so confirm before you buy.

Sources, all checked October 5, 2026: QuickBooks Online pricing, Xero US pricing, Wave pricing, FreshBooks pricing and Zoho Books US pricing. QuickBooks also lists a free plan limited to 2 invoices a month and 1 bank connection, and an Advanced plan at $340 a month that a cleaning business will rarely need.

Watch the promo prices

On the day we checked, QuickBooks offered 50% off for 3 months, Xero 80% off for the first 3 months, Wave Pro $9.50 for the first 3 months, and FreshBooks $1 a month for the first year on Lite and 80% off for 3 months on Plus and Premium. These offers end, so compare regular prices. Over a year, the gap between the cheapest and the dearest plan here is more than $1,000.

A trap for FreshBooks users

FreshBooks plans are limited by how many clients you invoice: 5 on Lite and 50 on Plus. A residential cleaner with 60 recurring clients would need Premium at $70 a month if every client gets a FreshBooks invoice. If clients pay through your booking software instead, you are not invoicing them from FreshBooks, and the limit matters less.

Which one should a solo cleaner or a growing crew pick?

A solo owner who wants the lowest cost should start with Wave Pro or Zoho Books Standard. A business with employees, or one that already works with a bookkeeper, should pick QuickBooks Online Essentials or Xero Growing. If your bookkeeper or CPA already uses one of these, pick that one: their time costs more than any plan.

Solo owner-operator

You clean most of the jobs yourself, maybe with one helper. You want bank feeds, receipts, a profit and loss report and nothing else.

• Wave Pro ($19 a month) is the simplest. Its free Starter plan works for keeping records by hand, but bank auto-import and receipt scanning are only on Pro.
• Zoho Books is the cheapest way to get bank feeds plus sales tax and 1099 e-filing: Standard costs $15 a month billed yearly. The free plan covers revenue up to $50,000 but has no bank feeds.
• QuickBooks Online Simple Start ($38 a month) costs more, but includes 2 free accountant logins. Intuit’s help center lists automatic mileage tracking for Simple Start and higher plans, with limits on the Free plan.

Growing crew with employees

You have several cleaners, a payroll to run and maybe an office helper who needs a login.

• QuickBooks Online Essentials ($85 a month) gives 3 users plus 2 accountant logins and employee time tracking. Add QuickBooks payroll when you hire.
• Xero Growing ($59 a month) has unlimited invoices and bills, auto-reconcile, and W-9 and 1099 management. Payroll comes through Gusto.
• FreshBooks Plus or Premium fits if you send many invoices, for example to property managers or commercial clients on payment terms.

Before you choose, run your numbers through the cleaning business profit calculator. A $140 plan is easy to justify at $30,000 a month in revenue and hard to justify at $3,000.

How do you handle payroll and 1099s for your cleaners?

Employees go through a payroll service that withholds and files payroll taxes. Independent contractors get paid without withholding, and you file a Form 1099-NEC for each one you pay $2,000 or more for payments made in 2026, according to the IRS 1099-NEC FAQ. The threshold was $600 for payments made through 2025.

Payroll add-on prices we checked on October 5, 2026:

• QuickBooks: payroll is sold bundled with an accounting plan, starting at $88 a month plus $6.50 per employee with Simple Start, and $125 a month plus $6.50 per employee with Essentials (QuickBooks payroll pricing).
• Xero: payroll through Gusto at $36 a month plus $6 per employee, on top of your Xero plan.
• Wave: $40 a month plus $6 per active employee and $6 per contractor paid in the US (Wave payroll pricing). Wave says its tax service covers all 50 states. In Canada it costs $25 CAD plus $6 per person, with tax remittance in every province except Québec.
• FreshBooks: $40 a month plus $6 per user.

Whichever you use, payroll is only as accurate as the hours you feed it. Cleaners work at several addresses a day, so hours, tips and any commission need to come from somewhere reliable. That is where scheduling software helps, as the next section explains. For more on running pay for a cleaning crew, see our page on payroll for cleaning businesses.

Whether a cleaner is an employee or a contractor is a legal question with real penalties if you get it wrong. Ask your state labor department or a CPA before you pay anyone on a 1099.

How does scheduling software fit with your books?

Your scheduling software runs the jobs and collects the money. Your accounting software records where the money went. They do different jobs, and you need both once you have more than a handful of clients.

We make BroomBook, a scheduling, booking and crew app for residential cleaning businesses, so here is exactly how it fits, including what it does not do. BroomBook does not sync with QuickBooks, Xero or any other accounting software. The workflow is still simple:

1. Card payments land in your bank feed. BroomBook charges the client’s card on file after each job (price plus tip) through Stripe. Stripe pays out to your bank account, and your accounting software imports those payouts like any other deposit. BroomBook takes no cut. Stripe’s processing fee is yours to record as a card fee expense.
2. Record cash and cheques yourself. When a client pays cash, cheque or e-transfer, you mark it paid in BroomBook at checkout. Record the deposit in your accounting software when it hits the bank.
3. Export payroll as a CSV. Hours come from your cleaners’ clock-ins, and you can correct the timesheet with the reason kept. The CSV export lists hours, hourly rate, wages, tips and commission per cleaner for the pay period. Enter those numbers in your payroll service.
4. Check the totals. BroomBook’s insights show revenue by week and unpaid visits, so you can compare against deposits in your bank feed each month.

BroomBook costs $29 a month on Solo (up to 2 cleaners) or $59 a month on Team (unlimited cleaners), with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. See the full feature list on our app for cleaning businesses page.

Pick something other than BroomBook if

• You need your scheduling tool to sync jobs and payments into QuickBooks automatically. BroomBook does not.
• You bill clients by invoice with net terms. BroomBook charges cards after the job and sends receipts. It does not send invoices. If you only invoice now and then, our free cleaning invoice template works.
• You run a multi-trade field service company or a commercial janitorial firm that mainly needs bid management.

What bookkeeping routine keeps a cleaning business on track?

Good bookkeeping for a cleaning business is a habit, not a talent: 30 minutes a week, an hour or two a month, and a short quarterly check. Skip it and you spend a weekend in April sorting a year of transactions.

Start with a separate business bank account and card. Mixing personal and business spending is the most common reason bookkeeping falls apart.

Every week

• Categorize the week’s bank and card transactions in your accounting software.
• Snap and attach any paper receipts before they fade or get lost in the car.
• Record cash and cheques you deposited.
• Check your mileage log is complete for the week.
• Follow up on unpaid visits.

Every month

• Reconcile each bank and card account against its statement, so the software balance matches the bank.
• Compare the month’s revenue in your scheduling tool against deposits in your bank feed.
• Read your profit and loss report. Look at supplies and labor as a share of revenue.
• Run payroll on schedule and file the payroll reports your service prepares.
• File and pay sales tax if your state or province taxes cleaning and you file monthly.

Every quarter

• Set aside and pay estimated income tax. Self-employed owners usually pay four times a year. Your CPA can tell you how much.
• Review your prices against your costs. If labor or supplies rose, raise prices before your margin shrinks.
• Check each contractor’s year-to-date total so you know who will need a 1099-NEC.

Every year

• Send 1099-NEC forms to contractors and W-2s to employees (your payroll service usually handles W-2s).
• Total your business miles for each half of the year, since the IRS rate changed on July 1, 2026.
• Give your CPA accountant access, or send the profit and loss, balance sheet and mileage log.
• Renew your business license and insurance, and file the receipts.

If you are just setting up, our guide on starting a cleaning business covers the bank account and registration steps in order, and the cleaning business license guide covers the EIN.

What tax deductions can a cleaning business take?

Most cleaning business expenses are deductible if they are ordinary and necessary. Common cleaning business tax deductions are supplies, vehicle costs or mileage, insurance, wages and contract labor, software, the business share of your phone, card fees, advertising and professional fees.

The IRS explains in Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business, that a business expense must be both ordinary and necessary to be deductible. An ordinary expense is common and accepted in your field. A necessary expense is helpful and appropriate for your business, and it does not have to be indispensable. The old Publication 535 on business expenses has been discontinued. The IRS now keeps a guide to business expense resources that points to the current publications for each topic.

Tax deductions for cleaning business owners usually include:

• Cleaning supplies and equipment. Chemicals, cloths, mop heads, vacuum bags and gloves. Larger equipment like a commercial vacuum may need to be depreciated rather than deducted all at once. Ask your tax preparer.
• Vehicle costs. Either the standard mileage rate or your actual costs, covered in the next section.
• Insurance. General liability, a janitorial bond, commercial auto and workers’ comp premiums. Our cleaning business insurance guide covers what each costs.
• Wages and contract labor. Pay to employees, the employer share of payroll taxes, and payments to subcontractors.
• Software and subscriptions. Accounting software, scheduling software, a mileage app and your website.
• Phone and internet. The business share of your cell phone and internet.
• Uniforms and protective gear. Branded shirts, aprons, shoe covers and gloves you buy for work. Ask your tax preparer what counts as work clothing.
• Card processing fees. Stripe or other processor fees on each payment.
• Advertising. Flyers, ads, yard signs and your website.
• Licenses, fees and professional services. Business license fees, and accountant and bookkeeper fees. Publication 334 lists fees charged by accountants that relate directly to running your business as deductible.
• Home office. If part of your home is used regularly and only for the business, you may qualify. The IRS guide points to Publication 587 for the rules.

Keep a receipt or bank record for every expense, and keep the business share separate from personal use. This guide is general information, not tax advice. Rules depend on your situation, so confirm with a tax professional.

How does the mileage deduction work for cleaners?

For 2026 business driving, the IRS standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents a mile from January 1 to June 30, and 76 cents a mile from July 1 to December 31. For 2025 it was 70 cents a mile, according to the IRS standard mileage rates page.

The mid-year change matters for your log: keep miles driven before and after July 1, 2026 separate, because each half gets its own rate. A cleaner who drives 6,000 business miles in each half of 2026 would deduct $4,350 for the first half and $4,560 for the second, $8,910 in all.

What counts and what does not, based on Publication 334:

• Counts: driving from one client’s home to the next, to the supply store, and to the bank for business. You can also deduct business parking fees and tolls on top of the mileage rate.
• Does not count: commuting between your home and a regular workplace, which the IRS treats as personal. If your home office is your principal place of business, your home can count as your workplace, which changes the picture. Ask your tax preparer how this applies to you.
• Choose early: to use the standard mileage rate for a car you own, you must choose it in the first year the car is used in your business. In later years you can switch between the standard rate and actual expenses.

Your log should show the date, where you drove, the business purpose and the miles. A mileage app or your accounting software’s phone tracker does this automatically. Scheduling software with each day’s route also helps you rebuild a missed day.

When should you hire a bookkeeper or a CPA?

Hire a CPA or enrolled agent for your tax return from the first year if you have any doubt. Hire a bookkeeper when the weekly routine slips for two months in a row, or when you start running payroll for employees.

Signs it is time for help:

• You are more than a month behind on categorizing transactions.
• You hired your first employee and are unsure about payroll taxes and workers’ comp.
• You pay subcontractors and are not sure they are really contractors.
• You are thinking about forming an LLC or electing a different tax status.
• You owe sales tax in your state or province and have not registered.
• You got a letter from a tax agency you do not understand.

A bookkeeper keeps the books up to date each month. A CPA or enrolled agent prepares your return, plans taxes and represents you if there is a problem. Many small cleaning businesses do their own weekly bookkeeping and pay a CPA once a year. Fees for both are deductible business expenses.

Some vendors also sell bookkeeping. On the day we checked, Wave listed Wave Advisors, with a dedicated bookkeeper and monthly financial statements, starting at $149 a month.

Before your first meeting, pick your software, connect your bank and run the profit calculator so you can talk about real numbers. If you are still planning the business, the cleaning business plan guide shows how to project costs and profit.