ZOHO BOOKS ALTERNATIVE
Enlivy vs Zoho Books
Zoho Books is capable accounting software with a free tier. The pipeline lives in Zoho CRM, the signatures in Zoho Sign, and payroll in Zoho Payroll, so one workflow means several subscriptions. Here is where each one actually wins.
HOW THEY COMPARE
Enlivy vs Zoho Books, capability by capability
Most of what Zoho is missing here, Zoho sells you separately. This table rates Zoho Books itself, because that is what you are comparing when you price it, and the point of the comparison is how much of one workflow sits inside one product.
| Capability | Enlivy This page | Zoho Books Accounting |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing & payment collection | Strong | Strong |
| Recurring billing / subscriptions | Strong | Strong |
| Client self-service portal | Strong | Strong |
| Bank sync & reconciliation | Strong | Strong |
| Bookkeeping, ledger & tax filing | Absent | Strong |
| Inventory management | Absent | Strong |
| Sales pipeline in the same product | Strong | Absent |
| Contracts with e-signature in the same product | Strong | Absent |
| EU e-invoicing (PEPPOL / ANAF eFactura) | Strong | Absent |
| No annual invoice ceiling | Strong | Partial |
STRENGTHS ON BOTH SIDES
Where each one actually wins
Zoho's breadth is real. So is the cost of assembling it.
Where Zoho Books wins
Zoho Books is real accounting software, which Enlivy is not: a general ledger, tax filing, 1099 handling, multi-currency, purchase and sales orders, inventory from the Professional tier, and a genuinely usable free plan for a single user. Extra users cost 3 dollars a month, which is among the cheapest per-seat pricing anywhere.
If you already run other Zoho products, the integration between them is tight and that counts for a lot.
Where Enlivy wins
Zoho Books has no sales pipeline and no e-signature: those are Zoho CRM and Zoho Sign, bought and administered separately, with payroll separate again. Getting one deal from first contact to paid invoice means stitching several subscriptions together.
It also has no ANAF eFactura or PEPPOL support, and every tier carries an annual invoice ceiling, from 1,000 up to 100,000. In Enlivy the pipeline, the signed contract and the compliant invoice are one product with no ceiling.
ONE SUBSCRIPTION, NOT FOUR
The deal, the signature and the invoice in one place
No Zoho CRM for the pipeline, no Zoho Sign for the contract, no separate payroll product. One record from first contact to reconciled payment.
Free to start · No credit card required · EU e-invoicing built in
PRICING
Cheap per product, multiplied by products
Zoho Books on its own is inexpensive. The workflow this page compares is not just Zoho Books.
Zoho Books: six tiers plus the rest of the suite
Free for one user, then Standard at 20 dollars a month for three users, Professional 50 for five, Premium 70 for ten, Elite 150, Ultimate 275 for fifteen. Extra users are 3 dollars a month. Each tier caps invoices per year, from 1,000 on the entry plans to 100,000 at the top. The pipeline, e-signature and payroll are priced on top as separate Zoho products.
Enlivy: pay for what you use
Enlivy prices per feature pack: invoicing, contracts, and the sales pipeline are separate packs inside one product; payroll comes bundled with invoicing and the customer portal is included.
There is no annual invoice ceiling and no per-seat charge, and nothing on this page needs a second subscription to work. See plans and pricing.
WHO IT FITS
Who each one actually fits
A quick way to self-select before you read the rest of the page.
Zoho Books fits you if
- You need real bookkeeping, a general ledger and tax filing, not just invoicing.
- You already run Zoho CRM, Zoho Sign or other Zoho products and want everything in one vendor.
- You carry inventory, and you don't need EU e-invoicing.
Enlivy fits you if
- You want the pipeline, contract and invoice in one product rather than three that integrate.
- You invoice into the EU, or specifically into Romania, and need ANAF eFactura or PEPPOL built in.
- You'd rather keep an accountant for the books than administer an accounting system yourself.
SWITCHING
Switching from Zoho Books
This move is usually about subscription count, not features. Zoho has all the pieces; they just aren't in the same product.
What you run today
- Zoho Books Invoicing and accounting, with an annual invoice ceiling
- Zoho CRM The pipeline, sold separately
- Zoho Sign E-signature, sold separately again
- Nothing for EU compliance No PEPPOL, no ANAF eFactura anywhere in the suite
What it becomes
Enlivy
- Pipeline, proposal and signed contract in one record
- Billing schedules for retainers and subscriptions
- ANAF eFactura and PEPPOL on every invoice
- No annual invoice ceiling and no per-seat charge
What stays where it is
- Zoho Books or your accountant general ledger, tax filing
- Zoho Inventory stock, if you carry any
Enlivy is not accounting software and does not do inventory. If you kept Zoho Books for the ledger alone, its free single-user tier may well cover that on its own.
How the move works
- 1
Export what you have
Customers and open invoices come out of Zoho Books as a spreadsheet.
- 2
Import and connect
They land in Enlivy linked to the contracts and billing schedules behind them.
- 3
Drop the extra subscriptions
The CRM and e-signature products the workflow needed stop being necessary.
TRY IT ON ONE DEAL
You can test this without migrating anything
Create an organization, take one deal from proposal to signed contract to paid invoice, and count how many subscriptions it took.
Free to start · No credit card required · EU e-invoicing built in
ZOHO BOOKS ALTERNATIVE
Enlivy vs Zoho Books: common questions
Is Enlivy a replacement for Zoho Books, or does it work alongside it?
It replaces the commercial side, not the books. Zoho Books is real accounting software with a general ledger and tax filing, and Enlivy is not. Most teams that switch keep an accountant, or Zoho Books itself on its free single-user tier, and move the pipeline, contracts, billing and invoicing into Enlivy.
Doesn't Zoho have a CRM and e-signature too?
Yes, as separate products. The pipeline is Zoho CRM, signatures are Zoho Sign, and payroll is Zoho Payroll, each bought and administered on its own. That is the point of this comparison: getting one deal from first contact to paid invoice takes several Zoho subscriptions, and one product in Enlivy.
Can Enlivy send an EU e-invoice or ANAF eFactura that Zoho Books can't?
Yes. Enlivy issues ANAF eFactura and PEPPOL e-invoices as part of every invoice. Zoho Books has no PEPPOL or eFactura support, so invoicing into Romania and increasingly across the EU needs something else regardless of which Zoho tier you are on.
What is the annual invoice ceiling on Zoho Books?
Every tier has one. The entry plans allow between 1,000 and 5,000 invoices a year, Professional and Premium between 10,000 and 25,000, and Elite and Ultimate reach 100,000. Enlivy has no invoice ceiling and no per-seat charge, so volume and headcount don't move the price.
What happens to my customers and invoices if I switch?
Customers and open invoices export from Zoho Books as a spreadsheet and import into Enlivy, where they arrive linked to the contracts and billing schedules behind them. Invoices already issued stay in your records as they are, and whoever keeps your ledger carries on unchanged.