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The general ledger itself — where transactions land, how they get classified, and how the local tax return comes out the other end. In Rhode Island the deciding constraint is usually sales tax 7.0% statewide (no local add-on) · destination sourcing, administered by Rhode Island Division of Taxation — so that is what every product below is judged against first.
Showing Rhode Island, United States — USD, sales tax, MM/DD/YYYY.
Search, sort, and filter the matrix. Every value is a word, not a tick — so nothing depends on colour to be understood.
Showing 13 of 13 criteria.
| Criterion | Built for this market | Built for this market | Available here | Available here | Available here |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local tax return from the ledgerWhether the periodic indirect-tax return is built from posted transactions, or has to be assembled somewhere else. | Sales-tax liability by state — Fully supported | Liability reports, filing via state portals — Supported with a caveat | Reports; filing via state portals — Supported with a caveat | Manual tax rates only — Limited | Manual tax rates only — Limited |
| Bank feedsHow transactions get in: a live connection to the bank, or a file you download and upload. | Direct feeds, 11,000+ institutions — Fully supported | Broad direct feeds — Fully supported | Major institutions — Fully supported | Paid tier — Supported with a caveat | Included — Fully supported |
| AI categorisationWhether transactions, bills, and receipts are classified by a model or by hand-written rules. | Included on every plan — Fully supported | Learned rules — Supported with a caveat | Bank rules and suggestions — Supported with a caveat | Basic rules — Limited | Basic rules — Limited |
| Multiple entitiesWhether a second legal entity fits in the same subscription or needs a second one. | Included — Fully supported | One company per subscription — Not supported | One organisation per subscription — Not supported | Multiple businesses per login — Supported with a caveat | One business per subscription — Not supported |
| Accountant accessWhether your advisor gets a login, and whether that login costs a seat. | Free, unlimited — Fully supported | Free accountant seat — Fully supported | Free advisor seat — Fully supported | Invite a collaborator — Supported with a caveat | Accountant seat included — Supported with a caveat |
| Pricing modelHow the bill scales — per user, per company, per module, or per transaction volume. | Per organisation — Fully supported | Per company, seat-limited tiers — Limited | Per organisation, tiered limits — Limited | Free tier available — Fully supported | Tiered by client count, paid extra users — Limited |
| InventoryStock tracking depth, and whether it costs extra. | Included — Fully supported | Higher tiers only — Supported with a caveat | Basic; deeper via apps — Supported with a caveat | Not available — Not supported | Not available — Not supported |
| Migration inHow much work it is to bring existing books across. | Assisted, included — Fully supported | Import tools and partner services — Supported with a caveat | Conversion tools and partners — Supported with a caveat | CSV import — Limited | CSV import — Limited |
| Local supportSupport in local hours, in local languages, by people who know the local rules. | US business hours — Fully supported | US support plus ProAdvisor network — Fully supported | Smaller US advisor network — Supported with a caveat | Email and chat — Limited | Phone support — Fully supported |
| Integrations and APIMarketplace breadth and whether there is an open API. | Open REST API + webhooks — Fully supported | Very large app marketplace — Fully supported | Large app marketplace — Fully supported | Limited — Limited | Moderate marketplace — Supported with a caveat |
| Multi-currencyForeign-currency invoicing and revaluation, and which tier it starts at. | Included — Fully supported | Higher tiers only — Supported with a caveat | Top tier only — Supported with a caveat | Limited — Limited | Supported — Supported with a caveat |
| Mobile appWhat you can actually finish on a phone, not just view. | iOS and Android — Fully supported | iOS and Android — Fully supported | iOS and Android — Fully supported | Invoicing and receipts — Supported with a caveat | iOS and Android — Fully supported |
| Works offlineWhether the product is usable without a connection. | Cloud only — Limited | Cloud only — Not supported | Cloud only — Not supported | Cloud only — Not supported | Cloud only — Not supported |
Local tax return from the ledger
Whether the periodic indirect-tax return is built from posted transactions, or has to be assembled somewhere else.
Bank feeds
How transactions get in: a live connection to the bank, or a file you download and upload.
AI categorisation
Whether transactions, bills, and receipts are classified by a model or by hand-written rules.
Multiple entities
Whether a second legal entity fits in the same subscription or needs a second one.
Accountant access
Whether your advisor gets a login, and whether that login costs a seat.
Pricing model
How the bill scales — per user, per company, per module, or per transaction volume.
Inventory
Stock tracking depth, and whether it costs extra.
Migration in
How much work it is to bring existing books across.
Local support
Support in local hours, in local languages, by people who know the local rules.
Integrations and API
Marketplace breadth and whether there is an open API.
Multi-currency
Foreign-currency invoicing and revaluation, and which tier it starts at.
Mobile app
What you can actually finish on a phone, not just view.
Works offline
Whether the product is usable without a connection.
Criteria are scoped to the United States: rows that would be meaningless here are not shown rather than being padded with "not applicable". Where we have not verified a capability for this market, the cell says "Not documented" rather than claiming a gap.
USD billing, US bank aggregation, and per-state sales-tax compute.
Home market; the largest accountant network of any product here.
Available with US bank feeds; the US accountant channel is smaller than the incumbent’s.
US-focused, aimed at freelancers and micro-businesses.
Strong with US freelancers and service firms.
Same in Rhode Island as everywhere else in the United States — pricing is national, not regional.
Prices are in USD. Sales tax on the subscription is applied where your state requires it. Per organisation with unlimited users. Verified .
We describe the pricing model rather than reprinting prices. A copied price goes stale without warning; a pricing model does not.
QuickBooks Online
Per company file, tiered by feature, with seat limits per tier.
Current QuickBooks Online pricing (opens on the vendor’s own site) ↗ · model checked
Xero
Per organisation, tiered, with feature limits per tier.
Current Xero pricing (opens on the vendor’s own site) ↗ · model checked
Wave
Free tier plus a paid tier; revenue comes mainly from payment processing.
Current Wave pricing (opens on the vendor’s own site) ↗ · model checked
FreshBooks
Tiered by billable-client count, with paid extra team members.
Current FreshBooks pricing (opens on the vendor’s own site) ↗ · model checked
Each page below goes deeper on one product, written for Rhode Island.
HelloBooks vs QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks works but the per-seat cost keeps climbing.
Compare for Rhode Island →
HelloBooks vs Xero
Xero is clean but the US tax side feels bolted on.
Compare for Rhode Island →
HelloBooks vs Wave
Wave is free and I have outgrown it.
Compare for Rhode Island →
HelloBooks vs FreshBooks
FreshBooks handles my invoicing but my CPA wants real books.
Compare for Rhode Island →
| Requirement | What it demands | HelloBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Economic nexus trackingLegal requirement · State departments of revenue ↗ | Since Wayfair, states can require registration once a remote seller crosses a revenue or transaction threshold in that state. Thresholds differ per state. | Covered |
| Destination vs origin sourcingLegal requirement · State departments of revenue ↗ | Most states source an intrastate sale to the buyer address; a minority source to the seller address. The wrong rule produces the wrong rate on every invoice. | Covered |
| 1099-NEC / 1099-MISC e-filingLegal requirement · IRS ↗ | Payments to unincorporated contractors above the annual threshold must be reported to the IRS and furnished to the recipient. | Covered |
| W-9 collection before paymentLegal requirement · IRS ↗ | A vendor W-9 must be on file before payment so the tax classification and TIN are known at year end. | Covered |
| Marketplace facilitator treatmentLegal requirement · State departments of revenue ↗ | Where a marketplace collects sales tax on your behalf, that revenue must be reported but excluded from your own remittance. | Partly covered |
Rhode Island levies a 7% state rate, with combined state and local rates of 7.0% statewide (no local add-on). Intrastate sales are sourced to the buyer address, so the rate follows the ship-to.
Region authority: Rhode Island Division of Taxation ↗ · Rhode Island compliance guide
Partly. Rhode Island levies a 7% state rate, with combined state and local rates of 7.0% statewide (no local add-on). Intrastate sales are sourced to the buyer address, so the rate follows the ship-to. The national sales tax rules are the same wherever you are registered, so the software shortlist barely moves — what moves is the configuration. Anything you choose has to handle sales tax 7.0% statewide (no local add-on) · destination sourcing correctly on every invoice without you remembering to set it per transaction.
Economic nexus is triggered at $100,000 in sales OR 200 transactions, measured over the previous or current calendar year. Intrastate sales are sourced to the buyer address, so the rate follows the ship-to. Rhode Island Division of Taxation is the authority to check for anything region-specific — see https://tax.ri.gov/tax-sections/sales-excise/sales-use-tax.
Pricing is national, not regional: $15 and $39 per month, billed annually, in USD, plus a free tier. Prices are in USD. Sales tax on the subscription is applied where your state requires it. Prices are per organisation with unlimited users, so a business in Rhode Island pays the same as one anywhere else in the United States.
In practice the shortlist here is usually QuickBooks Online, Xero, Wave — those are the products with the most local install base and the most CPAs who already know them. That familiarity is a genuine cost saving, and it is the main reason to stay put if nothing else is broken.
Yes, and at no extra cost. Advisors get their own login with their own permissions, and the seat is free — so bringing in a Rhode Island-based CPA does not change your bill. That matters most where the advisor relationship, not the software, is the real switching cost.
Each market has its own tax regime, currency, and shortlist of incumbents. Switch to the one where your business is registered.
United States comparison hub · All states · United States compliance hub