Overall: Manager saved me from going crazy using one of the big, cloud-based accounting packages. I get much more flexibility, better performance and better support, all while paying NOTHING so far. I would strongly encourage any SMB to take a look at Manager for their accounting needs.

Pros: What's not to love about FREE accounting software?? Yes, that's right...the basic desktop version is free, forever. Now, that means you don't get fancy cloud backups (but you can save your files on OneDrive, DropBox, Google Drive and such) nor do you get multiple user concurrent access. For those, you need to pay. But that's it! No other limitations. All features available to free users. Manager's strength is in the flexibility of setting up the chart of accounts. Unlike other similar software, there are virtually no restrictions on how you set up your accounts. The user interface is spartan, but easy to use. There are many modules which can be turned on or off to meet your needs. This helps keep your accounts and your software experience uncluttered. You can set up multiple business if desired, and each can be configured with unique sets of features as needed. Lastly, the authors update this program ALL THE TIME, like several times a month new features are added and bugs squashed. When using desktop or server versions, you can choose if and when to upgrade....the cloud version updates automatically.

Cons: The importing of transactions from banks is very fragile. You basically must decide to either enter ALL your transactions by hand, or NONE of them. If you try to enter most transactions and then import your bank file to catch any you missed, you are very likely to end up duplicating transactions. No Bueno! Reporting is quite limited and the custom reports feature is quite mysterious and not thoroughly documented.

Pros: easy to use, the desktop version is fully loaded, good for small business

Cons: no provision to pay the GST online return through this accounting software. also, the cloud version is highly expensive. I could have had purchased if it was less than 10 dollar per month.

Reasons for Switching to Manager: they only accept one business

Overall: I have been very happy with Manager. As a small consulting business with a more complicated accounting setup than most small businesses, the small business accounting software do not do what I need. Not so with Manager. It does everything I need including multiple currencies, configuration for multiple counties, and unlimited number of different business accounts. The features are rich and customizable which makes setting up just how I need and want simple and effective. Plus, Manager is actively updated.

Pros: This software is feature rich, customizable at all levels, yet simple and intuitive to use. The help files are the best I've seen for any software of any type and also has the best explanations of basic accounting concepts that I've read including AccountingCoach.com. The chart of accounts is the most useful and easy to design of any software I evaluated.

Cons: The GUI is a little dated looking. No automatic connection to banks (but that is not very important to me).

Switched From: Quickbooks Online and MYOB Essentials

Reasons for Switching to Manager: The other softwares did not meet my needs, leaving me always scrambling to figure out how to do what I needed only to discover I works need to buy the enterprise level software to do what I needed. That was too much for my small business.