Local-first
Customer-controlled files, cloud optional.
Your company file stays in your hands. Back it up, copy it, move it, and keep working without asking a vendor for permission.
JouraBooks — fast desktop accounting that keeps your books on your machine.
Accounting software for small businesses and the accountants who serve them. Keyboard-first forms, a company file you control, and books you can tie out, without waiting on a browser or someone else's servers.
Your books, on your machine, on your terms.
On your computer, and online when you want it.
On your computer
Shared
Why JouraBooks
Accounting software should be fast, stay out of your way, and never hold your books hostage.
Most accounting software now lives in a browser tab, on someone else's servers. That works for some teams. It doesn't suit the ones who enter hundreds of transactions a week, work where the connection is unreliable, or want their books in a file they control.
JouraBooks is built for those teams: desktop speed, a company file on your machine, and bookkeeping you can check. When you want browser access or your accountant in the books, sharing is one switch away, never a requirement.
Built for volume
No connection needed
"Books that tie out."
Coming from QuickBooks Desktop? JouraBooks imports your chart of accounts, lists, open work, and the history needed to reconcile core reports. See the migration plan.
What we're building
Current product principles shaping the roadmap.
Desktop-familiar
Built to keep retraining effectively zero.
Invoices, estimates, POs, bills, and deposits with familiar form patterns and keyboard-first flows for experienced desktop accounting users.
Ask Joura
Your AI assistant for accounting work.
Ask Joura lives inside JouraBooks. It answers accounting questions from your own books and drafts routine bookkeeping for you to review and approve.
Own your data
Your data stays yours. Open formats, full export, no lock-in.
Exporting your data should stay straightforward, and moving off JouraBooks should stay practical if your needs change.
Straightforward pricing
Beta access is free.
We'll publish pricing and licensing options before launch.
How it compares
A plain-English look at the choices business owners, bookkeepers, and accountants are weighing.
Data control
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
✓
×
×
×
Offline work
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
✓
×
×
×
Desktop and browser, in sync
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
◐
◐
◐
◐
Free accountant access
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
◐
✓
✓
◐
Fast bookkeeping entry
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
✓
◐
◐
◐
Migration checks
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
–
◐
◐
◐
Flexible reporting
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
◐
◐
◐
✓
Tie-out checks
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
◐
◐
◐
✓
Rebuildable audit trail
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
◐
◐
◐
◐
Practical customization
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
◐
◐
◐
◐
Accounting AI
Joura
QBD
QBO
Xero
Intacct
✓
×
◐
◐
✓
| Feature | QBD | QBO | Xero | Sage Intacct | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data control Keep your data available to back up, move, and export. | ✓ | ✓ | × | × | × |
| Offline work Keep entering work without waiting on a browser or cloud service. | ✓ | ✓ | × | × | × |
| Desktop and browser, in sync Work in the desktop app, even offline, or from any browser, on the same books. | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ |
| Free accountant access Invite your accountant into your books at no extra cost. | ✓ | ◐ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ |
| Fast bookkeeping entry Keyboard-friendly forms for daily bookkeeping and adjustments. | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ |
| Migration checks Import, opening balances, open work, and cutover report checks. | ✓ | – | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ |
| Flexible reporting Report by class, job, location, department, fund, customer, or project. | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Tie-out checks Help keep customer, vendor, and GL balances aligned. | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Rebuildable audit trail Designed to rebuild reports from book history, not just show an activity log. | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ |
| Practical customization Adapt fields, workflows, reports, and industry defaults without an ERP project. | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ |
| Accounting AI Answer questions and draft actions from your books. | ✓ | × | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ |
Built for accountants with many clients
If you run books for many clients, JouraBooks is built with you in mind: fast switching between client books, free access to the books your clients share with you, and batch migration from QuickBooks® Desktop.
We migrate the accounting data teams verify first: structure, open work, and the history needed to reconcile core reports after cutover.
Core accounting structure, open work, and reconciliation-ready history.
- Chart of accounts and opening balances
- Customers & jobs hierarchy
- Vendors & 1099 eligibility
- Items, terms, tax codes, and tax items
- Open invoices, bills & POs
- Historical transactions needed to reconcile core reports
- Clear reconciliation plan for cutover
Be early. Help shape it.
Invites go out in waves. You'll see a real desktop build before the marketing copy catches up — and the team is small enough to act on what you tell us.