Shorestack Books is a browser-based bookkeeping app designed for freelancers, small businesses, and agencies. It handles bank imports, auto-categorization, double-entry accounting, invoicing, and tax reporting — everything you need to replace spreadsheets or QuickBooks.
It's built for freelancers and consultants who need to track income and expenses, small businesses looking for an affordable bookkeeping tool, small agencies managing vendors and invoices, and rental property owners who need Schedule E reporting.
No. Shorestack Books starts in Essential mode, which shows only the features most people need: import transactions, review and categorize, view your P&L. The app handles double-entry accounting behind the scenes. If you want more control, switch to Pro mode to access the Chart of Accounts, journal entries, and advanced reports.
Shorestack Books is a Progressive Web App (PWA). You can install it on your phone directly from the browser — no app store required. It includes a mobile-optimized navigation, touch-friendly transaction cards, receipt camera capture, and an offline indicator so you know when you're working without a connection.
Yes. Your data is stored locally in your browser using IndexedDB. You can use Shorestack Books without an internet connection. When you're back online, any changes sync automatically to the cloud.
Shorestack Books uses Plaid, the same service used by Venmo, Robinhood, and thousands of other financial apps. When you connect a bank, Plaid opens a secure window where you log into your bank directly. Your bank credentials are never shared with Shorestack — Plaid handles the authentication and sends us only your transaction data.
Plaid connects to 12,000+ financial institutions in the US, including Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, US Bank, Citi, and most credit unions and community banks. If your bank supports online banking, it almost certainly works with Plaid.
Yes. Plaid is trusted by millions of users and thousands of apps. Your bank login happens inside Plaid's secure window — Shorestack never sees your username or password. Plaid uses bank-level encryption (AES-256) and is SOC 2 Type II certified. The connection is read-only: Plaid can only read transactions, it cannot move money or make changes to your account.
Only transaction data: date, description, amount, and Plaid's category suggestion. We do not receive your bank login credentials, account numbers, routing numbers, or any other sensitive banking details.
Yes. Go to the Banking tab and click Disconnect on any connected account. This immediately revokes the Plaid access token. Transactions already imported will remain in your books, but no new transactions will sync.
No problem. You can import transactions manually using CSV, Excel, OFX, or QFX files downloaded from your bank's website. Shorestack auto-detects column mapping for most banks, including Bank of America, Chase, and generic CSV formats.
When you open the Banking tab, Shorestack checks for new transactions from your connected banks. You can also manually trigger a sync at any time. New transactions appear in the Review tab for you to categorize and approve before they hit your books.
Yes. Plaid supports both personal and business checking accounts, savings accounts, and credit cards. If your bank supports it through online banking, it should connect through Plaid.
Yes. The Free plan includes 1 business, file import (CSV/Excel/OFX), transaction review and categorization, P&L, Balance Sheet, Dashboard, and the Sandy assistant. It's a fully functional bookkeeping tool with no time limit.
Starter ($4.99/mo) — 2 businesses, 1 bank connection, 10 receipt scans/month, email reports, all tax reports, all financial reports.
Growth ($9.99/mo) — 5 businesses, 3 bank connections, 25 receipt scans/month, Pro mode unlocked, all features included.
Business ($16.99/mo) — 15 businesses, 6 bank connections, 50 receipt scans/month, all features, priority support.
All paid plans support Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) — add your own OpenAI API key for unlimited receipt scanning on any plan.
Yes. There are no contracts. You can cancel your subscription at any time from the Settings page. Your plan stays active until the end of your current billing period, then it reverts to the Free plan. Your data is never deleted.
Yes. Upgrades and downgrades are handled through Stripe and prorated automatically. Go to Settings → Subscription to manage your plan.
Essential mode shows a simplified set of tabs: Dashboard, Banking, Import, Review, Transactions, Invoicing, P&L, Balance Sheet, Reconciliation, and Settings. This covers everything most small business owners need.
Pro mode unlocks additional tabs: Chart of Accounts, Journal Entries, General Ledger, Trial Balance, Budget, Cash Flow, Audit Trail, and more. You can toggle between modes at any time in the sidebar.
Shorestack uses a 4-layer categorization engine. When a transaction comes in, it checks: (1) your custom rules (e.g., “Amazon = Supplies”), (2) learned patterns from your past approvals, (3) smart matching based on vendor name similarity, and (4) Plaid's category hint. Most transactions get categorized automatically after a few weeks of use.
Yes. The Invoicing tab lets you create professional invoices with line items, payment terms (Net 30, Net 15, etc.), and PDF export. You can track payment status, see aging reports, and record full or partial payments.
Yes. Every approved transaction automatically generates a balanced journal entry (debits = credits). This is GAAP-compliant and happens behind the scenes — you don't need to understand debits and credits unless you want to. All reports are generated from journal entries for accuracy.
Sandy is the built-in expert bookkeeping assistant. It provides 200+ plain-English answers to common bookkeeping questions, a glossary of accounting terms, contextual tips based on which tab you're on, and guided actions that can navigate you to the right place in the app. Sandy runs entirely offline with zero API costs — it's not an AI chatbot, it's a structured knowledge base.
Upload or photograph a receipt, and Shorestack's OCR engine extracts the vendor name, date, amount, and category. It creates a draft transaction that you review and approve. Batch scanning lets you upload multiple receipts at once. Receipt scan quotas depend on your plan (10, 25, or 50 per month), or you can use your own OpenAI API key for unlimited scanning.
Yes. In Settings → API Key (BYOK), you can enter your own OpenAI API key. This bypasses your plan's monthly scan quota and gives you unlimited receipt scanning. Standard OpenAI API usage charges apply — you pay OpenAI directly for each scan. Your key is stored locally on your device only — it's never saved on our servers. You can test, save, or remove your key at any time. Get an API key at platform.openai.com/api-keys.
Yes. Depending on your plan, you can manage up to 15 separate businesses from one account. Each business has its own transactions, bank accounts, and reports. Use the Business Manager in the sidebar to switch between them. Consolidated reports let you see combined P&L and Balance Sheet across all businesses.
Your data is stored in two places: locally in your browser (IndexedDB) and in the cloud (Supabase with PostgreSQL). The local copy means the app works offline. The cloud copy keeps everything in sync if you log in from another device. You own your data — you can export it at any time.
Yes. Cloud data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest. Backups can be encrypted with AES-256-GCM, which is the same standard used by banks and government agencies. You can enable backup encryption in Settings.
No. Shorestack does not sell, share, or monetize your financial data in any way. Your data is used solely to provide the bookkeeping service. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Yes. You can enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) in Settings. There's also a configurable inactivity auto-logout (15, 30, or 60 minutes) that locks your session if you step away.
Yes. Shorestack offers manual and automatic backups with optional AES-256 encryption. You can also back up to Google Drive. Backups can be scheduled weekly and the app keeps up to 10 rolling backup copies.
Free plan: P&L and Balance Sheet. Paid plans add: General Ledger, Trial Balance, Cash Flow Statement, Budget vs. Actual, Consolidated Reports, and all tax reports. Every report can be exported as a PDF or emailed directly to your accountant.
Yes. Schedule C is auto-generated for sole proprietors, mapping your expense categories to IRS line items. Schedule E is available for rental property income and expenses. Both are available on paid plans.
Yes. The Tax Handoff tab generates IRS-formatted 1099-NEC PDFs (Copy A, B, and C) and FIRE e-file format for electronic filing. You can track filing status, send recipient copies, and batch-generate for all qualifying vendors.
Yes. The Estimated Taxes tab uses the IRS Form 1040-ES formula, including self-employment tax, federal income tax with current brackets, and safe harbor analysis. It shows quarterly payment amounts and due dates.
Yes. The Email Reports feature lets you select any report, choose a date range, add recipients, include a message, and send the report as a PDF attachment — all from within the app. Available on Starter plan and above.
Go to shorestack.io/books and click Try It Free. You can sign up with email and password or use Google sign-in. The onboarding wizard walks you through naming your business, picking your business type, and choosing Essential or Pro mode.
Go to the Import tab and upload a file from your bank. Shorestack supports CSV, Excel (.xlsx), OFX, and QFX formats. The import wizard auto-detects your bank format and maps columns automatically. After import, transactions appear in the Review tab for categorization.
Go to the Banking tab and click Connect Bank. This opens a Plaid window where you search for your bank and log in securely. Once connected, transactions sync automatically. Bank connections require a Starter plan or above.
Yes. Export your transactions from QuickBooks as a CSV file, then import them into Shorestack using the Import tab. The generic CSV importer lets you map any column layout. Your categorization rules and learned patterns will build up quickly as you review imported transactions.
The Custom plan is for businesses that need Shorestack Books tailored to their specific industry and workflows. Every business is unique — a bar's inventory tracking system is very different from a candle shop's production costing. The Custom plan includes everything in the Business tier plus industry-specific modules, tailored expense categories and reports, custom workflows, dedicated onboarding, and a branded instance.
Examples include: bar/restaurant pour-cost tracking and daily register reconciliation, e-commerce marketplace fee breakdowns and per-SKU COGS, agencies project-based P&L and retainer billing, retail raw material costing and batch production tracking, property management tenant ledgers and maintenance costing, and trades job costing and estimate-to-actual comparisons. If you can describe the workflow, we can likely build it.
Custom pricing depends on the scope of work. After a discovery call, we provide a fixed-price proposal so you know exactly what you're paying before we start. There's a recurring monthly fee for hosting, support, and maintenance of your custom instance, plus a one-time build fee for the initial customization.
Most customizations are delivered within 2-4 weeks from approval. Larger projects with multiple custom modules may take 4-8 weeks. We'll provide a timeline estimate in our proposal.
Visit the Customization page and fill out the consultation request form. Tell us about your business, your industry, and what you need. We'll respond within 1-2 business days to schedule a discovery call.
Bank connections can occasionally require re-authentication, especially after password changes or if your bank updates their security. Go to the Banking tab and look for a status indicator on the affected connection. Click to re-authenticate through Plaid. If the issue persists, disconnect and reconnect the account.
Shorestack has built-in 2-pass duplicate detection that catches most duplicates during import. If some slip through, go to the Maintenance tab and run the data integrity scanner — it will flag potential duplicates for your review. You can void duplicates (which preserves the audit trail) rather than deleting them.
Shorestack uses a void-instead-of-delete approach. When you void a transaction, it creates a reversal journal entry and marks the original as voided — nothing is ever permanently deleted. This gives you a complete audit trail. Year-end closings can also be reversed if needed.
Try a hard refresh (Cmd+Shift+R on Mac or Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows). If the issue persists, clear the browser cache for shorestack.io. Your data is safe — it's stored in IndexedDB and cloud sync, not in the browser cache. If you're still having trouble, email contact@shorestack.io.