Quickbooks Online Pricing

QuickBooks Online is packed with accounting features. But it can get pricey very quickly. Read on to learn what to budget.

Imagine subscribing to a QuickBooks Online plan, only to realize you don't need its features. That's money you could have used somewhere else.

Not to mention, the other costs can add up very quickly. You need to consider add-ons, integrations, and processing fees in your budget.

To help you out, we broke down all the prices to consider. We also listed the features for each plan and what type of business they could work with. So you can subscribe to the right one.

Read on to learn about them.

QuickBooks Online Pricing Comparison and Features

Each plan comes with a free trial or a 50% discount for your first 3 months. Unfortunately, you can't have both. But either one allows you to test its features while saving on costs.^[1]

This excludes the price for add-ons and integrations. Processing fees also differ depending on the type of transaction. Later, we'll talk about the price of each, so you can avoid surprise fees.

QuickBooks Online Simple Start: $30/mo.

Simple Start costs $30/mo with a free 30-day trial. But it's only $15/mo for 3 months if you choose the 50% discount instead.

This plan lets you track income and expenses. So you can see where the money is coming in and out of your business. You can even set tax categories to organize them and save time during tax season.

You can also create and send invoices to your customers. If you have the QuickBooks Payments add-on, they can pay directly through the invoice, making it convenient.

Other features let you:

• Take snapshots and organize receipts
  
• Track business-related mileage
  
• Manage cashflow
  
• Send estimates
  
• Create general reports
  
• Add sales tax
  
• Set 1099 categories for vendor payments

Is it worth it?
The Simple Start plan is limited to 1 user per account. This makes it a great option for new small businesses or solopreneurs.

It can make your workflow more efficient by better organizing your financial documents. This can be helpful when you're applying for small business loans.

But it can also be costly if you don't need all its features. For example, you might not need to track mileage or send estimates.

QuickBooks Online Essentials: $55/mo.

The Essentials plan costs $55/mo, while the discounted price is $27.50/mo for 3 months. It has all the features of the Simple Start plan, with a few additional ones.

With Essentials, you can:

• Manage and pay your bills
  
• Manage employees and track billable hours
  
• Create enhanced reports

All your bills are displayed in one dashboard, so you can avoid missed or delayed payments. You can pay everything using checks or direct deposits.

You can also assign employee cost rates and automatically add their time to invoices. That way, you can make payments quickly and easily, resulting in happy employees.

It also provides enhanced reports, including detailed reporting for P&L, accounts receivable, and accounts payable.

Is it worth it?
The Essentials plan is best for growing or service-based small businesses. You can have up to 3 users per account, which is enough for a small team.

The features are great if you work with multiple vendors or contractors. You can optimize everything using the bills feature.

If you're a growing company, tracking employees' billable hours will also help because you can compare budgeted and actual working hours.

QuickBooks Online Plus: $85/mo.

QuickBooks Online Plus costs $85/mo. But you can get it for just $42.50/mo for 3 months if you choose the discount.

It has all the features of the Essentials plan. But now, you can also:

• Track inventory
  
• Track project profitability
  
• Create more comprehensive reports

Tracking your inventory includes your products and the cost of goods. You'll also get notified when you're low on inventory. This makes it easier to keep things in stock.

On the other hand, the profitability tracking feature lets you view details such as labor costs, expenses, and income. So you can see how much you're making from each project.

Is it worth it?
If you have an online store, the Plus plan can be best for you. It seamlessly integrates with your store so you can track and fulfill orders from all sales channels. You can also make changes across channels simultaneously.

You can have up to 5 users per account with this plan. So everyone on your team, online and offline, can use it to manage your store.

QuickBooks Online Advanced: $200/mo.

The Advanced plan usually costs $200/mo at a regular price. But you can get it for only $100/mo for 3 months with the 50% discount.

It has everything from the Plus plan but with more integrations and customizations. For example, you can set up automatic workflows and backups for better efficiency and productivity.

You'll also get free online training, which can benefit you and your employees.

Other new features let you:

• Integrate QuickBooks with Excel
  
• Create invoices and expenses in batches
  
• Track employee expenses
  
• Customize employee access
  
• Integrate with premium applications
  
• Connect with a dedicated account team

Is it worth it?
QuickBooks Online Advanced is better suited for large and established businesses because it can have up to 25 users per account.

The reports are all customizable and presentation-ready. And you can also sync your spreadsheets for better accuracy.

Plus, because there's more automation and batch work, it makes your workflow more efficient.

Add-ons and Integrations

When planning your budget, take note that the price of each plan is only the starting cost. Add-ons and integrations will add to the total amount if you subscribe to them.

QuickBooks has 4 main add-ons to choose from and over 750 integrations. Here are some of them:

QuickBooks Live: $200/mo.

QuickBooks Live partners you with a live bookkeeper who can help you clean up and update your books. They will review your chart of accounts and ensure that your past transactions are well-organized.

They will also update your P&L and balance sheets. After the initial setup, you'll still receive regular bookkeeping support.

Pricing:^[3]
You can get a free consultation before you start. But there's a cleanup fee for the first month of your subscription.

The full-service bookkeeping service typically costs $200/mo. But this varies depending on your business's average monthly expenses. They may offer a different price after the initial consultation.

QuickBooks Payroll: Starts at $75/mo.

QuickBooks Payroll is an add-on for both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. It provides payroll services, HR features, and employee benefits.

The features include:

• Tax penalty protection (up to $25,000)
  
• Automatic filling and payment of taxes
  
• Automatic payroll
  
• Same-day direct deposit
  
• Time-tracking
  
• 1099 e-file and pay

You can also talk to an HR advisor through Mineral. That way, you're updated on the wage and overtime laws for your business.

You'll also learn more about handling hiring, termination, and other HR processes within your company.

With QuickBooks Payroll, you can also offer health benefits and 401(k) plans to your employees. Health benefits come from SimplyInsured and include medical, dental, and vision insurance packages. Group health benefits are also available.

Meanwhile, retirement plans are offered through Guideline. You can set up automatic contributions or let your employees decide how much they'll allot for it.

Pricing:^[4]

These plans come with both health and 401(k) benefits. But you'll still have to choose the specific packages for each one.

QuickBooks Payments: Starts at $30/mo.

This add-on lets you add a "Pay Now" button to your invoices. This makes payments more convenient, which can lead to quicker payoffs.

With QuickBooks Payments, you can accept credit and debit card payments, ACH transfers, and Apple Pay payments. Customers can also pay with eChecks. You can track the invoices you sent for status updates.

Aside from that, you can set up automatic and recurring invoices for regular suppliers or vendors. That way, you can focus on your business without worrying about billing.

Pricing:^[5]

• Simple Start: $30/mo
  
• Essentials: $55/mo

Rates per transaction:
Processing fees can be hidden fees businesses fail to consider. Take note of the following rates when determining your budget:

• ACH payments: 1% maxed at $10
  
• Keyed-in payments: 3.4% + 25¢
  
• Invoiced payments: 2.9% + 25¢
  
• Card reader: 2.4% + 25¢

If you want to avoid these fees, you can just manually record payments. You can also use other payment processors QuickBooks integrates with.

For example, you can use Freedom Merchants, Melio, or Expensify with QuickBooks Online.

QuickBooks Time: Starts at $40/mo.

QuickBooks Time is an app you and your employees can use to track time. You can view employee time data from any device, which is convenient if you have remote workers.

You can use it with your tablet as a punch clock for your office, so your employees can clock in and out of it easily. It's available for Android and iOS.

Employees can also take breaks and add timesheet details on it. If they use their smartphones, the app can alert them if they ever forget to clock in or out of the office.

Its other features let you:

• Compare actual to budgeted hours per project
  
• Track business-related miles
  
• View the activity feed for projects
  
• Set employee schedule by shifts or jobs

Pricing:^[6]
You can get a free 30-day trial for QuickBooks Time. A free plan is also available. But it's limited to 1 user. The rest of the plans are:

The Premium plan is enough if you only plan to track the time and attendance of your employees. But the Elite plan allows real-time collaboration as well.

QuickBooks Integrations

There are over 750 business software that integrate with QuickBooks Online. They enhance its existing features, such as making payments, managing customers and projects, running payroll, etc.

You can check if you can connect apps you already use. This makes it easier to adjust if you're new to QuickBooks.

Some examples of these integrations are Mailchimp, Etsy, Square, Amazon, and Veem. These apps are free, but there are Premium apps that require additional fees.

QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Desktop

You might wonder what's the difference between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. A lot of business owners prefer QuickBooks Desktop.

Here's a closer look at their differences:

QuickBooks Desktop Pricing^[7]
To help you decide which option is best for you, here are the currently offered pricing plans for QBD:

QuickBooks vs. Competitors

There are other accounting software available for your business. Comparing the costs can help you decide if QuickBooks Online pricing is worth it.

We compared it with Xero, FreshBooks, and Wave Accounting. Their pricing starts at:

• Xero: $13/mo^[8]
• FreshBooks: $17/mo^[9]
  
• Wave Accounting: Free^[10]

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Frequently Asked Questions

• How much is a 1-year subscription to QuickBooks? Annual subscriptions are available for QuickBooks Desktop, which starts at $799/yr. If you subscribe to QuickBooks Online, you'll have to choose from one of their monthly plans. It starts at $30/mo, which equals $360 per year.

• How much is QuickBooks Online every month? This depends on the plan you choose. The Simple Start plan costs $30/mo. The Essentials plan starts at $55/mo. The Plus plan costs $85/mo. And the advanced plan is $200/mo.

  But this is just the starting price. You'll also need to consider processing fees and add-ons.

• Does QuickBooks Online have a yearly fee? At the moment, QuickBooks Online only offers monthly subscriptions. But you can multiply the monthly cost by 12 to see how much it'll cost you in a year. That said, annual fees typically don't have discounts.

• Is QuickBooks Online a one-time purchase? Unfortunately, there is no one-time payment for QuickBooks Online.
  It's a monthly subscription that you can upgrade or downgrade at any time. Add-ons also require subscriptions, And some integrations may have additional fees.

• Can I use QuickBooks Online for free? Yes, you can try QuickBooks Online for free. You can sign up for a 30 day free trial. There is no credit card required and you can cancel anytime.

The Bottom Line

QuickBooks Online can end up costing you more than you planned. That's why it's best to know the ins and outs of its pricing, including the cost of processing fees, add-ons, and integrations.

It's an expensive option compared to its competitors. But you can save on costs for 3 months with their 50% off discount.

Keep in mind that you can downgrade your plan if you've decided some features aren't essential and only upgrade as needed.

References