QuickBooks Online Pricing – Which Plan is Right For You in 2025?

Updated Dec 6, 2022.
Quickbooks - smart, simple online accounting software for small business

QuickBooks Online offers four pricing plans for a wide range of small businesses and independent contractors. However, choosing the right plan can be a bit tricky. If you are wondering which plan is right for you, keep reading.

The goal of this post is to discuss The QuickBooks Online pricing plans namely Simple Start, Plus, Advanced and Self-Employed, and help you make an informed decision.

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QuickBooks Online Pricing Comparison: Which Plan Should I Pick?

1. Simple Start

Best QuickBooks Online Plan for Small Businesses with Few Transactions

QuickBooks  Simple Start Online Plan for Small Businesses.

This is the smallest QuickBooks Plan suitable for startups with relatively small numbers of transactions. However, many established businesses also use this plan. It costs only 12.50 per month.

How do you know if it is the right plan for you? Well, it depends on the size and type of your business. The plan offers only the basic features intended for accountants, doctors, lawyers, service consultants, repair shops, hotels, SaaS businesses and other industries.

If you have a target market and are running a business that does not require many features other than tracking income and expenses, the Simple Start plan may be a good pick for you.

2. Plus

Best QuickBooks Online Plan for Established Organizations

QuickBooks Plus Plan for Established Organizations

According to the statistics published by the company, QuickBooks Plus is the most popular of the five packages. This plan provides great functionality and allows you to add up to five users.

The Inventory Tracking feature is very useful for wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers. It allows you to see the effects of your stock turn on your profitability.

The Plus plan is suitable for service contractors, web design agencies, eCommerce businesses, work contractors, Amazon sellers, multi-channel online sellers and retail shops.

3. Advanced

Best QuickBooks Online Plan for Fast-Growing Businesses

QuickBooks Advanced Online Plan for Fast Growing Businesses.

This plan is intended for fast-growing service-based businesses. It costs $75 per month. Up to 25 users can use this plan simultaneously. This plan helps organizations create invoices, track expenses, produce reports, and manage other essential tasks.

This plan is known for providing automated workflows, customizable tracking tools, cash flow and real time revenue management tools. This plan makes it very easy to manage individual projects.

4. Self-Employed

Best QuickBooks Online Plan for Freelancers, Contractors and Independent Artists

QuickBooks Self Employed Online Plan for Freelancers.

The Self-Employed plan is very popular among freelancers with a passion for creating real abundance. The plan comes with useful features such as expense tracking, quarterly tax calculator, invoicing, deductions, and some useful reports.

The plan allows you to maximize business deductions and figure out business profits. It categorizes transactions for your annual tax return. The plan offers a free trial, and you can cancel it any time.

What Features Do The Different QuickBooks Plans Include?

You can choose the right plan only if you know what features different QuickBooks plans offer. Now we will go a little bit deeper into the features.

1. Features of the Simple Start Plan

This is the most basic plan intended for businesses that are just getting started. The Simple Start plan provides enough features for a small business that does not have lots of transactions. As your business grows, you may need to upgrade to another plan. The Simple Start plan allows you to

  • Capture and organize receipts – If you take photos of your receipts, the tool automatically matches the photos to your existing expenses. Your transactions are automatically sorted into tax categories.
  • Track income and expenses – This plan lets you know what you are actually doing with your money. You can import transactions from your credit cards, bank, Square, PayPal, and more.
  • Maximize tax deductions – This plan helps you avoid tax-time surprises. The tool makes it very easy to export important documents. Your important books are automatically shared with your accountant. Your business expenses are automatically sorted into tax categories.
  • Track miles – With the Simple Start plan, you can use your smartphone’s GPS to track miles automatically. Your business and personal trips can be categorized with a swipe. You can also add trips manually. QuickBooks provides you with reports that can be shared easily.
  • Run general reports – You can export reports including expenses, profit and loss, and balance sheets. Your dashboard shows reporting and cash flow, so you do not have to deal with unpleasant surprises.
  • Manage cash flow – For business banking, you can open a cost account inside QuickBooks. You can get paid in person or online, and the payments are deposited instantly. Better, yet, you do not have to pay any extra cost for this.
  • Send estimates – To fit your business needs, you can customize estimates. The Estimate status is displayed instantly. You can accept mobile signatures. Estimates can be easily converted into invoices.

2. Features of the Plus Plan

QuickBooks Online Plus plan provides all features provided by the Simple Start and Essentials plans. Apart from these features, the Plus plan offers some other features such as tracking inventory quantities. Here are the features at a glance:

  • Create custom classes – To track profit and loss, you can create classes by product type or anything you wish.
  • Create locations – With the Plus plan, you can track profit and loss by location. It allows you to view a particular store’s profit and loss.
  • Set pricing rules – This feature is for assigning special pricing rules to customers or customer types. For example, you can group your most loyal customers into a particular type and assign a different pricing rule to that group.
  • Track inventory cost – The software allows you to track the cost of your inventory items. QuickBooks Online Plus uses the FIFO method to determine the cost.
  • Create projects – To track the profit and loss for specific jobs, you can also create projects. You can assign expenses and labor to projects. And when you assign labor to a job, the software also assigns the cost of employee benefits and payroll taxes to the job.
  • Budget expenses – For each account, you have an expected amount of expense. By inputting this amount, you can create your fiscal-year budget. You can also break down the budget by location, class, and project.

3. Features of the Advanced Plan

QuickBooks Advanced is for relatively large-scale businesses with lots of transactions. It provides all the features that come with QuickBooks Online Plus and some additional features provided by higher-end accounting software tools. Here are the additional features:

  • Business analytics and insights – To have a better understanding of the performance of your business, you can use some in-depth analysis tools and track your financial and non-financial KPIs. You can also create customizable and easy-to-read reports.
  • Customize access by role – With this feature, you can control who can see your sensitive data. To increase the productivity of your team, you can also assign work to particular users. This feature also allows you to create custom permissions for sales transactions, deposits and expense reports.
  • Batch invoices and expenses – With batch invoicing, you can create invoices 73% faster. The feature makes it very easy to edit and send multiple checks, invoices, expenses and bills.
  • Dedicated account team – The Advanced plan also includes VIP support. You can get in touch with a dedicated account team. Whenever you need support, you can email, call or schedule an appointment with the team. The top-tier experts resolve technical issues quickly.
  • Restore company data – The software backs up your data automatically and continuously. You can easily view the version histories, and based on a chosen time, you can also restore a previous version of your company.
  • On-demand online training – QuickBooks offers free online training for you and your team. This training can help your team master new skills. There is no rigid timeframe. You can get the training whenever you feel convenient.
  • Automate workflows – Automated workflows help you mitigate risks and save time. Configure triggers and reminders based on the rules you have made for your business.

4. Features of the Self-Employed Plan

QuickBooks Self-Employed is suitable for people who work for themselves. If you are a self-employed individual with inventory or employees, you may need to upgrade to a more advanced plan. Here are the features that come with the self-employed plan:

  • Connect bank accounts – This feature allows you to mark credit card transactions as personal or classify them into business expenses.
  • Generate invoices – The process of generating invoices is intuitive. And you can easily email the invoices to your customers.
  • Track mileage – Even if the mobile app is closed, it captures all trips and makes it easy to classify them as personal or business. And if you want to enter trips manually, you can do so easily.
  • Run basic reports – The software provides you with the summaries of miles driven and invoices sent. The profit and loss reporting shows how much you are earning.
  • Capture receipts – The mobile app allows you to create new transactions and take pictures of receipts. The tool automatically matches the existing transactions.

QuickBooks Online Add-ons: Payroll, Tax Forms, Integrations, and More

QuickBooks is already loaded with lots of features. The software also provides amazing add-ons to propel your business better. Here are the top ones:

1. Receipt Bank

QuickBooks Add-On for Managing Invoices, Receipts and Other Documents

Dext is a powerful accounting tool that can enrich your QuickBooks arsenal.

Receipt Bank is a powerful accounting tool that can enrich your QuickBooks arsenal. The tool is powered by an advanced machine learning technology that does data-entry which can be very time-consuming if done manually.

Receipt Bank’s core features include one-click publishing, receipt scans, managing employee expenses, and collecting invoices automatically.

The features are intuitive. The add-on comes with a 14-day trial. So, you can try before you buy.

2. eBility

QuickBooks Add-On for Time tracking, Scheduling and GPS Tracking

eBility is one of the most well known QuickBooks add ons to help keep time tracking and payroll easy.

eBility is one of the most well-known QuickBooks add-ons to help keep time-tracking and payroll easy. This add-on has an average rating of 4.5.

With this add-on, you can highlight particular projects, employees and clients that you deem important to your business. The platform shows data that can eliminate or significantly reduce operational inefficiencies.

eBility is also used for time tracking, GPS tracking and scheduling. By combining payroll, time tracking and invoicing, the add-on saves hours of manual work. If you have an entrepreneurial mindset, you know how valuable this automation can be.

3. Method:CRM

QuickBooks Add-On That Simplifies Management

Method:CRM is quickBooks Add On That Simplifies Management.

Method:CRM is an add-on that simplifies the process of managing your clients. This CRM can be easily integrated with invoices. And it is very easy to use.

On the QuickBooks store, Method:CRM has more than 1200 five star reviews, making it one of the most popular sought-after CRMs on the market.

The add-on comes with a sophisticated sync technology that pulls payments and invoices instantly.

Method:CRM’s features include managing leads and customer information, and streamlining workflows by producing reports and templates.

This CRM is especially useful for small business owners. There is a 30-day free trial.

4. Fundbox

QuickBooks Add-On That Helps Your Business Overcome Cash Flow Gaps

Fundbox is QuickBooks Add On That Helps Your Business Overcome Cash Flow Gaps.

Fundbox is very useful for small businesses that need some extra investment. Fundbox supplies credit to help small businesses grow. But it does not supply credit in a traditional way.

To help optimize cash flow for businesses, Fundbox uses engineering, big data analytics and protective modeling.

It works in a pretty straightforward way. You have to connect your QuickBooks account and share basic information about your business. Fundbox lets you know whether you qualify. And if you qualify, you can draw funds anytime.

5. Taxomate

QuickBooks Add-On That Automates Bookkeeping Needs of Amazon Sellers

Taxomate is a great time saver for QuickBooks users who run Amazon marketplace businesses.

Taxomate is a great time saver for QuickBooks users who run Amazon marketplace businesses. This add-on makes it super easy to import transactions from Amazon.

And it is automated, so you do not have to pay someone to input transactions. Taxomate goes to your Amazon account and finds settlements. It automatically creates journals and sends them to QuickBooks.

Whenever you initiate a new settlement, QuickBooks detects it and makes a summary of expenses. The summary includes other transaction data.

The pricing plans are reasonable and they scale appropriately when your sales increase.

For Amazon store owners, it is an incredibly helpful tool with many glowing reviews.

QuickBooks Alternatives: Pricing Compared to Its Competitors

QuickBooks has gained popularity for its reliability, affordability and ease of use, but there are some pretty good QuickBooks alternatives. Let’s take a look at them:

1. Sage Business Cloud Accounting

Best QuickBooks Alternative for Less Tech-Savvy Users

Sage Business Cloud Accounting is the best QuickBooks Alternative for Less Tech Savvy Users.

Sage Business is a small business accounting software mostly known for its user-friendliness. Originally known as Sage One, Sage Business was launched in 1981 in England. That means, the software is actually older than QuickBooks.

However, over the years, Sage has not changed a lot. If your business requires full invoicing and you prefer accounting software with a simple interface, consider using Sage Business.

This accounting application can be a powerful tool for a business owner with a strong work ethic.

There are two pricing plans: Sage Accounting Start and Sage Accounting. The former starts at $10 per month.

2. FreshBooks

Best QuickBooks Alternative for Self-Employed People

FreshBooks is the best QuickBooks Alternative for Self Employed People.

FreshBooks started as time-tracking and invoicing software. Over time, it has emerged as one of the best accounting tools for the self-employed. Many small businesses, even consulting businesses find FreshBooks useful.

FreshBooks lets you collaborate with your subcontractors, track your expenses, and collect payments.

FreshBooks provides customized solutions with the help of some external applications. It is also known for providing excellent customer service. The people at the help desk typically reply within an hour.

FreshBooks has four pricing plans that start at $15 per month. Most small business owners get things done for $25 per month.

3. Wave Accounting

Best QuickBooks Alternative for Tight Budgets

Wave Accounting is the best QuickBooks Alternative for Tight Budgets

Wave Accounting provides double-entry accounting capability for free. Yes, this QuickBooks alternative is a cloud-based application and it is free!

Wave Accounting is especially suitable for sole proprietors and freelancers. The application comes with useful accounting features such as double-entry accounting, purchases, sales, and banking.

If you have a tight budget, you may prefer Wave Accounting to QuickBooks. The application offers customer management and custom invoice creation capabilities. It is better suited for small businesses that offer services, not products.

Wave Accounting is free. But if you get the online payment application, you will have to pay $2.9% and $.30 per transaction. The base fee of the payroll application is $35.

4. AccountEdge Pro

Best QuickBooks Alternative for Desktop Systems

AccountEdge Pro is the best QuickBooks Alternative for Desktop Systems.

If you are a tech-savvy business owner, AccountEdge Pro may be a great pick for you. This robust application comes with lots of features for both small and mid-sized businesses. These features include banking, account management, time billing, sales, purchasing, and inventory.

With this add-on, you can track time and bill your customers. Businesses with product inventory find AccountEdge Pro very useful, thanks to the robust inventory module.

AccountEdge Pro allows you to customize all reports. The application also offers free email support.

If you do not like QuickBook’s payment model, which requires you to pay fees every month, you may find AccountEdge Pro’s one-time fee model appealing.

A single user has to pay a one time fee of $399. For each subsequent user, the charge is $249. You have to pay the fee once, not annually.

5. Kashoo

Best QuickBooks Alternative for Sole Proprietors

Kashoo is the best QuickBooks Alternative for Sole Proprietors.

Kashoo has a very easy setup process. You can easily add tax details, connect bank accounts and set up your business.

Kashoo’s inbox feature is basically a central repository that shows your imported transactions. You can easily sort and edit the transactions.

Kashoo has a more intuitive interface than that of QuickBooks.

This accounting application has rather limited reporting options but it still provides fairly standard financial statements. Whether you are running a physical shop or operating on an eCommerce platform, you will find Kashoo useful.

Kashoo has only one pricing plan: $199 per year, or 19.95 per month.

QuickBooks Online Pricing FAQ

How much does QuickBooks online cost?

QuickBooks has four pricing plans that range from $25 to $150 per month. The plans come with features intended for businesses of different types and sizes. When you buy a plan, you have access to the accounting platform.

However, your business may require some extra add-ons such as live bookkeeping support and payroll. You will have to pay for these add-ons. Therefore, you may have to pay more than the fee of your actual plan.

Which QuickBooks plan is best for small businesses?

There are four QuickBooks Online plans, and the Plus plan is the most suitable one for small businesses. 

The Plus plan allows up to five users, and that is a great advantage for most small businesses. The Classes and Location Tracking feature allows you to keep a close eye on a particular segment of your business. 

This plan allows you to use first-in, first-out valuation to track inventory. You can also create purchase orders and monitor stock status. 

The Plus Plan also allows you to organize income and expenses, and measure profitability. It helps you figure out which projects are making greater contributions to your business.

Is QuickBooks Self-Employed worth it?

If you are a freelancer or independent contractor, QuickBooks Self-Employed is ideal for you. It provides many features that independent contractors find very useful. These features include expense tracking, quarterly tax calculator, invoicing, deductions and a few reports

It also allows you to track personal expenses and business expenses separately. This plan allows only one user because the plan is for independent contractors.

You can unsubscribe at any time because there is no annual contract. Another great thing about QuickBooks Self-Employed is that it offers a 30-day free trial.

What accounting software is cheaper than QuickBooks?

There are several cheaper alternatives to QuickBooks. They include FreshBooks, Xero, Sage50 Cloud, ZohoBooks, and Wave Accounting. 

FreshBooks is better than QuickBooks in terms of the ease of use, and quick removal of overdue invoices.   
 
Wave Accounting deserves some special attention because it is free, and it provides you with a receipt for every expense. And Wave Accounting is pretty user-friendly. Like some other accounting applications, Wave Accounting allows you to separate your personal expenses from your business expenses.

Next Step: Get Your Accounting Workflows in Order with QuickBooks Online

For most small businesses, QuickBooks Online is the most efficient accounting application. This software can definitely add value to your business. QuickBooks can streamline your processes and thus help you manage your workload more efficiently.

QuickBooks lessens your data entry work. You also benefit from the flexibility that the application provides. There are other accounting applications and some of them are pretty good, but QuickBooks Online remains the best one.

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Martin Luenendonk

Editor at FounderJar

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.