QuickBooks Online pricing, price hikes and cheaper alternatives
QuickBooks Online (quickbooks.intuit.com) is a accounting tool. Flat monthly subscription per plan tier, with user limits rising by tier; frequent 3-month introductory discounts.. Free plan: Free plan: 1 user, 1 bank connection, 2 invoices a month, P&L and balance sheet.
What QuickBooks Online costs
- Solo: $38/mo (Simple Start $38/mo regular price (shown $19/mo for 3 months at 50% off). Free plan fails (2 invoices/mo). The $20/mo Lite plan on the Solopreneur page has unlimited invoices and a bank feed, but its reconciliation support isn't documented, so it isn't used.)
- 3 users: $85/mo (Essentials $85/mo regular price (3 users included; bills, balance sheet). Simple Start allows only 1 user.)
Plan compared: Simple Start. Prices are the software subscription in USD per month on monthly billing (annual-only plans divided by 12) at the regular list price, ignoring introductory discounts, for two fixed bookkeeping scenarios. Payment-processing, bank and bill-pay fees, payroll and done-for-you bookkeeping or tax services are left out.
What QuickBooks Online does
Core: Bank & card feeds, Double-entry ledger & statements, Invoices & online payment, Simple bookkeeping & tax.
Important: Bills & accounts payable, Receipt capture & OCR, AI transaction coding, Sales tax & VAT, Payroll with tax filing, Inventory tracking, Projects & tracking categories, Accountant access & services, App marketplace & API, Mobile apps, Users, roles & approvals, Card payment acceptance, Expense reimbursement (partly), Multiple legal entities (partly).
Also has: Owner income tax (partly), Multi-currency, Sales channel & payout sync, Accruals & startup metrics (partly), Business bank account, Company cards (partly), Accounting software sync (partly), Credit cards & financing, Banking API (partly), AI finance features.
QuickBooks Online price hikes
- QuickBooks raised Essentials to $85, Plus to $140, Advanced to $340 · Aug 1, 2026
For renewals on or after Aug 1, 2026, Essentials rose from $75 to $85/mo (+13%), Plus from $115 to $140/mo (+22%) and Advanced from $275 to $340/mo (+24%). Simple Start stayed at $38. - QuickBooks raised Advanced from $235 to $275 a month · Apr 2025
Advanced rose from $235 to $275/mo (+17%). The date is approximate: PricingSaaS records this as a 2025 Q2 change. - QuickBooks raised Essentials to $65 and Advanced to $235 · Jul 2024
Essentials rose from $60 to $65/mo (+8.3%) and Advanced from $200 to $235/mo (+17.5%). The date is approximate: PricingSaaS records this as a 2024 Q3 change.
Cheaper alternatives to QuickBooks Online
At a one-person business, QuickBooks Online costs $38/mo. 1 accounting tool costs less:
- Xero: $27/mo (Early), covers 97% of QuickBooks Online; missing or partial: Business bank account
QuickBooks Online alternatives: 2 accounting tools compared, at every size.
Every change we logged
- Aug 1, 2026 · Price increase: For renewals on or after Aug 1, 2026, Essentials rose from $75 to $85/mo (+13%), Plus from $115 to $140/mo (+22%) and Advanced from $275 to $340/mo (+24%). Simple Start stayed at $38.
- Apr 2025 · Price increase: Advanced rose from $235 to $275/mo (+17%). The date is approximate: PricingSaaS records this as a 2025 Q2 change.
- Jul 2024 · Price increase: Essentials rose from $60 to $65/mo (+8.3%) and Advanced from $200 to $235/mo (+17.5%). The date is approximate: PricingSaaS records this as a 2024 Q3 change.
Sources
Pricing page: quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing. Prices last checked Oct 16, 2026. Prices come from the official pricing page (regular prices behind the 3-month promo) and PricingSaaS diffs; the Aug 2026 rise is confirmed by Fourlane. Simple Start (ref point) did not change in 2026, so the hikes have no pct at the ref point; earlier Simple Start history wasn't sourced.