Accounting Software · Invoicing Software
QuickBooks Online review
Intuit's cloud bookkeeping suite with four paid tiers that scale by user cap (1, 3, 5, 25) rather than per seat.
QuickBooks Online at a glance
- Category
- Accounting Software, Invoicing Software
- Starting price
- $38/month (Simple Start, 1 user)
- Pricing model
- flat per plan with user cap
- Public pricing
- Yes
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- Yes
- Contract
- monthly, no annual contract stated on pricing page
- G2 rating
- 4.0 (3,866 reviews)
- Founded
- 1983
- Headquarters
- Mountain View, US (Intuit)
- Employees
- 10,001+ (Intuit group)
- Funding or owner
- Public (Nasdaq: INTU)
Who QuickBooks Online is for
Choose QuickBooks Online if
- Small businesses that work with an outside accountant who already uses QuickBooks.
- Teams that want a wide third-party app ecosystem.
- Businesses needing inventory, projects and budgeting on the Plus tier.
Look elsewhere if
- Companies needing SAML SSO with an external identity provider.
- Very small freelancers watching cost, since list prices rose in 2025.
QuickBooks Online pricing
| Plan | Price | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month | 1 user | 2 invoices per month, 1 bank connection, no integrations or mobile app per pricing page |
| Simple Start | $38/month | 1 user | Promo shown on page: 50% off for 3 months |
| Essentials | $85/month | 3 users | Promo shown on page: 50% off for 3 months |
| Plus | $140/month | 5 users | Inventory, budgeting, project profitability |
| Advanced | $340/month | 25 users | Custom user permissions, workflows, batch invoices, priority support |
The vendor pricing page currently shows $38/$85/$140/$340. Third-party reports (Woodard, NerdWallet) list $38/$75/$115/$275 after the July 2025 increase, so a further increase after mid-2025 is likely but not confirmed in a vendor notice.
What QuickBooks Online really costs
- Per seat per month
- No per-seat price; Advanced is $340/month for up to 25 users.
- Billing
- Monthly only.
- 20 users per year
- Advanced $340/month x 12 = $4,080 per year at list for up to 25 users (promo excluded)
- Add-ons
- Payroll (price not on pricing page); ACH bill pay $0.50 per transaction over allotment; Bill Pay Elite (listed with Advanced)
- Renewal terms
- Pricing page says no annual contract and cancel anytime; terms of service not verified.
- Recent price change
- List price increase effective July 1, 2025 for client-billed subscriptions (Woodard report summarizing Intuit's notice); the vendor pricing page now shows higher figures again, not confirmed by a vendor notice.
Cheaper per seat than QuickBooks Online
Xero$0 per user (no per-user license fees per vendor page)
Zoho Books$2.50 per extra user per month (annual billing), $3 monthly.
Harvest$9 (Teams, billed annually) or $11 monthly.
FreshBooks$11 per extra team member per month.
QuickBooks Online features by buying criteria
| Criterion | What we found |
|---|---|
| Invoicing and billing | Invoicing with online payments from Simple Start; Free plan limited to 2 invoices per month; bulk invoice creation in beta on Essentials. |
| Bank feeds and reconciliation | Automated bookkeeping from Simple Start; reconciliation tools listed from Plus; Free plan limited to 1 bank connection. |
| Financial reporting | Top 3 reports on Free, general business reports on Simple Start, enhanced reports on Essentials, custom KPIs and dashboards on Advanced. |
| Expense and bill management | Expense categorization and free ACH bill pay from Simple Start; $0.50 per standard ACH over monthly allotment; Bill Pay Elite listed for Advanced. |
| Payroll and sales tax support | Payroll sold as an optional add-on; pricing not on the pricing page. |
| Accountant access and integrations | 2 accountant seats on Simple Start to Plus, 3 on Advanced; integrations not available on Free. |
| Pricing model | Tiered flat price with user caps; no per-user price listed. |
| Target company size | 1 to 25 users; Advanced aimed at the upper small business end. |
| Recurring invoices and subscriptions | Not stated on pricing page. |
| Online payment acceptance | QuickBooks Payments, card and ACH; Free plan gets unlimited invoices if you enable Payments. |
| Automated payment reminders | Not stated on pricing page. |
| Sales tax and multi-currency | Not verified. |
| Accounting integration | Native accounting product. |
| Time and expense billing | Employee time added to invoices from Essentials. |
| Branding and templates | Custom lead form on Essentials; not verified for templates. |
What reviewers say about QuickBooks Online
Praised for
- Easy to learn and intuitive for non-accountants.
- Large ecosystem of connected apps and accountant familiarity.
- Cloud access lets owner and bookkeeper work at the same time.
Common complaints
- Repeated price increases and promo-then-list pricing.
- Support quality and billing issues reported by some reviewers.
- User caps force a jump from Plus (5 users) to Advanced (25 users)
Themes paraphrased from public reviews on G2 and similar sites, not quotes.
What most QuickBooks Online reviews leave out
- Users are capped by plan (1/3/5/25), so a 20-person team has to buy Advanced at $340/month on the vendor pricing page.
- Third-party sources and Intuit's own notice documented a list increase effective July 1, 2025 (Simple Start $35 to $38, Essentials $65 to $75, Plus $99 to $115, Advanced $235 to $275)
- Community answers and a ThreatLocker post state QuickBooks Online does not support SAML SSO with external identity providers; Google sign-in is the alternative.
- The Free plan appeared on the pricing page with 2 invoices per month and no integrations.
- Introductory promo is shown as 50% off for 3 months on the vendor pricing page; 2025 sources describe 90% off for 3 months, so promo terms rotate.
QuickBooks Online alternatives
- XeroTeams that need unlimited users without per-seat cost.$27/month (Early)
- FreshBooksFreelancers and service businesses billing a limited number of clients.$23/month (Lite, 5 billable clients)
- Zoho BooksSmall firms already on Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps.$15/month billed annually ($20 monthly) for Standard; Free plan available
WaveFreelancers and micro businesses wanting free bookkeeping.$0 (Starter); Pro $19/month
Bill.comFinance teams that run both bill pay and invoicing in one tool with approval chains.$49 per user per month (Essentials)- HarvestAgencies and consultancies that bill clients by the hour from tracked time.$9/seat/month billed annually (Teams); Free plan $0
QuickBooks Online compared
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from QuickBooks Online's own pricing, product or documentation pages, G2 and company records, checked on October 24, 2026. Unknown values are left out instead of estimated.