QuickBooks

Cloud accounting from Intuit with country specific editions, seat caps by plan and payroll charged separately

As of 30 August 2026, QuickBooks starts at $30/month. QuickBooks Online is the small business ledger most accountants and bookkeepers already know, which is usually the real reason to choose it. Softwr lists it under Accounting. QuickBooks is made by Intuit Inc, launched in 1983, available on Web, iOS, Android, API.

Visit siteVisit QuickBooks

Overview

What QuickBooks does

QuickBooks Online is Intuit's cloud accounting product for small and medium businesses, covering the general ledger, sales invoicing, expense and bill tracking, bank feeds and reconciliation, sales tax or value added tax, basic inventory, projects and reporting. It is sold as separate country editions, principally for the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, each with its own tax handling and filing routes, alongside a global edition with lighter localisation. The desktop line still exists in the United States for larger installations but Intuit stopped selling new subscriptions of the smaller desktop products to new customers, and the strategic direction is the online product. The distinguishing property is not a feature, it is the professional network. In most of its markets QuickBooks is the product the largest number of accountants and bookkeepers already work in, which means you can hire someone who knows it, your accountant can take a free access seat and work in your file directly, and if you are dissatisfied with the person doing your books you can replace them without replacing the system. In small business the accountant often chooses the software, and this is the reason they frequently choose this one. That network effect is a stronger argument than any comparison of screens. The buyers are small businesses and the practices that serve them. The trade offs are structural and worth checking before signing. Plans cap the number of billed users, so approvers and read only reviewers consume seats and push you up a tier; multi currency is only available on higher tiers and cannot be switched off once enabled; inventory uses average costing rather than the methods larger businesses expect; payroll is a separate subscription with a per employee charge in every market; and there is no multi entity consolidation, so a group runs one file per company and consolidates outside the system. The country edition is also chosen at setup and is not something you change later, which matters for anyone who might move or restructure.

What people use it for

A small business whose accountant works in QuickBooks and can take a free access seat rather than being sent exports
An owner who wants to be able to replace their bookkeeper without also replacing the accounting system
A service business needing project level profitability without buying a separate job costing tool
A company that wants a large third party app ecosystem to fill gaps rather than a system that must do everything itself

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about QuickBooks.

Plans cap the number of billed users, so an approver who signs off bills and a manager who only reads reports each consume a seat and can force an upgrade to a higher tier for reasons that have nothing to do with accounting complexity.
Multi currency is confined to the higher tiers and, once enabled, cannot be turned off and the home currency cannot be changed, so a single foreign currency invoice permanently changes the shape of the file and the plan you must remain on.
Inventory is average cost only, with no first in first out or standard costing, so a business whose accounts or tax position depend on a different costing method has to track stock outside the ledger and post adjustments.
There is no multi entity consolidation, so a group runs a separate subscription and file per company and consolidates in a spreadsheet, and the cost and the manual consolidation both grow with each new entity.
The country edition is selected at setup and cannot be changed afterwards, and the editions differ in tax handling and features, so a business that redomiciles or discovers it chose the global edition rather than a localised one starts a new file rather than switching a setting.

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of QuickBooks

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

QuickBooksvs
Ramp
Ramp: The corporate card that helps you spend less
QuickBooksvs
Airbase
Airbase: The first all-in-one spend management platform
QuickBooksvs
Melio
Melio: Simple business payments
QuickBooksvs
Wise Business
Wise Business: The smart way to send and receive business payments

Pricing

What QuickBooks costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Simple Start

$30 /mo

Income & expense tracking
Invoice & payments
Tax deductions
Receipt capture
1 user

Essentials

$60 /mo

Everything in Simple Start
Bill management
Time tracking
3 users
Enhanced reports

Plus

$90 /mo

Everything in Essentials
Inventory tracking
Project profitability
5 users
Budgeting

Advanced

$200 /mo

Everything in Plus
Dedicated account team
25 users
Advanced analytics
Workflow automation

Capabilities

Features

General ledger
Double entry accounting with a customisable chart of accounts and a full audit log
Bank feeds
Automatic import of bank and card transactions with rules and learned categorisation
Reconciliation
Statement based reconciliation with a record of what was reconciled and by whom
Sales invoicing
Invoices and estimates with online payment links, reminders and recurring schedules
Bills and expenses
Supplier bill entry, due date tracking and payment recording against the payables ledger
Sales tax and value added tax
Country specific tax calculation and return preparation, including digital submission in the United Kingdom
Multi currency
Foreign currency invoices, bills and revaluation, available only on higher plan tiers
Inventory
Quantity and average cost tracking on stocked items, on the higher plans only
Projects and job costing
Income and cost tracked against a project to show profitability per job
Classes and locations
Additional reporting dimensions beyond the account code for department or site analysis
Budgets
Budget entry and variance reporting against actual results
Accountant access
Free access seats for your accountant and bookkeeper that do not count against the billed user limit

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Which country editions actually exist?

Intuit sells localised editions principally for the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, with a global edition for other markets that has lighter tax localisation. Check that your country has a genuine localised edition before assuming filing support, and note the edition cannot be changed after setup.

Does the subscription include payroll?

No. Payroll is a separate subscription with a per employee charge in every market that offers it. Price it alongside the plan rather than after you have committed.

How many users do I get?

It depends on the tier, and the limits are lower than most buyers expect. Accountant access seats are free and separate, but internal approvers and read only reviewers count against the billed limit, so count everyone who needs to sign in before choosing a plan.

Can my accountant work directly in my file?

Yes, that is one of its main advantages. Accountants use a separate practice console and take a free access seat in your company, which is also why so many practices standardise on it.

Is QuickBooks Desktop still available?

The desktop line persists in the United States for larger installations, but Intuit stopped selling new subscriptions of the smaller desktop products to new customers and the investment is in the online product. Treat desktop as a legacy path rather than a choice for a new business.

How hard is it to migrate to or from QuickBooks?

Getting in from another system is well trodden and there are tools and specialists for it, though transaction history usually arrives partially rather than completely. Getting out is the harder direction, because your accountant's working knowledge, your app integrations and years of coded history all have to be reproduced. Most businesses move at a year end for that reason.

Can it consolidate multiple companies?

No. Each legal entity needs its own subscription and file, and the consolidation happens outside the system. Groups with several entities should price that reality in from the start.

Behind it

Who makes QuickBooks

Company: Intuit Inc
Based in: Mountain View, CA

Keep looking

Where to go from QuickBooks

Best Accounting software for

Compare QuickBooks with

Other Accounting software

Zoho Books
Simple, smart accounting software for growing businesses
Free, then $20/mo12 researched notes
Sage 50
Windows desktop accounting with the ledger held in a local data file rather than in a browser
From $29/mo15 researched notes
Bench
America's largest bookkeeping service for small businesses
From $299/mo15 researched notes
Xero
Beautiful accounting software
From $13/mo15 researched notes
FloQast
Close management software for accounting teams
From $29/mo10 researched notes
BlackLine
Close automation that sits on top of your ERP, covering reconciliations, journals and close task control
From $29/mo15 researched notes
Airwallex
Multi currency business accounts, international payments and card issuing from a licensed payments firm rather than a bank
Free plan15 researched notes
TurboTax
File yourself with clear, step-by-step tools, or hand it to an expert
Free plan10 researched notes
Airbase
Spend management combining corporate cards, bill payment and expense claims, now part of Paylocity
From $29/mo15 researched notes
Lexware
Accounting and invoicing software for German small businesses and freelancers
Free, then €3.95/mo10 researched notes
Paychex
Outsourced United States payroll, tax filing, benefits and HR services with an assigned service representative
From $29/mo15 researched notes
Conta Azul
Brazilian cloud system for small business finance, invoicing and sharing the books with the accountant
From 239.9/mo15 researched notes
Orb
Revenue design platform automating usage-based billing and pricing strategy
Pricing on request11 researched notes
Paddle
The complete payments infrastructure for SaaS
From $5/cent_plus_transaction11 researched notes
Basware
Invoice automation and e-invoicing compliance across a large number of national mandates
Pricing on request12 researched notes
Circula
Expense, travel and employee benefit management for German speaking finance teams
From €15/mo11 researched notes
Invoice2go
Mobile-first invoicing app for small businesses and freelancers
9 researched notes
Invoicely
Web-based invoicing app with a free plan for freelancers
Free, then $9.99/mo9 researched notes

Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for QuickBooks, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

Best Accounting software alternatives

View all Accounting software