QuickBooks Online Plans Comparison: 2023 Pricing & Subscription Levels

Since accountants and tax preparers charge an average fee of $192 to prepare a federal Schedule C tax return, these packages are in line with what you’d pay for outside support. Both versions of QuickBooks let you send invoices—but Online is the only one that lets you send estimates. You can customize these estimates to fit your brand and business needs, as well as accept mobile signatures. And when the time comes, it’s easy to convert any estimate into an invoice. When you track all of your expenses and income in QuickBooks, you can also use the quarterly estimated taxes feature so you know what you owe Uncle Sam four times a year. The Schedule C optimizer also helps you squeak out every possible business expense deduction.

• Both versions have mobile apps, but the app for the Desktop version primarily functions as a way to upload receipts, and the Online mobile app is robust in comparison.
• With Essentials, you can track your unpaid bills easily and pay them directly within QuickBooks.
• With Plus, you can create projects and add income, expenses, and wages.
• QuickBooks also offers connections to a variety of online payment processing services.
• QuickBooks Self-Employed is suitable for freelancers and independent contractors who want to be able to track all their business expenses (such as rent or marketing) in one place.

Use class tracking to sort transactions and categorize income and expenses. Some of Xero's plans cost less than QuickBooks' plans, but most do not. Xero's plans cost $13, $37, and $70 per month, compared to the QuickBooks $20, $30, and $60 per month plans. However, the “Secure” brand of checks offer in-depth fraud protection measures that may justify the price, provided you anticipate security risks at your business. Also available from the service is a lending program called QuickBooks Capital.

QuickBooks Online vs Desktop: Which Is Right for You

Here, you’ll add their information and pay rate along with withholdings, deductions, and other information. After that, you can add your worker’s comp policy and set up your payroll taxes. Finally, you can connect to your bank account and sign your tax forms. It seems complicated, but QuickBooks Online walks you through the entire process.

However, you will have to choose between the free trial and the current promotion. When it comes to managing your business, payroll is an integral and time-consuming task. Small businesses that use QuickBooks for their accounting needs may have noticed that the company is always in a state of flux, changing in direct response to client feedback. QuickBooks’ recent revamping of its payroll platform what is cost unit is a testament to that commitment to stay responsive and on-trend. If you assign products and services to categories in the items list, you will also be able to filter the price level by product category to more easily apply price levels to the applicable products. If you’re a freelancer, stick with its Self-Employed plan, which is $15 per month 9after the three-month discount at $7.50).

• Read our comprehensive QuickBooks Online review to decide if this popular accounting software is the best choice for your needs and budget.
• QuickBooks Self-Employed is not included in the case study because it is not a full double-entry bookkeeping system.
• We think Online is better for small businesses and Self-Employed is better for freelancers, but it all depends on your needs.
• QuickBooks Payments will process credit cards and debit cards, including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover.
• The two versions are independent of each other, which means the data you enter on Desktop doesn’t sync to the Online version and vice-versa.

When customers no longer have an active, paid subscription, they will not be eligible to receive benefits. Support hours exclude occasional downtime due to system and server maintenance, company events, observed U.S. holidays and events beyond our control. Terms, conditions, pricing, service, support options, and support team members are subject to change without notice. QuickBooks offers this link to current credit card processing fees and terms, which includes QuickBooks Online credit card transaction pricing for “non-monthly” $0 QuickBooks Online Payments plans. The Intuit Payments Standard Pricing Schedule also shows pricing for the $20/ month QuickBooks Online Payments plan, which offers a lower percentage rate for transaction processing fees.

Is QuickBooks Online Payroll free?

There are two main factors to consider when deciding which QuickBooks Online product is right for you. QuickBooks Simple Start is ideal for solo entrepreneurs, gig workers, freelancers, and businesses that only sell services. QuickBooks Online Essentials does everything that Simple Start will do and adds the ability to manage bills and track time. QuickBooks Online Plus gives you the functionality of Simple Start and Essentials with the added ability to track inventory and track profitability by project. All of these small costs can add up, making your end bill higher than the predictable $30-$200/month fee.

QuickBooks Online Essentials plan

QuickBooks Online is a more comprehensive tool than Self-Employed. It comes with in-depth reports, including a company snapshot, sales reports and profit and loss reports. They helped me catch up on over a year of lackadaisical sloppy data entry. If your monthly average is $50,001 or more, the monthly price for QuickBooks Live is $400. If your monthly average is $10,001-50,000, the monthly price for QuickBooks Live is $300. If your monthly average is $0-10,000 per month, the monthly price for QuickBooks Live is $200.

QuickBooks Plans and Pricing

If these needs apply to your business, consider subscribing to Plus. However, it is the best fit for solo-entrepreneur small business owners with basic accounting needs. To manage payroll through QuickBooks Payroll, you’ll need to pay a fee for this add-on service, with plans ranging from $45 to $125 per month, plus an additional $5 to $10 per employee per month.

Business stage

QuickBooks Desktop pricing is based on an annual subscription model. Unlike QuickBooks Online plans, which each come with a set number of users, QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus comes with one user license. QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus includes a full list of basic bookkeeping tools and features. Plans for up to five users are available and payroll can be added for an extra $500/year, plus $5/employee each month. Daytime live chat and phone support are available during weekdays.

Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Self-Employed are great software, whether you need them for real estate accounting or nonprofit accounting. Still, there is other software out there that can perform just as well—and in many cases, at a lower cost. Check out a few of our favorite QuickBooks alternatives to see if any of them are a better fit for what you’re looking for. QuickBooks Online, on the other hand, was praised for its ease of adding vendors and customers as well as its helpful tutorial for beginners. What people didn’t like was the difficulty of navigating past transactions and the lack of customizations for reporting. QuickBooks Online surpasses QuickBooks Self-Employed in physical sales.