QuickBooks Online logo
Core ledger and bookkeeping

QuickBooks Online

Cloud bookkeeping and accounting for small and mid-sized firms and their clients.

solosmallmid
Visit QuickBooks Online

Overview

With the largest market share of any small-business accounting platform in the US and over 750 connected apps, QuickBooks Online covers automated bank feeds, transaction categorisation, invoicing, payroll add-ons, and financial statements for solo, small, and mid-sized accounting firms. Most US-based clients your firm onboards will arrive with at least some familiarity with it.

The platform suits solo bookkeepers, small firms, and mid-sized practices managing client books up to around 50 staff. The ProAdvisor programme gives accountants a dedicated dashboard for managing multiple client files, wholesale pricing on client subscriptions, and priority support. Mobile apps for iOS and Android let both accountants and their clients capture receipts, approve invoices, and check balances on the go.

QuickBooks Online works with over 750 apps including Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zapier. Bank feeds pull transactions from most major US, UK, Australian, and Canadian banks automatically. Class and location tracking on the Plus plan supports firms with multi-entity or project-based clients. Excel and Google Drive integrations cover reporting exports and document storage.

Pricing is per client entity, starting at $38 per month for Simple Start (one user, basic accounting and invoicing) and rising to $75 for Essentials (three users, bill payments, multi-currency) and $115 for Plus (five users, inventory, and project tracking). An Advanced tier at $275 per month covers up to 25 users with batch invoicing, workflow automations, and a dedicated account team. Intuit Enterprise Suite is available at custom pricing for mid-sized businesses that need advanced inventory and reporting. A 30-day free trial is available; there is no permanent free tier.

Key facts

Starting price
$38 per month
Pricing model
Per entity
Free trial
Yes
Free tier
No
Deployment
Cloud, Mobile
Geography
US, UK, AU, CA, Global
Founded
1983
Support
Phone, Chat, Email, Knowledge Base, Community Forum
Languages
English, Spanish, French
Works with
Excel, Google Drive, Stripe, Paypal, Shopify, Hubspot, Salesforce, Zapier, Slack
Last verified
2026-05-04

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • US-based firms whose clients are sole traders, small businesses, or up to about fifty staff.
  • Solo bookkeepers and small practices that want the largest small-business app ecosystem (over 750 integrations).
  • ProAdvisor-enrolled firms that want a wholesale-pricing dashboard for managing multiple client files.

Cons

  • Mid-market clients that have outgrown QBO's reporting depth. Sage Intacct or NetSuite suit them better.
  • UK firms that need MTD-leading workflow. Most UK practices default to Xero for that workflow.
  • Practices wedded to non-Intuit tax-prep ecosystems where QBO sync is not the primary value.

Pricing

TierPriceBillingFeatures
Simple Start$38Per monthOne user, income and expense tracking, invoicing, bank reconciliation, and basic reports.
Essentials$75Per monthThree users, bills and bill payments, time tracking, and multi-currency.
Plus$115Per monthFive users, project profitability, inventory tracking, and class or location tracking.
Advanced$275Per monthUp to 25 users, custom roles, batch invoicing, workflow automations, and dedicated account team.
Intuit Enterprise SuiteCustomCustomMid-sized business tier with advanced inventory, advanced reporting, and dedicated support. Custom pricing on enquiry.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between QuickBooks Online tiers?
QuickBooks Online has five main tiers in the US: Solopreneur (around 15 USD/month, gig-worker single-entity), Simple Start (35 USD/month, 1 user, basic accounting), Essentials (65 USD/month, 3 users, bill management, multi-currency), Plus (99 USD/month, 5 users, inventory, project tracking, 1099 contractor management), and Advanced (235 USD/month, 25 users, custom reporting, dedicated support). Most accountant-managed clients sit on Plus. Pricing is lower in the UK, Australia, and Canada and the tier names differ slightly.
Is QuickBooks Online good for a UK firm?
Yes, with caveats. QBO handles MTD VAT submissions, UK-style invoices, and Corporation Tax, and has a UK accountant programme with bulk client management. The UK app ecosystem is deep but Xero's is deeper for UK-specific tools (payroll providers, CIS contractor handling, MTD partner ecosystem). For UK firms with a mix of UK-only clients, Xero usually wins on app ecosystem. For UK firms with US-headquartered clients or US parent companies, QBO is the safer choice because of the cross-border app and reporting consistency.
What AI features does QuickBooks Online have today?
Automated bank-feed matching, transaction categorisation that learns from past coding decisions, anomaly detection on suspicious entries, smart invoice scanning (Receipt Capture), AI-assisted natural-language reporting (Intuit Assist), and AI-flagged month-end review. The features are most useful at scale (100+ transactions per month per client) and add limited value on very small clients. None cost extra on top of the standard tier pricing in the US.
Can I manage a multi-entity firm on QuickBooks Online?
Sort of. QBO is designed around one entity per file, with QuickBooks Online Accountant (free for accountants) acting as the bulk-management layer over all your client files. For accounting firms, this works well: each client is a separate QBO file, and the accountant view lets you switch between them efficiently. For a single client business operating multiple entities (subsidiaries, divisions), QBO's multi-entity reporting is shallow. Sage Intacct, NetSuite, or Xero (with multi-entity addons) handle deep consolidation work better.
Should I move clients from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online?
Eventually, yes. Intuit has been steadily reducing investment in QuickBooks Desktop and routing all new feature development to QBO. The migration tooling is mature. Plan for some chart-of-accounts cleanup and a few weeks of parallel running. The real question is timing: clients on stable Desktop installations with no growth pressure can stay another year or two without trouble. Clients adding seats, adding integrations, or wanting AI features should move now.

Featured in

User reviews

See what other accounting professionals say about QuickBooks Online on independent review platforms.

Read reviews on G2Read reviews on CapterraRead reviews on TrustRadius

Alternatives to QuickBooks Online

Other AI tools in the Core ledger and bookkeeping category.

Booke logo

Booke

Ledger

AI bookkeeper that categorises and reconciles inside QuickBooks and Xero.

solosmallmid
From $129/mo
Botkeeper logo

Botkeeper

Ledger

AI bookkeeping automation built for accounting firms.

smallmid
From $134/mo
Campfire logo

Campfire

Ledger

AI-native ERP for high-growth companies.

mid
Custom pricing

Last verified 2026-05-04. Pricing and features come from vendor-published specs. See our methodology.