Accounting Software
QuickBooks Online: features, pricing and who it fits
Intuit's QuickBooks Online comes in four paid tiers limited to 1, 3, 5 or 25 users, opening at $38 monthly. Accountants widely recognize it, and plenty of apps plug in. Reviewers point to several list-price rises.
Who QuickBooks Online is for
Best for
- 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
Fit by company size
| Category | 1-10 people | 11-50 people | 51-500 people | 500+ people |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accounting Software | Workable | Strong fit | Workable | No data |
| Invoicing Software | Workable | Strong fit | Workable | Poor fit |
Strong fitWorkablePoor fitNo data from the vendor
QuickBooks Online features
- 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 confirmed by the vendor
- 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 confirmed by the vendor for templates
- Reporting and aging
- Top 3 reports on Free, general business reports on Simple Start, enhanced reports on Essentials, custom KPIs and dashboards on Advanced
- Pricing model and transparency
- Tiered flat price with user caps; no per-user price listed
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.
Prices as published by QuickBooks Online on the date above. Quotes for larger teams often differ, which is what a request on SaaSBid surfaces.
Pros and cons
What users like
- 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)
Worth knowing before you buy
- 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
