QuickBooks Online Pricing 2026: Every Plan Costed for Year One and Year Two

QuickBooks Online pricing, as of November 2026, is $38 a month for Simple Start, $85 for Essentials, $140 for Plus and $340 for Advanced, with a $0 QuickBooks Free plan below them. Intuit advertises each paid plan at 50 percent off for three months, so year one costs $399, $892.50, $1,470 and $3,570, and every year after that costs $456, $1,020, $1,680 and $4,080. That second set of numbers is the one to budget with.

I run my stores and teach high ticket dropshipping through Ecommerce Paradise, so software costs are a line item I look at every month. This page prices the whole invoice instead of the banner: every plan at list and at the promotional rate, the seat ceilings, the payroll options with a three employee example, the small end of the range, and the fees Intuit does not print. All figures come from Intuit’s own pages, read in November 2026.

Disclosure: some links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The formula is the same every time. Year one equals the promotional price times the promotional months, plus the list price times the remaining months. Year two equals the list price times twelve. Print both and the category stops being confusing.

QuickBooks Online pricing: all plans, both years

This is the table the pricing page should print and does not. The promo column is what the banner shows. The year two column is what you pay for as long as you stay a customer. The source for every list price here is Intuit’s QuickBooks Online pricing page.

Working one row so you can check me: Simple Start is $19 for three months, which is $57, then $38 for nine months, which is $342. Add them and year one is $399. Year two has no promotional months in it, so it is $38 times twelve, which is $456.

The Plus row deserves a second look. Intuit badges Plus as the customer favorite, and it is the plan whose card lists inventory tracking, so for a store with stock it is effectively the entry plan. Its real cost is $1,470 in year one and $1,680 every year after. The $70 banner implies $840.

What the discount is actually worth

The promotion saves you three months at half price, which is one and a half months of list price. Here is what that is worth in dollars, and what the headline number would imply if the discount ran all year.

On Advanced the promotion is worth $510, which sounds like a lot until you notice the plan costs $4,080 a year in steady state. The discount is a little over six weeks of service. That is a normal software promotion. It just is not a price.

Free trial or 50 percent off: Intuit treats them as separate offers

The pricing page shows both a 30 day free trial and the 50 percent offer. In an earlier version of this page I said I could not find the fine print on how they interact. The offer terms on Intuit’s pages now answer it: you sign up using either the 30 day trial option or the 3 month discount option, and offers for the same product cannot be combined. The trial covers the monthly base price for the first thirty days, then you are charged at the then-current price until you cancel.

I wrote up the fine print and the cancellation side in my guide to the QuickBooks free trial and 50 percent off offer. If you ever need to leave, how to cancel QuickBooks covers the export and billing steps.

Seats: the ceiling that forces the upgrade

QuickBooks does not price per user. It sets a user ceiling on each plan, with accountant seats granted on top. No per user add-on price appears on the pricing page, so the route to more seats is the next plan up, and the next plan up is a big step.

Cost per seat falls as you climb, which is what you would expect. The catch is that you rarely need seats and features in the same proportion. A four person team that does not need inventory has to buy Plus at $1,680 a year to get a fourth and fifth seat, and inherits an inventory module it may never open.

This is where some competitors look structurally different rather than merely cheaper. Xero’s US pricing page says there are no per-user license fees. Zoho Books does charge per user, but openly: its pricing page lists extra users at $3 a month, or $2.50 a month billed annually.

I put the two models side by side in my head to head on seat fees and invoice caps.

What each price tier unlocks

Prices only mean something next to gates. Here is what the plan cards on Intuit’s pricing page list for each tier. Where a card does not list something, I have written “not listed” rather than guessing.

Three rows carry most of the decision. Inventory tracking is the reason a physical products business ends up on Plus. Batch invoicing and workflow automation are the reason a high volume operation ends up on Advanced. Everything else is seats and reporting depth.

The cheapest route to inventory inside QuickBooks

The plan cards on the pricing page list inventory tracking starting at Plus, and an Intuit help article on inventory says the same: inventory features are available in Plus and Advanced. That makes the clean route to inventory $140 a month at list, $70 a month for the first three, $1,470 in year one and $1,680 a year after.

One wrinkle. That same help article also says Simple Start and Essentials users can add inventory tracking through an add-on. I could not find an add-on price on the pricing page, so I cannot tell you whether it beats upgrading. Ask Intuit for the number in writing before you assume either route is cheaper.

The help article does not name a costing method, so I will not guess one. The pricing page does mention a manufacturing inventory option with FIFO costing and reorder points, but it does not say which plan includes it. If you need to know whether your plan runs FIFO before you buy, ask Intuit.

If inventory is your whole reason for shopping, the ranking changes, and I built a separate ranking of accounting software by where inventory actually starts for exactly that reason.

QuickBooks Solopreneur: the small end of the price list

Intuit sells a smaller product for one person businesses, priced well below the main ladder. The Solopreneur page shows three tiers.

Free allows 2 invoices a month and 1 contractor. Lite includes unlimited invoices, unlimited receipts and mileage, three contractors, the mobile app, automated bill pay, automated sales tax and instant deposit. Stepping up to Simple Start adds general reports, cash flow history, in person payments, recurring payments, unlimited contractors and accountant access. Lite shows no accountant access on its card.

Intuit’s own framing is that Solopreneur is built for single owner, self employed businesses. Take that at face value. If you have a business partner, an employee or stock on a shelf, this is not the product, and the $216 a year you save over Simple Start will cost you more than that in workarounds. If your main pain is the annual return rather than monthly bookkeeping, read about tax software for self employed filers before you spend anything on a ledger.

Payroll: sold as Workforce plans, with the per-employee fee on top

This is the section that changed most since my first version of this page. Intuit’s payroll plans are now named QuickBooks Workforce, and Intuit’s payroll only page prints a standalone base price for each one, plus a per-employee fee. Intuit’s bundle page then adds the matching accounting plan.

The bundles now decompose cleanly. Workforce Payroll at $50 plus Simple Start at $38 is $88. Plus Essentials at $85 it is $135. Workforce Premium at $88 plus Plus at $140 is $228. So treat the accounting plan and the payroll plan as two prices that happen to be sold together.

One fine print detail matters for your budget. Intuit’s offer terms say the introductory discount and the free trial apply to the monthly base price only, not to per-employee fees, per-contractor fees or state tax filing fees. So the 50 percent off never touches the $7 or $13 per head.

A worked example: three employees

Take Workforce Payroll with Essentials, which the bundle page badges as the favorite. Base is $135 a month, which is $1,620 a year. Three employees at $7 each per month is $21 a month, which is $252 a year. A normal year costs $1,872.

Here is the same calculation across the three bundles. Year two uses list prices. Year one applies the 50 percent discount to the base only, for three months.

Check on the first row: base of $88 for three months at half price is $132 off, so year one base is $1,056 minus $132, which is $924, and adding $252 for employees gives $1,176. Adding payroll for three people to Essentials alone costs $852 a year, because $1,872 minus $1,020 is $852. That is an example, not a quote. Your headcount, states and add-ons change it.

Two other prices appear on Intuit’s pages. Background checks start at $29.99 per report, with Checkr’s own fees possibly applying. Contractor Payments is a separate product at $25 a month, which includes 20 contractors and then $2 for each additional one, per Intuit’s contractor payments page. State payroll filing fees are mentioned in the offer terms but the dollar amount is not shown on the pages I could load.

For a full breakdown of the payroll side, including a ten employee example, read my QuickBooks payroll pricing guide.

If you are comparing providers instead, start with my roundup of payroll software for small businesses. My Gusto pricing guide covers one of the main alternatives.

The fees Intuit does not publish

A pricing article earns its keep by being clear about gaps. Here are the ones I found, as of November 2026.

State payroll filing fees. Intuit’s terms say they exist, and the amount is not shown on the payroll pricing pages I could load.

Payment processing rates, now published. Intuit’s payment rates page lists 2.99 percent on invoiced card payments, 1 percent on ACH bank payments, 2.5 percent in person, 3.5 percent on keyed-in cards and 1.75 percent for instant deposit, and the table is stamped “accurate as of 09/18/2026.” The QuickBooks rows show percentages with no per-transaction cents, and Intuit says that if you process more than $2,500 a month you could qualify for up to 25 percent off transaction costs. I turned those rates into worked dollar examples in my QuickBooks Payments fees guide.

Benefits fees. Health, 401(k) and workers’ comp are offered through partners, and the fee amounts are not shown on the pricing pages.

Assisted bookkeeping prices. The Intuit Expert bookkeeping services are not priced on the pricing page, which sends you to talk to someone.

The contrast worth noting is that printing rates is a choice, not an industry norm. Wave’s pricing page lists 2.9 percent plus $0.60 per credit card transaction and 3.4 percent plus $0.60 for Amex on its free Starter plan. If total visible cost matters to you, that is worth weighing, and I compare the two in what Wave gives away free and exactly where it stops.

QuickBooks Desktop pricing, and why it is not on the menu

If your plan was to pay once for desktop software and stop the monthly bill, that door is closed to new US buyers. Intuit’s stop-sell notice says it stopped selling new subscriptions for QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, Premier Plus, Mac Plus and Enhanced Payroll to US customers after Sept. 30, 2024.

The notice also says existing subscribers are not impacted and can keep renewing, and that QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is unaffected. So nobody is being pushed off the product they already pay for. New buyers simply cannot start on those four.

How QuickBooks prices compare to the rest of the category

Same rule as everywhere else on this site: year two, list price, no promotions, cheapest first. Billing basis is noted where a vendor’s headline is an annual price.

Sources: the vendor pricing pages for FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho Books and Wave linked above. FreshBooks shows promotional prices on its page, so I used its struck-through regular prices and did not apply its yearly toggle. Xero’s page shows an 80 percent intro discount for the first 3 months for customers in the United States buying their first organization ($5.40, $11.80 and $19.40 a month), which I excluded for the same reason. These vendors change prices often, so confirm before you buy.

Which plan I would look at first

This is general information, not personal advice, and your numbers will differ. If you are one person with no stock and no employees, Solopreneur Lite at $240 a year or a free plan is the place to start, and you can revisit in twelve months. If you have a small team and no inventory, Essentials at $1,020 is coherent but expensive for what it is, and this is the point in the ladder where I would price the alternatives in my guide to QuickBooks alternatives sorted by the problem that sent you looking.

If you hold inventory, budget for Plus at $1,680 a year. In my experience, starting on Simple Start with the plan to upgrade later costs more in cleanup time than the plan difference costs in cash, because moving a half built chart of accounts mid year is tedious. If you run real volume with a finance person and batch invoicing would save them days a month, Advanced at $4,080 is defensible, and if it would not, it is not.

Whatever you pick, decide against the gates rather than the banner. I set out the five that matter in the five gates that decide accounting software before price does.

None of the above is tax or accounting advice. Prices, plan contents and tax treatment change, and they vary by jurisdiction. Confirm anything that affects a filing with your CPA or with the taxing authority directly.

Running the business behind the books

A $1,680 ledger is either a serious cost or a rounding error, and which one depends on the margin structure of what you sell. That is the part I spend my time on, and it is why accounting software is only one of several business expenses a store owner has to plan for.

Start with the list of profitable high ticket niches if you have not settled on a category. If the model is unfamiliar, here is a plain explanation of how high ticket dropshipping works and why the unit economics differ so much from cheap goods.

Sourcing is the hard part, and it drives your cost of goods, which is what your bookkeeping software has to track. So I wrote a complete step by step supplier sourcing guide covering approach, terms and vetting.

Get the legal entity right before your first sale, because your books, your bank account and your payroll all hang off it. My walkthrough of business formation for a high ticket store covers the choices. For formation filings and registered agent service I use Bizee.

If you hire your first employee, the IRS explains what employers must deposit and report on its employment taxes page, and that is the work a payroll plan is supposed to take off your desk.

For the storefront I have run on Shopify for years. Once you ship real volume, liability cover stops being optional, which is why I point people to Hiscox for a quote.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does QuickBooks Online cost per month in 2026?
As of November 2026, list prices are $38 for Simple Start, $85 for Essentials, $140 for Plus and $340 for Advanced, with a $0 Free plan. Each paid plan is offered at 50 percent off for three months, so the advertised prices are $19, $42.50, $70 and $170. Month four is charged at list.

Does the 50 percent discount apply for the whole first year?
No. It applies for three months. That is why year one comes to $399 on Simple Start rather than $228, and $1,470 on Plus rather than $840. Year two carries no discount.

What is the cheapest QuickBooks plan with inventory tracking?
The plan cards and an Intuit help article list inventory on Plus, at $140 a month list, which is $1,470 in year one and $1,680 a year after. The same help article mentions an add-on for lower plans, but I could not find its price, so ask Intuit before assuming.

How much is QuickBooks payroll for three employees?
As an example, Workforce Payroll with Essentials is $135 a month plus $7 per employee per month, so three employees costs $1,620 plus $252, which is $1,872 in a normal year. The Simple Start bundle comes to $1,308 and the Premium with Plus bundle to $3,204. Payroll only plans start at a $50 base plus $7 per employee.

Does QuickBooks publish its payment processing rates?
Yes, on a separate payment rates page. As of November 2026 it lists 2.99 percent for invoiced card payments, 1 percent for ACH, 2.5 percent in person, 3.5 percent for keyed-in cards and 1.75 percent for instant deposit, stamped accurate as of 09/18/2026. It also mentions up to 25 percent off transaction costs above $2,500 a month of processing, and rates can change, so check the page before you rely on them.

Bottom Line

QuickBooks Online costs $456, $1,020, $1,680 or $4,080 a year depending on the plan, and those numbers should drive your decision. Year one is cheaper by $57, $127.50, $210 or $510, and that is the entire value of the promotion. If you hold inventory, your real price is $1,680, because Plus is where the plan cards list stock tracking.

Add payroll and the bill rises. For three employees, the Essentials bundle is $1,872 a year against $1,020 for Essentials on its own, a difference of $852. Then accept that state filing fees, benefits fees and assisted bookkeeping prices are not published, and that payment rates sit on a separate page from the plan prices, so your true annual cost is knowable only after you ask. That is a fair reason to prefer a vendor that prints everything, and a fair reason to stay if the product fits. Do the arithmetic before you sign, not in month four, and run anything that touches a return past a CPA.

Related Articles

If you are still deciding between tools, or want the payroll and cost details behind this page, these are the posts I would read next.

• QuickBooks Payroll Pricing 2026: Workforce Plans, Per-Employee Fees and Real Costs
• QuickBooks Online Review 2026: What the $19 Headline Actually Costs
• QuickBooks vs Xero 2026: Seat Fees, Invoice Caps and the Real Annual Cost
• Best Accounting Software for Ecommerce 2026: Ranked by Where Inventory Starts
• How to Set Up QuickBooks for an Ecommerce Store: The Order That Prevents Rework

Trevor Fenner

Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.

He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.

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