QuickBooks Essentials vs Plus 2024 Comparison

qbo pricing

For example, Self-Employed is best for freelancers or solopreneurs, while Simple Start is ideal for small businesses wanting to track assets and liabilities. Essentials is preferable if you need to track unpaid bills, while Plus is great if you require inventory and project management. When you purchase QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, you get a dedicated bookkeeping expert who virtually assists you with your accounting.

qbo pricing

The customer will see the price of $75 on their invoice, and any report on the sale will show $75, not $100. There is no reporting specific to QuickBooks price levels or price rules by customer at this time. Additionally, you have the option to select the customers who will get the new price level. You can select all customers, but if you only want specific customers to have access to the new price level, it must be specified.

How does QuickBooks invoicing work?

QuickBooks pricing varies quite a bit depending on which product you choose, as well as on how many users you need. If you are a small business or a startup, consider QuickBooks Simple Start. Businesses that provide services, rather than goods, should consider the QuickBooks Essentials plan. Businesses with inventory will likely get the most benefit from QuickBooks Plus. Large businesses that need access for up to 25 users will probably want to go with QuickBooks Advanced.

  1. It’s easier to upgrade from Simple Start to Essentials, Plus, or Advanced than to switch from Self-Employed to any other QuickBooks Online version.
  2. FreshBooks’ pricing starts at $17 per month, so it costs a little less than QuickBooks’ $20-per-month plan.
  3. These prices rose slightly back in early 2023, when this plan cost just $55 per month.

Kristy Snyder is a professional writer and editor living in Pittsburgh with over 10 years of content creation experience. In addition to being a Content Editor for Clever Real Estate, she has contributed to numerous leading financial and tech websites, including Bankrate, The Simple Dollar, house banking scandal NextAdvisor, and more. But if your business sells goods or uses a lot of supplies, QuickBooks Plus will be much more useful for keeping track of purchase orders and vendors. It’s also a better pick if you have numerous big projects in the works that you want to assess for profitability.

Best Accounting Software for Small Businesses

Accounting fundamentalsFreshBooks lacks some basic accounting features, like bank reconciliation, in its Lite plan. And while the software will automatically match some transactions for you, it doesn’t let you create bank rules to further automate the categorization process. These functions are standard on the entry-level plan for QuickBooks and most other accounting software platforms. While both software solutions offer features like mileage tracking, inventory management and reporting, QuickBooks’ capabilities typically exceed those of FreshBooks. When you’re ready to set up and run payroll in QuickBooks Online, you can sign up directly through the QuickBooks Online dashboard and select your subscription plan directly from there. After you answer a few basic questions, you can then start adding your employees.

QuickBooks Online has a monthly pricing structure — you pick the right plan and then pay every month for the service. QuickBooks Desktop, however, has a three-year license, or you can pay for yearly updates. Before we dive into the details of each QuickBooks plan and its value, here’s a look at the latest accounting software deals and discounts from the biggest and best QuickBooks alternatives on the market. The plans can be upgraded at any time, so if you’re in doubt, start with Core and see if it works for your payroll needs.

qbo pricing

QBO also has far more integrations with other business apps and software. Whether your small business sells products or services, you might sometimes want to offer sales and discounts as incentives. With QuickBooks Online, you can make these price adjustments automatic, set them up to run for a specific time period, and extend the adjusted price to all your customers or just a certain segment.

Low-cost plans for freelancers

Available in industry-specific editions; includes inventory management, advanced reporting, job costing, priority customer service and more. 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. If you report income on Schedule C of your personal income tax return, this cost-effective option might be best for you. If you don’t need accounting just yet, our new money solution offers banking, payments, and 5.00% APY—all with no subscription or starting fees. Get current pricing and promotions; if you work with an accounting professional, you may want to speak with your accountant or bookkeeper prior to signing up for any possible discounts or packages.

How many different versions of QuickBooks are there?

QuickBooks Online Plus is not a good fit for businesses with more than 250 active accounts, more than 40 classes and locations, and the need to manage more than five users. If these needs apply to your business, consider subscribing to Advanced. Paying your freelancers is also easy thanks to 1099 contractor management features. Come tax day, Essentials lets you send out 1099s right from the app. And if you have employees who work hourly, they can easily track their hours thanks to integration with QuickBooks Time. Integrates with more than 750 apps and offers live, in-house bookkeeping add-on.

Let us know how well the content on this page solved your problem today. All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses. By providing feedback on how we can improve, you can earn gift cards and get early access to new features. The answers to these questions should help you determine which plan is best for your business. You can purchase checks, voucher checks, business wallet checks, and more from QuickBooks.

The QuickBooks software offers dropdown menus for easy access to its many tools. Simple Starts includes all the features from the Self-employed Plan but adds a range of helpful additions covering everything from basic bookkeeping to budgeting. Unlike QuickBooks, customer support is only offered through an online messaging system, https://accountingcoaching.online/ though the company will call customers in response to support submissions if necessary. All Platinum features, plus Assisted Payroll to handle federal and state payroll taxes filings for $1/employee each pay period. Users can also add a Salesforce CRM connector for $150/month and QuickBooks Time Elite for $5/employee each month.

Because Plus has more capabilities for tracking your inventory, it can also offer project profitability tracking. You can get detailed reports on budgeting and classes to see how much money you’re making and where it’s coming from. The most notable difference, aside from price, between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop is the Online version is cloud-based. The mobile app for Online is robust, and Desktop’s mobile app is so limited, that it essentially functions as a receipt uploader. Working from the cloud means you need an internet connection, so a poor signal or an intermittent connection can be an issue. If you’re a freelancer, stick with its Self-Employed plan, which is $15 per month 9after the three-month discount at $7.50).

Features include mileage tracking, basic reporting, income and expense tracking, capture and organize receipts and estimation of quarterly taxes. 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. One final thing to note is that budget shouldn’t be the only determining factor in selecting your payroll software.