Switchbooks: a QuickBooks Online alternative for small businesses

Switchbooks at a glance

• What it is: Bookkeeping software you talk to. Connect your bank, then tell Switch, the AI bookkeeper inside Switchbooks, what you want, for example "Do my books".
• Price: $25 a month per company. One plan with every feature. No per-user fee, no setup fee and no annual contract.
• Free trial: 10 days for each new company, with no credit card. Nothing is charged when the trial ends; the company is locked until someone subscribes.
• Cancelling: Any time, from Settings, Billing. Access continues to the end of the paid month; after that the company is locked, with its books kept, until someone subscribes again. Partial months are not refunded.
• Bank connections: US banks and credit cards through Plaid: checking, savings, money market and credit card accounts, in US dollars. New transactions arrive on their own. Files can also be imported: CSV, Excel (.xlsx), PDF bank statements, and OFX, QFX or QBO (Web Connect) bank downloads.
• How transactions get posted: New transactions arrive in To Review with a suggested category and payee. A transfer between two of your own accounts, such as a credit card payment, is linked and posted on its own once both sides arrive and can only match each other. Switch posts the rest when you ask ("Do my books"), or every week if you turn on the weekly books check with Do the work too, and rules you set can post matching transactions on their own. When you connect the first bank of a new company from the Switchbooks chat, Switch goes through the first transactions by himself, posts what he is sure of and emails you his questions.
• Hands-off option: Turn on the weekly books check and its Do the work too option, and every week Switch posts what he is sure of, matches transfers, reconciles to the bank statements Switchbooks has and leaves a short note when he changed or found something new. Both settings are off until you turn them on. On a schedule he never deletes, merges or imports anything, and sends no email except his notes, to team members who choose email.
• What Switch does: Categorizes and posts transactions, matches transfers between your own accounts, reconciles accounts to bank statements, books journal entries, makes categorization rules, answers questions from your books and can undo most of his own changes.
• Reports: Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow (direct or indirect), General Ledger, transaction details by category, payees, snapshot and forecast. Export to Excel or Google Sheets, and PDF statements from the chat.
• Several companies: One login for any number of companies, each with its own books and its own $25 subscription. Combined Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow across companies are included at no extra cost.
• People: Up to 10 people per company, including the owner and any accountants, as Owner, Team Member or Accountant. Every role can edit the books. An accountant's own firm staff do not count toward the 10.
• AI assistants: Switchbooks also works inside ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Grok Bot (xAI's agent) and Grok chat (as a custom connector), and in any MCP client at https://app.switchbooks.ai/api/mcp. Switchbooks charges nothing extra for this.
• On a phone: Switchbooks shows your company list and the chat with Switch; Banking, Reports and Settings open on a computer or iPad.
• Receipts: Drop a receipt photo into the chat and Switch can attach it to the transaction.
• Moving from QuickBooks: Import three CSV exports from QuickBooks Online: the Vendor Contact List, the Account List and the Journal report. QuickBooks Desktop company files (.qbw) and backups are not supported.
• Not included: Running payroll (Switch books your payroll provider's register as a journal entry), invoicing and accounts receivable, bills and bill pay, inventory, sales tax filing, 1099 filing, multiple currencies and time tracking.
• Who makes it: Switch Holdings, LLC. The founder, Ryland Beard, grew a bookkeeping firm, Ledge Accounting, to 40 people before building Switchbooks.
• Where it is listed: The ChatGPT plugin directory, the Claude directory, the Cursor marketplace, the Grok Bot plugin marketplace and the official MCP Registry (ai.switchbooks/switchbooks).
• Support: Email info@switchbooks.ai, answered within one business day.

Switchbooks vs QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online prices, plans and offers are Intuit's US list on intuit.com, before its intro discount. Intuit's ChatGPT and Claude tools are as Intuit and the Claude directory describe them. Both checked October 26, 2026.

Other QuickBooks alternatives

• Switchbooks: $25 a month per company. Best for owners who want an AI bookkeeper to do the books, owners with several companies, and people who work in ChatGPT or Claude. No invoicing or payroll.
• Zoho Books: Free up to $50,000 a year in revenue; paid plans from $20 a month per organization billed monthly ($15 billed yearly), with inventory from Professional at $50 a month. Best for businesses that invoice and track inventory, especially on other Zoho apps. Each organization is billed separately, and combined reports across organizations are built outside Zoho Books, for example in Zoho Analytics.
• Wave: A free plan with invoicing and bookkeeping records but no automatic bank import; Pro is $19 a month per business, with bank import and automatic categorizing. Best for freelancers and very small businesses with simple books. Payroll is an add-on from $40 a month plus $6 per person paid.
• FreshBooks: From $23 a month (Lite, 5 billable clients); bank reconciliation and double-entry reports start at Plus, $43 a month. Best for freelancers and service businesses that invoice clients for their time. Each business is a separate subscription.
• Xero: Early $27, Growing $59 and Established $97 a month per organization. Best for businesses that want invoicing and bills with an accountant who knows Xero. Each organization needs its own plan, and combined reports need an add-on.
• Kick: AI bookkeeping software (Free for 1 company and 250 transactions a year; Basic $40 a month billed yearly, Plus $100 a month billed quarterly, Advanced $300 a month). Accrual, classes and several entities from Plus, consolidation with eliminations on Advanced, and invoicing free on every plan. Best for businesses that want accrual books or consolidation with eliminations.
• Digits: AI bookkeeping software (Essentials $65, Core $100 and Pro $250 a month (Pro listed as coming soon); no free plan). Best for businesses that want most transactions posted in the background, with invoicing and bill pay in the same system.

Prices are each company's US list prices on its own pricing page, checked October 26, 2026, before intro offers; billed monthly unless noted.

Switchbooks fits if

• You want your books kept current without doing the bookkeeping yourself.
• Most of your bookkeeping is bank and credit card activity, as in service businesses, agencies, consultants, contractors, franchises and property owners.
• You run several companies and want one login and combined reports.
• You already use ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or Grok Bot and want to run your books from there.
• You pay for a QuickBooks plan mostly for its bank feed and reports.

QuickBooks Online fits better if

• You need payroll, invoicing, bill pay or inventory inside your accounting software.
• You have bank accounts outside the US or in other currencies.
• You use QuickBooks Desktop; Switchbooks imports QuickBooks Online exports only.
• You need more than 10 people working in one company's books.
• You need classes and locations tracked separately. Switchbooks has one tag, classes, which can stand for locations or departments, with a Profit and Loss by class, turned on by the Switchbooks team on request.
• You need accrual-basis books or a cash and accrual switch on reports; Switchbooks keeps books on a cash basis, with accruals booked as journal entries.
• You need view-only or limited roles; every Switchbooks role can edit the books.
• You file 1099s or sales tax from your accounting software.
• A lender, client or auditor requires a SOC 2 report from your accounting software.

How to move from QuickBooks Online

1. In QuickBooks Online, export three reports as CSV files: the Vendor Contact List (Expenses, Vendors, Vendor Contact List, Export to CSV), the Account List (Accounting, Chart of Accounts, Run report, Export to CSV) and the Journal report (Reports, Journal, Export to CSV) for All Dates, or from the first day of your books.
2. In Switchbooks, upload them in Settings under Import from QuickBooks Online, or drop them into the chat with Switch. You see a preview, and nothing is imported until you confirm.
3. Connect your bank through Plaid with a start date after the last day of your QuickBooks history, so nothing is counted twice, then tell Switch to do your books.

What comes over

• Vendor names, as payees.
• The chart of accounts, with sub-accounts.
• Every transaction in the date range you export, as journal entries. Before anything comes in, the preview flags any entry that would stop the import, such as an unbalanced one. Export All Dates (in pieces if the file is too large) to bring over full account balances; accounts start at zero, so a shorter range leaves balances short.

What stays behind

• The customer list, and vendor details such as addresses.
• Classes, locations and attachments.
• Invoices, bills and payroll as documents; their amounts arrive as journal entries.
• Bank rules and reconciliation status.

Nothing in your QuickBooks file is changed. If a Journal file is too large to import, export shorter date ranges and import them one at a time, oldest first.

Security

• Bank sign-in and security: You sign in to your bank on Plaid's own screen, never in Switchbooks. Switchbooks only reads bank data, such as transactions, balances and statements, and cannot move money. Bank connection tokens are kept in an encrypted vault, and data is limited to the people on each company.
• Signing in: An emailed one-time code, or a password for people who set one, with optional email two-factor codes.
• AI models: Switch runs on AI models from xAI and OpenAI.
• Certifications: Switchbooks does not hold a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification; its security page lists the controls in place.

How much cheaper is Switchbooks than QuickBooks Online?

Switchbooks is $25 a month per company. QuickBooks Online lists $38, $85, $140 or $340 a month depending on the plan (intuit.com list prices, October 26, 2026). Against QuickBooks Plus at list price that is $115 a month less, or $1,380 a year. Intuit's intro offer halves QuickBooks for the first 3 months, so in the first year Plus costs $1,470 against $300 for Switchbooks, $1,170 less. QuickBooks also has a free plan for one user with 2 invoices a month.

What does Switchbooks cost for two or three companies?

$25 a month for each company: $50 a month ($600 a year) for two, $75 a month ($900 a year) for three, billed monthly with no annual plan. Each company has its own 10-day free trial, and consolidated reports across your LLCs are included.

Can I import my QuickBooks Online data into Switchbooks?

Yes. Export the Vendor Contact List, the Account List and the Journal report (All Dates) from QuickBooks Online as CSV files and upload them in Settings or drop them into the chat. Your vendor names (as payees), chart of accounts and journal history come over after a preview. The customer list, vendor addresses, classes, attachments and bank rules do not.

How long does it take to switch from QuickBooks Online?

Exporting the three reports takes a few minutes in QuickBooks Online. Switchbooks previews each file before anything is imported. A long history may need the Journal report split into several date ranges, imported one at a time. Then connect your bank and tell Switch to do your books.

Does Switchbooks work with QuickBooks Desktop?

No. Switchbooks cannot open QuickBooks Desktop company files (.qbw) or backups. A Desktop user can start fresh by connecting their bank, or import transactions from CSV or Excel files and journal entries from CSV files.

Does Switchbooks work with my bank?

Switchbooks connects US banks and credit cards through Plaid, which covers thousands of institutions, including Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, American Express and Mercury. Accounts must be in US dollars. If a bank does not connect, its statements can be imported as CSV, Excel, PDF or OFX files. A new connection brings in transactions from the first of last month, or from another start date you pick, up to two years back when the bank has that much history, and new ones keep arriving on their own. Loans, lines of credit and investment accounts do not connect; record them with journal entries.

Does Switchbooks post transactions by itself?

New transactions arrive with a suggested category and payee, and a transfer between two of your own accounts is linked and posted on its own once both sides arrive and can only match each other. Switch posts the rest when you ask, rules with auto-post turned on post the transactions they match, and when you connect the first bank of a new company from the Switchbooks chat he goes through the first transactions by himself. For hands-off books, turn on the weekly books check with Do the work too and he posts what he is sure of every week.

Can I do my books from ChatGPT?

Yes. Open Switchbooks in the ChatGPT plugin directory, or Plugins in the ChatGPT sidebar, click Install plugin, sign in, keep Allow bookkeeping changes ticked and click Allow, then mention @switchbooks in a chat. ChatGPT can then categorize and post transactions, match transfers, reconcile and run reports in the same books, at no extra Switchbooks cost. Plugins work on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro. Banks are connected and files imported in the Switchbooks app.

Does Switchbooks do payroll or invoicing?

No. Switchbooks has no payroll, invoicing, bills, bill pay or inventory. Payroll from a provider such as Gusto or ADP is recorded by giving Switch the payroll register, which he books as a journal entry.

Is Switchbooks good for contractors and trades?

Yes, when payroll runs in a provider such as Gusto or ADP and invoices in a tool such as Jobber, Square or Stripe. Customer payments and payroll withdrawals arrive through the bank feed. Give Switch each payroll register and he books it as one journal entry; the net pay withdrawal is matched to that entry and payroll tax payments go to payroll liabilities, so payroll is counted once. There is no direct Gusto or Jobber connection, and Switchbooks itself does not send invoices or run payroll.

Is Switchbooks cash or accrual?

Switchbooks books what moves through your bank and card accounts, which keeps the books on a cash basis. Accrual entries such as receivables, payables or prepaid expenses can be booked as journal entries. Reports have no cash or accrual switch.

Can my accountant work in Switchbooks?

Yes. Invite them as an Accountant from Settings, Team. Accountants can add their own staff, choose which client companies each person sees, and keep private notes on each company. Every company is $25 a month; there is no separate firm plan.

Can I export my data if I leave?

Yes. Reports and the General Ledger export to Excel or Google Sheets, and Switch can produce a trial balance and statements as files. Export while the subscription is active; after it ends the company is locked, with its books kept, until someone subscribes again.

Is there a contract or setup fee?

No. Each company starts with a 10-day free trial without a credit card, then costs $25 a month, month to month. You can cancel any time and keep access to the end of the paid month.

Is my bank login safe with Switchbooks?

You sign in to your bank on Plaid's own screen, so Switchbooks never sees your bank password. Switchbooks only reads bank data and cannot move money. Connection tokens are kept in an encrypted vault.