How much does QuickBooks Online cost in 2026?

QuickBooks Online plans and prices

QuickBooks Online prices are Intuit's US list prices on quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing, as of October 2026 (checked October 26, 2026), billed monthly, before the intro discount and the 10% for paying yearly. Switchbooks is $25 a month per company, billed monthly.

• Free plan: $0 for one user, with no accountant access: track income and expenses, send 2 invoices a month (more with QuickBooks Payments), connect 1 bank and run a Profit and Loss report.
• Intro discount: 50% off the monthly base price for the first 3 months of a new subscription, then the full monthly price. It does not cover add-ons or per-employee fees.
• Free trial: 30 days on the paid plans, then the monthly price is charged. Intuit's offer terms say offers for the same product cannot be combined, so it is the trial or the discount.
• Paying yearly: Intuit's help center says Simple Start, Essentials and Plus can be paid annually for a 10% discount. Plus paid yearly comes to $1,512 instead of $1,680. The article does not name Advanced, and the pricing page itself shows monthly prices only.
• Contract: No annual contract on monthly billing; you can switch plans or cancel at any time.
• What the higher plans add: Essentials adds more users and enhanced reports. Plus adds inventory, project profitability, budgets and up to 40 classes and locations. Advanced adds 25 users, unlimited classes and locations, custom user permissions, workflows and Spreadsheet Sync with Excel.

What several companies cost: QuickBooks vs Switchbooks

QuickBooks Online is priced per company. One Intuit sign-in can open several companies, but Intuit's help article on adding a company says each company needs its own paid subscription. Switchbooks is also priced per company, at one price with every feature.

QuickBooks Online prices are Intuit's US list prices on quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing, as of October 2026 (checked October 26, 2026), billed monthly, before the intro discount and the 10% for paying yearly. Switchbooks is $25 a month per company, billed monthly.

Multi-company discounts

Intuit's pricing page and its help article on adding companies list no discount for a second or later company; each company pays its plan's price. If another seller offers you a lower QuickBooks price, get the price and terms in writing before you buy.

Switchbooks has no multi-company discount either: every company is $25 a month, and combined reports cost nothing extra.

Seeing several companies together

• QuickBooks Online: Each company's reports stay in that company. In QuickBooks Online, combined reports come from Spreadsheet Sync, which is part of Advanced and runs in Excel: at least one company must be on Advanced, and Simple Start, Essentials and Plus companies can be added to the group. It combines the Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet (multiple period) and the Trial Balance, and accounts combine only when their name, type, level and account number match. Owners not on Advanced use outside reporting tools or build the totals in a spreadsheet.
• Example: Three companies with Spreadsheet Sync at the lowest list price, one on Advanced and two on Simple Start, cost $416 a month ($4,992 a year). Three companies on Switchbooks with combined reports cost $75 a month ($900 a year).
• Switchbooks: Combined Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow across any of your companies are included, in the app, and can show a column for each company next to the total. Accounts with the same name and type under the same parent add up on one line. Switchbooks does not post intercompany eliminations or translate currencies.

From Intuit's US help articles "Combine reports from multiple companies using Spreadsheet Sync" and "Create groups to run multi-company reporting in Spreadsheet Sync", checked October 26, 2026.

Common QuickBooks add-ons and what they cost

Intuit's US list prices on quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll/pricing/bundle (Add Payroll), quickbooks.intuit.com/time-tracking/pricing and quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing, as of October 2026. New subscriptions get 50% off the monthly base price for 3 months; per-employee and per-user fees are not discounted. Add-ons are paid on top of the QuickBooks plan.

Switchbooks has no payroll or time tracking. Payroll run in a provider such as Gusto or ADP is recorded by giving Switch, the AI bookkeeper inside Switchbooks, the payroll register, which he books as a journal entry.

If you cancel QuickBooks Online

• After you cancel a QuickBooks Online subscription, you keep read-only access to that company's data for one year: you can look at the books but not change them.
• After that year, you have to subscribe again to reach the company's data.
• If you keep at least one other QuickBooks Online subscription under the same sign-in, the cancelled company stays readable with no time limit.
• Until the end of the last paid billing period, you can undo the cancellation with Resume subscription.
• A subscription is cancelled on its own after three failed attempts to charge the card on file.

From Intuit's US help article "Cancel your QuickBooks Online subscription or Intuit Enterprise Suite contract", updated September 25, 2026, checked October 26, 2026.

• 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.

QuickBooks Online fits better if

• You send invoices and take customer payments from your accounting software.
• You want payroll or time tracking from the same company as your books.
• You track inventory; QuickBooks has it on Plus and Advanced.
• You pay bills from your accounting software.
• 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 more than 10 people in one company's books (Advanced includes 25 users) or custom user permissions.

Switchbooks fits if

• Most of your bookkeeping is bank and credit card activity, and you pay for QuickBooks mostly for its bank feed and reports.
• You want Switch, the AI bookkeeper, to categorize and post transactions, match transfers and reconcile, instead of doing it yourself.
• You run several companies or LLCs and want one login and combined reports at $25 a month per company.
• Payroll and invoicing already run in other tools, such as Gusto, ADP, Square or Stripe.
• You want to work on your books from ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or Grok Bot as well as the Switchbooks app.

Switchbooks at a glance

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Certifications: Switchbooks does not hold a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification; its security page lists the controls in place.

How much is QuickBooks per month?

As of October 2026, QuickBooks Online lists at $38 a month for Simple Start, $85 for Essentials, $140 for Plus and $340 for Advanced, per company. New subscribers can take 50% off the first 3 months ($19 on Simple Start, $42.50 on Essentials, $70 on Plus, $170 on Advanced) instead of a 30-day free trial. Payroll and time tracking cost extra. A free plan covers one user, one bank and 2 invoices a month.

Does QuickBooks charge per company?

Yes. One Intuit sign-in can switch between several companies, but each company needs its own paid subscription, on whichever plan you choose for it.

What do 3 LLCs cost on QuickBooks?

At October 2026 list prices, three companies cost $114 a month ($1,368 a year) on Simple Start, $255 a month ($3,060 a year) on Essentials, $420 a month ($5,040 a year) on Plus and $1,020 a month ($12,240 a year) on Advanced. To combine their reports with Spreadsheet Sync, at least one must be on Advanced: one Advanced and two Simple Start companies cost $416 a month ($4,992 a year). Three companies on Switchbooks cost $75 a month ($900 a year), with combined reports included.

Is there a cheaper alternative to QuickBooks?

Switchbooks costs $25 a month per company with every feature, against $38 to $340 for QuickBooks Online. Against QuickBooks Plus that is $115 a month less per company, or $1,380 a year; with Intuit's intro discount, Plus costs $1,470 in its first year against $300 for Switchbooks. Switch, the built-in AI bookkeeper, categorizes and posts transactions and reconciles accounts when you ask, or every week if you turn that on, and combined reports across companies are included. Switchbooks has no payroll, invoicing, bill pay or inventory. QuickBooks also has a free plan for one user with 1 bank and 2 invoices a month.

Is QuickBooks cheaper if I pay yearly?

Yes, by 10% on Simple Start, Essentials and Plus, according to Intuit's help center: you choose annual billing in Subscriptions and billing. Paid yearly, Simple Start comes to $410.40 a year, Essentials $918 and Plus $1,512, at October 2026 list prices. Intuit's article does not name Advanced. Switchbooks is billed monthly only, $300 a year per company, with no annual contract.

Does QuickBooks give a discount for more than one company?

Intuit lists none, as of October 2026. Intuit's pricing page and its help article on adding companies show no multi-company discount; each company pays its plan's price. If another seller offers you a lower QuickBooks price, get it in writing with its terms. Switchbooks has no multi-company discount either.

What happens to my data if I cancel QuickBooks?

You keep read-only access to your data for one year after you cancel, so you can look at your books but not change them. After a year you must subscribe again to reach the data, unless another QuickBooks Online subscription stays active under the same sign-in, which keeps the cancelled company readable. Export the reports you want to keep before you cancel. Moving to Switchbooks takes three CSV exports from QuickBooks Online: the Vendor Contact List, the Account List and the Journal report.

How much does QuickBooks payroll cost?

Payroll is an add-on paid on top of the QuickBooks plan. As of October 2026, Intuit lists Workforce Payroll at $50 a month plus $7 per employee, Workforce Premium at $88 plus $13 per employee, and Workforce Elite at $134 plus $17 per employee, with 50% off the base price for the first 3 months. Switchbooks does not run payroll; it records your payroll provider's register as a journal entry.