How much does QuickBooks cost?

In our most recent round of testing, QuickBooks emerged as one of our top recommendations for the best accounting software for small businesses. But how much does QuickBooks cost?

QuickBooks actually offers five plans to choose from, with prices ranging from £10 per month to £115 per month, and right now you can get 90% off for seven months on any plan. But what exactly are you getting for your hard-earned cash? And which is the right plan for your business?

April (or accounting season) is round the corner, so now’s the time to switch accounting software – or upgrade your plan. Read on to find out everything you need to know about QuickBooks’ pricing options.

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		BEST VALUE
Plan Sole Trader	Plan Simple Start	Plan Essentials	Plan Plus	Plan Advanced
Cost Monthly: £10 per month (excl. VAT) £1 per month for seven months (excl. VAT) Annually: £108 per year (excl. VAT) £10.80 for the first year	Cost Monthly: £16 per month (excl. VAT) £1.60 per month for seven months (excl. VAT) Annually: £172 per year (excl. VAT) £17.20 for the first year	Cost Monthly: £33 per month (excl. VAT) £3.30 per month for seven months (excl. VAT) Annually: £356 per year (excl. VAT) £35.60 for the first year	Cost Monthly: £47 per month (excl. VAT) £4.70 per month for seven months (excl. VAT) Annually: £507 per year (excl. VAT) £50.70 for the first year	Cost Monthly: £115 per month (excl. VAT) £11.50 per month for seven months (excl. VAT) Annually: £1242 per year (excl. VAT) £11.50 for the first year
Features Helps you prepare your Self Assessment tax return Receive income tax estimates  Send out invoices	Features MTD compliant – submit your VAT return directly to HMRC Checks your VAT return for errors Gives you VAT deadline reminders	Features Bill management Multi-currency support (over 145 currencies) Employee time tracking so you can invoice your clients accurately	Features Track your products, and see what’s selling the most See the profitability of each of your projects Smart budgeting	Features Automatic data backup Automate workflows Custom charts and customised dashboards

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How much does QuickBooks cost?

QuickBooks pricing starts from £10 per month + VAT for the Sole Trader plan and goes all the way up to £115 per month + VAT for the Advanced plan. The best thing about QuickBooks’ pricing is that it’s transparent and affordable. It also offers a wide range of plans, with five tiers in total.

It covers a broad spectrum of pricing, so you should be able to find something to fit your needs. Especially in comparison to a competitor like FreshBooks, that only provides three plans in total.

The £10 per month for the Sole Trader plan is very reasonable for a starting tier, but the only thing QuickBooks is missing is a free accounting software plan. That said, while it might be tempting in the current economy to opt for a no-cost option, free plans tend to miss out on the richer, more advanced features available on paid plans like QuickBooks’.

It’s also worth knowing that QuickBooks often has special offers available. Right now you can either get the first six months of a monthly plan at a reduced cost, or you can get the first year on an annual plan incredibly cheap.

Now, let’s dive into the details of each plan below to help you find the perfect fit.

QuickBooks Sole Trader cost

QuickBooks Sole Trader: from £10 + VAT per month, or £108 + VAT per year Special offer: Currently £1 per month for your first six months, or £10.80 for your first year

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• Number of users: One billable user

• Prepare your self-assessment tax return
• Provides estimates for Income Tax
• Extracts data from photos of your receipts

Summary This plan is for sole traders, single property landlords, and small business owners who need to prepare a self-assessment tax return, including managing VAT and Income Tax.

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QuickBooks’ Sole Trader plan is exactly what it sounds like: its aimed at sole traders who just need to do basic accountancy and file their self-assessments.

As well as the ability to prepare your self-assessment tax return, your monthly £10 + VAT (or yearly £108 + VAT) will bag you the following features:

• Get income tax estimates
• Connect to your bank
• Manage income and expenses
• Separate personal and business transactions using AI
• Track mileage travelled on business trips
• Phone support (phone support is available 8am to 7pm from Monday to Friday)
• Messaging service support (available 8am to 10pm from Monday to Friday, and from 8am to 6pm on weekends)

That’s a pretty impressive list for a basic, low-cost plan, but a big drawback is that you don’t get MTD VAT filing on the Sole Trader plan – so you won’t be able to submit VAT returns directly to HMRC.

QuickBooks Simple Start cost

QuickBooks Simple Start: from £16 + VAT per month, or £172 + VAT per year Special offer: Currently £1.60 per month for your first six months, or £17.20 for your first year

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• Number of users: One billable user

• Submit VAT directly to HMRC
• VAT error checker
• VAT deadline reminders

Summary This plan is for sole traders and small business owners who are managing VAT and Income Tax, and who need to prepare a Self Assessment.

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QuickBooks’ Simple Start plan is a great fit for many small businesses. While you’d pay a bit more (£16 + VAT per month, or £172 + VAT per year) than you would for the Sole Trader plan, you’ll be able to submit VAT directly to HMRC, and you’ll also get a helpful error checker. On this plan, you can also:

• Send “pay-enabled” invoices that can be paid with one click
• Get VAT deadline reminders
• Create estimates and quotes that can then be turned into invoices
• Calculate and submit Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) returns

It’s a toolkit that should fulfil the needs of a lot of small businesses, and from this tier upwards, you also have the option of adding payroll functionality for an extra fee (starting from £5 per month).

However, if you want bill management tools or multi-currency support, you’ll need to bump up to the Essentials or Plus plan.

QuickBooks Essentials cost

QuickBooks Essentials: from £33 + VAT per month, or £356 + VAT per year Special offer: Currently £3.30 per month for your first six months, or £35.60 for your first year

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• Number of users: Three billable users

• Manage your bills, including paying multiple invoices at once
• Multi-currency support
• Track employee time

Summary This plan is aimed at small businesses that have a lot of outgoings and are working with suppliers.

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At £33 + VAT per month (or £356 + VAT per year), the Essentials plan is aimed at small businesses that have multiple employees, work with suppliers and do business overseas. That’s because you’ll get access to key features that you don’t get on the lower tiers like:

• Bill management – import bills from suppliers to see when they’re due, pay multiple vendors/invoices at the same time, record payments, and create recurring expenses.
• Do business in over 145 currencies – invoice easily with automatic exchange rates, and keep your overseas customers happy by providing billing in the local currency
• Employee time tracking – manage chargeable hours and expenses for clients or employees, which can be automatically added to an invoice

QuickBooks Plus cost

QuickBooks Plus: from £47 + VAT per month, or £507 + VAT per year Special offer: Currently £4.70 per month for your first six months, or £50.70 for your first year

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• Number of users: Five billable users

• Stock tracking
• Smart budgeting
• Project overview

Summary This plan is primarily for businesses who need to manage projects and inventories.

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QuickBooks’ Plus plan, priced at £47 + VAT per month or £507 + VAT per year, has a lot to offer for SMEs that are managing projects and stock. That’s because the big feature on this tier is inventory management, which lets you quickly and easily track stock levels, see what is (and isn’t) selling well, create purchase orders, manage vendors, and get low stock notifications.

This plan also includes project-friendly tools, including:

• The ability to track project profitability
• Budgeting tools that let you track spending against monthly, quarterly, or annual budgets
• The ability to track data by both classification and location

QuickBooks Advanced cost

QuickBooks Advanced: from £115 + VAT per month, or £1242 + VAT per year Special offer: Currently £28.75 per month for your first six months, or £310.50 for your first year

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• Number of users: 25 billable users

• Advanced reports
• Unlimited Chart of Accounts
• Unlimited classes and locations for custom reports

Summary This plan is for larger corporate businesses who need custom reporting and insights.

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If your businesses has more complex requirements, QuickBooks’ Advanced plan—its most expensive, at £115 + VAT per month or £1,242 + VAT per year—will be what you’re looking for.

For example, one of its standout features is its custom user permissions, which allows you to control access to sensitive financial information. This ensures that only authorised personnel can view or modify sensitive data.

Its advanced features and scalability make it an ideal choice for growing businesses that need a comprehensive and sophisticated financial management solution.

This advanced functionality also includes:

• Business analytics with Excel
• Batch invoices
• Automated workflows and reminders
• Employee expense management
• Premium, dedicated user support from QuickBooks

While this kind of functionality may not be necessary for small businesses that are just starting out, as your business scales and demands more advanced abilities, you might need to upgrade.

Are there any hidden fees?

There are no hidden fees lurking for premium features or extra storage, so you won’t be in for any nasty surprises. With QuickBooks’ pricing plans, what you see is what you get.

The only additional cost outside of the base monthly price is the fee for adding Payroll functionality (this is only available from the Simple Start plan upwards):

• Core payroll: £5 per month, plus £1.30 per paid employee, per month
• Advanced payroll: £10 per month, plus £1.30 per paid employee, per month

Is there a free version of QuickBooks?

There’s no free version of QuickBooks. However, you can get a 30-day free trial to see exactly what QuickBooks has to offer, without a financial commitment.

If you are looking for a no-cost option, check out our ranking of the best free accounting software.

Can I buy QuickBooks as a one-time purchase?

QuickBooks is only available with a subscription—you’ll pay for it on a monthly or yearly basis—but there’s no minimum term or contract to sign, so you’re free to stop using it whenever you want.

Considering that you can currently get the first six months of any of the plans at a discount, this could be a great way of testing out the software for a low cost. Not having to pay a significant amount upfront should also help your cash flow, something that’s hugely important for small businesses.

Do also keep in mind that you can make a saving if you opt to pay annually instead of monthly! QuickBooks currently has a special offer where you can get the first year at a considerable discount if you pay annually. 

While there are some small business owners who prefer to pay for their software outright and avoid monthly overheads, QuickBooks no longer offers a one-time purchase model (QuickBooks Desktop used to be available as a one-time purchase, but this became unavailable in 2022).

Verdict: Is QuickBooks worth the money?

In short, yes.

Our expert research and in-depth testing demonstrated that QuickBooks’ reasonable pricing, powerful cash flow projections, advanced reporting, and user-friendly interface make it a preferred choice for users who want in-depth insights and enhanced customisation.

What’s also great about QuickBooks is that it can offer you assistance in transitioning out of your contract with your current accounting software provider, if you have one.

The platform also provides a wide range of help and support options, including a 24/7 chatbot. When we tested the knowledge centre though, the results were a little inconsistent, and it occasionally provided unhelpful responses. However, given the software’s overall very intuitive nature, and its beginner-friendly setup guide, you likely won’t run into too much trouble using it.

However, we will warn you that, in order to really master the complexities of QuickBooks and its nuanced workflow automations, you need to put in the hours. If you don’t have the time it takes to really get your head around this type of thing, a simpler software option like FreshBooks might be more your speed.

You can read more about the differences between the competitors in our full QuickBooks vs FreshBooks deep dive. 

Who will get the most out of QuickBooks?

We’d recommend QuickBooks to working professionals in accountancy, as they’ll get the most benefit from its advanced tools and nuances. If you can unlock its complexities, it can really reduce your manual effort.

As tax season quickly approaches, there’s no better time than now to kickstart your financial journey with QuickBooks. January marks the perfect moment for a fresh start, ensuring you can set solid foundations for the year ahead.

For a full breakdown of where QuickBooks truly excels, you can jump into our full QuickBooks review.