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 £123 per month, and right now you can get 90% off for six 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 approaching fast, so now’s the best 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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	Plan	Cost	Features
		BEST VALUE
Sole Trader	Simple Start	Essentials	Plus	Advanced
Paid monthly: £10/month (+ VAT) You can currently get 90% off for the first six months	Paid monthly: £16/month (+ VAT) You can currently get 90% off for the first six months	Paid monthly: £38/month (+ VAT) You can currently get 90% off for the first six months	Paid monthly: £56/month (+ VAT) You can currently get 90% off for the first six months	Paid monthly: £123/month (+ VAT) You can currently get 90% off for the first six months
Helps you prepare your self-assessment tax return Receive income tax estimates  Send out invoices	AI-powered bank feeds for quick categorisation Checks your VAT return for errors Gives you VAT deadline reminders	Bill management Multi-currency support (over 145 currencies) Employee time tracking so you can invoice your clients accurately	Track your products, and see what’s selling the most See the profitability of each of your projects Smart budgeting	Version control 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 £123 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, which 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 get the first six months of a monthly plan at a reduced cost.

QuickBooks Sole Trader cost

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

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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: it’s aimed at sole traders who just need to do basic accountancy and file their self-assessments.

The Sole Trader plan supports MTD for Income Tax, and your monthly £10 + 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, and you also get QuickBooks’ excellent mobile app (with great functionality, like mileage tracking) on all plan levels. 

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’ll pay a bit more (£16 + VAT per month) 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).

It’s also worth mentioning that, unlike some competitors, QuickBooks has no ledger or invoice caps to worry about at this level.

As of November 2025, QuickBooks has now also fully rolled out Intuit Assist, the AI-powered financial assistant, in the UK. On this tier, you’ll get access to:

• AI-powered bank feeds: quick transaction organisation for review
• VAT AI Agent (beta): helps flag differences between P&L and VAT reports and recommends corrections

One thing to note about the Simple Start plan: you can’t enter unpaid bills. So, while it does technically handle VAT returns, if you manage your VAT on ‘accruals’ (the ‘standard’ VAT scheme) then you might struggle on this tier. There are work arounds for this, but they’re far from ideal.

This is why the Essentials plan will be the better option for VAT registered business (especially limited companies). 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 £38 + VAT per month Special offer: Currently £3.80 per month, for your first six months

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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 £38 + VAT per month, the Essentials plan is aimed at small businesses that have multiple employees, work with suppliers, and in multiple currencies. 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 (which will be essential for limited companies)
• 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

One of the key points on the Essentials plan is being able to see a list of who you owe what to, at any time.

You’ll also get the AI tools in the Simple Start plan, as well as AI-powered collaboration (currently in beta). This tool can spot transactions that need addressing, and then will prompt you to start a chat with your advisor.

We’d say out of all the plan options, Essentials offers the best value for money when it comes to cost vs. features. Just so long as you’re willing to put the time into learning QuickBooks complexities, it provides excellent value for business owners.

QuickBooks Plus cost

QuickBooks Plus: from £56 + VAT per month Special offer: Currently £5.60 per month, for your first six months

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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 £56 + VAT per month, 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

In addition to all the AI tools that are included in Essentials, you’ll also get access to:

• Anomaly detection: which identifies potential errors in P&L reports and balance sheets
• Customer Agent: this is an AI-agent that can prioritise leads from your inbox, and personalise follow-ups

QuickBooks Advanced cost

QuickBooks Advanced: from £123 + VAT per month Special offer: Currently £12.30 per month, for your first six months

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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 £123 + VAT per month – 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
• Allows unlimited Chart of Accounts categories

The unlimited Chart of Accounts feature can be a key point for users who need to make several different categories, and expense lines for reporting, as you’re capped at 250 on all the lower tier plans.

In addition to all the Intuit Assist AI tools included on previous plans, you’ll also unlock:

• Finance Agent: this AI-agent can analyse progress towards KPIs, and provide scenario planning for your business
• Project Management Agent: this agent creates project outlines, with pre-filled key details

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.

While not a hidden fee, just remember to keep in mind the cap on Chart of Accounts on all plans except for Advanced, as many users can be caught out by this.

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.

Just be aware though, by selecting the free trial, you won’t be able to access the current 90% discount offer. 

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?

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).

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 10% saving if you opt to pay annually instead of monthly. However, just note that currently you can’t opt for an annual subscription from sign-up. According to QuickBooks support page, you need to switch to an annual plan once your account is already set up.

Verdict: Is QuickBooks worth the money?

In short, yes – QuickBooks’ reasonable pricing, powerful cash flow projections, excellent mobile app, 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.

We will warn you, though, 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. 

It’s worth noting that in September 2025, QuickBooks launched an updated version of its interface, with included improvements like updated navigation and usability. It also allows you to tailor the menus to your preference.

Overall, QuickBooks offers some great value-for-money when it comes to its solid package of features, combined with an impressive level of connectivity with third-party apps.

Who will get the most out of QuickBooks?

We’d recommend QuickBooks to small business owners whose operations are growing, and who have the time necessary to learn all of the QuickBooks quirks. 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.