When it seems like there is a business software application for everything, it pays to be choosy. QuickBooks Online payroll costs between $45-$125/month plus $6-$10/month per employee. Read our complete QuickBooks Online Payroll review for all of the details, and be sure to visit the QBO website to see if Intuit is running a QuickBooks payroll discount before buying. Terms, conditions, pricing, special features, and service and support options subject to change without notice. Your business size and structure will determine which QuickBooks Online plan is best. If you’re a single freelancer, you won’t need to manage any other employees, and you won’t need to track many sales (if any) – so the Self-Employed Plan is best for you.

FreshBooks’ pricing starts at $17 per month, so it costs a little less than QuickBooks’ $20-per-month plan. FreshBooks stands out for a great set of features, but it does not offer the payroll processing or advanced tools that QuickBooks has. It also supports batch importing, to help a single user create, edit, and send multiple invoices, checks, expenses, or bills. You can also automate key accounting tasks such as setting reminders for invoices, payments, or deposits. You can automatically notify customers when their payments have been received and you can route invoices through pre-set approval flows.

Gusto is an all-in-one people platform that simplifies payroll many human resources tasks. Includes tools that help automate the reconciliation process, along with a global search function and customizable dashboard; however, there is a learning curve. Cleanup typically takes 30 days once you upload your required docs. QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping is, hands down, why I have been able to stop waking up in the middle of the night panicking about the financial end of my business. Learn how our Live Bookkeepers are helping small businesses get more done.

QuickBooks Online Plus (not to be confused with QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus) includes five users and advanced features. QuickBooks Online offers four pricing plans that start at $30/month and can cost up to $200/month, depending on the number of features and users your business needs. QuickBooks is a great accounting software 7 components of a good financial plan option but how much will QuickBooks Online actually cost you? Our QuickBooks pricing guide covers costs, extra fees, plan differences, and more. You can create an unlimited number of invoices and estimates, as well as tracking your expenses, managing business contacts — you can also manage up to 1,099 contractors.

1. Retailers and wholesalers should choose Plus so that they can track the quantity on hand and the cost of inventory.
2. Software with more advanced features, such as ADP, might be a better fit, so make sure to do your research before deciding which payroll option is right for your business.
3. Your budget and the amount of work you want to put into your payroll can help you decide which QBO Payroll plan is right for you.
4. If you are a small business or a startup, consider QuickBooks Simple Start.
5. This is especially useful if you have many expenses to record, such as business travel expenses, office supplies, and equipment purchases.
6. Customer support includes 24/7 live chat help as well as daytime phone assistance every day of the week, including weekends.

It sends you notifications when product levels are low and also lets you track the gross cost of goods. QuickBooks Self-Employed is good for freelancers who don’t have a lot of volume—perhaps if freelancing is just your side gig. You can also send transfers through a number of transfer types and choose the best payment option based on fees and the potential arrival time.

QuickBooks Essentials vs QuickBooks Plus

You can begin working with QuickBooks payments for free through the QuickBooks Money plan, but you should expect to incur QuickBooks processing fees based on your actions with your account. The three latter plans, which may look familiar from the original plan structure, also include accounting features, while QuickBooks Money is simply for managing money. QuickBooks Payroll is not included in your QuickBooks Online subscription. You will need to purchase a separate QuickBooks Online Payroll monthly subscription to use this feature. A 30-day free trial is available if you’d like to test out QuickBooks Online Payroll before signing up. One final thing to note is that budget shouldn’t be the only determining factor in selecting your payroll software.

The bank reconciliation module must also let users reconcile accounts with or without bank feeds for optimal ease of use. Lastly, the software must generate useful reports related to cash. With QuickBooks Essentials, you can track billable time by job and assign it to a specific customer—something you can’t achieve with Simple Start. Once you’ve recorded your billable time, you can add it to your invoice and then send it to your client. This feature is ideal for service-based businesses that charge work by the hour, such as lawyers and independent contractors.

How to Pay Independent Contractors in South Africa

In order to accurately compare top accounting software, the Tech.co research team picked out the eight core categories to divide their efforts along, from help and support to accounts payable tools. QuickBooks also offers connections to a variety of online payment processing services. PayPal and Square are included, as our integrations section above touches on, while Stripe and Authorize.Net are two more potential payment services. With it, users can track their billable hours, categorizing them under the correct client and employee, while automatically adding them to invoices. These hours can be added by the manager manually, though the employee in question can also be given permission to add their hours themselves. You’ll be able to track bills, set up recurring billing, track expenses, record payments in multiple currencies, and scan bills to keep abreast of all the money your company is owed.

Small Business Statistics

Get all the functionality of basic reports plus the ability to run specific budgeting, inventory, and class reports. Monitor product levels, cost of goods, and receive notifications when inventory is low so you never run out. Get a clearer view of project profitability for all your projects with user friendly dashboards and detailed reports. If your monthly average is $50,001 or more, the monthly price for QuickBooks Live is $700. If your monthly average is $10,001-50,000, the monthly price for QuickBooks Live is $500.

However, it all depends on the needs of your business and may be sufficient for single-member LLCs. A lot of the features might not be relevant to you, such as payroll or managing 1099 contractors. However, the ability to send unlimited estimates and invoices and use advanced reporting can be crucial if freelancing is your full-time gig. As for inventory tracking, this feature is also available in the Plus plan.

Get QuickBooks for $1 per month for 3 months

You have the option of contacting QuickBooks customer support directly for any help you may need too. Accurate Books Guarantee is only available for active customers of QuickBooks Live Monthly Bookkeeping who have provided their current business tax return. If your Live Bookkeeper makes an error that requires you to re-open your books for any month, we’ll correct the error in your books for the month that the error occurred at no additional charge. Businesses with inventory items should choose accounting software that can track inventory costs, manage cost of goods sold (COGS), and monitor inventory units.

QuickBooks is the #1 accounting for small businesses.4 It offers the most comprehensive feature set that enables small business owners to manage more of their business. From automating accounting work and preparing for tax time, proactively manage cash flow, QuickBooks can do it all. If these needs apply to your business, consider a different subscription level.

QuickBooks offers a free one-on-one meeting with a QuickBooks ProAdvisor for new users. Your ProAdvisor will help you set up your company file, including adding your business information, setting up accounts, and connecting your bank accounts. QuickBooks Online Self-Employed works very well https://intuit-payroll.org/ for people who work for themselves in a service industry and report their business income on Schedule C of their personal income tax return. We even consider it the best for tracking freelance income and preparing tax returns in our guide to the best accounting software for freelancers.