If you are shopping for accounting software, the first question is usually the price — and for QuickBooks Online that question got more complicated in 2026. QuickBooks Online pricing now spans four paid plans, from a single-user starter plan to a 25-user advanced tier, plus payroll and payment add-ons that sit outside the base subscription. This guide lays out the current list prices, the user and feature limits that push you from one tier to the next, and the August 2026 changes that raised three of the four plans.
Prices change, so treat the figures below as the list prices shown on Intuit's pricing page in October 2026 and confirm the current rate before you buy or renew. What does not change as often is the structure: each plan is one monthly price for the whole company, not a per-seat fee, and the jump between plans is driven by caps — users, accounts, classes and locations — rather than by a single missing feature. If you know your caps, you know your plan. For the bookkeeping side of the decision, see our QuickBooks hub for guides on reconciliation, cleanup, and imports.
QuickBooks Online Pricing: The Four Plans at a Glance
Simple Start lists at $38 a month for one billable user, with two accountant seats included. It covers invoicing, expense tracking, bank feeds, and basic reports — enough for a solo owner who sends invoices and tracks spending in one place. Essentials lists at $85 a month for three users and adds bill management, time tracking, and multi-currency support. Plus lists at $140 a month for five users and adds inventory, project profitability, and class and location tracking. Advanced lists at $340 a month for up to 25 users and adds custom roles, batch transactions, advanced reporting, and, since August 2026, Bill Pay Elite at no extra subscription.
New customers usually see 50 percent off for the first three months, which makes the first-year math different from the list price. A year of Plus at list is $1,680; with the intro it is $1,470. The intro does not cover payroll or per-employee fees, so price those separately. Before you compare plans, count the people who will actually post in the books: the user cap is the most common reason a small team outgrows a plan, and there is no way to buy one extra seat — the next tier is the only option.
What Changed in QuickBooks Online Pricing in 2026
Intuit raised the renewal prices of Essentials, Plus, and Advanced for renewals on or after August 1, 2026. Essentials moved from $75 to $85, Plus from $115 to $140, and Advanced from $275 to $340. Simple Start stayed at $38, and the Free, Lite, and Ledger products were unchanged. Intuit tied the increase to new AI features and an expanded Advanced tier. If your renewal falls after the change date, budget for the new rate rather than last year's invoice.
The Advanced increase is the one with a real offset: since August, Advanced includes Bill Pay Elite, with approvals, an audit trail, 1099 e-filing, and standard ACH, which Intuit values at $540 a year. On the three lower plans, Bill Pay is a $45-a-month add-on. That math matters if you pay many vendors: Advanced at $340 can cost less than Plus at $140 plus Bill Pay at $45 plus the time spent approving bills by hand. Our guide to QuickBooks Payroll covers the separate payroll subscription, which is priced by tier plus a per-employee fee.
The Limits That Force an Upgrade
Three caps push growing companies up a tier. The first is users: a sixth billable user cannot stay on Plus, because the next plan is Advanced at $200 more a month. The second is the chart of accounts: Plus stops at 250 accounts, and a departmental close can hit that sooner than you expect. The third is classes and locations: Plus allows 40 combined, and the 41st forces Advanced. Revenue recognition is also Advanced-only, so a business that needs it has no cheaper route.
Check these caps before you commit to a year. Open your current books, count users, accounts, and classes, and compare them with the plan limits on Intuit's usage-limits page. A plan that fits today but breaks in six months is a false saving: the mid-year upgrade is prorated, but the cleanup of a rushed move is not. If you are comparing with the other major cloud option, read our QuickBooks Desktop versus Online comparison first.
Add-Ons, Payroll, and the Real Monthly Total
The base plan is rarely the whole bill. Payroll is a second subscription with its own tier and a per-employee monthly fee, and payment processing carries its own rates. Add-ons such as Bill Pay, time tracking on higher tiers, and third-party apps each add a line. Add every line for a full year before you compare with an alternative: a $38 plan with $60 of add-ons is not a $38 plan.
Two habits keep the total honest. First, review the subscription every quarter and drop add-ons nobody opened in ninety days. Second, before you cancel or downgrade, export a complete history — transactions, lists, and attachments — and reconcile each quarter as it lands. Intuit keeps a canceled company read-only for a year, but your own export is the copy you control. If your books arrive as bank statement files, our bank statement to Excel converter turns them into a spreadsheet you can check before anything is imported.