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QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is an AI tool for small business. Cloud accounting for small businesses with Intuit Intelligence AI handling bookkeeping, invoicing and forecasting tasks. Pricing: freemium, Free plan; Simple Start $38/month ($19/month for the first 3 months) (as of November 2026).
Key facts
- Name
- QuickBooks Online
- Primary profession
- Small Business
- Category
- Finance & invoicing
- Pricing
- Freemium: Free plan; Simple Start $38/month ($19/month for the first 3 months)
- Pricing source
- https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/
- Pricing as of
- November 2026
- Last verified
- November 1, 2026
Pricing verified November 1, 2026 against the vendor's official page.
Used by: Small Business
Task hubs: Finance & Invoicing for Small Business
What QuickBooks Online does
QuickBooks Online covers invoicing and payments, expense and bill management, payroll, reporting and bank connections, with AI tools for conversational cash-flow forecasts, AI-drafted invoices and reminders, and inconsistency flagging.
QuickBooks Online is the incumbent small-business ledger, and its AI story is Intuit Intelligence rather than a separate assistant product. The features are embedded in existing workflows: bills created from a forwarded email, invoices drafted with reminders, forecasts answered in conversation, and inconsistencies flagged. Because the ledger is the system of record, the useful evaluation is whether those suggestions are reviewable, not whether they exist.
Intuit Intelligence and the accounting workflow
Described on quickbooks.intuit.com's official pages and checked on November 1, 2026. Each point links to the page it came from; this directory has not tested the product. How we choose and verify.
- Intuit Intelligence draws on the vendor’s 40+ years of financial data and patterns from 7 million businesses, and QuickBooks says the automation stays under the user’s control. (quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026)
- AI bookkeeping flags inconsistencies, drafts invoices and prioritises payment reminders, and creates bills from forwarded emails, documents or photos. (quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026)
- Conversational forecasts answer cash-flow questions from live data, and payroll automation checks time and attendance records for inconsistencies. (quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026)
- Core accounting covers bank and app connections, expense sorting, invoicing with online payments, bill tracking and bill pay, and financial reporting. (quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026)
- Payroll features include Auto Payroll for salaried direct deposit, payroll tax filing, contractor payments, time tracking and benefits administration. (quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026)
- The vendor states that Intuit Intelligence can make mistakes, so its output still needs review. (quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026)
Payments, commerce and payroll connections
- QuickBooks advertises over 800 integrations, naming PayPal, Shopify, Square and Mailchimp. (quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026)
Where QuickBooks runs
- QuickBooks Online and Self-Employed have iPhone, iPad and Android apps, but the vendor notes that not all features are available on mobile. (quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026)
Best for
Small businesses that need full double-entry accounting and payroll in one platform.
- Track income and expenses
- Create and send invoices
QuickBooks Online is catalogued for Small Business under finance and invoicing and appears in the Finance & Invoicing for Small Business hub. It is the default ledger most bookkeepers already know: compare Xero for a different bank-feed and practice workflow, Zoho Books on price, FreshBooks for service invoicing, and Melio for the payment layer on top. Teams in Accountants should test the accountant-specific tools rather than assume the client-side AI covers the close.
Pricing
Freemium: Free plan; Simple Start $38/month ($19/month for the first 3 months)
Plans seen: Free ($0/month, no card required), Simple Start ($38 standard, $19/month for 3 months), Essentials ($85, $42.50), Plus ($140, $70), Advanced ($340, $170). Promotional rates apply for the first three months.
Pricing as of November 2026; last verified November 1, 2026. Source: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/. How we check pricing.
Related alternatives
Editorial matches from this directory's catalog based on shared tasks, categories and professions; pricing comes from each vendor's public page as of November 2026; tools were not hands-on tested. How we choose and verify.
| Alternative | Best for | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| BILL Spend & Expense | Finance teams that want employee card spend controlled and auto-coded before it reaches the general ledger. | Freemium: Spend & Expense $0/user/month; BILL AP & AR plans from $49/user/month |
| Botkeeper | Accounting firms and outsourced bookkeeping shops managing many small-business client ledgers. | Paid: From $53/license/month billed annually (25+ licenses) |
| Dext | Bookkeepers and accountants processing large volumes of receipts and supplier documents. | Paid: See vendor pricing |
| FreshBooks | Service businesses that need straightforward invoicing and expense tracking. | Paid: From $23/month (Lite plan) |
| Xero | Small businesses and advisors working in cloud accounting. | Paid: From $27/month (Early plan) |
| Zoho Books | Small businesses that want an affordable connected accounting stack. | Freemium: Free plan; Standard from $12/org/month ($10 billed annually) |
| Jobber | Cleaning, HVAC, landscaping, plumbing and other home-service businesses. | Paid: From $29/month (Core, billed annually); $49/month month-to-month |
| Canva | Non-designers and teams that need polished visual content quickly. | Freemium: Free plan; see vendor pricing |
FAQ
What is QuickBooks Online used for?
Cloud accounting for small businesses with Intuit Intelligence AI handling bookkeeping, invoicing and forecasting tasks. Small businesses that need full double-entry accounting and payroll in one platform.
How much does QuickBooks Online cost?
As of November 2026, QuickBooks Online pricing is listed as freemium: Free plan; Simple Start $38/month ($19/month for the first 3 months). Plans seen: Free ($0/month, no card required), Simple Start ($38 standard, $19/month for 3 months), Essentials ($85, $42.50), Plus ($140, $70), Advanced ($340, $170). Promotional rates apply for the first three months.
What are alternatives to QuickBooks Online?
Related alternatives to QuickBooks Online in this directory include BILL Spend & Expense, Botkeeper, Dext, FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho Books, Jobber, Canva. Each alternative has a best-for summary and its own pricing on its tool page.
Where are QuickBooks’ AI features?
They sit under the Intuit Intelligence brand inside the existing workflows: bookkeeping checks, invoice and reminder drafting, bill creation from emails or photos, payroll checks and conversational cash-flow forecasts. The vendor also states the AI can make mistakes.
Source: quickbooks.intuit.com, as of November 1, 2026.
Last updated 2026-11-01. QuickBooks Online is a trademark of its owner; this site is independent and not affiliated.