On August 1, 2026, Intuit raised QuickBooks Online prices again — the Plus plan went from $115 to $140 a month, and Advanced from $275 to $340. For a business on Plus, that is $300 a year more for software that has not changed. It is a reasonable moment to ask whether you are on the right product at all, so here is an honest comparison of the three most common options, with the numbers as they stand today.
Key Takeaways
- QuickBooks Online raised prices on August 1, 2026: Essentials $75→$85, Plus $115→$140, Advanced $275→$340. Simple Start held at $38.
- Xero is $25 / $55 / $90 a month and includes unlimited users on every plan.
- FreshBooks is $23 / $43 / $70 a month, but each plan is single-user — extra people are $11 each.
- The headline price is rarely the real cost: payroll and payment processing are separate on all three.
- Prices below were checked on 29 August 2026. All three vendors change them — confirm before you buy.
What each one costs right now
Standard monthly list prices, checked 29 August 2026. All three vendors run introductory discounts — often 50% for the first few months — and all three discount annual prepayment by roughly 10%. The figures below are what you pay once any promotion ends, which is the number that actually matters.
| Product | Entry | Middle | Top | Users included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Online | Simple Start $38 | Essentials $85 Plus $140 | Advanced $340 | Rises with plan |
| Xero | Early $25 | Growing $55 | Established $90 | Unlimited, every plan |
| FreshBooks | Lite $23 | Plus $43 | Premium $70 | One; +$11 each |
The August increase applies to QuickBooks subscriptions renewing on or after August 1, 2026. If you prepaid annually you generally stay at your old rate until that term ends, and recent subscribers may have a six-month price protection window — so your next invoice may not reflect the new figure yet. It will.
The pricing model matters more than the price
The headline numbers make Xero and FreshBooks look similar. They are not, and the difference is how each one counts people.
Xero charges per organisation. Every plan includes unlimited users. Your bookkeeper, your business partner, your office manager and your accountant all get access at no extra cost. What separates the plans is transaction volume and features — Early caps you at roughly 20 invoices and 5 bills a month, which is genuinely tight; Growing removes the caps; Established adds multicurrency, project tracking and expense claims.
FreshBooks charges per person, and the base plan is one seat. Additional team members are $11 a month each. It also meters billable clients: Lite stops at 5, Plus at 50, Premium is unlimited. A two-person consultancy with 60 clients is not on the $23 plan — it is on Premium at $70 plus $11 for the second seat, which is $81.
QuickBooks increases users with the plan tier. Which means a small team can be pushed up a tier — and after August, that step from Essentials to Plus is now $55 a month rather than $40.
Count your actual seats and your actual clients before comparing headline prices. It reorders the list surprisingly often.
Who each one actually fits
FreshBooks — service businesses that invoice
FreshBooks began as invoicing software and it still shows, in a good way. If you are a consultant, agency, designer, therapist or trades business whose accounting is essentially “send invoices, chase them, track time, claim expenses,” it is the least painful of the three to actually use. Time tracking and project profitability are genuinely strong.
Where it runs out of road is inventory, complex reporting, and multi-entity work. It is a great fit for a solo or very small service firm, and a poor one for anything holding stock.
Xero — growing teams and anyone who values seats
Xero is the strongest value in the table if more than one person touches your books, because that stops being a pricing question entirely. Bank reconciliation is excellent, the app ecosystem is deep, and Established covers multicurrency and project tracking at $90 — well under the QuickBooks tier you would need for comparable capability.
The real caveat in the US market is bench depth: more American bookkeepers and accountants work in QuickBooks by default. That is narrowing every year, and it is not a reason to overpay, but it is worth confirming your accountant is comfortable in Xero before you migrate. We work in both.
QuickBooks Online — the default, for real reasons
QuickBooks is the most expensive of the three at every comparable tier, and it remains the right answer for a lot of businesses. It has the deepest US integration ecosystem, the most third-party support, native payroll, inventory in Plus and above, and class and location tracking that mid-sized operations lean on heavily.
If you have stock, multiple locations or departments, or a lender or investor who expects QuickBooks reporting, the premium buys something real. If you are a two-person service business on Plus mainly because that is what you were set up on years ago, the August increase is a fair prompt to check whether you ever needed it.
What the subscription price does not include
The line item you compare is rarely the line item you pay:
- Payroll is separate on all three. It is a paid add-on for QuickBooks and Xero, and FreshBooks relies on a third-party integration. If you have employees, add this to every column before comparing.
- Payment processing is separate. Accepting card or ACH payments through any of these platforms carries the usual per-transaction fees. For an invoice-heavy business this comfortably exceeds the subscription.
- Setup and migration cost real money once. Moving a live set of books mid-year — chart of accounts, opening balances, reconciled history, connected feeds — is a project, not an afternoon.
- Your time is the largest line. Software that produces books someone has to unpick every quarter costs more than the difference between any two plans here.
Should you switch because of the increase?
Usually, no — and we say that as people who would be paid to do the migration.
A move is worth it when the product is genuinely wrong for you: you are paying for inventory you do not hold, you are on Plus for features you never open, or you keep buying seats in a product that charges per seat when a per-organisation product would include them. Those are structural mismatches, and they compound every month.
A move is not worth it to save $30 a month if your books are clean, your integrations work and your team knows the software. Migration costs real hours, carries real risk of losing history, and the saving is often recovered in the first cleanup.
A reasonable test: if you would not have chosen your current product had you started today, look properly. If you would, stay and take the increase.
The Texas-specific bit
Whichever you choose, two things need to be set up correctly on day one for a Texas business, and neither happens by default:
- Sales tax has to be configured to your actual jurisdictions, not just a statewide rate. All three handle Texas sales tax; all three need to be told the right rates for where you deliver. Our Texas sales tax guide covers what you are configuring and why.
- Your chart of accounts should make the franchise tax report easy, since total revenue and cost of goods sold drive that calculation. Structuring for it once saves an annual reconstruction — see the franchise tax guide.
The software is a tool. What determines whether your books are useful is whether someone reconciles them monthly and reads the results. That is the part worth investing in — a well-run set of books in FreshBooks beats a neglected QuickBooks Advanced file every time.
Want a straight answer on which one fits you?
Tell us how you bill, how many people need access, and whether you carry stock. We will tell you which platform we would put you on and what it would actually cost — including if the answer is to stay where you are.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much did QuickBooks Online go up in August 2026?
Prices increased for subscriptions renewing on or after August 1, 2026. Essentials went from 75 to 85 dollars a month, Plus from 115 to 140 dollars, and Advanced from 275 to 340 dollars. Simple Start was not part of the increase and remains at 38 dollars. Businesses that prepaid annually generally keep their existing rate until that term ends, and some recent subscribers have a six-month price protection period.
Is Xero cheaper than QuickBooks?
At every comparable tier, yes, and the gap widens with team size. Xero's US plans are 25, 55 and 90 dollars a month against QuickBooks at 38, 85, 140 and 340. The larger difference is the model: Xero prices per organisation and includes unlimited users on every plan, while QuickBooks increases its user allowance with the plan tier, so a growing team can be pushed into a more expensive plan for seats alone.
Which accounting software is best for a small service business?
For a solo or very small service business whose work is invoicing, chasing payment, tracking time and claiming expenses, FreshBooks is usually the easiest to run at 23 dollars a month for the Lite plan. Watch the two limits that catch people out: every plan is single-user, with additional team members at 11 dollars a month each, and billable clients are capped at 5 on Lite and 50 on Plus.
Does the subscription price include payroll?
No. Payroll is a separate paid add-on for both QuickBooks and Xero, and FreshBooks handles it through a third-party integration. Payment processing is also separate on all three, with the usual per-transaction fees on card and ACH payments, which for an invoice-heavy business can exceed the subscription itself. Add both to every option before comparing costs.
Is it worth switching accounting software to save money?
Only when the product is structurally wrong for you, such as paying for inventory features you do not use or repeatedly buying seats in a product that charges per user. Migrating a live set of books means moving the chart of accounts, opening balances, reconciled history and bank feeds, which takes real hours and risks losing history. Saving 30 dollars a month rarely covers that. A useful test is whether you would choose your current product if you were starting today.
Can these platforms handle Texas sales tax?
All three can, but none is correct out of the box. Texas has a 6.25 percent state rate plus local rates of up to 2 percent that vary by delivery address rather than by city or ZIP code, so the software has to be configured to the jurisdictions you actually sell into. It is also worth structuring the chart of accounts so that total revenue and cost of goods sold are easy to pull, since both drive the annual Texas franchise tax calculation.
Sources: Intuit QuickBooks Online published pricing and the August 2026 price change announcement, corroborated across independent reporting, retrieved 2026-08-29; Xero US pricing plans (Early, Growing and Established rates effective March 1, 2026), retrieved 2026-08-29; FreshBooks published plan pricing and team member fees, retrieved 2026-08-29. Software pricing changes frequently and promotional rates vary by account — confirm current figures with the vendor before purchasing. This article is general information, not individualized tax advice.