QuickBooks Online
Accounting and payroll software built for small business owners
Pricing
Simple Start $30/month, Essentials $60/month, Plus $90/month
Best For
Founders who need accounting, invoicing, and payroll in one place and don't want to hire a bookkeeper yet.
Company Size
Key Features
- Invoice creation and tracking with automatic reminders
- Expense tracking and categorization
- Payroll processing and tax filing
- Basic financial reporting and P&L statements
- Bank and credit card sync
- Integration with payment processing
The Good and the Bad
What works
- Everything you need to run the financial side of a small business
- Payroll integration saves time and reduces errors
- Mobile app works for on-the-go invoice and expense logging
- Tax documentation is cleaner for year-end
Watch out for
- Interface feels clunky compared to newer competitors
- Customer support can be slow for complex issues
- Transaction categorization sometimes needs manual cleanup
Our Take
QuickBooks Online is the default choice for small business accounting, and that’s for a reason—it does the job. As a founder in the early days, you need your accounting system to handle invoicing, track expenses, calculate payroll, and not require an accountant to set up. QB does all three without drama. You sync your bank account, transactions import automatically, and at the end of the year your accountant has organized data instead of a shoebox of receipts.
The payroll piece is the real value for most startups. Instead of calculating payroll taxes yourself, missing deadlines, or paying ADP $400+/month for 5 employees, QB handles federal and state filings in one place. Your contractors get paid. Your employees get direct deposit. Tax filing is simpler because you’ve been categorizing as you go instead of doing it all in January. That’s worth $30-90/month alone when you have any W2 employees.
The trade-off is that QB’s interface hasn’t aged well. Competitors like Wave and Xero have better UX. But they’re either missing payroll or pushing you toward their tax service. QB is the one-stop-shop. At $30/month for Simple Start (invoicing, expense tracking) or $60/month for Essentials (add payroll), you’re not overpaying. The integration with Stripe and Square means invoices and payments sync automatically. For a team of 1-10 doing $100K-500K ARR, it’s the path of least resistance.
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