Figuring out which Quickbooks subscription is right for you and your business can be tricky. 

The accounting and bookkeeping platform is a crucial lifeline for small businesses around the world. Making sense of how to use it for your business can be a challenge though. And one of the first things a new QuickBooks user must discern is the right Quickbooks subscription level to choose.

Quickbooks Online Subscription

In this article, we are going to break down each Quickbooks subscription level and share the pros and the cons of each level for your business. Are you an existing Quickbooks Online user? Cool. You can upgrade between any of these QBO offerings at any time.

Let’s get to the breakdown.

QuickBooks Online Simple Start

The QuickBooks Online Simple Start is the most basic platform access you can get. It enables you to have one billable user and two accountant firm users. Worth noting that reports-only and time tracking-only users are not available for this subscription. You can however get a huge chart of accounts (up to 250), a maximum of 40 tag groups, and up to 300 tags. QuickBooks Commerce Accounting users can connect 1 sales channel as well. Users may find that many commonly-needed reports will not be available.

All in all, the QuickBooks Online Simple Start subscription is a great option for QuickBooks users who have lighter usage needs and operate businesses on the smaller side in terms of transaction amount and complexity. This is also the most cost-effective and budget-friendly option, always a benefit to small business owners.

QuickBooks Online Essentials

Looking to step your QuickBooks game up without getting too deep in the weeds? QuickBooks Online Essentials is your best bet. This subscription level gives you 3 billable users, 2 accountant firm users, and unlimited time-tracking only users. You do not get access to any reports-only users with this subscription, nor access to classes and locations. However you can get to a chart of up to 250 accounts, a maximum of 40 tag groups, and up to 300 tags. 

This level of QuickBooks subscription is most useful for small business owners who will need multiple employees having access to their bookkeeping and accounting software. If you have a bookkeeper or Head of Finance on staff, this subscription level is going to be your ideal. You get access to the most mission-critical features for your business with enough logins for your team members who might need it at a price point that makes sense for your company. We highly recommend Online Essentials to the majority of startup small business owners. It will be worth the investment for you and your team in the long run.

QuickBooks Online Plus

QuickBooks Online Plus is very similar to QuickBooks Online Essentials with 3 key additions:

  • You get 3 additional billable users (5 total)
  • You have unlimited reports-only users
  • You can connect an unlimited number of QuickBooks Commerce Accounting sales channels to your Online Plus account

QuickBooks Online Plus is ultimately a worthwhile value for small businesses who have outgrown Online Essentials and need something that can support a more 

QuickBooks Online Advanced

Last but not least, there is QuickBooks Online Advanced. This subscription level is the most expensive, but offers the most comprehensive slate of features with essentially zero usage limits. This subscription level works best for sophisticated, complex business who needs dozens of users and limitless classes, locations, time-tracking, reports, tag groups, accounts, and sales channels.

You get a whopping 25 billable users with QuickBooks Online Advanced, which is perfect for the type of business who has multiple locations and a large in-house finance staff needed to sort through P&L, bookkeeping and accounting needs.

QuickBooks Online Payroll Core, Premium, and Elite

Small businesses who have a payroll subscription and a QuickBooks Online subscription have different usage limits that are determined by your level of subscription. We won’t go into gory detail on this blog post about your access levels with those subscriptions, but just know that you get quite a bit of value from being a Payroll user.

Choosing the Right QuickBooks Online Subscription For You

The biggest questions you should ask yourself when it comes to choosing a QuickBooks Online subscription are as follows:

How many users will I need?

If you are just starting out as a business and will only need a single user or a few users for the foreseeable future (6-12 months), then you can probably get by with QuickBooks Online Simple Start or QuickBooks Online Essentials.

Do I need advanced features?

Both of these subscription levels give you the basics you need to get going and are highly affordable and easy to use. If you don’t need a lot of users or advanced features, your best bet is to stick with one of these two subscription levels.

Can I purchase Intuit Payroll Add-Ons?

For all products, Intuit Payroll add-ons can be purchased such as Payroll Core, Payroll Premium and Payroll Elite. And venerable TSheets too (now “Intuit Time”).

And when considering, beware of one of the most effective marketing offers in history!

Intuit ads usually say something like: QuickBooks Online Plus for $85.00” ($85.00 is crossed out and you then see) $25.50/month. 70% off for 3 months”

New users commonly think ‘Wow $25.50 is a great price. I’ll buy that and just find a new discount after the 3 months.’ Warning: New discounts will never happen! Be prepared to pay the full-price forever after the 3 months.

Here are the actual retail prices of each of the products:

  • SIMPLE START $30/Month
  • PLUS $85
  • ADVANCED $200

These are the retail prices you can expect to pay after the 3 month deal is up! But check with us before you buy – as Intuit Pro advisors we may be able to get you a better price on all of these products. Justmail pricing requests to: asap@qb-la.com.

How do I change my QuickBooks Online subscription Level?

Changing your QuickBooks Online subscription level is straightforward. Just go to your QuickBooks Online user dashboard and you’ll see what your subscription level is. You can also check how close you are to your usage limits by signing into QuickBooks Online as an Admin, going to Settings, selecting Account and Settings, and checking out your Usage tab.

Get Quickbooks Online Help for Your Small Business

Here at QB-LA, we help small businesses of all shapes and sizes get the bookkeeping and accounting help they need to grow their business. We have helped thousands of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and finance leaders get the support they need to grow their companies.

Let us help you choose the right QuickBooks Online subscription for your small business and get you on the path to success. See more and compare all products at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/oa/get-quickbooks.