How we price this: SoftwareSift reads every number off the vendor pricing page, dates it, and re-checks it monthly -- and we report the real cost whether or not we earn a commission. That independence is what makes this comparison worth citing. Figures are US list prices in USD; the intro promos below are shown as separate lines, never folded into the headline, because the discount is exactly what hides the real cost.
QuickBooks Online, Xero, and FreshBooks all price the same way -- a flat monthly fee per company, not per seat -- so they compare cleanly once you do two things the vendors do not: annualize the monthly price, and strip out the intro discount to see what you actually pay from month four onward.
The headline trap: the price you sign up at is not the price you pay
Every one of these runs a steep intro promo, then reverts to list. FreshBooks is the sharpest cliff -- 90 percent off for three months, then the full rate (Plus jumps from about $4.30/mo to $43/mo in month four). QuickBooks and Xero discount the first three months similarly. The annualized column below is the real recurring cost, after the honeymoon ends.
| Vendor | Plan | Monthly list | Real annual cost (x12) | Intro offer (not the real price) | Users / notes | Best for / Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks | Simple Start | $38/mo | $456 | 50% off first 3 months | 1 user | Best for: solo owners whose accountant uses QuickBooks (1 user) |
| QuickBooks | Essentials | $75/mo | $900 | 50% off first 3 months | 3 users | Best for: 3-user shops in the QuickBooks ecosystem; payroll is a separate add-on |
| QuickBooks | Plus | $115/mo | $1,380 | 50% off first 3 months | 5 users | Best for: 5-user teams wanting QuickBooks depth ($1,380/yr); payroll priced separately |
| QuickBooks | Advanced | $275/mo | $3,300 | 50% off first 3 months | 25 users | Avoid if: under ~25 users -- priced for larger teams |
| Xero | Early | $25/mo | $300 | $5/mo first 3 months | invoice/bill caps | Best for: solo owners on a budget ($300/yr); avoid if you exceed the invoice/bill caps |
| Xero | Growing | $55/mo | $660 | $11/mo first 3 months | unlimited invoices | Best for: small teams -- value pick with unlimited users ($660/yr) |
| Xero | Established | $90/mo | $1,080 | $18/mo first 3 months | adds analytics, multi-currency | Best for: teams needing analytics and multi-currency on unlimited users |
| FreshBooks | Lite | $23/mo | $276 | 90% off first 3 months | 5 clients, +per extra member | Best for: solo freelancers (5 clients, $276/yr); avoid if multi-member -- per-extra-member fee stacks |
| FreshBooks | Plus | $43/mo | $516 | 90% off first 3 months | 50 clients, +per extra member | Best for: solo with more clients (50); avoid if multi-member -- per-member fee stacks |
| FreshBooks | Premium | $70/mo | $840 | 90% off first 3 months | unlimited clients, +per extra member | Avoid if: multi-person shop -- per-member fee can approach QuickBooks Plus once team is counted |
| FreshBooks | Select | Custom (quote) | Custom (quote) | custom | quote-gated | Excluded from headline -- quote-only, no public price |
Prices re-verified June 8, 2026 from the QuickBooks, Xero, and FreshBooks pricing pages. QuickBooks, which throttles automated reads, was confirmed via a rendered browser session. List prices, USD, US plans, monthly billing.
What the flat monthly price hides
- FreshBooks charges per team member. Its headline is the cheapest here, but it adds a per-extra-member fee (about $11/mo each on the FreshBooks page) where QuickBooks and Xero include several users in the plan. A multi-person shop on FreshBooks Premium can land close to QuickBooks Plus once the team is counted -- the per-company sticker understates it.
- Xero includes unlimited users on every plan, so a bigger team is where Xero Growing ($660/yr) or Established ($1,080/yr) pulls ahead on value.
- QuickBooks caps users by tier (1 on Simple Start up to 25 on Advanced) and prices payroll as a separate add-on on top of these figures.
- FreshBooks Select is quote-only -- no public price, so it is excluded from the comparison above rather than guessed.
Which fits a small business?
For a solo owner, the cheapest real annual costs are FreshBooks Lite ($276/yr) and Xero Early ($300/yr), with QuickBooks Simple Start at $456/yr. For a small team, Xero Growing ($660/yr, unlimited users) is the value pick; QuickBooks Plus ($1,380/yr, 5 users, deep ecosystem) wins if your accountant lives in QuickBooks. Whatever you pick, budget the annualized list price, not the intro rate, and count your team before trusting a per-company headline.
The single-tool detail pages
- QuickBooks Online pricing, plan by plan -- check the current QuickBooks price
- Xero pricing, plan by plan -- check the current Xero price
- FreshBooks pricing, plan by plan -- check the current FreshBooks price
SoftwareSift Team. We earn affiliate commissions on some tools we cover, disclosed on every link; this never changes the prices or the math we report.