How we price this: SoftwareSift reads every number off the vendor pricing page, dates it, and re-checks it monthly. 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. 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 once the promo ends.
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. As read on October 31, 2026, FreshBooks lists 80 percent off for 4 months on Lite, Plus and Premium (Plus is $8.60/mo, then $43/mo from month five). QuickBooks discounts the first three months by half, and Xero is 90 percent off for the first 6 months on an offer that ends November 2, 2026. 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 | $85/mo | $1,020 | 50% off first 3 months | 3 users | Best for: 3-user shops in the QuickBooks ecosystem; payroll is a separate add-on |
| QuickBooks | Plus | $140/mo | $1,680 | 50% off first 3 months | 5 users | Best for: 5-user teams wanting QuickBooks depth ($1,680/yr); payroll priced separately |
| QuickBooks | Advanced | $340/mo | $4,080 | 50% off first 3 months | 25 users | Avoid if: under ~25 users. Priced for larger teams |
| Xero | Early | $27/mo | $324 | $2.70/mo first 6 months (90% off; offer ends Nov 2, 2026) | invoice/bill caps | Best for: solo owners on a budget ($324/yr); avoid if you exceed the invoice/bill caps |
| Xero | Growing | $59/mo | $708 | $5.90/mo first 6 months (90% off; offer ends Nov 2, 2026) | unlimited invoices | Best for: small teams. A value pick with unlimited users ($708/yr) |
| Xero | Established | $97/mo | $1,164 | $9.70/mo first 6 months (90% off; offer ends Nov 2, 2026) | adds analytics, multi-currency | Best for: teams needing analytics and multi-currency on unlimited users |
| FreshBooks | Lite | $23/mo | $276 | 80% off first 4 months ($4.60/mo) | 5 clients, +per extra member | Best for: solo freelancers (5 clients, $276/yr); avoid if multi-member. The per-extra-member fee stacks |
| FreshBooks | Plus | $43/mo | $516 | 80% off first 4 months ($8.60/mo) | 50 clients, +per extra member | Best for: solo with more clients (50); avoid if multi-member. The per-member fee stacks |
| FreshBooks | Premium | $70/mo | $840 | 80% off first 4 months ($14.00/mo) | unlimited clients, +per extra member | Avoid if: multi-person shop. The 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 October 1, 2026 from the QuickBooks, Xero, and FreshBooks pricing pages; Xero raised its US list prices on October 1, 2026 (from $25/$55/$90). QuickBooks, which throttles automated reads, was confirmed via a rendered browser session. List prices, USD, US plans, monthly billing. The FreshBooks and Xero intro offers were re-read on October 31, 2026 (freshbooks.com/pricing; xero.com/us/pricing-plans, where the Xero offer ends November 2, 2026).
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 ($708/yr) or Established ($1,164/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. There is 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 ($324/yr), with QuickBooks Simple Start at $456/yr. For a small team, Xero Growing ($708/yr, unlimited users) is the value pick; QuickBooks Plus ($1,680/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.