QuickBooks
The market leader with the deepest feature set
QuickBooks dominates the small business accounting market globally, particularly in the US and increasingly in the UK. Its feature depth — especially for inventory tracking, project profitability, and payroll — is unmatched at the SMB price point. If you need to track stock levels, bill by project, or manage a complex chart of accounts, QuickBooks is likely the better choice over Xero.
The 30-day free trial is fully featured, and QuickBooks offers phone support on all plans — rare among cloud accounting tools.
Where QuickBooks excels
Best inventory management features in the SMB tier — stock tracking, purchase orders, and COGS reporting.
Phone support included — faster resolution for urgent accounting questions.
Project profitability tracking — see income and costs per project without a separate tool.
Payroll available as an add-on (QuickBooks Payroll) with same-day direct deposit.
Where it falls short
Interface is busier and less intuitive than Xero — steeper learning curve for non-accountants.
Less widely adopted by UK accountants than Xero — harder to find local bookkeeper expertise.
Frequent upselling for add-on features that feel like they should be included.
Pricing
Simple Start (£14/mo) is limited to one user and lacks bill management. Essentials (£28/mo) adds 3 users and bill payment. Plus (£38/mo) adds inventory and project tracking. Prices are often discounted by 50% for the first 6 months. Payroll is a paid add-on.
| Plan | Price | Invoicing | Expense Tracking | Payroll | Bank Reconciliation | VAT Returns | What's included |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Start | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 user, invoicing, bank feeds, VAT returns, MTD filing |
| Essentials | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 users, bill management, multi-currency, time tracking |
| Plus | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 users, inventory, project profitability, budgeting |
| Advanced | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 users, custom reporting, dedicated account manager |
Features
- Invoicing
- Expense Tracking
- Payroll
- Bank Reconciliation
- VAT Returns
About
QuickBooks is the world's most widely used small business accounting software, with deep features for invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation, VAT, and inventory management backed by Intuit's decades of accounting software experience.
- Founded
- 1983
- HQ
- Mountain View, CA, USA
- Support channels
- Email · Live chat · Phone · Knowledge base · Community forum