How to Compare Small Business Accounting Software Pricing

Accounting software pricing pages lead with a promotional number and hide the four things that decide the real bill: the list price after the promotion, the user count, the transaction caps and the payment-processing fees. This note reads the US pricing pages of QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks and Wave, as published on October 10, 2026, and works a 12-month total for a one-person business on each entry plan. Every total is an editorial calculation from the vendors' published figures; where a page is silent, the note says so.

Read the list price, then the promotional price, then the duration

QuickBooks lists Simple Start at $38 a month, shown as $19 for 50% off for 3 months; Essentials $85, Plus $140 and Advanced $340, each half price for the same three months. Xero lists Early at $27, Growing at $59 and Established at $97, each at 80% off for the first 3 months for new US customers.

FreshBooks lists Lite at $23, Plus at $43 and Premium at $70. Its promotions differ by plan: Lite at $1 a month for one year, Plus and Premium at 80% off for 3 months. Wave's Pro plan is $19 a month or $190 a year; its Starter plan is $0.

The promotional price is the price for a quarter, or in FreshBooks Lite's case a year. The list price is the price for the other nine months and every year after. Write both down with the duration, or the comparison is between four numbers that mean different things.

Count the users each plan includes, because that is the second bill

QuickBooks ties users to tiers: Simple Start includes 1 user, Essentials 3, Plus 5, Advanced 25, each with 2 or 3 accountant seats on top. A two-person business on Simple Start is on the wrong plan; the next step up is Essentials at $85, more than double.

Xero's page says no per-user license fees, so adding a bookkeeper or a partner costs nothing on any plan. FreshBooks charges $11 a month per additional team member on Lite, Plus and Premium. Wave's page does not price additional users on the pages read for this note. Flat packs versus per-user seats is the same fork described in how to compare password manager pricing for a small team.

The user model matters more than the headline price for any business with a second person in the books. This is the same seat question that drives help desk bills, as explained in what per-agent pricing means when agents are part-time.

Find the transaction caps on the entry plan

Xero Early allows 20 invoices and 5 bills a month; the footnote says the invoice limit covers both approving and sending. A business that sends 25 invoices needs Growing at $59. FreshBooks Lite caps billable clients at 5, Plus at 50, Premium unlimited; the cap is on clients, not invoices.

QuickBooks Simple Start does not state an invoice cap on the pricing page read for this note. Wave Starter and Pro do not state one either. For those two, the cap that matters is elsewhere: in payment fees for Wave, in the single-user limit for QuickBooks.

Price the payment processing, because free is where the fees live

Wave's pricing page lists card processing at 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction on Starter, and 3.4% plus $0.60 for Amex. On Pro, the $0.60 is waived for the first 10 transactions in a monthly period, then returns. Bank payment fees are on a separate page and were not read for this note.

Editorial calculation: a business that takes 20 card payments of $500 a month pays 2.9% of $10,000 plus 20 x $0.60, which is $302 a month on Wave Starter. On Pro, the first 10 fixed fees drop, so $296 plus the $19 plan fee. The free plan is free; the payments are not.

QuickBooks, Xero and FreshBooks also process payments, but their processing rates are not on the pricing pages read for this note. Treat them as unknown until you read the payments page, the same way the AI line sits off the main grid in how to read a help desk pricing page.

Add payroll and add-ons separately

Xero's table lists Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, at $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor. Wave lists payroll from $25 or $40 a month without stating which price applies where. QuickBooks' pricing page shows an Add payroll step in checkout but no prices. FreshBooks' page does not list payroll.

Wave also lists a Receipts add-on at $11 a month or $96 a year on one tier and $8 a month or $72 a year on the other, and a bookkeeping service from $149 or $199 a month. These are the lines that turn a free plan into a paid one, much as AI features do elsewhere; see what AI add-ons cost in small business tools.

Work the 12-month total for a one-person business

Editorial calculation, one user, entry plan, monthly billing where a promotion applies, no payroll, no add-ons, no payment processing, list prices as of October 10, 2026:

• FreshBooks Lite: 12 x $1 = $12 in year one, then $276 a year at the $23 list price; capped at 5 billable clients
• Wave Pro: $190 billed annually, or 12 x $19 = $228 monthly; Wave Starter is $0 with higher per-transaction card fees
• Xero Early: 3 x $5.40 + 9 x $27 = $259.20 in year one, then $324 a year; capped at 20 invoices and 5 bills a month
• QuickBooks Simple Start: 3 x $19 + 9 x $38 = $399 in year one, then $456 a year; 1 user included

Year two is the fairer comparison, because every promotion has expired: FreshBooks Lite $276, Xero Early $324, QuickBooks Simple Start $456, Wave Pro $190 or $228. The cheapest in year one is not the cheapest in year two, and neither ranking survives a second user or a 21st invoice.

QuickBooks also lists a 30-day free trial. The page does not say whether the trial and the 50% discount can be combined, so a buyer should ask before choosing either. A trial path at list price would be 11 x $38, or $418, in year one. Minimums and trial rules of this kind are also where help desk bills go wrong; see how to read a help desk pricing page.

Bottom line

Compare accounting software on year-two list price, user count, the entry plan's caps and the processing fees you will actually pay. On those terms, a one-person business pays between $190 and $456 a year across the four tools, as of October 10, 2026, before payroll or card fees.

Promotions are real money, FreshBooks Lite's $1 a month saves $264 in year one, but they end. Pick the plan whose caps you will not hit in month fourteen. The same logic, headline price versus the bill, applies to phone plans in what unlimited calling really means.

Frequently asked questions

How much does QuickBooks Online cost after the promotion ends?

Per the US pricing page on October 10, 2026, Simple Start is $38 a month, Essentials $85, Plus $140 and Advanced $340 at list price. The 50% promotion lasts 3 months. Simple Start includes 1 user; Essentials includes 3. Year one on Simple Start is $399 by editorial calculation.

Is Xero cheaper than QuickBooks for a sole proprietor?

At list price, yes: Xero Early is $27 a month against QuickBooks Simple Start at $38, and Xero charges no per-user fees. But Xero Early caps invoices at 20 and bills at 5 a month; above that, Growing is $59, more than Simple Start. Figures as of October 2026.

Is Wave accounting really free?

Wave Starter is $0 for the software, per the pricing page checked October 10, 2026. Card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction, Amex 3.4% plus $0.60. Pro is $19 a month or $190 a year and waives the $0.60 on the first 10 transactions each month. Payroll and receipts are paid add-ons.

How much is FreshBooks after the $1 promotion?

FreshBooks Lite lists at $23 a month after the $1 a month for one year promotion, Plus at $43 and Premium at $70, with Plus and Premium promotions of 80% off for 3 months. Each additional team member is $11 a month. Lite is limited to 5 billable clients, as of October 2026.