QuickBooks Online's 2026 price increase: what every plan costs now

What QuickBooks Online costs in October 2026

These are the prices on Intuit's pricing page on Oct 18, 2026. Each paid plan shows its list price next to a "50% off for 3 months" sign-up offer. The half price is introductory. The list price is what you pay after that. Subscriptions billed through an accountant carry Intuit's ProAdvisor discount, so your firm's price may differ.

When the 2026 price increase reached your bill

Intuit applied the new prices to Essentials, Plus and Advanced on "renewals on or after August 1, 2026." For a monthly plan, that means your first billing date on or after Aug 1. How you heard about it depends on who pays Intuit:

• You pay Intuit directly. Intuit began emailing these customers on June 27, 2026, about 30 days before their next billing date.
• Your bookkeeper or accountant bills you. Intuit says these clients "will not receive any communication from Intuit." The first sign is a larger invoice from your firm.
• You signed up recently. New subscribers keep their starting price for six months. The new price starts on the seventh invoice, or the seventh paid invoice after a 30-day free trial.

Intuit paired the increase with additions. Bill Pay Elite is now included in Advanced (Intuit values it at $540 a year). Intuit lists Auto Categorization and enhanced inventory in Plus and Advanced, and KPI dashboards now in Essentials and Plus. Bill Pay users get free standard ACH payments within monthly limits.

How QuickBooks Online prices rose since 2023

Each of the last four summers brought an increase. Each column is the list price after that year's change.

Where the figures come from: 2023, 2024 and 2025 from Intuit's own pricing page as saved by the Internet Archive on Oct 15, 2023, Oct 13, 2024 and Sept 15, 2025. 2026 from Intuit's pricing page today. The months are when each change reached client-billed subscriptions: Intuit's 2024 FAQ, and its 2023 and 2025 notices as reported by Insightful Accountant and The Woodard Report. In each of those three years, accountant-billed subscriptions moved a month later.

What a year of Plus costs now: a worked example

Say a landscaping company with three people in QuickBooks has been on Plus since the summer of 2023. It uses classes to see profit by crew. At list price:

• After the August 2023 change: 12 × $90 = $1,080 a year.
• After the July 2025 change: 12 × $115 = $1,380 a year.
• After its 2026 renewal: 12 × $140 = $1,680 a year.

The 2026 renewal alone adds $300 a year. Against 2023, the company pays $600 more, a 56% increase, for the same three logins.

Its cheapest way to stay in QuickBooks is Essentials, which fits three users: 12 × $85 = $1,020 a year, $660 less than Plus. The cost is class tracking. Essentials has none, so the profit by crew report goes away.

Cheaper options inside QuickBooks

Downgrade. Go to Settings, Subscriptions and billing, then Downgrade your plan. Intuit's help article lists what to clear first:

Two more lines from that article matter. Changing plans "removes any discounts on your current plan." And if you upgrade again later, inventory, recurring templates and apps do not turn back on by themselves.

QuickBooks Free. Intuit's $0 plan allows 1 user, no accountant or bookkeeper access, 1 connected bank, 2 invoices a month (unlimited if you set up QuickBooks Payments), 1 estimate a month, 2 receipt uploads a month, 1 contractor and 5 tracked trips a month. Intuit's footnote says Free "may be offered for a limited time." Its pages do not say whether an existing paid company can move onto it. It fits a side business, not a company with a bookkeeper.

How to leave QuickBooks Online without losing records

If the numbers above push you to move, do it in this order.

1. Run the full export. Settings, then Export data. Pick the widest date range offered, leave every report and list switched on, and choose Export to Excel. You get one .zip of Excel files.
2. Export what that zip leaves out. Intuit lists these as separate exports: estimates, purchase orders, customer statements, attachments (Settings, Attachments, Batch actions, Export), recurring templates, the chart of accounts (the Account List report) and products and services.
3. Save the reports your accountant will ask for. A General Ledger for all dates, plus a Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss at each year end, as Excel and PDF.
4. Bring the books into the new system and check them before you cancel. Every account's balance on your cutover date should match QuickBooks to the cent. BooksGPT imports QuickBooks Online through a direct connection and checks that the imported books tie out to QuickBooks' trial balance (how the import works).
5. Cancel, then watch the calendar. Intuit says a cancelled company keeps "read-only access to your QuickBooks Online data for one year," and you can still export during that year. Intuit's page does not say what happens after it, so treat the end of that year as your deadline.

If you are still comparing software, see choosing a QuickBooks alternative.

The mistakes that cost the most

Cancelling first and exporting later. The read-only year makes it feel safe, so people put it off. Then a lender or the IRS asks for old detail after the year has run out.

The second mistake belongs to clients whose bookkeeper pays Intuit. Intuit sends them no email, so they assume nothing changed. Read the next invoice from your firm and ask which plan you are on.

What to do next

1. Open Settings, Subscriptions and billing. Note your plan, your price and your next billing date.
2. List what you actually use: how many people log in, classes or locations, inventory, recurring invoices.
3. Find the cheapest plan that covers that list. If it is a lower plan, export reports that rely on classes or inventory, then downgrade.
4. If you are moving, export everything, import it, compare the Balance Sheet on the cutover date, and only then cancel.