QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is the product most UK accountants will name in the same breath as Xero, and the two have been trading blows on features and price for a decade. Intuit is the larger company globally, which shows in the depth of automation and the size of the app marketplace, and it also shows in a pricing strategy that leans heavily on introductory discounts.

What it does well

The bank feed and categorisation engine is the strongest part. Intuit has been training its models on an enormous transaction volume for years, and in practice that means fewer uncategorised lines waiting for you on a Monday morning. For a business processing several hundred transactions a month, that difference compounds into real hours.

The tier structure is genuinely graduated rather than artificially crippled. Simple Start covers VAT and CIS. Essentials adds multiple currencies and time tracking. Plus adds inventory, budgets, project profitability and class tracking. Advanced adds custom reporting, role based access, batch invoicing and workflow automation. Most businesses find a tier that fits rather than paying for a step they do not need.

Project profitability on the Plus tier deserves specific mention. Agencies, consultancies and trades that bill by job get a view of margin per project without buying a separate system, and that is a feature people routinely pay a third party for elsewhere.

Where it falls short

The discounting makes true cost hard to read. Headline offers of 90 percent off for a year are common, and the renewal is the number that matters. Advanced lists at £1,328.40 a year excluding VAT, which is a very different proposition from the discounted first year figure, and businesses regularly get caught by the step up at renewal. Budget on the list price, not the offer.

Payroll is a separate paid add on rather than included, which is worth noting when comparing against Sage Accounting where payroll now comes bundled. Once payroll is added the monthly total moves significantly.

Reporting is capable but the customisation only really opens up on Advanced. Businesses on Plus who want flexible management reporting often end up exporting to a spreadsheet, which is the usual signal that a tier upgrade or a reporting add on is coming.

The UK detail that matters

Intuit lists QuickBooks as HMRC recognised for Making Tax Digital, covering both VAT and Income Tax Self Assessment. CIS calculation and submission is available from Simple Start upwards, which is unusually generous at the entry tier and matters if you are in construction. All prices are quoted excluding VAT at 20 percent. Support is telephone and chat, and Intuit makes a point of offering human product support rather than routing everything through a help centre.

Who should buy it

UK limited companies and VAT registered sole traders who want mature automation and the widest choice of connected apps. Compare it against Xero on the renewal price rather than the introductory offer, and against Sage Accounting on total cost once payroll is included, because that is where the ranking changes.