Accounting pricing across 8 tracked products: entry-tier median $19, top-tier median $170. Cheapest: Sage. Most premium: QuickBooks Online. Updated April 2026.
Accounting pricing varies across per-seat, per-usage, and enterprise-quoted tiers. Published list prices on vendor pricing pages form the basis of this benchmark; negotiated deals typically land 15-40% below list for teams over 20 seats.
Entry-tier median is $19, top-tier median $170. Negotiated enterprise deals typically land 15-40% below list.
| Product | Entry | Median | Top | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dext | $18 | $21 | $25 | month |
| FreshBooks | $21 | $40 | $250 | month |
| QuickBooks Online | $20 | $75 | $275 | month |
| Sage | $0 | $0 | $0 | month |
| Sage Accounting | $10 | $43 | $62 | month |
| Synder | $65 | $115 | $275 | month |
| Xero | $25 | $55 | $90 | month |
| Zoho Books | $0 | $70 | $275 | month |
Low is the entry-tier price (often a free or starter plan). Median is the middle price across published tiers. High is the top published tier — enterprise contracts with negotiated discounts usually land 15-40% below the published high.
Across 8 tracked products, the entry-tier median is $19 and the top-tier median is $170. Individual products vary significantly — see the per-product table above.
Sage has the lowest entry-tier price in our tracked set.
QuickBooks Online has the highest top-tier list price among tracked products.
Prices are sourced from vendor pricing pages and automatically re-checked. Any tier marked 'custom' has no public list price; negotiated deals aren't shown here.
Small business accounting software ranges from $0 to roughly $275 per month in 2026, depending on the product and tier. Wave offers a free Starter plan, Zoho Books is free for businesses earning under $50K annually, and Sage Accounting starts at $10/month. Mid-market favorites like Xero ($25–$90/month) and QuickBooks Online ($38–$275/month) are the most common paid choices, with most solo operators and small teams landing in the $20–$75/month range.
Per-user pricing varies dramatically by product type. QuickBooks Online charges per seat (plans start at $38/month for one user, scaling to $275/month for Advanced), making it expensive for larger teams. Xero bundles unlimited users into its flat monthly plans ($25–$90/month), which drives its per-user cost well below QuickBooks for teams of three or more. At the enterprise end, Sage Intacct runs $400–$1,500+ per user per month, and NetSuite adds $99/user/month on top of its $999+/month base license.
QuickBooks Online uses per-seat pricing, so adding users directly increases your monthly bill — a five-person team on the Plus plan costs $90/month, but that price can climb if you need the Advanced tier’s features. Xero’s flat-rate plans ($25–$90/month) include unlimited users at every tier, making total cost predictable regardless of team size. For businesses with four or more users, Xero is almost always cheaper than a comparable QuickBooks Online plan.
For a five-person team, Xero’s Growing plan at $47/month covers unlimited users with no additional seats. An equivalent QuickBooks Online Plus plan runs $90/month and includes up to five users — nearly double the Xero cost for the same headcount. If you need advanced reporting or inventory features that push you to QuickBooks Advanced ($275/month), the gap widens further; Xero’s Established plan at $90/month covers the same team with comparable features at one-third the price.
Wave’s Starter plan is genuinely free for invoicing, accounting, and receipt scanning, but payroll ($20–$40/month depending on state) and payment processing fees (2.9% + $0.60 per transaction) add up quickly for active businesses. Zoho Books is free only if your annual revenue stays under $50K; once you exceed that threshold, plans start at $15/month. Both products are legitimately free within their limits, but most businesses growing past the micro stage will encounter paywalls on features like recurring invoices, purchase orders, or multi-currency support.
App integrations are one of the most underestimated accounting software costs. Common Xero and QuickBooks add-ons — payroll (Gusto starts at $40/month + $6/employee), expense management (Dext starts at $18/month), and inventory (Cin7 starts at $349/month) — can easily double or triple the base subscription. QuickBooks Online’s own ecosystem add-ons for time tracking, payroll, and payments can push an $80/month base plan to $200+/month in real-world use. Budget for at least one or two integrations when comparing sticker prices.
Adding payroll to accounting software typically adds $20–$100/month for small teams, depending on provider and employee count. QuickBooks Payroll Core starts at $45/month + $6/employee, and the Premium tier runs $80/month + $8/employee. Xero Payroll (US) is $39/month + $6/employee through its native module. Third-party solutions like Gusto ($40/month + $6/employee) integrate with both Xero and QuickBooks and are often preferred for stronger compliance features. For a 10-person team, expect payroll to add $100–$160/month to your total accounting stack cost.
Upgrading from Xero to NetSuite is typically justified when annual revenue exceeds $5–$10 million and operational complexity outgrows Xero’s capabilities — specifically when you need multi-entity consolidation, advanced revenue recognition (ASC 606), or real-time global inventory. NetSuite starts at $999/month base license plus $99/user/month, so a 10-user deployment runs roughly $2,000/month before professional services. At that threshold, the automation savings on manual reconciliation and multi-entity reporting usually justify the cost; below it, the 10–20× price premium over Xero ($90/month) is hard to defend.