Switching / comparison

QuickBooks UK prices in 2026: what each plan costs, and what to check

Updated 13 October 20268 min readLedgers Team

On this page

Did QuickBooks UK put its prices up in 2026?
What each QuickBooks UK plan costs in 2026
What it means by business type
What to do
Where Ledgers fits, stated plainly

Switching / comparison3 of 4

1.Accounting software for non-accountants: the best UK options in 2026
2.How to switch from Xero to Ledgers (without losing your history)
3.QuickBooks UK prices in 2026: what each plan costs, and what to check
4.Xero price increase 2026: what changed on 1 September, and what to do

Quick answer

QuickBooks UK costs £10 to £56 a month in October 2026, with Advanced at £123 and payroll extra. What each plan includes, and the cheaper routes.

Prices checked on 13 October 2026 against QuickBooks' UK pricing page. That page doesn't say whether its prices include VAT, so check at checkout before comparing them with Xero, FreeAgent or Ledgers, which all quote prices excluding VAT.

Did QuickBooks UK put its prices up in 2026?

We couldn't confirm that it did. We looked for an Intuit announcement of a 2026 UK price change on QuickBooks' UK site and in its community, and found none that sets out old and new prices. Some customers posting on Intuit's UK community forum in December 2025 described higher bills from January 2026. One customer's bill isn't a price list, though, so this post doesn't give "before" figures.

What we can give you is what each plan costs now, what it includes, and how that compares with the alternatives. If you're an existing customer, the billing section of your QuickBooks account shows what you actually pay, which may differ from the list price if you joined on an offer.

Xero did announce a rise: its UK prices went up on 1 September 2026. We've covered that in Xero's 2026 price increase.

What each QuickBooks UK plan costs in 2026

Plan	Per month	12 months at the monthly price	Users	What it includes or limits
Sole Trader Plus	£10	£120	1	MTD for Income Tax and CIS. No VAT submission to HMRC, no bills
Simple Start	£16	£192	1	Adds VAT returns submitted to HMRC, with a VAT error checker. No bills or multi-currency
Essentials	£38	£456	3	Adds bills and multi-currency
Plus	£56	£672	5	Adds inventory, projects, budgeting, and class and location tracking
Advanced	£123	£1,476	25	Adds custom user permissions and an unlimited chart of accounts. Sold through a demo

Plans below Advanced are limited to 250 accounts in the chart of accounts, which only matters if your accountant likes a very detailed chart. You can invite your accountant free on any plan.

The steps between plans are where the cost hides. Simple Start to Essentials is £22 a month, or £264 a year, and you make that jump the day a second person needs to log in or you want to record supplier bills. Essentials to Plus is £18 a month, or £216 a year, for stock, projects, or a fourth and fifth user.

Payroll is extra

Payroll tier	Per month	Per employee a month	What it adds
Core	£5	£1.50	Automatic calculations, RTI (FPS) submissions, pensions, time tracking
Premium	£10	£2	Adds NEST and Smart Pension submissions, shift scheduling, a mobile app
Elite	£15	£3	Adds geofencing and project-based collaboration

Offers and annual billing

At the time of writing (13 October 2026), QuickBooks gives new customers 90% off the monthly price for six months if they choose Buy Now. You can't combine it with the 30-day free trial. After six months, the then-current monthly price applies. With the offer, Sole Trader Plus is £1 a month for six months, and Plus is £5.60. When we checked, the payroll discount applied to the monthly base price but not the per-employee charge.

QuickBooks' pricing page also lets you choose annual billing. When we checked, the annual prices were about 10% below twelve monthly payments: Plus at £604.80 a year against £672, and Sole Trader Plus at £108 against £120.

In the first year the introductory offer is usually worth more. Plus with the offer costs (6 × £5.60) + (6 × £56) = £369.60 for the year, against £604.80 billed annually. From the second year, annual billing is the saving, if it's still offered on those terms.

What it means by business type

A sole trader who isn't VAT registered

Sole Trader Plus at £10 a month (£120 a year) is QuickBooks' plan for you: one user, with MTD for Income Tax and CIS. It can't submit VAT returns, so if you register for VAT you move to Simple Start at £16.

Two cheaper routes to compare. Xero Simple is £7 a month excluding VAT, for businesses not registered for VAT, with up to 10 invoices and quotes a month. FreeAgent is free with a qualifying NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle account.

A VAT-registered small company

Simple Start at £16 submits VAT returns, but it has one user and no bills. Once two people in the business need their own logins, or you want to record supplier bills and pay them on time, it's Essentials at £38. For many small companies that's the realistic price: £456 a year before payroll.

A business with payroll

An illustration at today's prices: four employees on Payroll Core cost £5 + (4 × £1.50) = £11 a month. Add Essentials at £38 and the total is £49 a month, or £588 a year. The same four people cost £10 + (4 × £2) = £18 a month on Premium, or £15 + (4 × £3) = £27 on Elite.

The per-employee charge grows with your team. At ten employees, Core is £5 + (10 × £1.50) = £20 a month. Core includes RTI submissions, so pay for Premium or Elite only if you use what they add.

Groups with several companies

Intuit's help pages say each company you create needs its own subscription. An illustration: three companies on Simple Start cost 3 × £16 = £48 a month (£576 a year); on Essentials, 3 × £38 = £114 a month (£1,368 a year). Each company is billed separately at its own plan level, so keep a quiet holding company on the lowest plan that fits it.

What to do

1. Check you're on the right plan

On Essentials, with only one person logging in and no supplier bills to record? Simple Start at £16 may be enough, a saving of £22 a month.
On Simple Start without being VAT registered? Sole Trader Plus is £6 a month less, if you're a sole trader.
On Plus but not using stock, projects or budgets? Essentials covers three users and bills for £18 a month less.
On Payroll Premium or Elite? Check you use the pension submissions, scheduling or geofencing they add.

2. Decide between monthly and annual

If you're new, the six-month offer beats annual billing in year one. If you're settled on QuickBooks and staying, annual billing was about 10% cheaper when we checked. Check the terms at checkout.

3. Count what you'd lose by switching

Your accountant's familiarity. QuickBooks is common in UK practices. If your accountant works in it, moving may cost more in their time than you save.
The app ecosystem. Third-party apps connect through QuickBooks' marketplace, and it has native mobile apps.
Filing from the same software. QuickBooks submits VAT from Simple Start, lists MTD for Income Tax and CIS on every plan, and files RTI through its payroll add-on. An alternative that doesn't file means a second tool or your accountant for that part.
Stock and projects. If you rely on Plus for inventory or projects, check that any alternative handles them. Ledgers, for one, has no purchase orders or project costing.

4. Look at the alternatives

FreeAgent is free for as long as you hold a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland or Ulster Bank business current account, or a Mettle account with at least one transaction a month (Mettle doesn't qualify for the partnership plan). It files VAT, MTD for Income Tax and payroll. Without a qualifying account it's £19 a month for sole traders and £33 for limited companies, excluding VAT. See our FreeAgent comparison.

Xero runs from £7 for Simple to £70 for Ultimate, excluding VAT. Our Xero vs FreeAgent vs Ledgers pricing guide compares them on price and on what each files.

Where Ledgers fits, stated plainly

We make Ledgers, so weigh this section accordingly. Ledgers is UK accounting software in which AI agents categorise your bank transactions and reconcile your books for you, and you approve anything they're unsure about. It's priced mainly by how many transactions it processes each month, and it doesn't charge per user. Prices exclude VAT:

Ledgers plan	Per month	Transactions a month	What it adds
Free	£0	15	Categorising and reconciling, daily briefing, accountant access
Solo	£4.99	50	Receipt capture, more than one bank account. No invoicing
Starter	£29	100	Invoicing, bills, VAT returns prepared for sign-off, year-end pack
Growth	£79	400	CIS returns prepared for sign-off, FP&A pack

Paying annually gives two months free (Solo is £3.99 a month billed annually), and moving your data across is free on every plan. The full detail is on the Ledgers pricing page.

What Ledgers doesn't do yet matters as much. It doesn't file anything to HMRC or Companies House. It prepares your VAT return for you to sign off, but for now it is submitted from other MTD-compatible software that takes your records digitally, usually your accountant's (retyping the figures doesn't count). Direct VAT submission is coming. It doesn't file MTD for Income Tax updates, payroll RTI, the CT600 or annual accounts.

Set against QuickBooks' plans:

Next to Essentials at £38, Ledgers Starter at £29 covers invoicing, bills and VAT preparation for a company with up to 100 transactions a month, but QuickBooks files the VAT return and Ledgers doesn't yet.
Next to Plus at £56, Ledgers Growth at £79 costs more on software alone. It makes sense only if it replaces bookkeeping time, or if you'd otherwise need Advanced for more than five users.
Stay on QuickBooks if your accountant works in it, if you need VAT, MTD for Income Tax, CIS and payroll filed from one product today, or if you rely on its stock, projects or mobile apps.

Our Ledgers vs QuickBooks comparison goes feature by feature, and the switching page explains how a move works. If you'd like to see it on your own transactions first, you can try Ledgers free alongside QuickBooks on up to 15 transactions a month.

Frequently asked questions

How much does QuickBooks cost in the UK in 2026?

As listed on QuickBooks' UK pricing page on 13 October 2026: Sole Trader Plus £10 a month, Simple Start £16, Essentials £38, Plus £56 and Advanced £123. Payroll is an add-on, from £5 a month plus £1.50 per employee.

Did QuickBooks UK raise its prices in 2026?

We couldn't confirm it. We found no Intuit announcement of a 2026 UK price change setting out old and new prices. Some customers on Intuit's UK community forum described higher bills from January 2026, but without an official notice we haven't published before-and-after figures. Your account's billing section shows what you actually pay.

Which QuickBooks plan do I need for VAT returns?

Simple Start (£16 a month) or above. Sole Trader Plus can't submit VAT returns to HMRC, so registering for VAT means moving up a plan.

How much is QuickBooks Payroll in the UK?

Payroll Core is £5 a month plus £1.50 per employee, Premium £10 plus £2 per employee, and Elite £15 plus £3 per employee, on top of your QuickBooks plan.

Do QuickBooks UK prices include VAT?

QuickBooks' UK pricing page doesn't say, so check at checkout. It matters when you compare them with Xero, FreeAgent and Ledgers, which all quote prices excluding VAT.

Can I get QuickBooks cheaper?

At the time of writing (13 October 2026), new customers who choose Buy Now instead of the 30-day free trial get 90% off the monthly price for six months. QuickBooks' pricing page also offers annual billing, which worked out about 10% cheaper than paying monthly when we checked.

Can Ledgers replace QuickBooks?

For the bookkeeping, often yes: Ledgers categorises and reconciles for you, from free for up to 15 transactions a month. But it doesn't file VAT, MTD for Income Tax, RTI, the CT600 or accounts yet. It prepares your VAT return for sign-off, and direct VAT submission is coming. If you need filing from one product today, QuickBooks is the better fit.

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