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Home › Categories › Accounting Software

Small Business Accounting Software, Compared: Verified 2026 Pricing

Bill BelcaminoBy Bill Belcamino · Last updated September 18, 2026 · Our methodologyResearched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team

Side-by-side pricing for QuickBooks, Xero and FreshBooks: entry price, free plan, how each vendor bills for AI, and the date we last checked each figure against the vendor’s own pricing page.

Small Business Accounting Software, ComparedVerified Sep 18, 2026

Quick answer

  • Lowest published entry price: FreshBooks — $23/mo (Lite, 5 billable clients).
  • Free plans: QuickBooks (1 user, 2 invoices/month, 1 bank connection).

Accounting Software pricing at a glance

Every row links to the comparison where the figure was verified and to the vendor’s pricing page.

ToolEntry priceFree planAI billingG2 ratingVerifiedSource
QuickBooksFrom $38/moYes — 1 user, 2 invoices/month, 1 bank connection—4.0 / 53,878 reviewsSeptember 12, 2026in QuickBooks vs XeroVendor pricing ↗
XeroFrom $27/moNo permanent free plan — free trial available—4.4 / 51,832 reviewsOctober 1, 2026in Xero vs FreshBooksVendor pricing ↗
FreshBooks$23/mo (Lite, 5 billable clients)No free plan — 30-day free trial, no card required—4.5 / 5981 reviewsSeptember 18, 2026in Xero vs FreshBooksVendor pricing ↗

Head-to-head comparisons

QuickBooks vs FreshBooksUpdated September 12, 2026QuickBooks vs XeroUpdated July 22, 2026Xero vs FreshBooksUpdated September 18, 2026

Switching guides

FreshBooks to QuickBooksSwitching guideFreshBooks to XeroSwitching guideQuickBooks to FreshBooksSwitching guideQuickBooks to XeroSwitching guideXero to FreshBooksSwitching guideXero to QuickBooksSwitching guide
Verified data

Accounting Software: security, offline & remote work

The accounting tools we track, side by side on compliance, single sign-on, offline access and remote or office controls. Every value links to the vendor page it came from.

What we checkedQuickBooksXeroFreshBooks
Security & compliance
SOC 2 reportSOC 2 Type IIsourceSOC 2 reportType not stated by vendorsourceSOC 2 Type Isource
ISO/IEC 27001Not publishedCertifiedsourceNot published
Other certificationsNot publishedPCI DSS v4.0 (SAQ A; Level 2 merchant)sourcePCI DSS Level 1source
HIPAA (BAA)Not publishedNot publishedNot published
GDPR data processing agreementNot publishedDPA offeredsourceNot published
Single sign-on (SAML/OIDC)Not publishedNot publishedNot published
SCIM user provisioningNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Two-factor authenticationYessourceYesEnforcement: All plans (MFA is mandatory for all users)sourceYesEnforcement: All plans (2FA is required for email-and-password logins)source
Admin audit logYesAll plans, including QuickBooks Online FreesourceNot publishedNot published
Data residency choicesNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Encryption128-bit SSL encryptionsourceEncryption in transit and at rest (algorithms not stated)source256-bit SSL in transitsource
Self-hosting optionNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Offline access
Offline modeNeeds a connectionQuickBooks Online needs an internet connection in both the browser and the mobile apps; Intuit points offline users to the separate QuickBooks Desktop product.sourcePartialIn the Xero mobile app you can draft invoices and capture receipts offline and they sync when you reconnect; everything else, including the web app, needs an internet connection.sourceNot documented
Desktop appsNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Mobile appsiOS, AndroidsourceiOS, AndroidsourceiOS, Androidsource
Remote, hybrid & in-office
IP allowlistingNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Device & session controlsNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Office & room hardwareQuickBooks Payments supports in-person card payments through the QuickBooks GoPayment app with a Bluetooth QuickBooks Card Reader.sourceTap to Pay in the Xero Accounting app (powered by Stripe) takes contactless in-person payments for invoices with no extra hardware or terminal.source—
Editorial assessment

What this means for your team

  • Audit reports: all state a SOC 2 report on their own sites, but not the same kind: QuickBooks (Type II), Xero (type not stated) and FreshBooks (Type I only). Xero also holds ISO/IEC 27001. A Type I report checks controls at a single point in time; a Type II report tests them over months. If your security team requires Type II, confirm it with Xero and FreshBooks, and ask each vendor for the latest report under NDA.
  • Working offline: Xero works offline only in part; QuickBooks needs an internet connection; FreshBooks doesn’t document an offline mode. Details are in the Offline mode row above.
  • In the office: QuickBooks: QuickBooks Payments supports in-person card payments through the QuickBooks GoPayment app with a Bluetooth QuickBooks Card Reader. Xero: Tap to Pay in the Xero Accounting app (powered by Stripe) takes contactless in-person payments for invoices with no extra hardware or terminal.

QuickBooks: worth knowing

  • RemoteQuickBooks Online is browser-based: data can be reached from any computer with a supported browser and an internet connection, with high-speed recommended. source
  • SecurityThe audit log keeps user sign-ins and changes for two years, which lets owners review what remote staff or outside accountants changed. source
  • OfflineNot every QuickBooks Online feature is available in the mobile apps or on a mobile browser. source

Xero: worth knowing

  • RemoteXero runs in the browser and mobile apps with multiple users working at the same time, but it needs an internet connection. source
  • SecurityXero's SOC 2 reports and ISO 27001 certificate are available to logged-in customers on request; the SOC 2 report type is not stated publicly. source
  • SecurityPayroll employees and Xero portal/Ask portal users don't have to set up MFA; everyone else with access to a paid subscription does. source

FreshBooks: worth knowing

  • RemoteFreshBooks stays in sync between the web app and the mobile apps, but some features such as reporting are only available on desktop. source
  • SecurityFreshBooks hosts its application on Google Cloud Platform. source

Checked September 19, 2026 against each vendor’s own trust center, help docs and app pages. Hover or tap “source” to see the exact wording we relied on. “Not published” means we could not find the vendor saying it on its own site; it doesn’t mean the feature is missing. Plan names are the lowest plan the vendor says includes the feature. Security · Offline · Remote vs office · Download the data

Frequently asked questions

Which accounting tool is cheapest?

Of the 3 accounting tools HelpCompare tracks, the lowest published entry price belongs to FreshBooks ($23/mo (Lite, 5 billable clients), verified September 18, 2026). Entry prices are the cheapest paid tier each vendor publishes; the right answer at your team size depends on seat minimums and add-ons, which each head-to-head comparison breaks down.

Which accounting tools have a free plan?

Free plans: QuickBooks (1 user, 2 invoices/month, 1 bank connection).

Where does this pricing data come from?

Every figure was recorded from the vendor's own pricing page during research for a HelpCompare comparison, and is dated. The most recent check in this category was September 18, 2026. Nothing is estimated: where a vendor publishes no price, we say so. The full dataset is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 at helpcompare.com/data/.

Sources

Figures come from each vendor’s pricing page, recorded on the date shown. Download the full dataset from Open Data (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0).

Cite this page: HelpCompare, “Small Business Accounting Software, Compared: Verified 2026 Pricing”, helpcompare.com/accounting-software/ (updated ).

Source links on this site are checked every month; last check . How sources are checked.

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Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
About the author

Bill Belcamino

Founder and author, HelpCompare

Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent eight and a half years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

“I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. Pricing on this page was last verified on September 18, 2026. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.

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