QuickBooks Online costs between $33 and $125 a month in Australia, across four plans: Simple Start at $33, Essentials at $60, Plus at $84 and Advanced at $125. Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST. Every plan sends unlimited invoices and lodges your BAS, and payroll is $6 per employee a month on top of any of them.
Every figure here was read from Intuit's Australian pricing and payroll pages on 2 October 2026. Intuit can change its prices, so treat any figure older than a quarter as out of date, including these.
What does QuickBooks cost in Australia?
Four plans, each billed monthly at the standard price. They differ mainly in how many people can use them and what each adds over the one below.
| Plan | Per month | Users |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Start | $33 | 1, plus your accountant |
| Essentials | $60 | 3 |
| Plus | $84 | 5 |
| Advanced | $125 | 25 |
Intuit also offers yearly billing, paid upfront and not refunded if you cancel during the year, at a discount it does not print on its pricing page. You see the yearly price only at checkout.
What is included in each QuickBooks plan?
Every plan, Simple Start included, sends unlimited invoices and quotes, tracks GST and lodges your BAS electronically. The plans differ on users and on what sits above those basics.
Simple Start: $33 a month
One user, plus access for your accountant. Unlimited invoices, GST tracking and BAS lodgement. What it leaves out is bill management: you cannot enter and track the bills your suppliers send you, which arrives with Essentials.
Essentials: $60 a month
Three users. Adds supplier bills, multiple currencies and recurring transactions.
Plus: $84 a month
Five users. Adds inventory, project tracking, budgeting, and up to 40 classes for tagging transactions.
Advanced: $125 a month
Twenty-five users. Adds custom reports, workflow automation, and backup and restore.
What does QuickBooks payroll cost?
Payroll is not in any plan's price. It is an add-on, run by Employment Hero, that you can attach to any of the four plans:
- Standard Payroll: no monthly fee, then $6 a month for each active employee, including GST.
- Advanced Payroll: $10 a month, plus $6 a month for each employee.
Introductory discounts on the plans do not apply to payroll. A sole trader with one employee on Simple Start and Standard Payroll pays $39 a month.
Is there a free version of QuickBooks?
No. QuickBooks Online has no free plan in Australia, and its page for sole traders offers the same four plans at the same prices. What it has is a 30-day free trial.
New subscribers who skip the trial and buy straight away are offered an introductory discount instead, which on 2 October 2026 was 70% off. Its own terms disagree on whether it lasts three months or six, and give no end date, so read them on the day you sign up, and budget for the full price afterwards.
Which QuickBooks plan does a sole trader need?
Simple Start, unless you need to track supplier bills or invoice in other currencies. It is the cheapest plan, it does not cap your invoices, and it lodges the BAS, which is what most GST-registered sole traders need from the software. At the monthly price that is $396 a year.
The step up to Essentials, at $60, is the real decision point. It nearly doubles the price for supplier bills, multiple currencies and two more users. If you pay anyone, add $6 a month per employee to whichever plan you choose.
How does QuickBooks compare with Xero and MYOB?
At the entry level the three are close on price, all three lodge the BAS, and all three prices include GST: Intuit and Xero say so, and MYOB's own offer figures show it.
| Plan | Per month | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Simple Start | $33 | One user, no supplier bills, payroll $6 per employee |
| MYOB Business Lite | $35 | Payroll extra per employee, for up to two |
| Xero Ignite | $37 | 20 invoices a month, payroll for one person included |
Xero alternatives, compared on price puts these beside the cheaper options that prepare the BAS for you to lodge, and Xero vs MYOB compares the other two plan by plan.
How does Balaana compare on price?
Balaana is not launched yet. Its free plan has unlimited invoices and quotes, unlimited clients, expense and receipt capture, GST tracked on every transaction, a BAS summary each quarter and a profit and loss statement, for one user. The Plus plan is $7 a month and adds payment collection, a bank feed and up to three users. Payments collected through Balaana carry a per-payment transaction fee.
Where QuickBooks is the better choice: Balaana prepares the BAS figures and you lodge them, where QuickBooks lodges for you, and Balaana does not run payroll, inventory or multiple currencies. If you need any of those, QuickBooks is buying you something real. See the Balaana pricing page for the full plan split.
Related reading
- Xero alternatives, and what each one costs
- What each Xero plan costs
- What each MYOB plan costs
- Accounting software for sole traders, compared
- What is a BAS?
Frequently asked questions
QuickBooks Online has four Australian plans: Simple Start at $33 a month, Essentials at $60, Plus at $84 and Advanced at $125. Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST. Payroll is extra on every plan, at $6 per employee a month.
No. QuickBooks Online has no free plan in Australia, only a 30-day free trial. New subscribers who buy without the trial are offered an introductory discount instead, and the full price applies once it ends.
Standard Payroll has no monthly fee and costs $6 a month for each active employee, including GST. Advanced Payroll is $10 a month plus $6 per employee. Either can be added to any QuickBooks Online plan, and introductory discounts do not apply to it.
Yes. Every QuickBooks Online plan, Simple Start included, tracks GST and lodges your BAS electronically, so the cheapest plan is enough for a GST-registered sole trader who does not need to track supplier bills.
Simple Start, at $33 a month, for most. It has unlimited invoices and lodges the BAS. Move to Essentials, at $60, only if you need to track supplier bills, invoice in other currencies or add more than one user besides your accountant.
Sources
- Intuit, QuickBooks Online pricing: plan prices, users and inclusions, the GST statement, the offer terms and yearly billing.
- Intuit, QuickBooks Payroll: the Standard and Advanced Payroll prices.
- Intuit, QuickBooks for the self-employed: the plans offered to sole traders, and the free trial.
- Xero, Pricing Plans, and MYOB, MYOB pricing and its AI BAS page: the entry plans in the comparison.
Every figure was read from the company's own site on 2 October 2026, not from a third party. The yearly figure for Simple Start is the monthly price times twelve, worked out by us. Prices move, so check the live page before you decide.