QuickBooks Bookkeeping Services: QuickBooks Live vs. Firms vs. a Dedicated Bookkeeper (2026 Prices)
November 9, 2026
QuickBooks bookkeeping services are bookkeepers or firms that keep a business's QuickBooks Online file current: categorizing transactions, reconciling bank and card accounts every month, and producing the profit and loss statement and balance sheet. As of 9 November 2026, published prices run from $99 to $999 a month for monthly plans, and from $15 to $35 an hour for hourly help. QuickBooks Live (Intuit): $200, $400 or $600 a month by average monthly expenses, plus a $500 first month for cleanup and onboarding, on top of your QuickBooks Online subscription. Online bookkeeping firms (e.g., Bench, Xendoo, Bookkeeper360): $199 to $995 a month, with bill pay, invoicing and payroll often extra. Freelancers (e.g., Upwork): $15 to $30 an hour. Remote staffing agency, Latin America in US time zones (e.g., Virtustant): a dedicated QuickBooks bookkeeper from $8.50 an hour all-in, about $368 a month at 10 hours a week or $737 at 20, with zero placement fees.
This guide compares 11 QuickBooks bookkeeping options by the prices they publish, lists what QuickBooks Live does not do, and gives you the Scope-Matched Price Test: the check that compares providers on the work you actually need done, not on the starting price. It also shows what recent bookkeeper job posts in Virtustant's recruitment records asked for. Virtustant is a remote staffing agency and one of the options compared, so we stick to published facts and show every calculation. Third-party prices were read on each provider's own pages on 9 November 2026.
“QuickBooks bookkeeping service” covers three different products. Price them separately, because each one prices a different thing.
| Kind | What you buy | How it is priced |
|---|---|---|
| Intuit's own service (QuickBooks Live) | A QuickBooks-certified bookkeeper who keeps your books in QuickBooks Online | A monthly tier set by your average monthly expenses |
| A bookkeeping firm or ProAdvisor | A firm or team that keeps your books, often with add-ons such as bill pay or payroll | Monthly plans by expense band or account count, or a custom quote |
| A dedicated bookkeeper | One named person working inside your QuickBooks file on the hours you set, hired as a freelancer or through a staffing agency | By the hour, so the price follows the hours the work needs |
If you are behind and need months entered first, start with catch-up bookkeeping services; this guide is about keeping the books current every month.
The short answer: the lowest published monthly plans start at $99 to $200 (Pilot, RemoteBooksOnline, Bench, QuickBooks Live), and a dedicated QuickBooks bookkeeper through a remote staffing agency (e.g., Virtustant, from $8.50/hr all-in) costs about $368 a month at 10 hours a week. Plans priced by expenses or accounts rise as the business grows; a dedicated bookkeeper's price rises only with the hours.
Ranked by the lowest published monthly price. Hourly options are converted at 10 hours a week (43.3 hours a month); options with no published price come last.
| Provider | Published price | Limits and terms published |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot | Essentials $99 a month | Up to $100,000 in monthly expenses; a dedicated team is listed only on the higher Core tier |
| RemoteBooksOnline | $150 a month (1 bank account) or $195 (2 accounts), QuickBooks Online or Xero subscription included; dedicated QuickBooks ProAdvisor hours at $25 to $35 an hour | No contracts, no setup fees |
| Bench | Bookkeeping Light $199 a month (revenue up to $250,000), Bookkeeping $399, Bookkeeping + Tax $649; fractional bookkeeper $55 an hour | Standard plans run on Bench's own platform; the fractional option works in your QuickBooks file, plus $1,200 one-time onboarding |
| QuickBooks Live (Intuit) | $200, $400 or $600 a month by average monthly expenses; $500 first month for cleanup and onboarding | Sold separately from your QuickBooks Online subscription; tiers reassessed by Intuit |
| Virtustant (remote staffing agency) | A dedicated bookkeeper from $8.50/hr all-in: about $368 a month at 10 hours a week, $737 at 20 | Month-to-month; zero placement fees; lifetime replacement guarantee |
| Xendoo | $395, $695 or $995 a month ($355, $625, $895 billed annually) | Up to $50,000, $75,000 and $125,000 in monthly expenses; 4, 6 and 12 accounts; no onboarding fees |
| Bookkeeper360 | From $400 a month; bill pay and invoicing from $150, payroll from $200 | Setup and prior bookkeeping from $1,000 |
| Upwork (marketplace) | QuickBooks freelancers at $15, $19 and $30 an hour by level (about $650 to $1,300 a month at 10 hours a week) | Per contract, plus Upwork's fees |
| Wishup | Plans from $999 a month | No long-term contracts |
| Fourlane (QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm) | Custom quote | No long-term contract required |
| FinOptimal | Custom flat fee; client examples published at $1,000, $3,250 and $6,100 a month | Managed accounting; does not offer tax services |
Virtustant's H1 2026 placement data puts the median client-side rate for a bookkeeper at $12.85 an hour (n=7, a small sample), about $557 a month at 10 hours a week; see the H1 2026 rate report. For admin-level QuickBooks work such as data entry and receipt matching, see hiring a QuickBooks virtual assistant.
QuickBooks Live Full Service is Intuit's own bookkeeping service for QuickBooks Online users. Intuit sets the monthly price by your average monthly expenses over the previous three months:
| Average monthly expenses | QuickBooks Live monthly price | Year one at that tier |
|---|---|---|
| $0 to $25,000 | $200 | $2,700 |
| $25,001 to $150,000 | $400 | $4,900 |
| $150,001 or more | $600 | $7,100 |
Year one assumes the $500 first month for cleanup and onboarding plus 11 regular months, and excludes the QuickBooks Online subscription, which is billed separately. Intuit says every QuickBooks Live bookkeeper holds an active QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor certification plus a CPA license, a certified bookkeeper credential, an accounting or finance degree, or at least three years of small-business bookkeeping.
What Intuit's own help article lists as not included:
Eligibility is limited too: you must use QuickBooks Online and have filed taxes for the last calendar year, and Intuit excludes businesses it considers extremely complex, such as those with foreign or crypto activity or heavily mixed personal and business spending. QuickBooks Live keeps the books; the daily money work around them stays with you.
Starting prices compare badly because each one covers a different scope. We call the fix the Scope-Matched Price Test:
Example: a business with about $40,000 in monthly expenses that wants its books reconciled monthly, its bills paid, its invoices sent and its payroll prepared.
| Option | Monthly price for that scope | Still yours |
|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Live ($25,001 to $150,000 tier) | $400, plus your QuickBooks Online subscription | Bills, invoices, receivables, payables and payroll |
| Xendoo Essential (up to $50,000 in expenses) | $395 | Ask: bill pay, invoicing and payroll are not priced on the page |
| Bench Bookkeeping | $399 | Ask: scope beyond the books is not priced on the page |
| Bookkeeper360 | $750 ($400 bookkeeping + $150 bill pay and invoicing + $200 payroll) | Tax filing |
| A dedicated bookkeeper at 20 hours a week ($8.50, Virtustant) | About $737 | Tax filing; payroll is prepared in your payroll tool, and you approve payments |
| RemoteBooksOnline dedicated hours (40 hours at $35) | $1,400 | Depends on what fits in 40 hours |
Read the result both ways. If you only need the books kept and are happy to send invoices and pay bills yourself, QuickBooks Live at $400 is the lowest full bill here. Once bills, invoices and payroll are on the list, the bill-by-scope firms climb toward $750, and a dedicated bookkeeper covers all of it for about $737 at 20 hours a week. Whether 20 hours is enough depends on your transaction volume, accounts and payroll size, so confirm the hours against a month of your real work.
We read the 25 most recent positions titled “bookkeeper” in Virtustant's recruitment system, opened between 31 July and 2 November 2026, and eight of their job posts in full.
| What we counted | Result |
|---|---|
| Job posts naming QuickBooks | 7 of 8 |
| Asked for bank and account reconciliations | 7 of 8 |
| Asked for bills, invoices or receivables | 5 of 8 |
| Asked for month-end close or monthly reports | 5 of 8 |
| Asked for payroll | 3 of 8 |
| Part-time searches | 13 of 25, at about 10 to 20 hours a week where stated |
The pattern: businesses hiring a QuickBooks bookkeeper usually want the work QuickBooks Live leaves out (bills, invoices, receivables) in the same role as the reconciliations. Client names, rates, budgets and salaries from these records are not published.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks at $50,670 a year in May 2025, about $24.36 an hour, before payroll taxes, benefits and recruiting. With benefits at 30.0% of total compensation in private industry (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026), the loaded hour is about $34.80, or about $6,032 a month full-time. Virtustant's $8.50 starting rate is about 35% of the US median wage alone, or about $1,473 a month full-time. The full breakdown is in our bookkeeper cost guide.
How the rate works: if you pay your agent $10/hr, we give them $9 and keep the dollar in the middle. The rate is all-in, with zero placement fees and month-to-month terms; see Virtustant pricing.
| Your situation | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Simple books, you send invoices and pay bills yourself | QuickBooks Live | $200 to $600 a month by expenses, from a ProAdvisor-certified bookkeeper inside QuickBooks Online |
| Few accounts and low volume, lowest monthly bill | A low-cost online plan (e.g., Pilot Essentials, RemoteBooksOnline) | $99 to $195 a month, within published expense or account limits |
| You want bookkeeping and tax filing from one firm | A firm with a tax tier (e.g., Bench Bookkeeping + Tax) or a CPA firm | $649 a month at Bench; a CPA firm quotes per engagement |
| Bills, invoices, collections and payroll prep in one role | A dedicated bookkeeper through a remote staffing agency (e.g., Virtustant) | From $8.50 an hour all-in; one person in your QuickBooks file on your hours |
| A one-off fix or setup | A freelancer by the hour (e.g., Upwork) | $15 to $30 an hour |
For more options outside QuickBooks, see online bookkeeping services and bookkeeping services for small business; for review and close on top of the books, see controller services.
Virtustant is a remote staffing agency that places vetted bookkeepers and other remote professionals from Latin America with US businesses, from $8.50/hr all-in for a bookkeeper. Each placement is one named person working the US hours you set, full-time or part-time, inside your QuickBooks Online file, bank feeds and bill pay tools. Virtustant accepts the top 1% of applicants: 100% apply, 22% clear the recruiter screen, 9% pass cognitive (IQ), skills and English testing, 3% reach a live interview, 1% are hired. You get a shortlist of 3 to 5 vetted candidates within 48 hours of your first call, and your hire can start in 72 hours. Terms are month-to-month, with zero placement fees and a lifetime replacement guarantee with no time cap.
What it does not do: Virtustant does not sell a fixed-price bookkeeping plan or prepare tax returns. It places the bookkeeper who keeps your QuickBooks current and handles the daily money work around it; your CPA files. See the bookkeeper role, how to hire a remote bookkeeper and what a bookkeeper does.
As of 9 November 2026, published monthly plans run from $99 to $999 a month: QuickBooks Live charges $200, $400 or $600 a month by average monthly expenses plus a $500 first month, and firms such as Bench, Xendoo and Bookkeeper360 charge $199 to $995. Freelancers charge $15 to $30 an hour. A remote staffing agency such as Virtustant places a dedicated QuickBooks bookkeeper from $8.50 an hour all-in, about $368 a month at 10 hours a week.
QuickBooks Live Full Service costs $200 a month for average monthly expenses up to $25,000, $400 from $25,001 to $150,000, and $600 above $150,000, with a $500 first month for cleanup and onboarding. It is sold separately from the QuickBooks Online subscription.
Intuit lists sending invoices, paying bills, managing accounts receivable, accounts payable or inventory, running payroll, filing income or sales tax returns, sending 1099s, and giving financial or tax advice as not included.
It fits a simple business that only needs its books categorized, reconciled and reported each month and is happy to keep invoicing and bill pay. If you want those jobs done too, compare the full monthly bill for that scope, using the Scope-Matched Price Test.
It compares bookkeeping options on the full monthly bill for the jobs you need done, such as reconciliations, bill pay, invoicing and payroll preparation, adding each provider's published add-ons and marking what stays with you, instead of comparing starting prices.
Published rates run from $15 to $30 an hour for QuickBooks freelancers on Upwork and $25 to $35 an hour for dedicated ProAdvisor hours at RemoteBooksOnline. A dedicated bookkeeper through Virtustant starts at $8.50 an hour all-in. A US bookkeeper's median wage was $24.36 an hour in May 2025, about $34.80 loaded with benefits.
Yes. Add them as a user with the role the work needs, such as a bookkeeper or accountant role, rather than sharing your login. A dedicated bookkeeper hired through a staffing agency works inside your own file, bank feeds and bill pay tools.
You get a shortlist of 3 to 5 vetted candidates within 48 hours of your first call, and your hire can start in 72 hours, with zero placement fees and month-to-month terms.
Third-party prices. Read on each provider's own pages on 9 November 2026: QuickBooks plans and Live Bookkeeping pricing and Intuit help: Learn about the Intuit Experts bookkeeping service (updated 3 August 2026), Pilot pricing, RemoteBooksOnline pricing, Bench pricing, Xendoo pricing (updated 30 September 2026), Bookkeeper360 pricing, Upwork QuickBooks freelancer cost, Wishup QuickBooks (its FAQ states the $999 plan start), Fourlane QuickBooks bookkeeping and FinOptimal managed accounting. Figures are reported as published; prices and terms change, so confirm them in writing.
Calculations. Monthly hours: weekly hours × 52 ÷ 12 (10 hours a week = 43.3 hours; 20 = 86.7; full-time = 173.3). QuickBooks Live year one: $500 first month plus 11 months at the tier price. Loaded US hour: median wage ÷ 0.70.
Virtustant data. The 25 most recent positions titled “bookkeeper” in Virtustant's recruitment system, opened 31 July to 2 November 2026, read on 4 November 2026; schedules are counted where the record states them, and eight job posts were read in full. The $12.85 median (n=7) comes from the H1 2026 rate report.
Public data. BLS OEWS, Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (median wage, May 2025); BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (June 2026).
