A bookkeeping service for a small business ranges from $30 per month for ZenBusiness Money Pro to $649 per month for Bench's Bookkeeping + Tax plan as of 2026-10-06, while doing the books yourself in QuickBooks Online starts at $0 and tops out at $340 per month. An owner who is forming an entity or wants one provider for the entity work and the books can start with ZenBusiness Money Pro at $30 per month. An owner already working in QuickBooks who wants a professional inside the software may prefer QuickBooks Experts, though Intuit does not publish its price.

How much does a bookkeeping service cost for a small business?

The published prices in this category span a wide range. ZenBusiness Money Pro is $30 per month, Bench's plans run from $199 to $649 per month, and Bookkeeper360 starts at $399 per month for monthly bookkeeping and $599 per month for weekly. A fractional bookkeeper at Bench is $55 per hour plus $1,200 onboarding. All figures are as of 2026-10-06 and come from each provider's own pricing page.

The cheapest route is software the owner runs personally, and that is where the QuickBooks question starts. QuickBooks Online is the do-it-yourself side, and QuickBooks Experts is the hand-it-over side inside the same ecosystem. The cost of the second is not published.

What is the difference between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Experts?

QuickBooks Online is accounting software. The owner records transactions, categorizes them, reconciles accounts and reads the reports, so the work is as accurate and as current as the owner keeps it.

QuickBooks Experts is Intuit's assisted bookkeeping offering, formerly called QuickBooks Live. A professional does the bookkeeping work for the owner. The two are different kinds of product: one is a tool, the other is a service that uses the tool.

That distinction drives the whole comparison. Choosing software means choosing to spend hours. Choosing a service means choosing to spend money, and the amount is not on Intuit's pricing page.

What should be in place before either one?

Separation of business and personal money comes first. IRS Publication 583 says one of the first things to do when starting a business is open a business checking account and keep it apart from the personal checking account. It also says to use the business account for business purposes only, and to note the source of deposits and the type of expense in the checkbook.

The publication calls the business checkbook the basic source of information for recording business expenses. Both software and a professional work better from clean records.

Publication 583 also names the supporting documents behind each entry. For gross receipts, it lists cash register tapes, bank deposit slips, receipt books, invoices and credit card charge slips. For purchases and inventory, it lists canceled checks, cash register tape receipts, credit card sales slips and invoices.

For expenses, the publication adds account statements, and for assets it names purchase and sales invoices, real estate closing statements and canceled checks. Saving these remains the owner's job under either option.

How long do the records need to be kept?

The IRS page on how long to keep records sets 3 years as the default. That default applies unless one of three exceptions does: income under-reported by more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return, a return that was never filed, or a fraudulent return.

If the unreported income passes that 25% mark, the IRS says to keep records 6 years. If no return is filed, or a fraudulent one is, it says to keep them indefinitely. For a claim for a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction, the period is 7 years.

Employment tax records must be kept at least 4 years after the date the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later. The US Department of Labor, in Fact Sheet 21 on Fair Labor Standards Act recordkeeping, says employers must preserve payroll records, collective bargaining agreements, and sales and purchase records for at least three years. It gives 2 years for time cards, piece work tickets, wage rate tables, work and time schedules, and records of additions to or deductions from wages.

For sales tax, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration says in Publication 116 that records should be kept at least 4 years, and longer during an audit, when all records covering the audit period must be kept until it is complete. Other states set their own periods, and this article does not cover them.

With either option, it is worth asking where the records live and how they can be exported later.

How do the costs compare?

The order below is alphabetical, not a ranking. Prices are as of 2026-10-06 and come from each provider's own pricing page. Promotional rates are labelled as promotional and are not ongoing prices.

Bench is a full bookkeeping service. Its Bookkeeping Light plan is $199 per month, Bookkeeping is $399 per month, and Bookkeeping + Tax is $649 per month. A fractional bookkeeper is $55 per hour plus $1,200 onboarding. It is a useful benchmark for what handing the books over costs when the price is published.

Bookkeeper360 offers monthly bookkeeping from $399 per month and weekly bookkeeping from $599 per month. Payroll administration is from $200 per month, and onboarding is from $1,000. It fits a business that wants bookkeeping and payroll administration handled together.

QuickBooks Experts is the hand-it-over side of the Intuit pairing. Intuit does not publish a price for it on its pricing page, so the cost is not known without a quote. It suits an owner already in QuickBooks who wants a professional working inside the same account, with the trade-off that the price cannot be weighed in advance.

QuickBooks Online is the do-it-yourself side. Its plans are Free at $0, Simple Start at $38 per month, Essentials at $85 per month, Plus at $140 per month and Advanced at $340 per month. Intuit also advertises a promotional rate of 50% off for 3 months, which is not the ongoing price. It is the strongest option here for compatibility with accountants, which makes any later handoff smoother.

Wave has a free Starter plan and a Pro plan at $19 per month or $190 per year. A promotional rate of $9.50 per month for 3 months applies to Pro, and that is not the ongoing price. Card processing is 2.9% plus $0.60, a receipts add-on is $8 per month, and payroll starts at $25 per month. It is the lowest-cost software alternative to QuickBooks Online.

Xero has Early at $27 per month, Growing at $59 per month and Established at $97 per month. A promotional rate of 80% off for 3 months is advertised, and it is not the ongoing price. It suits owners who want software with a clear plan ladder.

ZenBusiness Money Pro is $30 per month as of 2026-10-06, sold as an add-on alongside formation. ZenBusiness describes it as covering custom invoicing, revenue and expense tracking, and tax preparation tools. It is a bookkeeping service bundled with the entity work, not accounting software, so it is not compared feature by feature against QuickBooks Online or Xero. It does not offer business banking, payroll or a business credit product.

Where does ZenBusiness fit in this choice?

ZenBusiness belongs upstream of the QuickBooks decision. The entity, the EIN, the registered agent and a separate business account come before any bookkeeping tool or service has clean records to work with, and Publication 583 treats the separate account as one of the first steps. For an owner who is still forming a business and wants one provider for the entity work and the books, ZenBusiness accounting is an honest place to start. ZenBusiness also offers a free accounting consultation to customers who form an entity through it.

The limit is that Money Pro is a $30 per month service, not a full-service firm. An owner with payroll, inventory or multi-state sales tax will likely need a dedicated option.

So should I do it or hand it over?

If the transactions are few and the owner has the hours, QuickBooks Online or Wave keeps the cost lowest. If the hours are the problem, a service takes over, and the published prices at Bench and Bookkeeper360 give a clear sense of the cost.

QuickBooks Experts is the natural step for an owner already in QuickBooks, once a quote is in hand. For an owner who is still forming an entity, ZenBusiness Money Pro is the simpler place to begin.

Sources

This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.