Running a business in Canada comes with its own unique set of challenges and triumphs. From navigating GST/HST regulations to managing payroll, staying on top of your finances is crucial for sustainable growth. That's where QuickBooks Canada comes in, offering a suite of powerful tools designed to simplify your financial management.

But with various subscription levels and product offerings, choosing the right QuickBooks plan can feel overwhelming. That's why we've created this comprehensive guide to break down the pricing and subscription levels for QuickBooks Canada, helping you find the perfect fit for your business needs and setting you up for financial success.

Please note: Pricing information is accurate as of April 4, 2025, and is subject to change. Always refer to the official website for the most up-to-date pricing details and any promotional offers that can provide significant savings on your initial subscription. Visit our annual pricing page to explore the current deals on annual subscriptions.

Understanding your business needs

The first step in choosing the right plan is to understand what your challenges as a business are, your needs, and future aspirations. Ask yourself these key questions:

• What is the size and complexity of my business? Are you a solo entrepreneur, a small startup, or a growing enterprise?
• What are my core accounting needs? Do you primarily need to track income and expenses, send invoices, or manage bills?
• Do I need advanced features like inventory management, project costing, or budgeting? Consider your industry and specific operational requirements.
• How many users will need access to the software? This will impact which plans are suitable for collaboration.
• Do I need payroll integration or time tracking capabilities? These are often crucial for businesses with employees, and can help you save by choosing the right product “bundle.”
• What is my budget for accounting software?

After diving into your business needs and answering these questions, it is time to understand your options.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is our flagship cloud-based accounting software, offering accessibility and flexibility for businesses of all sizes. It comes in several subscription levels, each designed to cater to different needs and complexities. These are the options available in Canada, with their respective subscription prices:

EasyStart

QuickBooks Online EasyStart is a game-changer for solopreneurs and small businesses just starting out, providing the base and most fundamental tools needed to manage your finances.

Key Features:

• Income and Expense Tracking: record and categorize revenues and expenses, providing you with a clear picture of your financial position. This is the starting point in your business’ financial management journey
• Invoicing: even the most basic version of QuickBooks allows you to create professional invoices, which you can send directly to the client from our platform. You can also track invoice statuses and send reminders for overdue payments, making sure you get paid (and get paid faster).
• GST/HST Tracking and Reporting: stay compliant with tax regulations by tracking and reporting the GST and HST that accompany your transactions. This helps you fly through tax season worry-free.
• Basic Reporting: generate essential financial reports like Profit and Loss statements and Balance Sheets, giving you valuable insights into your business's financial health.  
• Bank Connectivity: securely connect your bank accounts and credit cards to automatically import transactions, saving you time and reducing the risk of manual data entry error.
• Number of users: 1.

Typical Monthly Pricing: Starting at $24 CAD per month.

Typical Annual Pricing: Starting at $255 CAD per year (saving you money compared to the monthly price).

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Online EasyStart is ideal for businesses with straightforward financial needs, such as freelancers, independent contractors, and very small service-based businesses that primarily need to track income and expenses and send basic invoices.

Example: Sarah runs a small freelance graphic design business. She uses QuickBooks Online EasyStart to track her project income, record her software and equipment expenses, and send professional invoices to her clients. This helps her stay organized for tax season and understand her profitability, all within an affordable budget.

Essentials

As your business grows, you might need more features to manage your increasing complexity. QuickBooks Online Essentials builds upon the foundation of EasyStart, adding features designed to streamline your daily financial tasks.

Key Features (Includes all EasyStart features, plus):

• Managing Bills and Payments: track bills from your suppliers and schedule payments, helping you stay on top of your payables and maintain good relationships with your suppliers. This feature can be particularly helpful for businesses that regularly purchase inventory or services, preventing late payment fees and improving supplier relationships.
• Multiple Currency Support: if you deal with international clients or suppliers, Essentials allows you to manage transactions in multiple currencies. It’s perfect for simplifying international operations and keeping accurate financial records all in one place.
• Time Tracking: track how long you or your employees spend on each project. This is especially useful if you run a service-based business that bills clients by the hour.
• Up to 3 Users: collaborate and turn your business into a real squad by allowing up to 3 users to manage the different aspects of your business finances, like sales, expenses, and customer relationships.

Typical Monthly Pricing: Starting at $54 CAD per month.

Typical Annual Pricing: Starting at $580 CAD per year.

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Online Essentials is a great fit for small and ambitious businesses that need to manage bills, track time, and potentially work with multiple currencies, like retail stores, service providers with a few employees, or in general if you engage your business internationally.

Example: Mark owns a small landscaping company with two employees. He uses QuickBooks Online Essentials to track time, expenses and invoices, and bill customers. Mark recently needed to buy a specialized lawnmower from a US supplier listed in USD. Due to QuickBooks Online Essentials' multi-currency support, he was able to just enter the USD invoice, and QuickBooks automatically calculated the CAD equivalent based on the exchange rate. This simplified his accounting for the foreign purchase and provided him with an easy image of his expenditure in CAD.

Plus

QuickBooks Online Plus is the plan for businesses seeing significant growth, who require more robust features to scale their financial management capabilities 

Key Features (Includes all Essentials features, plus):

• Inventory Management: if you sell physical products at scale, this plan helps you track your inventory and monitor stock levels—receiving alerts when it’s time to reorder.
• Budgeting: achieve expert-level financial management by setting and tracking budgets to monitor your financial performance against pre-established goals. Use this to identify which areas of your business can improve efficiency and profitability, which improve financial planning and decision-making.
• Project Profitability: track income and expenses for specific projects. This helps you understand which projects are profitable and which are not, allowing you to make informed decisions about the future. This is particularly valuable for businesses in industries like construction, consulting, or marketing.
• Job Costing: similarly, track the costs associated with each job or projects to gain granular understanding of them. This helps you price your products or services accurately and manage your budgets accordingly.
• Up to 5 Users

Typical Monthly Pricing: Starting at $80 CAD per month.

Typical Annual Pricing: Starting at $860 CAD per year.

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Online Plus will suit the needs of growing small to medium-sized businesses that require inventory management, comprehensive budgeting, and who have multiple simultaneous projects. It will be suitable for companies operating in retail, wholesale, light manufacturing, and project-oriented ventures.

Example: Lisa owns a small jewelry store. She uses QuickBooks Online Plus to track her inventory of beads, wires, and other materials to make sure she always has enough stock to meet her demand. She also uses the budgeting feature to monitor her marketing expenses and the project profitability feature to understand which jewelry lines are most profitable, which allows her to make more educated decisions about product development.

Advanced

For established and rapidly growing medium-sized businesses with complex needs, QuickBooks Online Advanced offers the most comprehensive set of features and premium support.

Key Features (Includes all Plus features, plus):

• Advanced Reporting: take financial management to the next level with customizable and advanced reports, including forecasting and business analytics. This unlocks risk management and strategic growth opportunities for your business.
• Batch Invoicing: create and send multiple invoices at once, which is ideal for businesses with recurring billing or a large volume of invoices, which not only improves efficiency but also reduces overhead.
• Custom Fields: track specific information relevant to your business by creating custom fields in your reports and transactions, giving you a more personalized data analysis and reporting. experience 
• Priority Support: QuickBooks Online Advanced customers enjoy priority support—faster and personalized—from a dedicated team of experts making sure that your issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.
• Workflow Automation: automate repetitive tasks to save time and improve efficiency, freeing up time to focus on core business activities.
• Up to 25 Users

Typical Monthly Pricing: Starting at $160 CAD per month.

Typical Annual Pricing: Starting at $1,730 CAD per year.

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Online Advanced is designed for established and growing businesses with complex financial needs, a larger team, and a requirement for advanced reporting and automation capabilities. This plan is suitable for businesses across various industries that need robust financial management tools and premium support to scale effectively.

Example: John is the CEO of a growing e-commerce company. He trusts QuickBooks Online Advanced to generate detailed sales reports, automate his invoicing process for recurring subscriptions, and track custom KPIs to gain deeper insights into his business performance. In essence, QuickBooks Online Advanced is John’s personal finance manager. If anything ever goes sideways, priority support ensures he can quickly resolve any complex accounting issues, allowing him to focus on strategic growth initiatives.

QuickBooks Online Payroll

Managing payroll can be a complex and time-consuming task for Canadian businesses. QuickBooks Online Payroll integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks Online to simplify the process of paying your employees and managing payroll taxes. That said, QuickBooks offers different subscription level options depending on your business’ specific needs:

Core

Key Features:

• Full-Service Payroll: handle payroll calculations, deductions, and remittances to the CRA. This helps businesses avoid the complexities and potential penalties associated with manual payroll processing.
• Automated Tax Filings: file your federal and provincial payroll taxes and year-end T4s automatically, reducing administrative burden and ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Employee Pay Options: pay your employees using various options, including direct deposit.
• Employee Portal: Employees can access their pay stubs and tax documents online. This reduces paperwork and empowers employees with self-service access to their payroll information.
• Basic HR Support: Access to basic HR resources and support to help manage your employees. This can be helpful if you run a small business with no dedicated HR staff.

Typical Monthly Pricing: Starting at $50 CAD per month plus $6 CAD per employee per month.

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Online Payroll Core is a great starting point for small businesses that want a simple and affordable full-service payroll solution to automate their payroll processes and ensure compliance.

Premium

Key Features (Includes all Core features, plus):

• Advanced HR Support: more comprehensive HR resources, including expert HR advice and tools.
• Time Tracking Integration: seamless integration with QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets), eliminating the need for manual data entry and improving accuracy.
• Workers' Compensation Administration: assistance with managing your workers' compensation, simplifying this often complicated process.
• Same-Day Direct Deposit: you can pay employees with same-day direct deposit, giving them faster access to their earnings. This can greatly improve employee satisfaction.

Typical monthy pricing: Starting at $85 CAD per month plus $9 CAD per employee per month.

Elite

Key Features (Includes all Premium features, plus):

• Expert Payroll Review: ensure payroll accuracy and compliance from an expert review. This provides an added layer of security and peace of mind.
• Personalized HR Advice: access personalized HR advice from certified professionals to address your specific business needs. This can be invaluable for navigating complex HR issues.
• Project Tracking: track labour costs by project to gain insights into project profitability. This is particularly useful for businesses in project-based industries.
• 24/7 Expert Support: Access to expert payroll support anytime you need it. This ensures that you can get help whenever issues arise, minimizing disruptions to your business.

Typical Monthly Pricing: Starting at $130 CAD per month plus $11 CAD per employee per month.

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Online Payroll Elite is designed for more established businesses with complex payroll and HR needs, requiring expert support and advanced features like project tracking and personalized HR advice to manage their workforce efficiently and strategically.

Other QuickBooks solutions

While QuickBooks Online offers a comprehensive suite of features, QuickBooks Canada also provides other specialized solutions to cater to specific business needs:

QuickBooks Self-Employed

If you're a solopreneur, independent contractor, or freelancer, QuickBooks Self-Employed is specifically designed to simplify your unique financial management needs.

Key Features:

• Income and expense tracking
• Mileage tracking
• Estimated Tax Calculations
• Invoice generation
• Integration with TurboTax Self-Employed

Typical Monthly Pricing: Starting at $10 CAD per month.

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Self-Employed is perfect for individuals who work for themselves and need a simple and affordable way to track their income, expenses, and mileage for tax purposes or general financial management and planning.

Example: Maria is a freelance writer. She uses QuickBooks Self-Employed to track her income from different clients and jobs, categorize expenses like software subscriptions and home office equipment, and to automatically track her mileage when she meets clients. When tax season comes around, she is relieved that most of the work is already done for her, saving her time, stress, and potentially money in her return.

QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets)

For businesses that need to track employee work hours for payroll or client billing purposes, QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) offers a robust and user-friendly time tracking solution. It should be noted that you’ll need a QuickBooks Online plan to get access to QuickBooks Time. This way, you have your accounting and time tracking all under the same roof, you'll save time, reduce the need for manual entry, and benefit from a comprehensive, connected view of your business finances.

Key Features:

• Mobile and Web Time Tracking: employees can track their time from any device, whether they're in the office or in the field, providing flexibility and convenience.
• GPS Tracking: see where your employees are working in real-time, improving accountability and project management for field-based teams.
• Job Costing: track time spent on specific jobs or projects, providing valuable insights into project costs and profitability.
• Integration with QuickBooks: QuickBooks Time is, in essence, a QuickBooks Online expansion and can only be used along with a QuickBooks Online plan, integrating your accounting and time tracking to save time, reduce manual entry, and provide a comprehensive view of your business finances.

Pricing Considerations:

QuickBooks Time offers two main plans:

• Time Premium: starting at $20/month
• Time Elite: Starting at $40/month

Example:

If Mark's landscaping company uses QuickBooks Online Essentials at $54/month and adds QuickBooks Time Premium for his two employees (including himself), the QuickBooks Time cost would be $20/month + ($8 x 2 users) = $20 + $16 = $36/month. His total monthly cost for both would be $54 + $36 = $90 CAD.

Who is it for?

QuickBooks Time is ideal for businesses with hourly employees, field service teams, or project-based work that requires accurate time tracking for payroll and client billing purposes, improving efficiency and accuracy in their operations.

Making the right choice

Choosing the right QuickBooks Canada plan is a crucial decision that can significantly impact your business's financial management efficiency and your bottom line. Carefully consider your current needs, anticipated growth, and budget to select the plan that best aligns with your objectives and provides the most value for your investment.

Remember that many QuickBooks products offer free trials, allowing you to test out the features and ensure it's the right fit before committing to a subscription. Don't hesitate to explore these options and take advantage of the resources available on the QuickBooks Canada website to help you make an informed decision.

Empowering Your Business with the Right Financial Tools

In today's digital landscape, having the right financial tools is no longer a luxury but a necessity for business success. QuickBooks Canada is a powerful and dynamic solution that's designed to be smart, agile, and incredibly efficient at handling your financial needs. It empowers businesses of all sizes to streamline their processes, gain valuable insights into their performance, and ultimately achieve their goals, all with flexible pricing to fit your budget.

Ready to take control of your business finances? Visit QuickBooks Canada today to learn more about our pricing and subscription options and start your journey towards financial clarity and business empowerment.