QuickBooks Free: what $0 gets you and when a small business outgrows it
QuickBooks Free is a $0 plan of QuickBooks Online, with no credit card and no trial clock¹. It suits one person with one bank account. Only one user can sign in, and you can't invite your accountant. Each month you get 2 invoices and 2 receipt uploads. For the life of the account you get one bank connection. There are no bank rules to file repeat charges for you².
Take a small online candle business. It has checking and savings accounts, a business credit card and an accountant who does its taxes. In September 2026 it needed 2 invoices, 3 bank connections and 3 receipt uploads. It also needed rules for 6 regular vendors and its accountant in the books. Free covered 1 of those 5 needs: the invoices, exactly at its cap. Simple Start, at $38 a month, was the first plan that covered all 5.
We build Booke AI, AI bookkeeping software for QuickBooks Online and Xero. Prices and limits below are from Intuit's pages as of November 3, 2026.
What QuickBooks Free includes
QuickBooks Free gives one user invoices, receipt uploads, one bank connection and three basic reports for $0 a month. Some limits reset each month. Intuit calls the others lifetime limits, counted over the life of the account.
Free | Lite | Simple Start | |
|---|---|---|---|
Price a month | $0 | $10 or $20 | $38 |
Users | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Accountant access | No | No | Yes |
Invoices | 2 a month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bank connections | 1, lifetime | 2, lifetime | Unlimited |
Bank rules | None | 5, lifetime | Yes³ |
Receipt uploads | 2 a month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Contractors | 1, lifetime | 3, lifetime | Unlimited |
Sales tax | Manual | Automatic | Automatic |
Connect other apps | No | Yes | Yes |
Free also allows 1 estimate and 5 mileage trips a month. It runs three reports: profit and loss, balance sheet and a quick report for one account¹,⁴. Invoices become unlimited if you qualify for QuickBooks Payments and turn it on⁵. That is Intuit's service for taking card and bank payments on invoices.
Since the Fall 2026 release, Free and Lite also include Intuit Intelligence, the assistant built into QuickBooks. It helps with setup and product questions and gives insights on the business. Each plan caps how much you can use it⁶.
What's the catch with QuickBooks Free?
The catch is in the limits: one lifetime bank connection, no bank rules and no accountant access. At each cap, QuickBooks won't let you add more. Intuit also says Free may be offered for a limited time.
One lifetime bank connection
Intuit's QuickBooks Free page says you can connect 1 bank account¹. Its help article calls that "1 lifetime bank connection" and gives Lite 2². That connection is your bank feed: the list of transactions your bank sends into QuickBooks. Connect the account that carries most of the business, usually checking. The other accounts stay off the bank feed until you upgrade.
No bank rules
A bank rule tells QuickBooks how to file a charge it has seen before, like a monthly software bill. Free has none². QuickBooks sorts business and personal transactions automatically¹. Without a rule, though, you review and confirm every repeat charge yourself, every month. The weekly routine in our bookkeeping basics guide sets a rule for each charge that never changes.
What happens when you hit a limit
"You won't be able to add more items once you reach your plan's usage limit," Intuit says². A third invoice in the same month waits for next month, QuickBooks Payments or an upgrade. If you ask Intuit Intelligence to go past a limit, it won't do it and offers the upgrade instead.
No accountant in the books
Accountants can't be added to Free or Lite⁶. If your accountant prepares your taxes or fixes the books at year-end, they can't sign in to see what you recorded.
Will QuickBooks Free stay free?
Intuit's footnote says Free "may be offered for a limited time" and can change "with or without notice"¹. Its blog says customers would hear in advance if the plan ends⁷. In August, Intuit said more than 20,000 customers were using Free or had moved to paid offerings as of July⁸.
One small business month against the QuickBooks Free limits
In September 2026, a small candle business needed five things from its plan, and Free covered one of them. Lite covered three, and Simple Start covered all five.
Invoices: 2, one for $750 dated September 2 and one for $1,200 dated September 20. That is Free's monthly cap exactly. A third in September would have needed QuickBooks Payments or a paid plan.
Bank connections: 3 accounts. Free connects 1 and Lite 2, so at least one stays off the bank feed. In our guide on how to reconcile in QuickBooks Online, two $1,500 transfers to savings were recorded as expenses. The $3,000 gap showed up only when the savings account was checked against its bank statement.
Bank rules: 9 of its 26 bank and card transactions were routine charges from 6 regular vendors. Shipping came three times and ads twice. The rest were candle supplies, email software, office supplies and the store software. On Free the owner confirms all 9 one by one. Lite's 5 rules can cover them only if the two software subscriptions share one rule. That uses all 5 for the life of the account.
Receipts: three purchases needed a receipt that wasn't on file, for $89.47, $132.60 and $96.15. Free takes 2 uploads a month.
Accountant: a $2,200 payment to the IRS could be business tax or the owner's personal estimated tax. The accountant needs to see how it was booked, and Free and Lite have no accountant access.
Simple Start costs $38 a month, or $456 a year at list price⁴.
Who QuickBooks Free fits
QuickBooks Free fits a solo business with one bank account, few invoices and no accountant in its books. Check each line:
You run the business alone and don't pay employees.
One bank account carries all of it, with no business card or second account to track.
You create 2 invoices a month or fewer, or you qualify for QuickBooks Payments and turn it on.
You have 2 or fewer receipts a month to upload.
You file your own taxes, or your accountant doesn't need to work inside your books.
If any of these doesn't hold, start with Lite or Simple Start. Moving up later keeps your data. Every plan from Free up runs on the same platform, so upgrading doesn't move your books to a new system⁶.
QuickBooks Free vs Lite vs Simple Start
Lite lifts Free's invoice and receipt caps but still keeps your accountant out. Simple Start is the first plan with accountant access and unlimited bank connections⁴,⁹.
Lite suits a solo business with one bank account and one card, or one that creates more than 2 invoices a month. It adds automatic sales tax and connections to other apps. It includes the mobile app, 2 bank connections and 5 rules⁹,². Intuit lists Lite at $20 a month on its QuickBooks Free page and at $10 on its self-employed page¹,⁹.
Simple Start suits a business with three or more bank and card accounts, or an accountant who works in the books. It lists at $38 a month. New QuickBooks Online customers on the monthly plan pay $19 for the first 3 months⁴. Comparing it with a bookkeeper who does the books for you? Our outsourced bookkeeping guide lists what those services cost.
To upgrade, go to Settings, then Subscriptions and billing, and select Upgrade your plan².
QuickBooks Solopreneur is a separate product. Intuit's self-employed page now sells Free, Lite and Simple Start⁹. A Solopreneur account can upgrade to QuickBooks Online but can't switch back².
Where Booke fits
Booke works inside QuickBooks Online, in the bank feeds you've already connected. Every day it reviews the new transactions, categorizes them and matches them to invoices and receipts. In the candle business's checking account, that covers the candle-supplies order and the ad charge. It also matches the $750 that paid the first invoice on September 28. You see only the transactions that need your decision. Booke automates up to 80% of the manual bank-feed work for $129 a month per business. See how Booke works for business owners.
FAQ
Is QuickBooks Free really free?
Yes. It costs $0 a month and needs no credit card. QuickBooks Payments charges its own fees only if you use it. Intuit's footnote says the free plan may be offered for a limited time¹.
What's the difference between QuickBooks Free and the free trial?
The 30-day free trial covers Simple Start, Essentials, Plus or Advanced, and then you pay¹. QuickBooks Free is a separate plan with no trial clock and tighter limits.
How much is the cheapest paid version of QuickBooks Online?
Lite, listed at $20 a month on Intuit's QuickBooks Free page and at $10 on its self-employed page¹,⁹. Simple Start is $38 a month, Essentials $85, Plus $140 and Advanced $340⁴. Our QuickBooks pricing guide adds up what Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced cost in the first year.
Does QuickBooks Free have a mobile app?
Intuit's pages disagree. The pricing page says "QuickBooks Lite plans and above come with a free mobile app"⁴. The QuickBooks Free page lists the mobile app among Free's features¹.
How do I get QuickBooks Free?
Sign up on Intuit's QuickBooks Free page. It asks for no credit card¹.
Sources
Intuit, QuickBooks Free, retrieved November 3, 2026.
Intuit, Upgrade or change your subscription, updated October 21, 2026.
Intuit, Set up bank rules to categorize online banking transactions in QuickBooks Online, updated September 11, 2026.
Intuit, QuickBooks Online pricing, retrieved November 3, 2026.
Intuit, Is QuickBooks free? Plans, features, limits and how to get started, July 15, 2026.
Intuit, What's new in QuickBooks: Fall 2026 release updates, October 26, 2026.
Intuit, QuickBooks Free vs. paid plans: Which one is right for your business?, June 29, 2026.
Intuit, Fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 conference call remarks, August 25, 2026.
Intuit, Accounting software for self-employed business, retrieved November 3, 2026.
