QuickBooks Online vs Bench

Two accounting tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	QuickBooks OnlineIntuit	BenchEmployer.com
In one line	The accounting software most US accountants already use	A bookkeeping team that does your books each month
Starting price	From $38/mo	From $199/mo
Six-person team	$38/mo	$199/mo
Plans	Simple Start $38/mo (1 user); Essentials $85/mo (3 users); Plus $140/mo (5 users); Advanced up to 25 users; every plan adds 2 accountant logins; list prices, with promotions often cutting the first 3 months	Bookkeeping Light $199/mo (up to $250K revenue/yr); Bookkeeping $399/mo; Bookkeeping + Tax $649/mo; 20% off yearly; catch-up free on yearly plans
Pricing model	Free trial	Paid
Free trial	30 days	—
Users	1–25 depending on plan	n/a (service)
Both connect to	Square POS, Gusto, Shopify, Stripe Invoicing, BigCommerce, Shoeboxed
Also connects to	Toast, Rippling, Homebase, Deel, Squarespace Commerce, Mercury, Relay, Bluevine +41 more800+ listed by the vendor	No others on record
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US
Phone support	Plans not stated (US)	Every plan
Live chat	Every paid plan	Every plan
Support hours	Live chat: Mon–Fri 6 AM–6 PM PT, Sat 6 AM–3 PM PT, Sun closed (Simple Start, Essentials, Plus), Mon–Fri 6 AM–7 PM PT, Sat–Sun 6 AM–3 PM PT (Advanced) · Phone: Monday- Friday 6am -6pm PST	Phone: weekdays 7am to 5pm PST
Incidents posted	5 incidents posted on Intuit's status page, which covers all Intuit products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 2 marked major or critical by Intuit. Status page	We found no public status page for Employer.com.
Capterra score	4.3 / 5 from 8,546 reviews	Not listed
Trustpilot score	Not listed	4.1 / 5 from 1,355 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	92	65
Fit: Restaurant or café	88	60
Fit: Service business	90	80
Fit: Agency or studio	85	80
Fit: Trades or contractor	92	70
Fit: Online store	80	75
Why people pick it	Every US accountant knows it Strong bank feeds and reconciliation Large integration catalog	A bookkeeper you can message any time Free catch-up on yearly plans
Where it falls short	Frequent price increases User limits on lower tiers	Costs far more than software Service paused in late 2024 before the sale
	Visit QuickBooks Online ↗	Visit Bench ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. How we calculate prices

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