Dancing Numbers vs QuickBooks Online (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, QuickBooks Online grades higher than Dancing Numbers: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
QuickBooks Online grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Dancing Numbers
Bulk import, export and delete tool for QuickBooks data
QuickBooks Online
Cloud accounting from Intuit, from a free plan to 25-user Advanced
Which one is for you
Pick Dancing Numbers if
- Fits if you move many transactions into QuickBooks from spreadsheets
- Works for accountants who handle several QuickBooks company files
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you don't use QuickBooks, because it works only with QuickBooks
- Tight if you have more than 1 company file on the entry plan, which allows 1
- Watch out: Online plans are monthly while Desktop plans are yearly, with different file limits
- Watch out: the free trial's length isn't stated
Pick QuickBooks Online if
- Fits if your accountant wants to work in the same books as you
- Works for US businesses that expect to add payroll, inventory or project tracking later
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're a small team or need inventory and budgets: $85 a month for 3 users, $140 for Plus with 5
- Watch out: the advertised prices are half off for 3 months only, then $38, $85, $140 or $340 a month
- Tight if you're on the free plan: 2 invoices a month, 1 bank, and no accountant access or mobile app
- Pricey if you need payroll, at $50 a month plus $7 an employee on top
- Skip it if you're outside the US, as these are US plans and prices and other countries have their own sites
How we grade them
| 2.0GPADancing NumbersFair | 2.4GPAQuickBooks OnlineFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$10 a month for 1 company file and 2 users on QuickBooks Online, just above the category's cheapest quarter. Desktop plans are yearly, from $199. | CSimple Start is $38 a month for 1 user, above the dearer quarter of accounting tools at $31.10 but short of the dearest tenth at $49. Three users is $85, and inventory and budgets need Plus at $140. The 50% off lasts only 3 months. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free trial with no card, but its length isn't stated. There is no free plan. | CThere's a free plan, but it's 2 invoices a month, 3 reports and 1 bank account, with no accountant access or mobile app. You'll hit that fast. Paid plans have a 30-day trial instead of the discount. |
| Features | DOne narrow job, bulk moves of data in and out of QuickBooks, and it needs QuickBooks to be useful at all. | BBank feeds that learn your categories, invoices and payments, bill pay by ACH, reports, budgets, project profit, inventory, classes, AI that reconciles and flags oddities, and payroll as an add-on. That's the whole job. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and you map spreadsheet columns to QuickBooks fields. | CNo store rating on record. Its bank feeds learn how you categorize and copy you, but there are accounts to connect and reports to learn before it runs itself. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and a Windows program, with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop and Salesforce. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with PayPal, Square, Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Gusto and QuickBooks Time. No desktop app is listed, and the free plan gets no mobile app or third-party apps. |
| Best for | bulk QuickBooks imports from spreadsheets | US businesses that share the books with an accountant |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Dancing Numbers and QuickBooks Online. How we grade
Price against what you get
Dancing Numbers starts at $10 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. QuickBooks Online starts at $38 a month and scores 2.7.
QuickBooks Online scores higher, and starts $28 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other accounting and invoicing tools on the chart, 32 score higher than Dancing Numbers for less, and 6 score higher than QuickBooks Online for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Dancing Numbers also covers templates and workflow automation.
- QuickBooks Online also covers invoicing, reports, expense tracking and payroll.
At a glance
| Dancing Numbers | QuickBooks Online | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $10 per month for 1 company file and 2 users (Online) | $38 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | 1 user, income and expense tracking, 2 invoices a month, 3 reports and 1 connected bank. No accountant access, mobile app or third-party apps. |
| Free trial | Free trial offered, no credit card required; length not stated | 30-day free trial on paid plans, taken instead of the 3-month discount |
| Web | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Dancing Digits, LLC | Intuit Inc. |
| Price read from | dancingnumbers.com | quickbooks.intuit.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Dancing Numbers
- It works only with QuickBooks; the Desktop edition lists Windows 10 and 11.
- Online plans are monthly (or yearly from 25 company files) while Desktop plans are yearly, with different company file limits.
- Plans are capped by company files: 1 on Individual, 3 on Basic, 5 on Intermediate and 10 on Pro.
QuickBooks Online
- The advertised prices are a 50% discount for the first 3 months; the plan then renews at $38, $85, $140 or $340 a month.
- Each plan caps users: 1 on Simple Start, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Plus and 25 on Advanced.
- Payroll costs extra: Workforce Payroll alone is $50 a month plus $7 per employee, and Premium is $88 plus $13 per employee.
- These are US prices and plans; Intuit runs separate country sites for Canada, the UK, Australia, India and others.
Key features
Dancing Numbers
- Bulk import
- Loads transactions and lists from Excel or CSV files into QuickBooks, including invoices, bills, journal entries, deposits and bank statements.
- Bulk export
- Exports company file data for analysis, audits or reporting, covering customer, vendor, banking and employee transactions and lists.
- Bulk delete
- Deletes many entries at once, such as test or duplicate records. The vendor says an Undo feature can revert a bulk operation.
- Wide entity coverage
- Handles customer, vendor, banking and employee transactions, plus inventory adjustments and transfers.
- Schedulers and integrations
- Offers schedulers and connectors to sync data with other systems; custom integrations are built to order and quoted separately.
- Conversion services
- Separate migration services convert data from other accounting software into QuickBooks, using the vendor's own migration experts.
QuickBooks Online
- Bank feeds and automatic categorizing
- Connect bank and card accounts and QuickBooks learns how you categorize transactions, then matches and records new ones the same way.
- Invoices and online payments
- Send invoices and estimates, take card and bank payments through QuickBooks Payments, and get status updates and reminders.
- Bills and accounts payable
- Organize and pay bills by ACH from paid plans. Standard ACH payments beyond the monthly allotment cost $0.50 each.
- Reports, budgets and projects
- Profit and loss and sales reports on every paid plan. Budgets, project profitability, inventory and class tracking start on Plus.
- Intuit Intelligence
- AI tools that categorize expenses, reconcile books and flag anomalies, with more of them unlocked on Plus and Advanced.
- Payroll through QuickBooks Workforce
- A separate subscription that runs full-service payroll, files payroll taxes and e-files 1099s, added from the same checkout.
Plans
Dancing Numbers
Online Individual$10
per month for 1 company file and 2 users
QuickBooks Online: unlimited import, export and delete for a single company file.
Online Basic$25
per month for up to 3 company files and 5 users
QuickBooks Online: import, export and delete with unlimited records; $40 a month covers 5 files and 15 users.
Online Pro$49.99
per month for up to 10 company files and 20 users
QuickBooks Online: import, export and delete with unlimited records across 10 companies.
Online Unlimited Pro$999.99
per year for up to 50 company files, unlimited users
QuickBooks Online: unlimited users; Unlimited Basic is $799.99 a year for up to 25 files.
Desktop$199
per year for up to 3 company files
QuickBooks Desktop: unlimited export, import and delete; users are covered.
Desktop Accountant Basic$499
per year for up to 10 company files
QuickBooks Desktop with unlimited users and records; Pro $899 for 20 files, Premium $1,999 for 50.
QuickBooks Online
Free$0
1 user, 2 invoices a month, profit and loss, balance sheet and account quick report, and 1 connected bank account.
Simple Start$38
per month for 1 user, billed monthly
Advertised at $19 a month for the first 3 months. Automated bookkeeping, invoicing with online payments, bill pay and access for 2 accountants.
Essentials$85
per month for up to 3 users, billed monthly
Advertised at $42.50 a month for the first 3 months. Adds enhanced reports, employee time on invoices and web lead forms.
Plus$140
per month for up to 5 users, billed monthly
Advertised at $70 a month for the first 3 months. Adds budgets, project profitability, inventory and up to 40 classes and locations.
Advanced$340
per month for up to 25 users, billed monthly
Advertised at $170 a month for the first 3 months. Adds custom roles, workflow automation, Excel sync, batch invoices and priority support.
Ways to pay less
Dancing Numbers
No public discounts listed.
QuickBooks Online
- Other savings
50% off the first 3 months
New customers on a monthly plan pay half the base price for the first 3 months, then the regular price. It does not apply to per-employee fees.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Dancing Numbers or QuickBooks Online?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Dancing Numbers is cheaper to start with: $10 a month, against $38 a month for QuickBooks Online. Dancing Numbers starts at $10 per month for 1 company file and 2 users (Online), and QuickBooks Online starts at $38 per month, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Dancing Numbers or QuickBooks Online?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only QuickBooks Online has a free plan. Dancing Numbers does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Dancing Numbers and QuickBooks Online run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Dancing Numbers lists a Windows app and only QuickBooks Online lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.