Quaderno vs QuickBooks Online (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Quaderno if

• Fits if you sell online across countries and need VAT and sales tax worked out
• Makes sense if you sell through Stripe or Shopify

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a ledger, as it's sales tax and invoicing only
• Tight if you're on Hobby: 25 transactions, 1 user, 1 jurisdiction and 1 integration
• Watch out: every sale, refund and purchase counts, and going over moves you up a tier automatically
• Watch out: registration and filing done by Quaderno are quoted separately

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

Quaderno

• Plans are priced by transactions, counting every sale, refund and purchase recorded; going over moves the account to the next tier automatically.
• Hobby is limited to 1 user, 1 jurisdiction and 1 integration.
• Registration and return filing done by Quaderno is quoted separately and is not part of the listed plans.
• It handles sales tax and invoicing; it is not a general ledger or bookkeeping product.

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.

Quaderno

Tax calculation at checkout

Calculates sales tax, VAT and GST for a sale from the product and the customer's location, in 150+ countries according to the homepage.

Threshold alerts

Watches sales by region and warns when a business is about to cross an economic nexus or similar threshold and needs to register.

Compliant invoices

Sends invoices automatically after each payment, branded and localized, with e-invoicing for government mandates.

Tax reports and filing

Turns sales into jurisdiction-specific reports for self-filing, or files returns on the seller's behalf for US states, EU VAT OSS and other regions.

Platform integrations and API

Connects to Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, WooCommerce, GoCardless and Amazon FBA, and exposes a REST API for custom setups.

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.

Quaderno

• Hobby$24

  per month for up to 25 transactions, billed yearly ($29 monthly)

  1 user, 1 jurisdiction and 1 integration. Other plans have unlimited users, jurisdictions and integrations.

• Startup$41

  per month for up to 250 transactions, billed yearly ($49 monthly)

  Unlimited users, jurisdictions and integrations for up to 250 transactions a month.

• Business$83

  per month for up to 1,000 transactions, billed yearly ($99 monthly)

  Same features as Startup with a 1,000 transaction allowance; the page marks it as the most popular plan.

• Growth$124

  per month for up to 2,500 transactions, billed yearly ($149 monthly)

  Same features with a 2,500 transaction allowance. Above that, Enterprise is sold through sales.

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.

Quaderno

• Annual discount

  2 months free with yearly billing

  The pricing page says yearly billing gives 2 months free, which brings Growth from $149 to $124 a month.

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.