Leaving QuickBooks: A Switch Guide

Overview

Leaving QuickBooks is an export job before it is a software decision. The moment a subscription ends, access to the historical records goes with it, and an agency that cancels first and migrates later loses the client history it needs for tax, disputes and renewals. The order matters: export, verify, then cancel.

The second thing to understand is that the four realistic destinations do not price the same way. QuickBooks charges per user. Wave charges per business and can be free. Xero charges per organisation and states it has no per-user licence fees, but caps its cheapest plan by invoice and bill count. FreshBooks charges per client, not per user. An agency comparing headline prices alone will pick the wrong one, because the constraint that bites depends on whether its growth is people, clients or transactions.

Every price in this guide was read from the vendor's own pricing page on 15 October 2026. Where a vendor does not publish something, this guide says so rather than estimating it. The full comparison of destinations is in our QuickBooks alternatives guide, and the month-by-month cost model is in the bookkeeping guide for small agencies.

What QuickBooks costs today

The starting point is the plan you are leaving, because the honest comparison is against what you actually pay.

Two details are worth noting before you decide. First, QuickBooks publishes no annual-billing price, so there is no cheaper annual route to compare against the monthly figures above. Second, the page currently shows 50 per cent off for three months, which displays as $19, $42.50, $70 and $170. That is promotional and it expires, which means an agency that signed up during an offer is likely paying double what it budgeted. If that is what triggered this search, check the renewal price before assuming the destination must be cheaper.

QuickBooks also states no annual contract and that you can cancel at any time, and offers a 30-day free trial.

Step 1: what to export before you cancel

Do this while the subscription is still active. An agency that skips it usually ends up rebuilding history by hand at the worst possible moment.

1. The client list, including contact details and any custom fields you use for billing.
2. Invoices and estimates, both open and paid, because disputes and renewals need the original documents.
3. Bills and expenses, which are the records an accountant will ask for at year end.
4. Bank reconciliations and the chart of accounts, so the opening balances in the new system match the closing balances in the old one.
5. Attachments, such as receipts and supplier documents, which are often stored separately from the ledger and are easy to forget.
6. A trial balance or profit and loss report as a dated snapshot. This is the single most useful file for proving the migration was clean.

Verify the exports open outside QuickBooks before you cancel anything. A file that only opens inside the product you are leaving is not an export.

Step 2: the three structures that decide where you land

Per user. QuickBooks charges by user count, and the jump from one user at $38 to three at $85 is the most common reason small agencies leave. If headcount is what is growing, a destination without per-user fees is worth more than a lower headline price.

Per client. FreshBooks prices by billable clients: Lite at $23 a month covers 5 billable clients, Plus at $43 covers 50 and Premium at $70 is unlimited. FreshBooks states that the limit counts both active and archived clients, so an agency with a long client history can hit a cap it did not expect. Team members are $11 a month each on top of the plan.

Per transaction or invoice. Xero's entry plan is the clearest example. Early costs $27 a month and includes 20 invoices and 5 bills, and Xero states that the invoice limit applies to both approving and sending, and that transactions initiated by app partners can count towards it. An agency invoicing more than 20 times in total must move to Growing at $59.

Step 3: what each destination actually gives you

Wave is the only destination that can cost nothing. Starter is $0 with unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, and it earns its money on card payments at 2.9 per cent plus $0.60 per transaction, or 3.4 per cent plus $0.60 on American Express. Pro is $19 a month or $190 a year and reduces the rate to 2.9 per cent plus $0 for the first ten transactions each month. Wave states that Pro is priced per business, not per user, which is the term that matters to a team.

Zoho Books has the most generous published ladder. Free is $0, Standard is $20 a month or $15 billed annually, Professional $50 or $40, Premium $70 or $60, Elite $150 or $120 and Ultimate $275 or $240. Zoho states that multi-currency is included from Professional upward, which is where an agency invoicing overseas clients should start.

Xero is the strongest fit for a team that is growing in headcount, because it states there are no per-user licence fees across its plans. The trade is that its cheapest tier is capped by invoice count, and there is no free plan.

FreshBooks is the strongest fit for an agency whose constraint is clients rather than users, and its Plus plan at $43 explicitly includes estimates, proposals and client retainers, which matters for retainer work. Its caps count archived clients too.

What the free plans actually cover

This is the part most switching guides skip, and it is the part that decides whether a free plan is a real destination or a trial in disguise.

The honest reading. Wave is the only genuinely free destination for an agency that invoices regularly, and it is free because the money comes from payment processing instead of subscriptions. That is a real trade rather than a trick: an agency processing a high volume of card payments can pay more in fees than it would pay for a subscription. An agency paid mostly by bank transfer is the profile where free actually stays free.

The three destinations that fit most agencies

Best free destination Wave Free Starter with unlimited invoices, paid for by card processing fees

Best for a growing team Xero $59 a month with no per-user fees and unlimited invoices

Best for multi-currency Zoho Books Multi-currency starts at Professional, $40 a month billed annually

How to time the switch

Timing is the part agencies get wrong most often, and it costs more than the software choice.

Move at a period boundary. A month end or a quarter end gives the opening balances in the new system a clean date to attach to. Migrating mid-month splits a single period across two ledgers, and the reconciliation work that follows usually takes longer than waiting would have.

Do not cancel until the new system balances. Run the old and new subscriptions in parallel for one billing cycle where the cost allows it. That way the first invoice raised in the new system can be checked against the same invoice in the old one, and the trial balance can be compared line by line. One overlapping month of subscription is cheaper than a year of unexplained differences.

Check the renewal date of any introductory discount. QuickBooks currently shows 50 per cent off for three months and Xero shows 80 per cent off for the first three months. Both are promotional. An agency that switches to capture a discount should know the date the discount ends, because that is the date the real comparison begins.

Reconcile the bank feed before you leave. A bank feed that is out of step in the old system will still be out of step in the new one, and it is much easier to fix while the history is in front of you.

Keep read-only access if you can. Some vendors allow a limited or read-only state after cancellation. If yours does, use it rather than relying solely on exported files, and treat the exports as the permanent record either way.

Common mistakes when switching

Cancelling before exporting. The most expensive mistake, because the history is not recoverable afterwards.

Comparing the discounted price with a standing price. QuickBooks at $19 for three months is not comparable with Xero at $27 indefinitely. Compare the renewal figures.

Choosing on headline price and hitting a cap. A $27 Xero plan that runs out of invoices at 20, or a $23 FreshBooks plan that runs out at 5 clients, costs more than the plan you were trying to escape once you upgrade.

Assuming a free plan covers multi-currency. It usually does not. Zoho Books only adds it at Professional.

Forgetting the payment processing rate. On Wave, the 2.9 per cent plus $0.60 rate is the real cost of the free plan, and it scales with revenue rather than headcount.

Migrating mid-quarter. Move at a period boundary so the opening balances in the new system have a clean date to attach to.

Our verdict

If the reason you are leaving is the per-user price, go to Xero and budget for Growing. QuickBooks charges $85 for three users, and Xero states it has no per-user fees, so the $59 Growing plan covers the team and removes the invoice cap that makes the $27 plan a trap. Over a year that is a saving against Essentials, and it grows as you hire.

If the reason is cash, go to Wave and watch the payment fees. Free Starter with unlimited invoices is a genuine destination for an agency paid by bank transfer, and Pro at $190 a year is cheap if you process more than a handful of card payments monthly.

If you invoice in more than one currency, start at Zoho Books Professional. Multi-currency begins there at $40 a month billed annually, which is the cheapest published route to it among these four. Our multi-currency invoicing guide covers that in detail.

If you bill a small number of clients with retainer work, FreshBooks Plus is the closest match. At $43 a month it includes client retainers and covers 50 clients, and the FreshBooks vs QuickBooks comparison works through the numbers.

Do not switch for the sake of it. If your QuickBooks plan still fits and the introductory discount has not yet expired, the cheapest migration is the one you do not perform. Switch when a specific limit is costing you money, and export first either way.

The Xero vs QuickBooks comparison works through the per-user maths at one, three and five users.

Frequently asked questions