The honest comparison

Why customers leave QuickBooks for Trailing Paper.

QuickBooks built the category. We built the version that actually fits how modern businesses run. Side-by-side: pricing, features, what works better, and what you'd lose by switching.

See the full table → Try TP free

QuickBooks Online · Plus

$99/mo

+$50/user · payments add-on · payroll add-on

Trailing Paper

$29.99/mo

Unlimited users · payments + payroll included

At a glance

The numbers don't lie.

QuickBooks Online

Trailing Paper

Starting price

$30/mo (Simple Start)

$29.99/mo (Pro)

Real cost for the features you need

$99–$200/mo (Plus or Advanced)

$29.99/mo

Per-user fees

$30–$50/user/mo above 5 users

None — unlimited users

Multi-company

Separate subscription per company

Unlimited companies, one price

Payment processing built-in

Add-on (separate Intuit Payments / Stripe / etc.)

Built in — no extra setup

Bank reconciliation

Yes (slow, manual matching)

Yes (auto-matched + smart suggestions)

Real-time reports

Cached / batched

Real-time on every load

Recurring invoices

Plus tier & up

Included in base plan

Estimates

All tiers

Included

Hosted pay pages

Yes (Intuit-branded)

Yes (your branding)

API access

Plus tier & up

Included

Intercompany invoicing

Manual workaround

Native — auto-mirrored

Accountant access

Yes

Yes — scoped per company

Customer support

Email + phone (waits)

Priority email — same-day

Setup time

30+ minutes (chart of accounts wizard)

Under 5 minutes

The real cost

QuickBooks pricing is a sticker-shock loop.

The $30/mo "Simple Start" plan covers solo invoicing and not much else. Once you need multi-user, recurring invoices, or class tracking, you're upgraded into Plus ($99/mo) — and they bill payroll, payments, and per-user separately on top.

QuickBooks Online — annual cost (3-user team, 1 company)

QBO Plus subscription: $99/mo × 12 = $1,188
Per-user fee (2 extra @ $30/user/mo): $720/yr
Intuit Payments processing (~3% per card transaction)
QuickBooks Time integration: $240/yr
Payroll add-on (if needed): $540+/yr
Subscription total: $2,148–$2,688/yr
Plus payment processing fees on top

Trailing Paper — annual cost (3-user team, 1 company)

Pro subscription: $29.99/mo × 12 = $359.88
Extra users: $0 — unlimited
Card processing: rates lower than QBO — small margin funds the $29.99 price
Time tracking: included
Multi-company: included
Subscription total: $359.88/yr
Save $1,788–$2,328/yr

Honest tradeoffs

What you'd lose. What you'd gain.

No software is perfect. Here's the honest "what's better, what's not" if you're considering the switch.

What you'd lose moving from QBO

QBO's massive ecosystem of pre-built accountant connectors (we have first-party CPA access; we don't yet integrate with the niche third-party tools every accountant has bookmarked)
Decades of training material, YouTube tutorials, and certified ProAdvisors. We're newer.
Built-in payroll (we recommend Gusto or Rippling — they integrate via the API)
1099 e-filing through QBO directly (can be done manually via export)
Inventory features at the depth of QBO Plus's "advanced inventory"

What you'd gain moving to Trailing Paper

~75–85% lower annual cost
Card payments built into the invoice — no Stripe handoff, no "checkout flow" to manage
Multi-company at no extra cost (huge for anyone with 2+ entities)
Real-time reports — no "rebuild" button, no waiting
Reconciliation that actually feels good (auto-matched, batchable, audit-trailed)
Modern, fast UI — designed in 2025/2026, not patched together since 2003
API access from the base tier (QBO locks it to Plus)
Same-day support response (no "Tier 2 escalation in 3 business days")

Switching from QBO

Migrate in under an hour.

We're building a one-click QuickBooks Online importer (OAuth + API). Until that ships, here's the simple manual path most customers take.

Free, no card. Takes 2 minutes. Add your company info, business address, and tax state.

Export from QBO

Customers, vendors, items, and your chart of accounts as CSVs (5 clicks each from QBO Reports).

Import to TP

Drop the CSVs into our import tool. Preview. Confirm. We handle column mapping automatically.

Connect your banks

Plaid OAuth — pick your institution, log in, select accounts. Transactions flow in within minutes.

After that, send your first invoice from the new dashboard. Email hello@trailingpaper.com if you want a hands-on migration call — we'll do it with you.

Real Switchers

Customers who've made the move.

I migrated from QuickBooks Online Plus to Trailing Paper in a long weekend. The thing I expected to miss most — the accountant integrations — turned out to be the thing my CPA was happiest about. He has scoped access to every entity, real-time reports, and doesn't need a separate ProAdvisor login. We're saving roughly $2,200 a year on subscription fees alone.

Jamie T.

Operator · Loop & Knot Holdings · 6 entities