Compare
Bookfolio vs QuickBooks
A detailed comparison between Bookfolio and QuickBooks accounting software.
Updated 1 September 2026
What you get
Bookfolio
QuickBooks
An accountant, included
QuickBooks: find an accountant →A UK accountant in the price
Included with every book
Ask a question or have a return checked before you approve it, inside the product where the figures are. Having us take care of the accounting itself is an agreed service, with the work and costs agreed with you.
Not included
QuickBooks is the software alone: you find and pay an accountant separately, through its directory of certified ProAdvisors or your own.
How you reach support
Message the team in the product
One place for a software question and a bookkeeping one.
Phone, chat, and screen sharing
Phone support on weekdays, live messaging seven days a week, and screen sharing when you need it.
Inviting your own accountant
Invite them at no extra cost
They see the same figures you do, with each transaction's history behind it.
Invite them at no extra cost
Every QuickBooks plan adds access for your accountant on top of its user limit.
MTD and HMRC filing
QuickBooks: Making Tax Digital →Where it files
The United Kingdom
Built top to bottom for UK filings and UK rules.
Several countries
QuickBooks comes from Intuit, a US company, and is sold with a separate edition for each market it serves.
MTD for VAT
Filed from your books
Reconcile the quarter, read the box-by-box breakdown, then send it to HMRC.
From its Simple Start plan up
Available to Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced subscribers; VAT submission is not part of the Sole Trader plan.
MTD for Income Tax
Quarterly updates and the final declaration
Your trade and each property sit in one Self Assessment book.
Covered by its UK plans
QuickBooks describes its HMRC-recognised software as covering Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
Payroll reported to HMRC
Run from the same book
Pay your team and send the RTI submission without a separate payroll product.
A paid add-on
Payroll starts at £5 a month plus £1.50 for each employee paid, on top of the plan.
Corporation Tax return and statutory accounts
As an agreed service
The software prepares CT-ready figures and does not file the CT600. Our accountants can prepare your annual accounts and Corporation Tax return, with the work and costs agreed with you.
Filed by your accountant
QuickBooks' UK plans list no Corporation Tax return or company accounts filing.
Everyday bookkeeping
QuickBooks: plans and features →Bank feeds and imports
Direct bank feeds and CSV import
Included with every book, with duplicate detection across imports.
Bank feeds on every plan
Automated bank feeds are listed on every plan.
More than one currency
Foreign currency built in
Foreign-currency accounts and spending come in at daily market rates, into books kept in sterling, with gains and losses tracked.
From its Essentials plan up
Multiple currencies are included on the £38 plan and above.
Third-party app marketplace
No app marketplace
What a UK book needs is in the product itself rather than bought around it.
A large app store
Hundreds of connected apps that feed data into QuickBooks automatically.
Pricing model
QuickBooks: pricing →What a price covers
Software and an accountant
One price per active book, with UK accountants on hand included — not billed on top.
Software only
Five plans by feature level; an accountant is a separate cost on top.
People on the account
No per-seat fees
Everyone who needs the book can have it.
Capped by plan
One user on Sole Trader Plus and Simple Start, three on Essentials, five on Plus, and twenty-five on Advanced, plus your accountant.
Starting price
£12 a month, excluding VAT
For a sole trader, property, or Self Assessment book. Free for the first 30 days.
From £10 a month, excluding VAT
New customers are currently offered 90% off for six months, then the published rate; QuickBooks revises its UK prices from time to time.
Accurate as of 1 September 2026, checked against QuickBooks' published pricing and plans.
Bookfolio is an independent UK company. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to QuickBooks, and QuickBooks' name is used here only to identify the product being compared.
Pricing
What you would pay
Bookfolio
One monthly price per active book, with UK accountants on hand included. No per-seat fees and no transaction fees.
Sole Trader / Property / Self Assessment
£12 / month
per active book / month
Limited Company
£24 / month
per active company book / month
UK accountants on hand — in the price, not on top of it.
Prices exclude VAT. Free for 30 days, no card required.
See full Bookfolio pricing →QuickBooks
Five UK plans priced by feature level and capped by the number of people who can use them, with payroll charged as an add-on — plus the accountant you hire alongside it.
Sole Trader Plus
£10 / month
For the self-employed. One user, and no VAT returns.
Simple Start
£16 / month
One user. Adds Making Tax Digital for VAT.
Essentials
£38 / month
Three users. Adds multiple currencies.
Plus
£56 / month
Five users. Adds stock management.
Advanced
£123 / month
Twenty-five users, alongside its widest feature set.
An accountant, on top
£50–£400 / month typical
Unbiased's published guide puts a sole trader at £50 to £150 a month and a limited company at £200 to £400. What you pay depends on your accountant and your workload.
Prices exclude VAT. New customers are currently offered 90% off for their first six months, after which the published rate applies.
QuickBooks: pricing →QuickBooks plan names, prices, and inclusions read from QuickBooks' published UK pricing page on 1 September 2026; typical accountant fees are indicative UK ranges from published fee guides. Bookfolio's prices are the ones on our own pricing page. On either product, a limited company's statutory accounts and CT600 sit with an accountant at year end — your own, or Bookfolio's under a separately agreed service.
Honest fit
Which one suits you
When Bookfolio fits best
You run a UK sole trade, a property business, or a limited company, and everything you file goes to HMRC.
You want the accountant included in the price — to ask a question or check a return — rather than hired on top, with the option of handing the accounting over as an agreed service.
You want one published price per book, with no per-seat fees and no introductory rate to expire.
You want everyone who needs the books to have them, without moving up a plan to add a person.
When QuickBooks may suit you better
You want Intuit's wider range of products around your books.
You trade or file outside the UK, or want a product with an edition in another market.
You want features from its larger plans, such as stock management or a twenty-five-user account.
You want to reach support by phone or screen sharing as well as by message.
Your accountant is a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and wants your books alongside their other clients.
Why people move
What Bookfolio does differently.
≡
One country, done properly
Every workflow follows UK rules — VAT schemes, MTD quarters, RTI payroll, and the Self Assessment year. There is no country setting to get wrong and no feature written for somewhere else.
✓
The accountant is in the price
Ask a UK accountant a question inside your books, or have a return checked before you approve it — included, not invoiced separately. If you'd like us to take care of the accounting itself, we'll agree the services and costs with you. You approve every figure before anything is filed, either way.
£
One price, not an opening price
A published monthly price for each active book, whatever that book does. No per-seat fees, no transaction fees, and no introductory rate that quietly becomes a bigger bill six months in.
Switching
Moving from QuickBooks
Do I still need my own accountant?
UK accountants are on hand in Bookfolio for questions and return reviews. If you'd like us to take care of the accounting, we'll agree the services and costs with you — including annual accounts and the Corporation Tax return for a limited company. You can also invite your own accountant to the book at no extra cost.
Can I bring my QuickBooks data across?
Yes. Export your customers, chart of accounts, and transactions from QuickBooks as CSV files, then import them into a new Bookfolio book. Your QuickBooks data stays yours — take your exports before you close the subscription.
What happens to VAT returns I have already filed?
They stay filed. HMRC holds every return you have submitted, whichever software sent it. Bookfolio picks up from your first open period, and you keep your QuickBooks records for the periods it filed.
Will I lose my HMRC connection?
No. You authorise Bookfolio through HMRC's own sign-in, separately from any other software. You can see which software has authority in your HMRC account, and remove any of it whenever you want.
How does the price compare once my discount ends?
One published price per active book, whatever that book does, with no introductory rate to expire. If you are on a discounted QuickBooks plan, compare Bookfolio against the price you will pay after the six months, not the one you pay now.
What happens when I run out of users?
Everyone who needs the book can have it. Bookfolio is priced per active book rather than per seat, so adding a bookkeeper, a co-director, or your accountant does not change the bill.
Can I get my data out again later?
Yes. The full audit trail of every change exports to CSV whenever you ask for it — your records are yours, and we would rather you could leave than feel stuck.
Read the detail before you decide
The filing regimes, who Bookfolio is built for, and what it costs.
MTD for Income Tax
Quarterly updates and the final declaration for sole traders and landlords, filed from your books.Read more →
MTD for VAT
Digital VAT records, a box-by-box return that builds as you reconcile, and filing straight to HMRC.Read more →
For sole traders
One book for your trade, your expenses, and the Self Assessment figures behind them.Read more →
For landlords
Every property as its own income source, with shared costs split fairly across them.Read more →
For limited companies
Company books kept clean all year, VAT filed to HMRC, and payroll run for your team.Read more →
Pricing
One monthly price per active book, published in full, with 30 days free to begin with.See pricing →
Try Bookfolio next to your current books.
30 days free, no card required. Import your last quarter, reconcile it, and watch the VAT return build — then decide which one you would rather file from.