QuickBooks Online vs FreeAgent: Pricing, Features, and US vs UK Fit (2026)

QuickBooks Online and FreeAgent solve the same core problem, but they are built for different owners in different places. QuickBooks Online is a broad US small-business platform with the largest US accountant network and a full range of plans. FreeAgent is a simpler, flat-priced tool aimed at freelancers, contractors, and micro-businesses, and it is built around the UK: it is owned by NatWest Group and its standout tax features file straight to HMRC. For a US business, QuickBooks is usually the safer fit; for a UK freelancer or contractor, FreeAgent is hard to beat, especially if your bank gives it away.

The quick version:

• FreeAgent sells one flat plan with unlimited users, while QuickBooks Online runs five plans from $20 to $275 a month with users capped by tier.
• FreeAgent's deepest features, including payroll and tax filing, are built for the UK's HMRC, not the US IRS, so a US business gets a lighter subset.
• QuickBooks Online has the larger US accountant network and better US tax fit, which matters most when you hand the books to a professional.
• Neither switching to FreeAgent nor cancelling QuickBooks preserves your full QuickBooks history with its attachments and audit trail, so archive that history before you cancel.

QuickBooks Online vs FreeAgent at a glance

Prices are US list prices in 2026 and change often, so confirm the current figure on each company's pricing page before you decide.

Pricing compared

QuickBooks Online has five plans at current US prices in 2026: Solopreneur at $20, Simple Start at $38, Essentials at $75, Plus at $115, and Advanced at $275 per month. Payroll and payment processing are billed on top, so the real monthly cost is usually higher than the plan price, and Intuit has raised prices most years.

FreeAgent keeps it simple. For US customers there is one plan at $27 a month, with 50% off for the first six months, or $270 a year, and every plan includes unlimited users. There are no tiers to weigh and no per-seat charges, which is the appeal for a solo owner or a small team that wants one predictable line on the bill.

On raw price, FreeAgent is cheaper than most QuickBooks plans and comes in near QuickBooks Simple Start once the introductory discount ends. The bigger difference for UK readers is that FreeAgent is free for the life of the account if you bank with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, or Ulster Bank, and free with a Mettle account that has at least one transaction a month. That offer does not exist in the US, so a US business pays the standard monthly rate.

Is FreeAgent a good fit for a US business?

This is the question that decides most of it. FreeAgent is a UK product first. Its most valuable features file returns straight to HMRC: VAT and Making Tax Digital submissions, Self Assessment, and payroll with Real Time Information reporting. None of those apply to a US business, so a US owner runs FreeAgent as a bookkeeping and invoicing tool with sales tax reporting and multi-currency invoicing, without the payroll and tax-filing depth a UK user gets.

QuickBooks Online, by contrast, is built for the US market. It tracks US sales tax, feeds cleanly into US tax preparation, offers its own US payroll as a paid add-on, and is backed by a much larger pool of US accountants and bookkeepers who already work in it. If you ever hand the books to a professional in the United States, finding one fluent in QuickBooks is simple. That is harder with FreeAgent stateside.

None of this makes FreeAgent a weak product. It means the fit is geographic. A UK freelancer or contractor gets a clean, affordable, HMRC-ready tool that many banks hand out for free. A US business gets a capable but lighter subset and gives up the accountant network and US tax integration that QuickBooks is known for.

Features: where each one fits

Both platforms cover the daily basics well: invoicing, bank feeds, reconciliation, expense tracking, and reports. The differences show up at the edges and in who each one was designed for.

FreeAgent leans into the freelancer and contractor workflow. Time tracking, project tracking, and unlimited invoicing are built in, and the interface is widely praised as approachable for owners who are not accountants. Where it thins out is scale. FreeAgent is not built for businesses with real inventory needs, and its reporting is lighter than QuickBooks at the top end, so a growing company with stock, multiple entities, or heavy custom reporting can outgrow it.

QuickBooks Online tends to lead on reporting depth and customization, especially on Plus and Advanced, on inventory tracking for product businesses, and on the sheer number of US professionals who use it every day. Its five-tier structure means you can start small and move up as the business grows, without changing software.

Users, and why unlimited seats matter

Both tools take different paths on access. FreeAgent includes unlimited users on its single plan, so your bookkeeper, your accountant, and your team can each have a login at no added cost. QuickBooks Online counts users per plan: one on Simple Start, three on Essentials, five on Plus, and up to 25 on Advanced, with accountant seats granted separately.

If several people need to be in the books, FreeAgent's flat pricing is simpler and often cheaper. If only you and your accountant touch them, the QuickBooks limits rarely get in the way.

Who should choose which

Choose QuickBooks Online if you run a US business, want the widest pool of US accountants who already know the software, need inventory or deep custom reports, or want US payroll and tax integration from the same vendor as your books.

Choose FreeAgent if you are a UK freelancer, contractor, or micro-business, you want one flat price with unlimited users, and you value filing VAT, Self Assessment, or payroll straight to HMRC. If you bank with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank, or Mettle, the free account makes the decision easier still.

Either way, one thing does not change: the decision to switch accounting software is separate from the decision about what to do with the history sitting in QuickBooks today.

Switching from QuickBooks to FreeAgent? Export your history first

A migration and a complete record are not the same thing. Moving to FreeAgent is built to get your books running there, not to hand you a full copy of everything QuickBooks held. Standard migrations between accounting platforms generally bring across a limited window of recent transactions to set up your opening balances, with older years left behind and some data that does not convert at all.

Three things routinely stay behind in QuickBooks after a switch, and they are the records you are most likely to be asked for later:

• Your attachments, meaning the receipts and documents attached to transactions, along with the link showing which transaction each file belongs to. QuickBooks' own export separates the files from their transactions, and a migration does not carry them.
• The audit log, the record of who entered or changed each transaction and when. It does not move to the new software.
• Your full multi-year history in its original form, everything past the converted window.

That gap becomes a real loss because of what happens next. When you cancel a paid QuickBooks Online subscription, Intuit keeps the company in read-only mode for 12 months and then deletes it permanently. After that deletion the company is gone, and resubscribing opens a new, empty company rather than restoring the old one. A free trial gets only 90 days. The read-only year explainer covers exactly how much time you have.

The safest time to build the archive is while QuickBooks is still live, before you migrate and before you cancel. If you would rather not spend days rebuilding receipts and reports by hand, that is the service we run. We build one complete, audit-ready archive of your QuickBooks Online company: the full general ledger in both cash and accrual basis, every financial report for each year, every attachment still linked to its transaction, and the audit log, delivered as a single download so you can move to FreeAgent and cancel with your whole history preserved.

If you are closing the business rather than switching, the same archive can help support a future IRS request for records, long after the subscription is gone.

Frequently asked questions

Is FreeAgent cheaper than QuickBooks Online?

Usually, on the sticker price. As of 2026, FreeAgent runs one US plan at $27 a month with a 50% discount for the first six months, which sits below most QuickBooks plans and near QuickBooks Simple Start once the discount ends, and it includes unlimited users. QuickBooks costs more at the higher tiers but adds inventory, deeper reporting, US payroll, and a much larger US accountant network, so weigh fit as much as price.

Does FreeAgent work for a US business?

It can, as a bookkeeping and invoicing tool with sales tax reporting and multi-currency invoicing. Its strongest features, though, are UK tax filings to HMRC, so a US owner gives up payroll and tax-filing depth and the large US accountant network that QuickBooks offers. FreeAgent is a better match for UK freelancers and contractors than for a US business that wants US tax integration.

Will I lose my QuickBooks history if I cancel after switching?

You can. A cancelled QuickBooks Online company goes read-only for 12 months, then Intuit deletes it permanently, and resubscribing does not bring a deleted company back. Anything the migration to FreeAgent left behind, including your attachments and audit log, is erased on that schedule unless you archived it first.

Do I still need my old QuickBooks records if the business moved to FreeAgent?

Usually. The IRS generally expects business records to be kept for at least three years, with longer periods in some cases: four years for many employment tax records, six years if income was substantially understated, seven years for a worthless-securities or bad-debt claim, and no limit at all for a fraudulent or unfiled return. That is far longer than a migration window covers, and your CPA can tell you which period applies to you.