What is the most affordable bookkeeping service for a small business?
Among bookkeeping services that publish a price and put a person on the books, entry prices in September 2026 start under $100 a month, and four more start between $160 and $300. Low prices usually come with a revenue ceiling, cash-basis books or catch-up billed separately, so compare a full first year, not the monthly figure.
Ledgerbrook is one of the services priced below, and it has the lowest entry price in the table. That is why every row, including Ledgerbrook’s, shows the condition attached to its price. Every other figure links to the provider’s own pricing page, read in September 2026.
The table only includes plans where a person keeps the books. Some lower prices online are for software that categorizes transactions on its own, which is a different product.
The cheapest published plans, lowest first
| Service | Lowest monthly price | The condition attached to it |
|---|---|---|
| Ledgerbrook, standard band Get a free file review |
$99per client file, per month | A person closes the month, no hourly limit; up to 3 bank or card accounts and 200 transactions a month; QuickBooks Online only |
| CoCountant Launch | $160 | 15-day month-end close; price reviewed quarterly against expenses |
| Bench Bookkeeping Light | $199 | Revenue of $250,000 a year or less; books on Bench’s platform |
| Merritt Bookkeeping | $250 | Client list kept small, so availability is by enquiry |
| Intuit Experts | $300 | One-time cleanup fee first; tier set by monthly expenses |
| Xendoo Essential | $355 billed annually, $395 monthly | Cash basis; up to $50,000 monthly expenses and 4 accounts |
| Pilot Core | $399 | Starting price covers $9,000 in monthly expenses and rises with them |
The cheapest option of all is doing it yourself. QuickBooks Online’s list prices run from $38 a month for Simple Start to $340 for Advanced, and you pay that subscription whoever keeps the books.
What a first year actually costs
A monthly price times twelve is rarely the bill. The two things that change it most are whether your books are already behind, and what the low plan leaves out. Take a small service business with two bank accounts, about 150 transactions a month and $200,000 in revenue.
| Service | Books already current | Six months behind |
|---|---|---|
| Ledgerbrook Get a free file review |
$1,188 | $1,663 |
| CoCountant Launch | $1,920 | Catch-up sold as an add-on, price not published |
| Bench Bookkeeping Light | $1,910 on an annual plan | $1,910, if the six months are in the current year |
| Merritt Bookkeeping | $3,000 | $4,200 |
| Intuit Experts | $3,600, plus the cleanup fee | Cleanup fee not published |
| Xendoo Essential | $4,260 on an annual plan | $6,030 |
| Pilot Core | From $4,788 | Catch-up price not published |
How the behind column is built: Merritt charges $200 per month behind, Xendoo from $295, and Ledgerbrook’s catch-up is $99 per month behind, with 20% off the whole job from 6 months. Bench includes current-year catch-up with an annual plan and quotes older backlog separately.
Two things the table shows. A service that does not publish a catch-up price cannot be priced for a business that is behind until someone quotes. And for a business that is behind, the catch-up is often a bigger number than the difference between two monthly fees.
What the low prices leave out
None of these conditions is hidden. Each one is on the provider’s own pricing page.
Software instead of a bookkeeper. Pilot’s lowest plan has AI categorize transactions and close the books, with support by in-app message. A US-based bookkeeper who handles and reviews the books starts on its Core plan, from $399 a month, which is the Pilot price used here.
Hourly billing. Freelancers and some firms bill by the hour, so a month with more transactions or a messy statement costs more, and the bill is not known until the month is done. How much a bookkeeper costs sets hourly rates against flat fees.
A revenue or expense ceiling. Bench Light stops at $250,000 of revenue, and Xendoo Essential at $50,000 of monthly expenses. Pilot Core’s starting price covers $9,000 of monthly expenses and rises from there. Growing past the line moves you to the next price, which for Bench is $399.
Cash-basis books only. Xendoo Essential keeps books on a cash basis. That is fine for many small businesses and for most tax returns, but a lender or buyer asking for accrual statements means a higher plan. What an accrual adds is shown in the journal entry for accrued expenses.
The books on someone else’s platform. Bench keeps books in its own software. When it stopped operating in December 2024, customers were given until March 2025 to download their data, before a buyer restarted the service. A service that works inside your own QuickBooks Online or Xero company leaves the file with you if it closes or you leave.
Annual billing. Several headline prices assume you pay for a year. Xendoo’s is $355 billed annually against $395 monthly, and 1-800Accountant’s bundles are quoted billed annually.
Tax. None of the plans in the table lists a tax return among what it includes. That stays with your CPA or tax preparer, or goes into a bundle such as Bench’s Bookkeeping + Tax at $649 a month.
Where Ledgerbrook fits
Ledgerbrook’s standard band is $99 a month per client file, for up to 3 bank or card accounts and 200 transactions a month, and the higher band is $199. A person does the work, not software alone. There is no hourly limit, so a month that takes longer than usual costs the same, and there is no deposit, no revenue ceiling and no annual contract. The work happens inside your own QuickBooks Online company, so the books are yours whether you stay or leave. It does not work in Xero or QuickBooks Desktop, file tax returns or run payroll.
How to compare two cheap quotes
- Price the first year, not the month. Add the catch-up and any setup or cleanup fee.
- Ask what happens at the cap. Hours, transactions, accounts, revenue or expenses: find which one you will hit first and what the next price is.
- Ask where the books live. In your own accounting file, or in the provider’s platform?
- Ask for the close date. “Monthly” can mean the 5th or the 25th, so ask for the date in writing.
- Ask who reconciles. Categorizing transactions without reconciling each account to its statement is cheaper, and it leaves errors in place.
For a comparison sorted by fit rather than price, see the best bookkeeping services for small business. For freelancer and in-house costs, see how much a bookkeeper costs.
Before you pick on price
If your books are behind, the cheapest monthly plan is not what decides the bill. The backlog is. A free file review counts the months, sets the band, and comes back with one fixed figure for the catch-up and the monthly close, whoever you then hire.
Published September 28, 2026