--- title: "QuickBooks cleanup cost in 2026, compared | Ledgerbrook" source: https://ledgerbrook.com/blog/quickbooks-cleanup-cost/ description: "QuickBooks cleanup prices from five firms, side by side, read September 2026. Priced for 3, 12 and 24 months behind." --- [Blogs](/blog/) # QuickBooks cleanup cost in 2026, compared September 24, 2026 · [Omkar Moraye](/about/) [](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dlinkedin%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare)[](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dx%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare&text=QuickBooks%20cleanup%20cost%20in%202026%2C%20compared)[](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare)[](mailto:?subject=QuickBooks%20cleanup%20cost%20in%202026%2C%20compared&body=QuickBooks%20cleanup%20cost%20in%202026%2C%20compared%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Demail%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare) ## How much does a QuickBooks cleanup cost? Published QuickBooks cleanup prices in September 2026 run from about $300 for one to three months behind to $10,000 or more for a multi-year rescue. Firms that publish a number price by months behind. The rest quote after reviewing the file. Ledgerbrook charges one flat rate per month of backlog, with 20% off from six months. ## What firms actually publish Most cleanup pages say “it depends” and ask you to book a call. A few publish real numbers. These are the ones that do, as each firm’s own page showed them on September 24, 2026. Every figure links to where it came from, and firms that publish no price are listed as such rather than guessed at. | Firm | How it prices | 1 to 3 months behind | About 12 months behind | Multi-year | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [OneBooks](https://onebooks.co/service/catchup-bookkeeping/) | Range by months behind | $300 to $750 | $1,500 to $3,000 (7 to 12 months) | $3,000 to $6,000 (1 to 2 years), $6,000 to $9,000 (2 to 3 years) | | [Steph’s Books](https://stephsbooks.com/blog/catch-up-bookkeeping-guide) | Range by months behind and volume | $500 to $1,500 (3 to 6 months, low volume) | $1,500 to $3,000 (6 to 12 months) | $2,500 to $5,000 (1 to 2 years), $5,000 to $10,000+ beyond | | [Certum Solutions](https://www.certumsolutions.com/quickbooks-cleanup) | Range by scope | $500 to $1,500 | $2,000 to $5,000 (3 to 12 months with payroll or inventory) | $2,000 to $13,000 | | [SDO CPA](https://www.sdocpa.com/catch-up-bookkeeping-cost-guide/) | Per month of history | $320 a month | $320 a month | $320 a month | | [Accounting Therapy](https://www.accountingtherapy.com/products/clean-up-services) | Monthly, after a file review | From $500 a month | Not stated | Not stated | | Ledgerbrook
[Get a free file review](/contact/?from=blog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost) | Per month of backlog | $99per month of backlog20% off 6+ months | Same rate, 20% off the whole job | Same rate, 20% off the whole job | Two well-known firms are missing from the price columns on purpose. [Fourlane](https://www.fourlane.com/quickbooks-services/quickbooks-clean-up/) says cleanup can be priced flat or hourly and names no figure. [Pilot](https://www.pilot.com/pricing) publishes its ongoing plans but no price for catch-up or cleanup work. ## One file, priced three ways Ranges are hard to compare, so here is the same file run through the firms that publish enough to price it. The file is a small service business with one checking account and one credit card, no inventory, payroll run through a provider. | Months behind | OneBooks | Steph’s Books | SDO CPA | Ledgerbrook | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 3 | $300 to $750 | $500 to $1,500 | $960 | $297 | | 12 | $1,500 to $3,000 | $1,500 to $3,000 | $3,840 | $950 | | 24 | $3,000 to $6,000 | $2,500 to $5,000 | $7,680 | $1,901 | For your own file, the free file review counts the months behind and quotes the fixed figure: [Get a free file review](/contact/?from=blog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost). SDO CPA’s figures are its published $320 a month multiplied out. The ranges are each firm’s own band for that many months. Where a firm’s band depends on volume, this file sits at the low end of it. ## What moves the price Every firm above prices on months behind first. After that, the same four things come up on nearly every page: - **Transaction volume.** A month with 60 transactions and a month with 900 are not the same work. Firms that publish ranges are really publishing a volume band. - **Number of accounts.** Each bank, card, loan and merchant account is reconciled separately for every month in scope. - **Payroll and inventory.** Certum moves a file up a band when either is involved. Payroll run inside QuickBooks is more work to correct than payroll imported from a provider. - **Whether the months exist.** Correcting months that were entered wrong and entering months that were never recorded are [different jobs](/blog/quickbooks-cleanup-vs-catch-up/). Some firms price them differently. Ledgerbrook does not. One thing that does not move the price at Ledgerbrook, and should not anywhere: the business’s revenue. A file does not take longer to reconcile because the numbers in it are bigger. ## Five questions to put to any quote A low number can hide a narrow scope, and a high one can include work you do not need. These questions make two quotes comparable: 1. **What counts as a month?** A month with a single stray transaction may or may not be billed as a full month. Ask for the list of months in scope, in writing. 2. **Is every account reconciled to its statement, every month?** Categorizing without reconciling is cheaper and leaves the file unproven. 3. **What is excluded?** SDO CPA is unusually clear that amended returns, payroll corrections and sales tax filings sit outside its catch-up price. Most firms exclude the same things and say so less plainly. 4. **What do you hand back at the end?** [A finished cleanup has a specific set of deliverables](/blog/what-does-a-quickbooks-cleanup-include/), and a quote that cannot name them is quoting for effort, not a result. 5. **What happens if it runs over?** A fixed price means the firm carries the overrun. An estimate means you do. ## Why Ledgerbrook’s per-month rate is lower Three reasons. Ledgerbrook does one thing: QuickBooks Online, for firms and the businesses they serve. There is no sales team to fund and no second software platform to keep staff trained on. And it was set up to sell to accounting firms at a rate they can resell, which is why the same figure appears on [the pricing page](/pricing/) for a firm sending its fortieth file and an owner sending their first. The rate is $99per month of backlog20% off 6+ months. From 6 months, the whole job is 20% off, not just the extra months. From 12 months that figure is a ceiling rather than the quote: a longer backlog gets a custom price with a larger discount. A free file review counts the months first, so the number quoted is the number billed. [Three illustrative files](/results/) show how the rate adds up by months behind. ## How long it takes The published timelines for a year behind run from two to four weeks. At Ledgerbrook, a typical year takes 5 business days once statements are in. [How long catch-up bookkeeping takes](/blog/how-long-does-catch-up-bookkeeping-take/) sets out every firm’s published timeline and where the days actually go. For the scope of the work itself, see [QuickBooks cleanup](/quickbooks-cleanup/). For ongoing work after the file is current, [what outsourced bookkeeping costs](/blog/outsourced-bookkeeping-cost/) covers the monthly side. Ledgerbrook Behind on your QuickBooks books? Cleanup or catch-up $99 per month of backlog, 20% off 6+ months Turnaround 5 business days for a typical year Monthly close From $99 a client file a month [Get a free file review](/contact/?from=blog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost) Free, no card. A written answer within about 48 hours. [See every price](/pricing/) Certified - [![Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 1](/_astro/level-1.BokmyvzE_Z2cyGo6.webp)](https://www.credly.com/badges/7ceaf1c4-83da-4a1b-b19f-7e15cb5c0ac7/public_url "Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 1. Verify on Credly.") - [![Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2](/_astro/level-2.D-GWLUNI_Z1Sh5RD.webp)](https://www.credly.com/badges/02426568-00bb-46e1-a939-9063497c54d6/public_url "Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2. Verify on Credly.") - [![Intuit Bookkeeping Certification](/_astro/bookkeeping.C82JE0Dn_Z1YzPBj.webp)](https://www.credly.com/badges/30b70ae2-e369-4a8b-9fee-d6db3a47b70c/public_url "Intuit Bookkeeping Certification. Verify on Credly.") - [![QuickBooks Online Payroll Certification](/_astro/payroll.r5Yo2XnL_VxspM.webp)](https://www.credly.com/badges/2fc8fb7d-90d1-43ba-961b-aff161fe8491/public_url "QuickBooks Online Payroll Certification. Verify on Credly.") Issued by Intuit, verified by Credly. Published September 24, 2026 · Updated September 28, 2026 Share this post[](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dlinkedin%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare)[](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dx%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare&text=QuickBooks%20cleanup%20cost%20in%202026%2C%20compared)[](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare)[](mailto:?subject=QuickBooks%20cleanup%20cost%20in%202026%2C%20compared&body=QuickBooks%20cleanup%20cost%20in%202026%2C%20compared%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fledgerbrook.com%2Fblog%2Fquickbooks-cleanup-cost%2F%3Futm_source%3Demail%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dshare) Continue Reading[All blogs →](/blog/) [ Previous BlogSeptember 23, 2026 ### What a QuickBooks cleanup should include The 7 things a QuickBooks cleanup should hand back, what each one proves, and how to check them in 15 minutes. Read previous post → ](/blog/what-does-a-quickbooks-cleanup-include/)[ Next Blog September 25, 2026 ### How long catch-up bookkeeping takes (2026) Published catch-up timelines run 2 to 4 weeks for a year behind. Where the days go, and why Ledgerbrook takes 5 days. Read next post → ](/blog/how-long-does-catch-up-bookkeeping-take/)