QuickBooks Online (QBO) is Intuit's flagship cloud accounting platform with regional editions for the US, AU, UK, Canada, India, and more — strong on payroll, integrations, and a vast accountant network.
HelloBooks is an AI-first accounting platform with every feature on every plan, a free tier, and a unique two-way QBO sync that lets you migrate or coexist without forcing a hard cutover.
For most businesses already on QBO, the practical first step is to enable the HelloBooks two-way sync and pilot HelloBooks in parallel rather than choose one outright.
Where a value is shown as “—”, the feature was not verified at review time. See QuickBooks Online's site for the latest specifics.
| Feature | HelloBooks | QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan + paid from $4.99/mo (USD) | Paid only — Simple Start / Essentials / Plus / Advanced (varies by region) |
| Country support | US, UK, India primary; AU / NZ / SG / UAE in product roadmap | US, AU, UK, Canada, India, and more (region-specific editions) |
| STP Phase 2 (AU) | Roadmap — verify current support with sales | STP Phase 2 in QBO Australia (KeyPay-powered payroll) |
| BAS (AU) | BAS-friendly GST coding; lodgment workflow on roadmap | BAS preparation in QBO Australia |
| GST e-invoicing (India) | IRN + QR generation via Fynamics GSP integration | QuickBooks India sunset announced — verify current status |
| HMRC MTD (UK) | Regulatory alignment with HMRC MTD — verify scope with sales | HMRC-recognised for MTD VAT submissions |
| Bank feeds | 11,000+ US banks via Plaid; direct feeds elsewhere | 14,000+ US banks via direct feeds; varies by region |
| Payroll | Payroll module — country availability varies | QuickBooks Payroll (US) and KeyPay-powered payroll (AU/UK) |
| Time tracking | HelloTime add-on for time tracking and attendance | QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) — additional cost |
| Multi-currency | Included on all plans with auto FX gain/loss | Plus and Advanced tiers only |
| Integrations | Plaid, QuickBooks Online two-way sync, Stripe, Shopify (in build) | 750+ apps in QuickBooks App Store |
| Reporting depth | AI dashboards, cash-flow forecasting, custom report builder | Comprehensive reports; advanced reporting on Plus / Advanced |
| AI features | AI categorization, OCR, anomaly detection, conversational AI | Intuit Assist (rolling out by edition); rules-based otherwise |
| Free plan | Yes — free forever, 500 AI credits/month | No — 30-day trial only |
Yes, materially. QuickBooks Online Simple Start in the US is paid only and well above HelloBooks' $4.99/month entry plan. HelloBooks also has a free plan with 500 AI credits per month. Verify QBO's current regional pricing on quickbooks.intuit.com.
You connect your QBO file via OAuth, choose the entities to sync (customers, vendors, invoices, bills, payments, journals), and HelloBooks keeps both sides in step. You can run them in parallel during a transition or keep QBO purely for tax prep while HelloBooks runs daily ops.
Yes. The two-way sync makes this a soft migration — you don't need a single big-bang cutover. Sync your QBO data into HelloBooks, validate the books for one or two periods, then decide whether to keep both or retire QBO.
For STP Phase 2 lodgment and BAS today, QBO Australia (with KeyPay payroll) is more mature. HelloBooks AU compliance is on roadmap. For AI bookkeeping and broader cross-border use, HelloBooks is the more progressive bet — pilot once AU scope is confirmed.
HelloBooks is built AI-first: categorization, OCR, anomaly detection, and conversational AI are core. Intuit is shipping Intuit Assist progressively, but coverage varies by edition and plan. For a business prioritising AI, HelloBooks ships more capabilities by default today.
QBO has direct feeds with most major US banks and supports 14,000+ institutions. HelloBooks uses Plaid for 11,000+ US banks with real-time feeds. Both are strong for US — QBO has slightly broader coverage; HelloBooks has the modern Plaid stack.
HelloBooks is regulatory-aligned with HMRC MTD per our compliance documentation. Recognised-software listing status should be verified with our sales team if you must lodge MTD VAT immediately. QBO is HMRC-recognised today.
Yes. HelloBooks runs a standard double-entry ledger and exposes the same primitives QBO does — chart of accounts, journals, customers, vendors, invoices, bills. The conventions are familiar; the AI agents are additive.
HelloBooks supports CSV import for chart of accounts, customers, vendors, items, invoices, and bills. For QuickBooks Online, we offer a built-in two-way sync. For other platforms, our migration team can assist with a structured cutover.
HelloBooks pricing
Free plan + paid plans with every feature included on each tier.
QuickBooks integration
Two-way QuickBooks Online sync — migrate or coexist.
AI categorization
Auto-categorize transactions with confidence scoring.
Advanced reporting
AI dashboards, forecasting, and a custom report builder.
Switching savings calculator
Estimate annual savings from switching to HelloBooks.
FAQ
Common questions on plans, billing, security, and migration.