QuickBooks Online vs Zoho Books — Australia 2026
QuickBooks vs Zoho Books for AU small business. Compare pricing, free tiers, data hosting, BAS support & GST compliance features.
Quick Verdict
Zoho Books edges QuickBooks on value for AU micro-businesses
Zoho Books wins on price (free under $50K; Standard $16.50 annual) and AU datacentres. QuickBooks wins on in-product e-lodge BAS and AU accountant familiarity. QuickBooks data is in the US.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Zoho Books |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Mountain View, CA, USA | Chennai, India |
| Entry Price | $33/mo inc GST | Free |
| BAS Lodgement | AU pricing comparison lists GST tracking & e-lodge BAS on Simple Start through Advanced. Setup guide describes connecting to the ATO to lodge BAS from QuickBooks. | Zoho Books AU help: generate a BAS report, then mark it as filed after you file on the ATO portal. That is export/prepare + portal lodgement, not in-product SBR lodgement. |
| STP Phase 2 | compliant | via_third_party |
| Payday Super | infrastructure_exists | not_ready |
| Modern Awards | Advanced Payroll (powered by Employment Hero) includes full automated Modern Award interpretation — penalty rates, overtime rules, allowances, and automatic age/anniversary-based rate progressions. Available as add-on only, not in base plans. | No Australian payroll features — Modern Award interpretation is not available natively. Requires third-party payroll integration (CloudPayroll, Employment Hero) for award compliance. |
| Bank Feeds | Big 4 + expanding banks | Big 4 + growing banks |
| Data Hosting | US | AU |
| AU Support Hours | Mon-Fri 8am-6:30pm AEST | 24x5 (24 hours, Monday-Friday) |
| Phone Support | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | 750+ apps | 67+ apps |
Pricing Comparison (AUD, Mar 2026)
QuickBooks Online Plans
Simple Start
$33/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: basic
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Users: 1
- ✓Accountant Access: Yes
Most Popular
Essentials
$60/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: unlimited
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Users: 3
- ✓Accountant Access: Yes
- ✓Multi Currency: Yes
Plus
$84/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: unlimited
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Inventory: Yes
- ✓Users: 5
- ✓Accountant Access: Yes
Advanced
$125/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Users: 25
- ✓Accountant Access: Yes
Zoho Books Plans
Free
Free
AUD inc GST
- ✓Revenue Cap: 50000
- ✓Invoices Per Year: 1000
- ✓Bills Per Year: 1000
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Users: 1
- ✓Accountant: 1
Most Popular
Standard
$19.8/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices Per Year: 5000
- ✓Bills Per Year: 5000
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Users: 3
Professional
$39.6/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices Per Year: 10000
- ✓Bills Per Year: 10000
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Purchase Orders: Yes
- ✓Users: 5
Premium
$59.4/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices Per Year: 25000
- ✓Bills Per Year: 25000
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Purchase Orders: Yes
- ✓Custom Domain: Yes
- ✓Users: 10
Elite
$220/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices Per Year: 100000
- ✓Users: 10
Ultimate
$385/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices Per Year: 100000
- ✓Users: 15
AU Compliance Scores
How we scoreScores are out of 5 and reflect depth of compliance support, ease of setup, and ongoing reliability for Australian businesses. Assessed March 2026.
QuickBooks Online
BAS Lodgement5/5
STP Phase 25/5
Payday Super3/5
Modern Awards4/5
GST Handling5/5
Bank Feeds4/5
Zoho Books
BAS Lodgement3/5
STP Phase 22/5
Payday Super1/5
Modern Awards1/5
GST Handling4/5
Bank Feeds3/5
Pros & Cons
QuickBooks Online
Pros
- Simple Start $33/mo with unlimited invoices and included accountant access (vs Xero Ignite $37 with 20 invoices)
- GST tracking and e-lodge BAS listed on all AU plans
- Phone support 1800 046 038, Monday to Friday 8:30am–6:30pm (AU pricing page)
- 1 / 3 / 5 / 25 users plus accountant across Simple Start / Essentials / Plus / Advanced
- Automated bank feeds listed on AU plans
- 30-day trial; no lock-in on monthly billing
Cons
- QBO ledgers hosted in the United States (Intuit Inc. / AWS US) — not AU data sovereignty
- Payroll is an add-on on every plan
- 70% intro pricing is easy to confuse with the $33/$60/$84/$125 ongoing rates; cards say 6 months while offer-terms body says 3 months, and the same modal lists 50% off 12 months — checkout was not started
- Bank-feed institution count still not as documented as Xero/MYOB
- Payday Super readiness still not independently verified; the AU payroll page prints Payday Super ready as vendor copy
- Public cancel path is a phone number (1800 350 468); the same cancel URL later opened a QuickBooks Time article
Zoho Books
Pros
- Genuinely free plan for businesses under $50K revenue — not just a trial, actually free with bank reconciliation and GST tracking
- Cheapest paid plans among major platforms — Standard from $16.50/mo (annual), dramatically less than Xero ($75/mo) or MYOB ($70/mo)
- Australian data centres in Sydney and Melbourne — genuine AU data sovereignty with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certification
- Part of the Zoho ecosystem — native integration with Zoho CRM, Projects, Inventory, and 40+ Zoho products
- Strong GST handling with automatic calculations, BAS report generation, and ABN validation
- 24x5 support with Australian phone number (+61 1800 911076)
- 6 pricing tiers from Free to Ultimate — scales from micro business to larger operations
Cons
- No native Australian payroll — STP Phase 2, Payday Super, and Modern Awards require third-party integration (CloudPayroll, Employment Hero)
- No direct BAS lodgement to ATO — BAS reports are export-only, requiring manual lodgement
- Invoice/bill limits on all plans (1,000/yr on Free, 5,000/yr on Standard, 10,000/yr on Professional) — not truly unlimited
- Fewer Australian bank feed connections than Xero (50+) or MYOB (130+) — relies on Yodlee aggregator
- Smaller integration ecosystem in Australia compared to Xero (1,000+ apps) — mainly Zoho-ecosystem focused
- No Payday Super support — depends entirely on third-party payroll integrations
Who Should Choose QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is best suited for businesses that need budget conscious small business, sole trader, simple accounting.
Choose QuickBooks Online if you are:
- Budget Conscious Small Business
- Sole Trader
- Simple Accounting
- Freelancer
Who Should Choose Zoho Books
Zoho Books is best suited for businesses that need micro business budget, sole trader under 50k, zoho ecosystem user.
Choose Zoho Books if you are:
- Micro Business Budget
- Sole Trader Under 50k
- Zoho Ecosystem User
- Startup
- Au Data Sovereignty Budget