A monthly fee tracks work, and work tracks volume. Three drivers do most of the moving: how many transactions post each month, how many bank and card accounts have to reconcile, and how often you need books closed and reports produced. More transactions and more accounts mean more reconciling and more exceptions to resolve; monthly reporting means twelve closes a year instead of four. Those are the honest levers, and they are the only ones this calculator uses.
Calculator
Estimate your monthly bookkeeping cost
Answer three questions to see which volume tier your books fall into. Monthly bookkeeping is a flat monthly fee, not an hourly rate — this maps your drivers to a starting tier, and a free review replaces it with a fixed fee. Every figure the calculator uses is listed under the result.
Last reviewed October 2026 by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
Monthly bookkeeping tier
Rough inputs are fine — you can refine anything in the free review.
Scope estimate and published starting fee
Starting at $400/mo
Standard-volume tier
A planning estimate, not a quote: your monthly fee is fixed after a free review and matched to this tier — flat, never hourly.
How this is calculated — every number used
- Your drivers are combined into a volume score: transactions per month, plus 20 points per bank or card account, plus 40 points if you report monthly rather than quarterly.
- Under 150 points is the light-volume tier; 150–399 is standard-volume; 400 or more is high-volume.
- The fee shown is the published starting figure ($400/mo) for the matched tier — not a quote, and not an hourly rate.
- Worked example: 150 transactions + 3 accounts × 20 + 40 for monthly reports = 250 points, which is 150–399: the standard-volume tier, shown with the published starting figure of $400/mo.
- Each account is assumed to have standard bank feeds available and to reconcile cleanly.
- The estimate excludes any one-time cleanup or catch-up needed before ongoing bookkeeping begins.
- Limits: it cannot see how clean the file is, or payroll, inventory or more than one entity — the free review does, and the fixed monthly fee follows it.
What the estimate can't see, and where the market sits
- Cost drivers outside the form: payroll, inventory, sales tax in several states, more than one entity and connected apps each add monthly work — the free review prices them.
- Where the market sits: NerdWallet puts typical small-business bookkeeping at around $300 a month, and Intuit lists its own Full Service bookkeeping starting at $300/mo after initial cleanup fee (Intuit, checked October 2026) — the sourced comparison is on bookkeeping cost.
- Why it always shows our floor: we publish one price, the starting floor; a tier name without a dollar figure is how the calculator avoids inventing one.
What drives a monthly bookkeeping fee
How to read the tier
The tier is a starting point, not a quote. It tells you which band your file most likely sits in so the number isn't a surprise. The flat monthly fee is set after a free, view-only review confirms the actual state of the file — clean feeds and tidy accounts can land you below the tier's starting figure, while a backlog to clear first is scoped separately. See how pricing works for the full picture, or read what's included in monthly bookkeeping.
About this estimate
Why doesn't it show an exact dollar amount?
Because an honest monthly fee depends on what's actually in your file — how clean the feeds are, how many accounts reconcile cleanly, whether the reports you need are standard or custom. The calculator maps your drivers to a volume tier; the free review replaces the tier with a fixed, flat monthly fee.
Is the fee hourly?
No. Monthly bookkeeping is a flat monthly fee, matched to your volume tier and confirmed after a free review. There is nothing hourly and nothing open-ended.
Is anything I enter here saved or sent?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
What happens after the estimate?
If the tier looks workable, the next step is a free, view-only review of your file. We confirm the scope and give you a fixed monthly fee — flat, not hourly.
- Catch-up timeline— how long getting current is planned to take first
- Migration timeline— how long a move is planned to take first