Compare · Live vs ProAdvisor
QuickBooks Live or an independent ProAdvisor — what each one covers.
Both options run on QuickBooks; the real difference is the task list. Intuit publishes what its Experts service leaves out, and an independent firm writes its scope into your agreement. This page lines the two lists up, using Intuit's own pages.
Scope and pricing from Intuit's published terms as of mid-2026 — confirm current rates with Intuit. We compare respectfully.
Quick answer
Intuit sells QuickBooks Live under the Intuit Experts name. Expert Assisted, at $59 a month, coaches owners who keep their own books; Full Service Bookkeeping starts at $300 a month after a cleanup fee. Managing payables, receivables or inventory falls outside Intuit's published scope, so compare the task lists before the prices.
Intuit's four offers
QuickBooks Live, offer by offer.
Intuit builds this service into QuickBooks Online and now markets it as Intuit Experts. It comes in four offers, and which one you buy changes the job far more than the name does:
Intuit Expert Priority: personalized QuickBooks training and premium support, with extended-hours access.
Intuit Expert Assisted ($59/month): you keep the books; QuickBooks-certified bookkeepers review your automation, categorization and reconciliation work and answer business, 1099, payroll and sales-tax questions. For a DIY owner with simple books, this is honest, useful, inexpensive help.
Intuit Expert Full Service Bookkeeping (from $300/month after an initial cleanup fee, then priced on your average monthly expenses and re-set every three months; it needs your QuickBooks Online subscription): a dedicated bookkeeper categorizes transactions and reconciles accounts each month and sends a profit and loss and a balance sheet.
Intuit Expert Cleanup: a one-time cleanup of the books. Intuit doesn't publish its price, or Priority's.
Offers and prices as Intuit's own pages describe them, checked on 29 September 2026; they change on Intuit's schedule, so confirm them with Intuit before deciding.
Expert Assisted · $59/mo
You keep the books; certified bookkeepers review and coach. Genuinely good value for DIY owners.
Full Service · from $300/mo
A dedicated bookkeeper categorizes and reconciles monthly — after a cleanup fee, with the QuickBooks Online subscription on top.
Priority and Cleanup
Training and premium support, or a one-time cleanup — Intuit publishes no price for either.
The published scope
What Intuit lists as not included.
Intuit's help pages, checked on 29 September 2026, name these activities as outside the service. Hold each one up against what your business needs done.
Invoicing & bill pay
Sending invoices or paying bills.
Inventory, receivables and payables
Managing inventory, accounts receivable or accounts payable.
Payroll
Managing payroll, and preparing W-4, 1099 or other payroll forms.
Returns and 1099s
Not included: filing income or sales tax returns, or creating and sending 1099s.
Financial or tax advice
Financial or tax advice, and preparing or filing taxes. (We don't do tax work either — that's a CPA's role, and both services say so.)
QuickBooks Online training
Full Service bookkeepers answer questions but don't train you on QuickBooks Online; Priority is the training offer.
If none of these touch your business, Intuit's pricing is attractive for what you get. If several do, the next sections matter more.
Credit where due
What QuickBooks Live does well.
Brand trust + guarantee
It's Intuit — the company behind the software itself — with a published accuracy guarantee behind the work.
Tight QBO integration
The service lives inside the product. No third party, no handoffs — everything in one Intuit account.
Low entry price
Expert Assisted at $59/month is one of the cheapest ways to get real expert eyes on DIY books.
Simple-books fit
For uncomplicated books that fit the published scope, Full-Service covers the core competently.
The other side
How an independent firm's arrangement differs.
Start with the credential. Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor is a certification Intuit grants to independent professionals who work in its software — real, but not a state license and not a CPA equivalent. More on what a ProAdvisor is and how to choose one.
Software doesn't separate the two — we work in your QuickBooks file as well. The arrangement does: one fixed fee, the file worked through the month, and operational tasks such as payables and receivables that Intuit lists as outside Full Service.
Some limits are shared. Neither service gives tax advice or files returns; we're a bookkeeping firm without a CPA license, and tax belongs with your CPA. Everything operational short of that line is where the two part ways.
AP / AR managed
Who owes you and whom you owe — tracked, current, reconciled. Operational accounting →
A month-end close + payroll support
Reconciled to source, closed on a fixed monthly cadence, with payroll and sales-tax support in scope. Monthly bookkeeping →
Advisory in the relationship
The numbers come with the conversation about what they mean — included, not excluded. (Operational advisory; tax stays with your CPA.)
Figure data as a table
| What do you need done? | Then | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Help keeping your own books | Intuit Expert Assisted | $59 a month |
| Simple books, Intuit's scope | Intuit Expert Full Service | From $300 a month after an Intuit cleanup fee |
| Payables, receivables, payroll | A firm like ours | $550–$1,800 a month, fixed in writing |
| Books messy or behind first | A scoped cleanup | $1,800–$6,000 once |
| Sources: Intuit Experts pages and help article; Everholt & Co. pricing page. Checked: 2026-09-29. | ||
Side by side
The comparison at a glance.
QuickBooks Live details from Intuit's published terms as of mid-2026 — confirm current pricing and scope with Intuit.
| Dimension | QuickBooks Live | Our approach |
|---|---|---|
| The model | Intuit Experts: Priority, Assisted, Full Service Bookkeeping, and a one-time Cleanup. Checked on , intuit.com | A fixed-fee scope for your file, worked all month |
| Pricing | Assisted $59/mo · Full Service from $300/mo after a cleanup fee, then set by average monthly expenses and re-set quarterly · needs QuickBooks Online. Checked on , intuit.com | From $550/mo (published range) — one fixed fee, put in writing when the free review is done |
| Bookkeeping core | Full Service: a dedicated bookkeeper categorizes and reconciles monthly and sends a P&L and balance sheet. Checked on , intuit.com | Same core — reconciled to source and closed monthly |
| Payables · receivables · inventory · payroll · 1099s | Not included: managing inventory, receivables or payables; managing payroll; creating and sending 1099s. Checked on , intuit.com | Payables, receivables and inventory bookkeeping where the written scope includes them; payroll recorded monthly, running payroll a scoped add-on |
| Financial advice | Not included: financial or tax advice (Assisted includes business and financial coaching). Checked on , intuit.com | Operational advisory on what the numbers mean is a separate advisory service; no tax advice |
| Tax advice / filing | Not included: preparing or filing taxes, or tax advice. Checked on , intuit.com | Also excluded — we're non-CPA and say so plainly; we make books CPA-ready |
Checked: , each QuickBooks Live cell against Intuit's own pages. Intuit's help article describes a flat first-month fee for cleanup and setup; the amount isn't published on the Intuit pages we checked.
The math, plainly
All-in cost vs all-in scope.
Sticker prices mislead in both directions, so here's the honest arithmetic. QuickBooks Live Full-Service all-in: from ~$300/month for the service, plus a one-time cleanup fee at onboarding, plus the QuickBooks Online subscription the service requires, then priced on your average monthly expenses and re-set every three months. Real money — for the core bookkeeping in Intuit's published scope, with invoicing, bill pay, inventory, receivables, payables, payroll, 1099s and financial or tax advice not included.
Our fee, all-in: from $550/month, typical range $550–$1,800 depending on volume and complexity, as one fixed fee written into your agreement once the free review is done — covering the scope we agree in writing: reconciliations, the month-end close, reporting, payables and receivables where included, and payroll recorded each month. (You keep your own QBO subscription either way — we work in your file.)
The comparison isn't "cheap vs expensive." It's two different scopes at different prices — which is why the published exclusion list above, not the sticker price, should drive the decision. Full details on our pricing page.
The decision framework
Choose by scope, not by logo.
Choose QuickBooks Live if…
You're a DIY owner who wants backup
Expert Assisted at $59/mo is genuinely good value for guidance on books you keep yourself.
Your needs fit the published scope
Simple books, no AP/AR or inventory or payroll needs — the exclusion list doesn't touch you.
One-umbrella simplicity appeals
Software, service, and guarantee all from Intuit, inside one account.
Choose a firm like ours if…
You need what the scope excludes
AP/AR, inventory, payroll support, 1099s, advisory — the operational work a business actually runs on.
You want the file worked all month
Ongoing work on the file, not sessions on a calendar.
Your books need real attention first
Messy or behind? A scoped cleanup beats a standard onboarding fee. Switching →
More comparisons: software on its own vs bookkeeping with people · Everholt & Co. vs Bench · or see everything we do in QuickBooks, including QuickBooks support.
Intuit is plain about what its service leaves out, and it deserves the same plainness back. Write down the jobs your business needs done, check them against each list, and pick the service whose list covers yours. For some owners that's Intuit's; when the operational work matters, it's ours.
FAQ · Updated October 2026
The questions QBO owners ask.
QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Live, and ProAdvisor are trademarks of Intuit Inc. We are not speaking for Intuit; pricing and scope cited reflect Intuit's published terms as of mid-2026 — confirm current details with Intuit.
Want everything covered?
Bring your scope list.
We'll tell you straight whether QuickBooks Live covers your scope list — and if it doesn't, exactly what we would do differently, with a fixed fee in writing.