QuickBooks Payroll: per-employee fee cut on all 3 plans
What happened
Between the Jul 20, 2026 and Jul 27, 2026 captures of QuickBooks' pricing page, Pulse recorded one change: per-employee payroll fee cut on Simple Start & Essentials ($7→$6.50/employee) and Premium + Plus ($13→$10/employee). Base plan prices unchanged. In detail: Per-employee payroll add-on fee decreased across all three plans: Simple Start and Essentials dropped from $7/employee to $6.50/employee; Premium + Plus dropped from $13/employee to $10/employee. Base plan prices unchanged. Pulse files it as a pricing change (price decrease) with a downward direction. Pulse's latest capture (Nov 9, 2026) lists Workforce Payroll + Simple Start at $88, Workforce Payroll + Essentials at $135 and Workforce Premium + Plus at $228.
It lands 21 days after QuickBooks' previous change, "Quickbooks Payroll hikes per-employee fees up to 30% across all plans" (Jul 6, 2026). QuickBooks has been tracked since 2023-11-14.
In the same window Zoho, Sage, Xero, Microsoft and Freshbooks also changed their Finance & Accounting pricing pages. Those moves are listed further down, and the Pulse Agent can compare them side by side.
- −7%BasePrice$7/employee$6.50/employee
| Plan | Field | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Price | $7/employee | $6.50/employee | −7% |
Values as written on QuickBooks' public pricing page in the two captures Pulse compared; where the page states no number, the cells give the wording before and after.
Evidence
The two captures Pulse comparedFull-page captures of QuickBooks' pricing page (quickbooks.com) from Jul 20, 2026 and Jul 27, 2026; the change is marked near the top of the page, where base price reads $7/employee and then $6.50/employee.
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The two full-page captures with this change marked up are free with an account.
QuickBooks, the last 90 days
Full history- Sep 14, 2026Price increaseQuickbooks Payroll: Workforce bundle prices increase ($125→$135, $203→$228)
- Aug 10, 2026PackagingQuickbooks Payroll: Summer promo jumps to 90% off (was 50%)
- Jul 27, 2026Price decreaseQuickBooks Payroll: per-employee fee cut on all 3 plans This change
- Jul 6, 2026Price increaseQuickbooks Payroll hikes per-employee fees up to 30% across all plans
Across Finance & Accounting in the same window
All Finance & Accounting changes- ZohoJul 13Zoho Peopleplus: Premium & Enterprise price increases + 4 new Premium features
- SageJul 6Sage hikes Payroll prices across all plans, trims free trial to 2 months
- XeroJul 6Xero shrinks new-customer discount, hikes intro pricing to $5/$11/$18
- MicrosoftJul 6Microsoft Copilot bundles Business Premium, Standard plans with Copilot access
- FreshbooksJun 29Freshbooks doubles free trial to 6 months, launches $40 Payroll
Questions about this change
Did QuickBooks raise prices in July 2026?
No — prices went down. Between Jul 20, 2026 and Jul 27, 2026 QuickBooks' pricing page showed 1 price cut: Base: $7/employee → $6.50/employee (−7%).
What changed on QuickBooks' pricing page between Jul 20, 2026 and Jul 27, 2026?
Base price: $7/employee → $6.50/employee (−7%). Pulse compared the captures it took on Jul 20, 2026 and Jul 27, 2026; the before/after table above lists each item as written on the page.
How often does QuickBooks change its pricing?
Pulse recorded 1 other pricing-page change for QuickBooks in the 90 days before this one; the previous change was "Quickbooks Payroll hikes per-employee fees up to 30% across all plans" on Jul 6, 2026; QuickBooks has been tracked since 2023-11-14.