Compared
Mastro vs QuickBooks Online
For a firm keeping many clients' books: what each costs a client, and how each keeps the books.
Side by side
One client's books, in each
| For one client | QuickBooks Online | Mastro |
|---|---|---|
| What the firm buys | A subscription for each client's company | One firm account, each client priced by its modules |
| The books, each month | Essentials $59.50 or Plus $98 through ProAdvisor; $85 or $140 at list | Bookkeeping, $39 |
| The books and payroll | Essentials with QuickBooks Payroll, $125 plus $6.50 an employee | Bookkeeping and Payroll, $52 plus $4 a person paid |
| Users | 1 on Simple Start, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Plus, 25 on Advanced, plus accounting firms | Unlimited staff and client-portal users |
| Posted entries | Can be edited or deleted afterwards | Never change: a correction is a reversing entry |
| Bank rules | Can add transactions on their own | Suggest a category for a person to approve, unless your firm sets a rule to post; versioned, so the same lines always post the same way |
| Closing a month | A closing date, with a password if you set one | A checklist of what still blocks the month, then a lock that publishes the client's financials |
| The client's access | A user in the company, counted against its limit | A portal of their own: financials after close, your questions, documents, messages, proposals, and billing |
| AI | Intuit's own, inside QuickBooks | Each person's own Claude, within the permissions your firm sets; Mastro runs no model |
QuickBooks Online's prices and user limits are Intuit's, from its pricing, ProAdvisor, and subscription pages, checked September 30 and October 9, 2026.
Also in Mastro
The firm's side of the work
- Every client in one listEach client's review queue, questions, and reconciliations, and who has it.
- Proposals and signingSend a proposal and an engagement letter, and have them signed in Mastro.
- Your firm's own pageA page with a sign-up form that brings in leads, with the link each came by.
- Billing your clientsEach client's fees, charged on your firm's own Stripe account.
Questions
Choosing between them
Is Mastro cheaper than QuickBooks Online?
For the books, yes: Bookkeeping is $39 a client a month, against $59.50 for Essentials or $98 for Plus through ProAdvisor. All four of Mastro's modules on one client are $84.
Can a client run both while it moves?
Yes. Mastro only reads the QuickBooks company you connect, so QuickBooks stays as it was until you cancel it.
Do QuickBooks' bank rules come over?
Yes. Export a client's rules from QuickBooks and drop the file in: Mastro checks each one before it comes in.
Why can't a posted entry change in Mastro?
So the books you reported on stay the books you reported on. A mistake is fixed with a reversing entry, and both stay in the history.
Does Mastro work for QuickBooks Desktop clients?
A Desktop client's chart of accounts comes over from its IIF file, with opening balances from any trial balance. History imports from QuickBooks Online.