QuickBooks for Churches: Setup, Chart of Accounts and Costs

QuickBooks Online is one of the cheapest ways for a church to keep proper books, if the church buys it the nonprofit way. Through TechSoup, QuickBooks Online Plus costs an eligible church an $80 annual admin fee, against Intuit's regular list price of $140 a month ($1,680 a year) as of October 2026. Plus also includes class tracking, which is how most churches track designated funds in QuickBooks.

Storyline Missions, the ministry run by NonProfitSaver's founder Mike Krieg, paid about $125 a month for commercial QuickBooks Online and has since moved to the TechSoup plan. His advice to churches still paying retail: "Just switch as early as you can. I am not sure how many churches are on the retail plan, but they don't need to be if they're a nonprofit organization."

What QuickBooks costs a church

Prices as of October 2026, from Intuit's pricing page and TechSoup's Intuit listing. Intuit's promotional prices (50% off for three months) are left out.

Plan	Users	Intuit list price	Per year at list	Through TechSoup
Simple Start	1	$38/month	$456	Not offered
Essentials	3	$85/month	$1,020	Not offered
Plus	5	$140/month	$1,680	$80/year
Advanced	25	$340/month	$4,080	$170/year

For a church on Plus at list price, the TechSoup version saves $1,680 − $80 = $1,600 a year. Storyline's bill was lower than today's list, about $125 a month, so its saving works out to $125 × 12 = $1,500, minus $80 = $1,420 a year.

Even a church on Simple Start pays more ($456) than the TechSoup fee for Plus ($80) and gets fewer features.

The catch

The $80 price comes with conditions. From TechSoup's listing and our QuickBooks nonprofit page:

• It must be a new subscription. You can't apply the TechSoup price to the QuickBooks account you already have. You start a new one and copy your company into it.
• Payroll isn't included. QuickBooks Payroll and other add-ons are billed by Intuit at regular rates, and payroll history doesn't transfer to the new subscription.
• One donated subscription per organization. TechSoup lists it as one per organization lifetime.
• You renew through TechSoup each year, at the same $80 for Plus.
• TechSoup validation comes first. Your church registers with TechSoup and is validated before it can request the product. Churches without an IRS determination letter should read Church eligibility for nonprofit discounts before they start.

Buying from Intuit vs through TechSoup

TechSoup is a nonprofit that validates organizations and charges an admin fee for each donated product instead of the vendor's price. For QuickBooks, that is the cheaper route by a wide margin, with conditions. As of October 2026:

	Buy from Intuit	Through TechSoup
Plus, per year	$1,680 at list	$80 admin fee
Who you pay	Intuit	TechSoup
Eligibility check	None	TechSoup validation first
Existing company file	Keep it	New subscription; copy your company in
Payroll	Intuit's rates	Not included; Intuit's rates
Renewal	Monthly or yearly with Intuit	Yearly through TechSoup

Sources: Intuit's pricing page, TechSoup's Intuit listing. TechSoup's other fees are compared in TechSoup admin fees: is TechSoup worth it?.

What the switch was like for Storyline

Getting the new subscription was the easy part. Moving the data was not.

"We have migrated our data over to our new plan," Mike says. "This is actually difficult and cumbersome. I'd recommend outsourcing this piece unless you have expertise in house."

That matches what the process requires. Intuit's copy tool has strict conditions, some data doesn't come across, and the new company has to match the old one closely. We walk through every step in Moving QuickBooks to TechSoup. TechSoup also points to a paid migration service; we couldn't confirm its price.

If you're starting fresh, with no existing QuickBooks company, there's nothing to migrate. Start on the TechSoup subscription from day one. That's the simplest version of Mike's "switch as early as you can."

Setting up QuickBooks for a church

QuickBooks is built for businesses, so a church adapts it in three places: funds, income accounts and reports. Treat what follows as a starting point to review with your CPA, who should sign off on the final chart of accounts and how restricted gifts are reported.

Funds: use classes

A church often holds money that's designated for one purpose: a building fund, missions, benevolence. QuickBooks Online doesn't have funds as a built-in concept. Plus does include class tracking; Intuit's pricing page lists "Track classes and locations (40)" on Plus and unlimited classes on Advanced.

A simple class list:

• General (unrestricted giving and operating costs)
• Building
• Missions
• Benevolence

Then two habits make it work:

1. Tag every line. Every deposit line and every expense gets a class. An untagged transaction belongs to no fund, and fund reports stop adding up.
2. Turn on the class warning. In QuickBooks settings you can ask to be warned when a transaction has no class assigned. Use it.

If you manage many designated funds or grants, or the books are kept by a rotating volunteer, purpose-built fund accounting may be worth the higher price. We compare the two in Aplos vs QuickBooks.

Income accounts: separate how money arrives

Keep income accounts few and clear, and let classes carry the fund. A common pattern:

• Contributions (with sub-accounts if you need them, such as Tithes and Offerings, Designated Gifts)
• Event and program income
• Other income

Fewer accounts and consistent classes are easier to keep clean than a long account list that tries to do both jobs.

Giving deposits: record them gross

Online giving platforms deposit the gift minus processing fees. If you record only the net deposit, both your giving total and your fee cost are understated. Record the gross gift as income and the fee as an expense. Our church giving platform fees guide shows what those fees typically are.

Reports to set up once

• Profit and loss by class, for each fund's income and spending.
• Budget vs actual: Intuit lists "Plan budgets" on Plus.
• A monthly balance sheet for the finance committee.

Save them as custom reports so the monthly packet takes minutes.

Payroll is a separate decision

Because payroll isn't part of the TechSoup price, a church that runs payroll in QuickBooks keeps paying Intuit's regular payroll rate. Churches also have payroll rules businesses don't, such as housing allowances for ministers. Compare options in our church payroll guide, and confirm tax treatment with your CPA. If you're deciding who keeps the books at all, see outsource vs in-house bookkeeping.

Should your church switch now?

If your church qualifies for TechSoup and pays Intuit's retail price, the answer is usually yes, and sooner is easier. Every month on retail costs money, and every year of history makes the migration bigger. Mike's advice for the data move stands: if nobody on your team has done a QuickBooks migration, pay someone who has.

To check QuickBooks and every other subscription your church pays for against verified nonprofit pricing, run the free audit.