Quarterwise vs QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) for Making Tax Digital
By the selector's own rules, Quarterwise and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) both work for landlords and sole traders, so the choice comes down to the seven points where they differ. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) offers bank feeds and phone apps, which Quarterwise does not. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) does not offer a free plan, support for more than one property, support for jointly owned property or handling for holiday lets, which Quarterwise does. Their cheapest plans are listed as free for Quarterwise and £10 plus VAT a month (Sole Trader Plus) for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
Quarterwise suits landlords with one property, or sole traders with one business, who want to file their quarterly updates and tax return without paying, landlords with several properties, including property abroad, who want simple books for each one and short-term let hosts who want to import their Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com earnings files. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) suits sole traders or single-property landlords, landlords who want a lower-priced mainstream option and people who do most of their bookkeeping on a phone.
The facts on this page come from each provider’s own pages and from HMRC’s software list, and how we compare products explains how we check them.
If you are thinking of moving from one to the other, the guide to changing your MTD software explains what GOV.UK says about when you can move and what happens to your records.
Where they differ
These are the points where our checks of the two products came out differently. A “No” means we did not find that feature on the provider’s own pages when we last checked them. Where we had nothing to go on for one of the two, we leave the point out here rather than guess.
| Point | Quarterwise | QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | Free | £10 plus VAT a month (Sole Trader Plus) |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| More than one property | Yes | No |
| Jointly owned property | Yes | No |
| Holiday lets and former FHL | Yes | No |
| Bank feeds | No | Yes |
| Phone apps | No | Yes (iOS and Android) |
On the other points we compare (self-employment income, receipt capture, accountant access and MTD for VAT returns), they give the same answer, or at least one provider does not say. The full list is under each product’s own page.
What HMRC’s software list says about both
HMRC’s list marks each feature as available now or intended for later. This is what HMRC’s list says, not something we have tested ourselves. Where HMRC lists a product under more than one name, we show the strongest answer and the listing it comes from.
| Feature | Quarterwise | QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) |
|---|---|---|
| Your tax return and other income | ||
| Sending your tax return | Availablesince 2 October 2026 | Available |
| Foreign property | Available | Not stated |
| Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) | Availablesince 2 October 2026 | Available |
| Employment (PAYE) | Availablesince 2 October 2026 | Available |
| UK dividends | Availablesince 2 October 2026 | Available |
| UK interest | Availablesince 2 October 2026 | Available |
| Capital gains | Availablesince 2 October 2026 | Availablesince 24 July 2026 |
| How it works | ||
| Bridging software that connects to your records | Available | Not stated |
| Calendar update periods (1 April to 31 March) | Available | Available |
| A free version | Available | Not stated |
| Welsh language | Not stated | Not stated |
| Accessibility | ||
| Blindness or impaired vision | Available | Not stated |
| Deafness or impaired hearing | Available | Not stated |
| Motor or physical difficulties | Available | Not stated |
| Cognitive impairments | Available | Not stated |
This is HMRC’s list as it stood on 30 October 2026, at HMRC’s commit 201b34e. A date beside a feature is when HMRC’s list changed it from intended to available. HMRC’s software finder shows the current answers. How we read HMRC’s list
Does HMRC’s software list show Quarterwise and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) as available for sending your tax return?
For sending your tax return, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 marks it “Available” for Quarterwise, since 2 October 2026 and marks it “Available” for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
Does HMRC’s software list show a free version of Quarterwise or QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)?
For a free version, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 marks it “Available” for Quarterwise and says nothing either way for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
How many features does HMRC’s software list mark as available for Quarterwise and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)?
HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 covers 15 features, and it marks 14 “Available” for Quarterwise and 7 “Available” for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start). For Quarterwise, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 1. For QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start), it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 8.
The cheapest plan for your situation
A product’s cheapest plan is not always one you can use, because some plans are only for landlords or only for sole traders. These are the lowest prices the selector would show each reader, as each provider states them. Where a price grows with the number of properties, it is shown as a starting price. The figure over 12 months is the same plan at its regular price, worked out the way the software cost calculator does it.
Quarterwise
- For landlords
- Free
- For sole traders
- Free
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- Free
We checked Quarterwise’s prices on 25 October 2026.
Quarterwise also works for people with rental and self-employment income.
QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)
- For landlords
- £10 plus VAT a month
- For sole traders
- £10 plus VAT a month
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £120 plus VAT
We checked QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)’s prices on 3 November 2026.
Notes from our checks
Quarterwise
Quarterwise's free plan covers one property or one self-employment business with no card and no time limit, and it includes the quarterly updates and the tax return. Its terms, last updated in September 2026, describe the free plan as covering a single property, so a sole trader may want to confirm the free plan before relying on it. Pro costs £12 a month or £99 a year, adds unlimited properties and businesses, overseas property, receipt capture and a live tax estimate, and Quarterwise does not say whether its prices include VAT. You add income and expenses by hand or import a CSV file, so we do not mark it as having bank feeds. Short-term let hosts can import their platform earnings, and Quarterwise treats that income as ordinary UK property income now that the furnished holiday lettings rules have gone. Its about page says jointly owned property can be shared with your co-owner so that each of you files your own share, and that you can invite an adviser to view or keep your books. A June 2026 guide says your accountant cannot log in yet, but the newer terms mention people you have shared your books with, so we go with the newer pages. Its FAQ and about page now both say that other income, such as savings interest, dividends and pensions, can be added to the tax return in Quarterwise. We did not find mileage tracking or mobile apps. We checked this on 25 October 2026.
QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)
Regular monthly prices are shown excluding VAT. When we checked the pricing page on 3 November 2026, the price list it loads showed Intuit's offer of 90% off for six months for new customers, running until 20 November 2026, so the pricing page is the place to see any offer running now. Its setup guidance requires a separate account for each business or property income source. Combined subscription costs were not confirmed, so the selector does not recommend QuickBooks for mixed income. Joint-property support also remains unconfirmed.
Neither product is ranked above the other here: the page sets out what each provider says so you can weigh it against your own situation. How we compare products
More on these two products
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