AI accounting, entry tier: what it really costs
US list prices, checked on the vendors' own pricing pages — intro promos excluded. The cheapest tier with each vendor's AI included, and the catches the price tag doesn't show.
| Tool · tier | Price | The catch | Source (retrieved 2026-08-23) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xero · Early | $25/mo | Caps: 20 invoices + 5 bills/mo; plain (not auto) reconciliation. Rises to $27 on Oct 1, 2026. | xero.com/us/pricing-plans |
| Puzzle · Starter | $30/mo | Entry AI limited to 25 lifetime credits — full AI is the $120/mo tier. | puzzle.io/pricing |
| QuickBooks · Simple Start | $38/mo | ~50% more than Xero at entry; "Intuit Intelligence" chat is beta, limited capacity; 1 user. | quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing |
| Digits · Essentials | $65/mo | The only entry tier with full 24/7 AI bookkeeping + reconciliation built in. | digits.com/pricing |
The honest comparison
QuickBooks Simple Start costs about 50% more than Xero Early ($38 vs $25) — but Xero's entry cap of 20 invoices a month means invoice-heavy businesses need Growing at $55, which flips the comparison. Xero gives unlimited users on every plan; QuickBooks Simple Start is single-user. "AI included" means very different things at entry: Xero's JAX chat is free on all plans (Xero reserves the right to charge later), QuickBooks' AI chat is beta, Puzzle's entry AI is a 25-credit demo, and Digits is the only one doing autonomous bookkeeping at its entry price.
Dates that will change this table: Xero US prices rise Oct 1, 2026 (Early → $27); Xero UK rises Sep 1, 2026. UK ladders are entirely different products and prices (ex-VAT) — never convert between US and UK figures.
Methodology: prices are the vendor's own published monthly list price, never intro promos, each row independently verified twice on the date shown. Corrections: hello@costcurve.uk.