Bookkeeper360 Review: Pricing, Features, and Top Alternatives

Bookkeeper360 is an online bookkeeping service designed to help small and medium-sized businesses with their bookkeeping and accounting. When you sign up for Bookkeeper360, you receive a dedicated account manager, who will work with you to create a service strategy that meets your needs. After this, you’ll connect Bookkeeper360 to your accounting system — either QuickBooks or Xero — and you’ll be able to work collaboratively online with your bookkeeper to manage your business finances.

Bookkeeper360 offers its online bookkeeping services in three different pricing plans, based on the frequency of assistance you need. However, you can also work with the Bookkeeper360 team to build a custom package. Bookkeeper360’s service does not require a contract, and you can cancel at any time.

On top of its core online bookkeeping services, Bookkeeper360 offers additional solutions for functions like payroll, taxes and HR.

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the core service that Bookkeeper360 offers and is available by signing up for a consultation with its U.S.-based team.

After the consultation, you’ll collaborate with your dedicated account manager to determine what bookkeeping strategy is best for your business; then you’ll work with Bookkeeper360 to connect your accounting system. Bookkeeper360 is a Xero partner, so it only works with businesses that use Xero or QuickBooks as their accounting system.

After setting up your accounting system, you’ll be able to use the Bookkeeper360 cloud-based platform to communicate and work with your bookkeeper or accountant.

The specific bookkeeping features you receive with Bookkeeper360’s service will depend on the plan you develop. You have the option to create a custom solution; however, you can also choose one of the three pre-designed packages Bookkeeper360 offers.

With the first plan, called the “Support” plan, you continue to manage your own bookkeeping with some assistance from the Bookkeeper360 advisors. In essence, Bookkeeper360 will help you set up your accounting system, provide training and checkups and offer two hours per month of support, but you will manage your day-to-day bookkeeping tasks yourself.

The two additional Bookkeeper360 plans, “Monthly” and “Weekly” will offer more hands-on support. With the Monthly plan, you’ll receive a dedicated accountant who will work with you and provide monthly bookkeeping including cash and accrual basis accounting and reporting, bill pay and payroll solutions and financial reviews.

With the Weekly plan, you’ll receive a dedicated accountant who will perform your bookkeeping on a weekly basis. This plan will also include cash and accrual basis accounting and reporting, as well as invoice and expense management, technology consulting, monthly financial reviews and weekly catchup calls.

The features you receive with Bookkeeper360 will largely depend on what your business needs and what kind of strategy you develop in your consultation. Ultimately you can choose services that range from advisory support to full, hands-on bookkeeping management.

» MORE: Best accounting software for small businesses

CFO Advisory

Bookkeeper360 offers a range of support options for businesses in conjunction with its core bookkeeping services.

One of these services is its CFO Advisory services, in which you work with the Bookkeeper360 team to analyze your financials and determine a strategy to manage and grow your business. Like with its virtual bookkeeping services, the CFO Advisory support Bookkeeper360 offers is available in three different plans, as well as on a custom-package basis.

The three CFO Advisory plans are called “Advisory,” “Coaching” and “Inventory.” The Advisory plan includes services such as KPI reporting, profitability improvements and basic operational processes. The Coaching plan is more in-depth, not only providing assistance with overall systems and operations but also strategic planning and executive coaching. Finally, the Inventory plan is designed on a project basis and can accommodate inventory management, workflow planning, inventory projections and reorder points.

Payroll

Bookkeeper360 also offers payroll services. With these services, the Bookkeeper360 payroll team will process your payroll (for both employees and contractors) and provide full-service support with tasks such as health benefits, direct deposit setup, W-2s and 1099s. Bookkeeper360 can work with a variety of payroll solutions, including top providers like Gusto and ADP. It also gives you the option to integrate Xero with these different solutions to sync your payroll data.

Taxes

Bookkeeper360 offers tax services that include individual or business preparation and filings, sales and local 1099s reporting, as well as overall tax planning and compliance.

HR solutions

Bookkeeper360 offers HR support for small businesses through a tool called HRS360. With this app, you’ll have access to a forms library, salary benchmarking tools and HR professionals. HRS360 also provides assistance with federal and state compliance, training videos, employee on-boarding forms and job descriptions.

Moreover, Bookkeeper360 offers solutions for HR projects and consulting, in which its team will work with you on tasks like compliance auditing, employee agreements and handbooks, recruiting and termination and human capital strategy.

Payments and lending

If you need to be able to accept credit card payments at your business, Bookkeeper360 also provides merchant services. These Bookkeeper360 services can integrate with Xero and QuickBooks, are free to set up and include next-day funding.

Technology

The last service that Bookkeeper360 offers is technical assistance. Bookkeeper360 is working on its own application, 360app, that will allow you to manage all of your Bookkeeper360 services, from accounting to financial planning, in one place. This app has not yet launched, but according to the Bookkeeper360 website, will be included in all packages.

Additionally, Bookkeeper360 offers custom app integrations based on specific project and business needs.

» MORE: Best small-business apps

Bookkeeper360 offers several different services and solutions for business owners — and, because of the variety of its services, the ultimate cost of working with Bookkeeper360 will also vary.

Depending on the needs of your business, you can choose from the pricing plans that Bookkeeper360 offers for its individual services, or you can work directly with the Bookkeeper360 team to create a custom service plan and respective price.

Bookkeeper360 offers its core bookkeeping service in three different plans: Support, Monthly and Weekly. These plans will start at $199 per month, $314 per month (billed annually) and $539 per month (billed annually), respectively.

Similarly, Bookkeeper360 offers Advisory, Coaching and Inventory options for its CFO Advisory services. The Advisory plan starts at $700 per month and the Coaching plan starts at $1,500 per month. The Inventory plan is project-based and starts at $3,000.

When it comes to its payroll services, on the other hand, Bookkeeper360 bases pricing on the number of employees you have. If you have one employee, it will cost $45 per month; if you have 20 employees, it will cost $159 per month. Bookkeeper360 provides a sliding scale tool on its website for this cost. If you have more than 30 employees, you have to contact them directly to determine the cost of its payroll services.

For tax services, Bookkeeper360 prices its solutions for individual, business and planning and consulting. Individual tax services start at $200, services for business taxes start at $750 and tax planning and consulting starts at $250 per quarter.

For HR solutions, the HRS360 app can be purchased monthly or annually, at $15 per month or $150 per year. If you’re interested in HR projects or consulting, prices for these services start at $1,000 for projects and $350 per month for consulting.

In terms of its credit card processing services, Bookkeeper360 doesn’t provide too much pricing information online, only that the rates start at 2.75%, it offers custom quotes and has “simple and transparent billing.”

For technology integration and assistance, the Bookkeeper360 website states that once available, the 360app will be included in all service packages. Other custom integrations are priced per project, and you have to work with the Bookkeeper360 team directly to determine this cost.

Breadth of services

If you’re looking for an online bookkeeping service that can help you with the entirety of your business financial operations, Bookkeeper360 can do just that. In addition to its core bookkeeping and accounting services, Bookkeeper360 offers six other solution types, from taxes to human resources. Plus, with Bookkeeper360’s custom plans, you can pick and choose which services you want and receive a solution that will truly accommodate your specific business.

Moreover, with each of these service types, you’ll receive U.S.-based support and a platform with which to communicate with the Bookkeeper360 team, making its service not only expansive but accessible.

Customer reviews

Perhaps one of the most helpful ways to judge a provider is by reading its customer reviews. One of the notable benefits of Bookkeeper360 is that almost all of its reviews online are extremely positive.

As small-business owner Wayne Levinson writes, “We absolutely love our BK360 team. They are extremely knowledgeable and make it so that our company does not need to worry about day-to-day accounting... I could not have a better recommendation for the small to mid-sized business.”

Bookkeeper360 reviews highlight the ease of use of its services as well as the helpfulness and knowledge of its team. Reviewers also generally state how using its services has benefited their business. Bookkeeper360 has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and no listed customer complaints.

Despite these significant benefits of Bookkeeper360, there are also downsides to this online bookkeeping service worth considering.

Accounting system requirements

Bookkeeper360 can only work with Xero or QuickBooks for accounting software systems. Although these are both great accounting solutions used by numerous business owners, this is a problem if you use another system. If you use a solution like Freshbooks or Wave and want to keep that software, you’ll have to search for another bookkeeping service.

Pricing structure

Although it can be beneficial to have a service and cost that’s designed specifically for your business, it can be preferable for business service providers to have clear and established pricing. If you can look at a provider’s website and know exactly what to expect in terms of both pricing and service, it’s much easier to compare providers against one another. Plus, with transparent pricing laid out for customers to see, a service provider can’t try and charge you more than it does someone else.

Although Bookkeeper360 does list starting costs for all of its services online, its pricing is largely quote-based — which is something you’ll want to keep in mind as you look at different online bookkeeping services.

Bookkeeper.com

Like Bookkeeper360, Bookeeper.com is a U.S.-based online bookkeeping service provider that works with small businesses. In fact, Bookkeeper.com operates very similarly to Bookkeeper360 — you set up a consultation to determine what your business needs and then you work with the Bookeeper.com team to customize your platform and set up your accounting system.

Unlike Bookkeeper360, however, Bookkeeper.com only works with businesses that use QuickBooks. With Bookkeeper.com, you can choose from two pricing plans, based on the number of transactions you make per month. The first plan, “Small Business,” accommodates up to 125 transactions per month and includes monthly reconciliation, monthly financials and reporting, essential document storage, accounting software setup and expense management. This plan starts at $285 per month.

The second plan, “Small Business Plus,” accommodates 126 to 150 transactions and class and location tracking, in addition to the features of the Small Business Plan. This plan starts at $495 per month. Moreover, just like Bookkeeper360, Bookkeeper.com offers additional services for payroll, tax planning and management, as well as general financial planning.

Note that both of the Bookeeper.com plans only offer monthly services.

Bookkeeping.com is a great Bookkeeper360 alternative if you already use QuickBooks and prefer pricing based on transactions. Plus, with a similar setup process to Bookkeeper360, you have the opportunity to talk directly to the Bookkeeping.com team to learn more about its offerings and find out if its service will work well for you.

Bench

If you’re looking for a Bookkeeper360 alternative that is focused on bookkeeping, you might consider Bench. With Bench, you not only receive online bookkeeping services but access to its proprietary bookkeeping software as well.

Bench offers its services in five plans, designed to accommodate businesses of different sizes based on their monthly expenses. These plans range in price depending on your monthly expenses. Regardless of your plan, Bench connects you with a dedicated bookkeeper with whom you work to set up all of your information and accounts on the Bench platform.

Then, your bookkeeper will reconcile your accounts, categorize transactions, produce financial statements — overall handling your essential bookkeeping tasks on a monthly basis. You can also call your bookkeeper or message them in Bench for support whenever you’d like.

Although Bench does not provide tax services, it can work directly with your CPA during tax time or connect you to a tax professional in its network.

Bench is a worthy alternative to Bookkeeper360 if you’re looking for a tech-savvy provider that focuses largely on bookkeeping. Bench is also a great option if you don’t already use accounting software — as it has its own software platform. Unlike Bookkeeper360 and Bookkeeper.com, Bench offers the same service regardless of your plan, the price only changes based on the amount of your monthly expenses.