Aplos vs QuickBooks
Features, use cases, pros and cons, and pricing side by side — and which one to pick.
Quick verdict: Pick Aplos if you run a nonprofit or church that needs fund accounting, and pick QuickBooks if you're a small business that wants bookkeeping and invoicing to run themselves.
Best for: Nonprofits that must track restricted funds, grants, and program spending separately., Churches managing donations, budgets, and board or finance-committee reporting.
Read the full Aplos review
Best for: Solo operators who want expense sorting and mileage tracking handled automatically, Small teams that need invoicing, payments, and payroll under one login
Read the full QuickBooks reviewCommission may apply at no extra cost
Aplos vs QuickBooks: features compared
Compare key features side by side
Feature Comparison Summary
Which should you choose?
Choose Aplos if
- You need a balance sheet and income statement split by fund.
- You track restricted grants and must show funders where dollars went.
- Your board wants statements emailed or exported to Excel each month.
Choose QuickBooks if
- Your team needs invoicing, payments, and payroll in one login.
- You sell online and want Shopify or Square sales flowing into your books.
Aplos vs QuickBooks: pros and cons
Aplos
Fund accounting built for nonprofits
Aplos handles fund accounting, budgeting, and board-ready reporting for nonprofits and churches, with clear per-plan pricing and a 15-day trial that needs no card. Donor management and fundraising arrive through Keela and Raisely rather than in the app itself. Overall, a solid pick for fund-based books, as long as you confirm plan costs and donor tools first.
Pros
- Fund accounting is the core design, so restricted funds and grants stay tied to the right purpose.
- Real-time budget vs. actual views surface variances before they grow.
- Board-ready statements can be emailed from Aplos or exported to Excel.
Cons
- Full donor management and online fundraising come from Keela and Raisely, not Aplos alone.
- Lite and Core both cap at two users, so growing teams should confirm how extra seats are priced.
- Bookkeeping is a separate paid service, not part of the base software.
QuickBooks
Deep automation, but the add-ons add up
QuickBooks pulls bank and app data into one place, then automates the sorting, invoicing, and reporting that usually eats your evenings. It has real depth and scales from a free plan to enterprise controls, though payroll and payments cost extra. Overall, it suits owners who want the books handled, not just stored.
Pros
- Learns how you sort income and expenses, then repeats that work on its own
- Drafts invoices and sends payment reminders once you approve them
- Builds forecasts from live numbers instead of rebuilt spreadsheets
Cons
- Payroll, payments, and expert help are separate paid products on top of the plan price
- The AI invoicing feature is labeled beta with limited availability
- Bill Pay does not work outside the U.S. or in U.S. territories
Aplos and QuickBooks in detail
Aplos
Aplos is financial management software built for nonprofits and churches. It combines fund accounting, budgeting, reporting, and compliance workflows in one suite.
Teams can track restricted funds and grants, connect bank accounts, and manage payables and receivables. Reports can be filtered by fund, tag, or month, then shared with boards or exported to Excel.
Standout features
- Fund accounting that fits nonprofits
- Reports your board can read
- Control over every transaction
- Books, donations, and expert help
Use cases
- Fund accounting for restricted gifts and grants
- Board and leadership reporting
- Donation-to-ledger workflow with Keela and Raisely
- Small teams and outsourced bookkeeping
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is cloud-based accounting software from Intuit, built for businesses of every size. It pulls your bank and app data into one place and automates bookkeeping, invoicing, bill pay, payroll, and reporting. A built-in layer called Intuit Intelligence adds AI help: it learns your patterns, drafts invoices, and answers questions about your cash flow. You can start on a free basic plan and move up to enterprise tools as your needs grow.
Standout features
- Books That Sort Themselves
- Automations You Approve, Not Write
- Invoices That Chase Themselves
- Payroll, Time, and Tax Side by Side
- Your Stack Stays Connected
Use cases
- Solo owners who want the books handled
- Small teams that bill for time
- Sellers running a storefront
- Growing teams adding people and pay
Pricing compared
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, before taxes and add-ons. Costs are per month.
| Pricing compared | Aplos | QuickBooks |
|---|---|---|
| From (cheapest paid plan) | $79/mo Lite | $38/mo Simple Start |
| Free plan | No | Yes No mobile app access or third-party integrations |
| Free trial | 15 days | 30 days |
| Money-back guarantee | Not stated | Not stated |
| Annual billing savings | — | — |
| Pricing model | Flat price | Flat price |
| Cost for 1 user | $79/mo Lite plan, billed monthly | FreeCheaper QuickBooks Free plan, billed monthly |
| Cost for 5 users | — | $140/mo Plus plan, billed monthly |
| Cost for 10 users | — | $340/mo Advanced plan, billed monthly |
| Cost for 25 users | — | $340/mo Advanced plan, billed monthly |
| Plans | 4 | 5 |
| Prices checked | Prices not verified yet — see the vendor page. | Prices not verified yet — see the vendor page. |
| Price history | No tracked prices yet | No tracked prices yet |
- Cheapest plan that fits each team size. Per-user plans are multiplied by the number of users (respecting stated minimums and seat packs). Plans that include some users cost their base price plus the extra-user price for each user beyond those included. Flat-priced plans with no stated user limit are counted as one licence per user.
Cheaper for your team size
For 1 user (billed monthly), QuickBooks costs $0/mo vs Aplos at $79/mo.
- Only QuickBooks has a free plan.
Computed from published list prices on the dates shown. Excludes taxes, add-ons and promotions.
More comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Aplos handle regular for-profit business books?
It's built around nonprofit fund accounting, so for-profit businesses are a poor fit. Aplos suits nonprofits and churches tracking restricted funds, grants, and program spending. QuickBooks is the better match for standard business books.
Which one connects to more of my existing tools?
QuickBooks connects to over 800 apps, including Shopify, Square, and PayPal. Aplos links with Keela and Raisely for donations, with third-party integrations on Core and above. Both list MCP support as unknown.