How much does outsourced bookkeeping cost for a small business in the US?
Most small US businesses pay somewhere between $300 and $2,500 per month for outsourced bookkeeping, depending on transaction volume, number of accounts, and how "clean" the books already are. There isn't one flat number—the price scales with how much work is actually involved, not with the size of the business on paper.
The mistake most owners make is comparing a single flat quote instead of asking what's actually included at that price point.
| Business Size | Monthly Transactions | Typical Monthly Cost |
| Solo / very small | Under 100 | $300 – $600 |
| Small business | 100 – 300 | $600 – $1,200 |
| Growing business | 300 – 750 | $1,200 – $2,500 |
| Multi-entity / complex | 750+ | Custom quote |
Scroll the table sideways on smaller screens to see all columns.
What actually drives the price
- Transaction volume: more bank/credit-card lines, invoices, and payments means more time coding and reconciling—this is the single biggest driver.
- Number of accounts and entities: multiple bank accounts, credit cards, or legal entities each add reconciliation work.
- State of your existing books: a cleanup or catch-up project (months or years of unreconciled data) is priced separately from ongoing monthly bookkeeping.
- Reporting depth: basic categorization and monthly reconciliation costs less than full financial statements, class/location tracking, or job costing.
- Turnaround expectations: weekly books cost more than a once-a-month close, simply because of the labor cadence.
A quote that's dramatically cheaper than everyone else's is usually cheaper because less is included — not because the provider is more efficient. Always ask what's excluded, not just what's included.
Outsourced vs. hiring in-house
A full-time in-house bookkeeper in the US typically costs $45,000–$60,000/year in salary alone, before payroll taxes, benefits, software licenses, and management overhead—often $60,000–$75,000 in true fully-loaded cost. Outsourced bookkeeping at $1,200/month works out to roughly $14,400/year, covering the same core function without the overhead of employment.
The trade-off isn't quality—trained outsourced teams follow the same US GAAP and IRS-aligned processes—it's that you're paying for the output (clean, reconciled books) rather than for a person's time regardless of workload.
Pricing shown is a general market range and will vary by provider, industry, and specific scope of work. Request a scoped quote based on your actual transaction volume before comparing providers directly.