Bookkeeping Costs for Small Business (Monthly Rates)
Monthly bookkeeping prices by transaction volume, catch-up cleanup costs, and when to move from hourly to a flat monthly plan.
Updated 2026-08-01
Bookkeeping is priced on transaction volume, not revenue. A business doing $2M with 80 monthly transactions is cheaper to keep than one doing $200K with 900.
Monthly flat plans beat hourly once your volume is steady, because you stop paying for the bookkeeper's uncertainty.
Catch-up work — the shoebox of a year you never reconciled — is always quoted separately and always costs more per month than ongoing service.
Typical price
Most small service businesses land at $350–$650 per month for full monthly bookkeeping.
Price breakdown
| Item | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | $35 – $75/hr | Freelance bookkeeper. |
| Micro business (<50 txns/mo) | $200 – $350/mo | Reconciliation and reports. |
| Small business (50–200 txns) | $350 – $650/mo | The common band. |
| Growing business (200–500 txns) | $650 – $1,200/mo | Multiple accounts. |
| Catch-up / cleanup | $400 – $900 per month cleaned | Quoted after a diagnostic. |
| Payroll processing | +$50 – $150/mo | Plus per-employee fees. |
| Sales tax filing | +$50 – $150 per filing | Per jurisdiction. |
| AR / AP management | +$150 – $400/mo | Invoicing and bill pay. |
| Year-end package for CPA | $300 – $800 | Clean handoff to tax prep. |
What drives the price
- Monthly transaction count across all accounts.
- Number of bank, card and payment-processor accounts to reconcile.
- Inventory, job costing or class tracking requirements.
- Payroll and multi-state sales tax.
- How clean the books were when they took over.
How to pay less
- Consolidate to fewer bank and card accounts.
- Use one payment processor and connect it directly to the ledger.
- Stay current — catch-up work always costs more than ongoing service.
- Handle invoicing yourself and keep AR out of the scope.
- Ask for a flat monthly plan once your volume stabilizes.
Questions to ask before you book
- Is your price based on transaction volume, and what's my band?
- Which software do you use, and do I own the file?
- What reports do I get, and how often?
- Do you handle sales tax and payroll, or is that separate?
- What does a catch-up quote look like for my situation?
Red flags
- Refusing to give you admin access to your own accounting file.
- No monthly reconciliation report.
- A flat quote given before reviewing your transaction volume.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does a bookkeeper cost per month?
- $350–$650 for most small businesses with 50–200 monthly transactions; less for micro businesses, more with payroll and inventory.
- Is a bookkeeper cheaper than a CPA?
- Yes — bookkeepers run $35–$75/hr while CPAs run $150–$400/hr. Clean books from a bookkeeper also reduce your CPA bill.
- What does catch-up bookkeeping cost?
- Typically $400–$900 per month of books being cleaned, quoted after a diagnostic review.