TLDR (Summary)
QuickBooks handles invoicing and bookkeeping but charges $115/month for project tracking, locks time tracking behind $75/month, and has no proposals, contracts, e-signatures, or client portals at any price. Plutio is a fully branded platform where proposals, projects, time tracking, invoicing, and client portals are all connected. When a proposal gets signed, the project creates itself, tracked hours flow into invoices, and clients check progress and pay from a branded portal, starting at $19/month.
Project management that QuickBooks locks behind $115/month
QuickBooks reserves project tracking for the $115/month Plus plan and above. The three lower tiers have zero project features. Plutio includes Kanban boards, Gantt charts, task dependencies, milestones, and project templates on every plan.
On QuickBooks Simple Start ($38/month) and Essentials ($75/month), there's no way to create a project, assign a task, or track a milestone. The October 2025 dashboard redesign restructured navigation but didn't add project capabilities to lower plans, and the community forums are filled with complaints about the new interface making existing features harder to find.
Even on Plus, project tracking means basic time and expense grouping by project name. There are no task dependencies, no Gantt timelines, no milestones marking phase transitions, and no templates that generate entire project structures from a single click.
Plutio's project management starts with Kanban boards and adds what QuickBooks doesn't include on any plan: Gantt timelines that show dependencies between tasks, milestones that mark phase transitions, and templates that create entire project structures from one click. A website build can have design, development, and launch phases with tasks that automatically unlock when the previous phase finishes.
The difference is how project work connects to billing. In Plutio, time tracked on a task feeds into an invoice line item, a completed milestone triggers a client notification, and project status updates in the client portal without sending a single email.
Plutio's project management connects tasks to time tracking, invoicing, and client portals, so the work and the business run from the same place.
Invoicing that connects to the work, not just the ledger
QuickBooks has invoicing, but it sits apart from projects and time tracking. Plutio's invoicing populates from tracked hours automatically, so hourly billing doesn't mean copying numbers from a separate source.
QuickBooks invoicing works for sending bills with manual line items. But hourly billing means opening the time tracker (only on Essentials at $75/month or above), copying totals, and creating each line item individually. On Simple Start and Solopreneur, there's no time tracking at all, so every hour has to come from a separate app or a spreadsheet.
The pricing adds up fast. QuickBooks Online charges 2.9% + $0.25 per credit card transaction on top of the monthly subscription, and the July 2025 increases pushed Simple Start up 8.6%, Essentials up 15.4%, and Plus up 16.2% from the year before.
In Plutio, invoices populate from a date range with every tracked hour, task name, and rate already filled in. Recurring invoices auto-send on schedule with late payment reminders built in. Payment processing through Stripe, PayPal, or bank transfer happens inside the same platform, and multi-currency support lets international freelancers bill clients in local currencies.
Plutio's invoicing turns tracked hours into paid invoices without copying numbers between apps or paying $75/month for the privilege of time tracking.
Proposals and contracts that create projects automatically
QuickBooks has no proposals, no contracts, and no e-signatures on any tier. In Plutio, a signed proposal creates the project, attaches the contract, and activates the client portal in one step.
QuickBooks estimates exist, but they're limited to line-item quotes with no design control, no terms and conditions, and no e-signatures. There's no contract builder, no scope agreement, and no way to attach legal terms to the work. Freelancers using QuickBooks need Proposify ($49/month) or Better Proposals ($19/month) for proposals and DocuSign ($15/month) for signatures, adding $34-64/month on top of the QuickBooks subscription.
Plutio's proposal builder includes drag-and-drop sections, pricing tables, service packages, and built-in e-signatures. Clients review and sign from any device. When the signature goes through, Plutio creates the project with pre-configured tasks and deadlines based on the proposal scope.
Contracts attach to proposals and projects, so the signed scope stays connected to the actual work. The client portal activates with branded access, and the first invoice can generate directly from the approved pricing in the proposal.
With QuickBooks, the entire pre-project workflow happens outside the platform. Proposals go through a separate tool, contracts through another, and project setup happens manually because there's no connection between the signed scope and the work that follows.
In Plutio, a signed proposal becomes a live project with contracts, tasks, and client portal access, all from one signed document.
Time tracking built into every project
QuickBooks locks time tracking behind the $75/month Essentials plan. The $20/month Solopreneur and $38/month Simple Start tiers have none. Plutio includes time tracking on every plan, and tracked hours flow directly into invoice line items.
On QuickBooks Essentials and above, time entries exist but they're disconnected from project phases and task progress. There are no timers running inside tasks, no billable/non-billable separation at the task level, and no direct conversion from tracked hours to invoice line items with task names attached.
Freelancers on lower QuickBooks tiers need Toggl ($9/month), Harvest ($11/month), or Clockify on top, then manually recreate every billable hour as an invoice line item at the end of the billing cycle.
Plutio's time tracking runs inside every project. A built-in timer starts from any task with one click, or hours get logged manually with notes and rates attached. Billable and non-billable hours stay separated so only client-facing work hits the invoice.
At invoice time, tracked hours convert to line items with the task name, duration, and hourly rate already filled in. Time reports break down hours by project, client, or date range, showing exactly where billable hours went and which projects ran over budget.
Every hour tracked in Plutio turns into an invoice line item without manual entry, app switching, or a $75/month plan requirement.
Client portals that show project progress
QuickBooks offers no client portal at any price point. Clients receive invoices by email and pay through a QuickBooks-branded payment link. There's no way for clients to view project progress, upload files, or track milestones.
Plutio's client portals are branded with a custom logo, colors, and domain. Clients log in and see project progress alongside milestones, shared files, unpaid invoices, and messages.
Files upload directly to the project instead of arriving as email attachments. Messages attach to specific tasks so conversations stay in context. Clients approve deliverables and pay invoices from the portal without downloading separate apps or juggling multiple logins.
The portal replaces the email chains, the "just checking in" messages, and the status update requests that pile up between meetings. Clients see what's happening without asking, and freelancers don't need to write separate update emails.
QuickBooks also charges extra for features that are free in the portal. Custom branding? QuickBooks requires higher tiers. Client communication? QuickBooks has no messaging. File sharing tied to projects? QuickBooks doesn't connect documents to project structures because most plans don't have projects.
Plutio's client portals replace status update emails with a branded space where clients track progress, share files, and pay invoices.
With Plutio we don't jump between apps anymore! Everything from projects to invoicing is finally connected in one fully-branded app.
How to switch from QuickBooks to Plutio
Most freelancers switch between projects, finishing active billing in QuickBooks while starting new clients on Plutio.
- Start a free trial: Plutio offers 14 days of full access with no credit card required. Every feature, including projects, invoicing, proposals, time tracking, and client portals, works from day one.
- Import client contacts: Export contacts from QuickBooks as a CSV and import them into Plutio. Client names, emails, and company details carry over in minutes.
- Set up a project template: Create one project template with the standard task list, milestones, and deliverable structure. Every new project starts from the template instead of manual setup.
- Start new clients on Plutio: Send the next proposal from Plutio. When the client signs, the project creates automatically with the template structure, portal access, and contract attached.
- Finish QuickBooks invoices where they are: Active billing stays in QuickBooks until completion. Running both platforms in parallel avoids disrupting client relationships mid-cycle.
- Cancel QuickBooks: Once all active invoicing wraps up, downgrade or cancel the QuickBooks subscription. Export any remaining data as backup before the account closes.
The hardest part of leaving QuickBooks isn't the data migration. The hardest part is accepting that a tool that started at $200/year and now costs $1,380/year was never going to include the project management, proposals, and client portal features a freelance business actually needs.
The switch happens between projects, not mid-project. New clients start on Plutio while QuickBooks billing cycles finish naturally.
