Quick answer
Change your QuickBooks Online plan under Settings, then Subscriptions and billing. You must be the Primary or Company Admin and your payment info must be current. Intuit's invoice documentation prorates the switch: you receive a credit for unused time on the old plan and a prorated charge for the new one. Downgrades need cleanup first and remove any discounts.
Which plan changes QuickBooks Online allows
You can move between QuickBooks Online Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced at any time if you are the Primary or Company Admin. A few routes are blocked by design:
- You cannot change from any QuickBooks Online plan to QuickBooks Ledger.
- Once you upgrade from QuickBooks Solopreneur you cannot go back to it, and the change requires a fresh subscription and setup.
- Subscriptions purchased through the App Store or Google Play must be changed in the store, not inside QuickBooks Online.
- If an accountant bills your subscription to their firm, the firm changes it from QuickBooks Online Accountant rather than from your account.
Changing plans does not touch your books. Intuit states that you keep your data, settings, and account history when you change subscription levels. What changes is feature availability, cost, and how many users and list items you can have.
What changes immediately vs at renewal
Intuit bills in advance for the following month. When you change plans mid-cycle, the company documents prorated charges and credits: the invoice covers the unused time on the old plan and the time on the new plan between the switch date and your billing date. The next invoice bills the new plan's recurring amount.
| What changes | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Plan and feature set | The switch is applied to the account when you confirm it. The new plan's limits are enforced as part of the change, which is why downgrades require cleanup first. |
| Billing true-up | Your next invoice shows a credit for unused time on the old plan and a prorated charge for the new plan. Intuit uses your billing date as the reference point for the calculation. |
| Recurring charge | The following month's invoice bills the new plan's normal rate, with no proration. |
| Discounts | Changing plans removes any discount on your current plan. Promotional pricing does not carry across plans. |
| Data and settings | Retained. No transactions, lists, or history are deleted by a plan change. |
How to read the timing. Treat the confirmation date, your billing date, and the following renewal as three separate events. The change is recorded at confirmation, the prorated credit and charge settle on the next invoice, and the full new rate starts after that period.
Plan limits and features to check before a downgrade
Each plan has hard limits, and QuickBooks Online blocks the downgrade until your account fits inside the target plan's limits. These are the current published numbers:
| Plan | Billable users | Custom fields | Classes / locations | Chart of accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Start | 1 | 1 per transaction | Not available | 250 accounts |
| Essentials | 3 | 4 per transaction | Not available | 250 accounts |
| Plus | 5 | 4 per transaction | 40 combined | 250 accounts |
| Advanced | 25 | 12 per transaction | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Three features decide whether a downgrade is possible. Inventory tracking exists only on Plus and Advanced. Multi-currency exists on Essentials and above, cannot be turned off once enabled, and blocks a move to Simple Start. Recurring transactions require Essentials or higher, so pause templates before moving to Simple Start.
Only active or invited users count toward the user limit, and reports-only and time tracking-only users do not count. Check your real numbers in Settings, then Account and settings, on the Usage tab before you commit to a plan.
What happens to your data when you change plans
The books stay. The behavior of specific features is what changes:
- Inventory quantities reset to zero. Your items stay in QuickBooks, but you stop tracking quantity on hand after the downgrade. Run the Product/Service List report first, including deleted items, so you have a record of the counts.
- Extra users must be removed. Going from Advanced to Plus, or Plus to Essentials, requires deleting users until the account fits the new billable-user limit.
- Classes and locations disappear on Simple Start and Essentials, and custom fields drop to the target plan's limit.
- Multi-currency stays on once enabled and prevents a move to Simple Start entirely.
- Recurring transaction templates must be paused before moving to Simple Start.
- Nothing switches back on automatically. If you later return to a higher plan, Intuit notes that inventory, recurring transaction templates, and apps do not turn on by themselves.
How your payroll and add-ons are affected
Your accounting plan and your payroll subscription are separate products with separate billing. QuickBooks Online Payroll is now sold as Intuit QuickBooks Workforce, and payroll plans are changed from the Intuit QuickBooks Workforce section of Subscriptions and billing, not from the QuickBooks Online section. If the upgrade or downgrade option is missing there, contact support.
Three payroll details matter when you are changing plans. First, if you have both payroll and QuickBooks Online, usage limits come from the QuickBooks Online plan; payroll-only subscribers have 5 billable users. Second, annual payroll billing applies to the base fee only - direct deposit and per-employee fees are still billed monthly. Third, changing your accounting plan does not cancel or change payroll, so review each subscription line separately. If payroll is already failing, fix those QuickBooks Online Payroll issues first.
How to change your QuickBooks Online plan
Confirm admin access and current payment info
Sign in as the Primary Admin or Company Admin. Open Settings, then Subscriptions and billing, and check that the payment method is current. Intuit lists both as prerequisites for any plan change, and a failed charge will block the flow. If a payment is already failing, clear that QuickBooks Online billing problem first.
Compare the plans and your discount end date
Use the downgrade pricing view inside the plan-change flow to compare features side by side. Note any promotional discount you are on, because changing plans removes it. If the discount has months left, calculate whether the downgrade is still cheaper before you proceed.
Audit your usage and inventory
Go to Settings, then Account and settings, and open the Usage tab to see users, accounts, classes, locations, and custom fields. Then run the Product/Service List report from Reports, customize the filter to include Deleted items set to All, and export it. That report is your only clean record of inventory quantities before they reset to zero, so pair it with a full QuickBooks Online data backup.
Downgrading removes features and discounts. Inventory quantities reset to zero, users above the new limit lose access, classes and locations may disappear, and promotional pricing is gone for good. Export the inventory report and confirm who actually needs a login before you start the change.
Remove users above the target plan's limit
Delete billable users until the account fits the plan you are moving to. Review the QuickBooks Online user permissions list first so you do not delete the wrong person.
Clear classes, locations, and extra custom fields
Simple Start and Essentials do not support class or location tracking, so delete or merge classes and locations until you are inside the target limit. Deactivate custom fields you will not use on the lower plan. QuickBooks Online will not let the downgrade continue while the account exceeds these limits.
Turn off inventory tracking and pause recurring templates
If you are moving to Simple Start or Essentials, go to Settings, then Products and services, filter by Inventory type, select all, and use Batch actions to Make inactive. For Simple Start only, also open Recurring transactions and pause each template, because that plan does not include them.
Complete the plan change
Go to Settings, then Subscriptions and billing. In the QuickBooks Online section, select Upgrade your plan or Downgrade your plan, review the available plans, select Choose plan, and follow the on-screen steps. If you originally subscribed through a mobile app store, make the change in that store instead.
Reconfigure features after the switch
On an upgrade, turn on the features you plan to use and add users back. If you return to a higher plan later, inventory tracking, recurring templates, and apps must be switched on manually. Verify one feature at a time and check that historical data still appears correctly.
Verify the change went through
- Open Settings, then Subscriptions and billing, and confirm the plan name and next bill date.
- Select View payment history and read the newest invoice: look for the prorated credit for the old plan and the prorated charge for the new one.
- Return to the Usage tab under Account and settings and confirm the limits now match the new plan.
- Sign in as a non-admin user to confirm their access matches the new plan.
- Test one feature that belongs to the new tier, such as running a recurring transaction on Essentials or class tracking on Plus.
If the plan change will not go through
Most blocked plan changes trace to one of four situations. The Downgrade your plan option may be missing because that subscription cannot be downgraded from your account, or because the account is accountant-billed and only the firm can make the change. An Advanced account that shows a "Changing plans?" or "Contact us" message needs the Advanced Saves Team rather than self-service. App store subscriptions can only be changed in the App Store or Google Play. If you exceed a usage limit, QuickBooks Online keeps blocking the change until users, classes, custom fields, or inventory items are reduced.
After clearing those, retry the flow from Subscriptions and billing. If it still fails, select Help, search for Contact us, and follow the steps to reach support. Have your company ID, current plan, target plan, and a screenshot of the error ready.
Frequently asked questions
Does changing my QuickBooks Online plan delete my data?
No. You keep your data, settings, and account history when you change plan levels. What changes is feature availability and plan limits. Inventory quantities do reset to zero when inventory tracking is removed, so export the Product/Service List report first.
When does a downgrade take effect, and what will my invoice show?
Intuit applies the plan change when you confirm it and settles the money on your next invoice. That invoice shows a prorated credit for the unused portion of the old plan and a prorated charge for the new plan, calculated to your billing date. The recurring new rate starts with the following month's bill.
Can I switch back to my previous plan later?
Yes, with two exceptions: you cannot return to QuickBooks Solopreneur after upgrading, and you cannot change to QuickBooks Ledger from another QuickBooks Online plan. When you move back up, features such as inventory tracking, recurring templates, and apps do not turn on automatically.
Does changing my QuickBooks Online plan change my payroll plan?
No. Payroll is a separate subscription. QuickBooks Online Payroll, now sold as Intuit QuickBooks Workforce, is upgraded or downgraded from the Workforce section of Subscriptions and billing. Review both subscriptions independently so an unused payroll plan does not keep billing.
Will I lose my inventory counts if I downgrade?
Your inventory items stay in QuickBooks, but quantity-on-hand tracking stops and the quantities reset to zero on Simple Start and Essentials. Run and export the Product/Service List report with deleted items included before the downgrade so you keep a permanent record of current counts.