Core Platform vs QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is a capable global product. In South Africa its entry tier is single-user and several everyday features sit a tier up. Here is the honest comparison.

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Side by side

The comparison

	Core Platform	QuickBooks Online
Entry price	R 99 a month, everything in. R 29 a month for your first three months if you’re one of the first 50 businesses.	Simple Start is around R 276 a month (verify; a near-permanent 50%-off-for-three-months promo applies).
Invoice limit	Unlimited invoices and quotes. No monthly or yearly cap.	Unlimited invoices.
Users	Unlimited users on one flat price. No per-seat billing.	One user on Simple Start. More users mean a higher tier.
one set of books	Every invoice, payment and credit posts to a real set of books from day one. Switch on Core Accounting and the books are already up to date.	Full double-entry accounting.
SA payment links	Paystack, NjiaPay and PayFast pay-links on every invoice.	Limited South African payment options.
VAT	VAT-aware documents today. The VAT201 return engine is built into Core Accounting for when you register.	VAT returns supported.
Bank	Bank statement import and matching against your bank statement (OFX, QFX and CSV). Live bank feeds are on the roadmap.	Bank feeds and matching against your bank statement.
SA-native	Built in South Africa: ZAR, SARS PAYE and UIF payroll, Bob Go couriers, POPIA-aware.	A global product. Billable expenses are gated to the Plus tier, and SARS payroll isn’t native.
Multi-currency	ZAR only today. If you invoice in foreign currency, Core isn’t the tool for you yet.	Multi-currency on the higher tiers.
Moving in	One-click importers from Zoho, Xero, QuickBooks and Sage CSV exports.	Importers available.

Competitor pricing and features were gathered in July 2026 from public South African pricing pages and may have changed since. Verify the current details with the vendor before you decide. Figures marked approximate weren’t cleanly published in rand at gather time.

Straight answer

When to switch, and when to stay

Switch to Core if

The single-user entry tier means you’re paying more just to give a second person access.
You keep hitting features (like billable expenses) that sit a tier above where you’re.
You want South African payment rails and payroll in the box rather than a global default.

Stay on QuickBooks Online if

You bill in foreign currency. QuickBooks handles multi-currency on higher tiers. Core is ZAR only today, so cross-border billing should stay on QuickBooks for now.
Your accountant lives in QuickBooks. If your bookkeeper or accountant works in QuickBooks daily, that familiarity has real value. Weigh it against the switching cost.
You need a native mobile app. QuickBooks has mature mobile apps. Core is web plus an installable PWA, not a native app yet.

Questions

Common questions

Is QuickBooks Simple Start really single-user?

Yes, at the time of writing Simple Start is one user. Adding people means moving up to Essentials or Plus, so the entry price isn’t the price for a team.

What does Core do that QuickBooks doesn’t in South Africa?

Core builds in South African payment rails (Paystack, NjiaPay, PayFast), SARS PAYE and UIF payroll, and ZAR-first accounting, with unlimited users on one flat price. QuickBooks handles those through add-ons or higher tiers.

Can I move off QuickBooks easily?

Core imports QuickBooks CSV exports (contacts, invoices, credits and refunds, payments), flagged as historical so starting figures stay clean.

Figures checked against QuickBooks Online SA pricing. Vendor pricing moves, so check theirs before you decide.

Next step

Try it on your own numbers.

Load a month of your real data and run the same report out of Core. If it doesn’t beat what you have, we’ll say so.

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