You're right, Mattclifton. The QuickBooks Online (QBO) Simple Start Plan only offers basic time tracking features.
With the Simple Start version, you can only record a single time entry at a time for employees or vendors. If you want to track billable hours for multiple projects and create invoices from that data, Essentials is a better choice.
Also, the Time feature in QBO is different from a QuickBooks Time subscription. With the built-in Time tool (available in Essentials and higher), you can track billable hours and add them to invoices. QuickBooks Time is a separate app that offers extra features like GPS tracking and scheduling. You can use it on its own or connect it to your QBO account.
To learn more about QuickBooks Time, check out these articles:
If you upgrade from Simple Start to Essentials, your subscription cost will go up, but all your data will stay together for a smoother experience. Since you already know about the higher cost, you might want to look into third-party time-tracking apps that work with QBO. Here’s how to find one that works for you:
- Visit our QuickBooks Apps Store website.
- Click the Search icon and then type Time tracking. After that, press Enter.
- From the lists, select the one that you want to integrate with the program.
If you have more questions about timesheets or anything else in QuickBooks, feel free to ask here anytime.
