How much does a bookkeeper cost?

It's the question everyone wants answered first, and the honest reply is: it depends. But "it depends" is a frustrating answer, so let's make it useful by walking through the real ranges and what drives them.

A quick note: the figures below are general U.S. market ranges to help you set expectations. Actual pricing varies by region, complexity, and provider — always confirm with a specific quote.

The main ways bookkeepers charge

Hourly

Freelance and independent bookkeepers often charge by the hour, commonly somewhere in the range of $25–$75 per hour, depending on experience and location. Hourly can make sense for small or irregular workloads, but it has a downside: your cost is unpredictable, and you're sometimes penalized for having messy books that take longer.

Monthly (flat-rate)

Many modern bookkeeping services — including ours — charge a flat monthly fee based on the size and complexity of your business. For small businesses, monthly bookkeeping commonly runs anywhere from roughly $200 to $600+ per month, scaling up with transaction volume and the number of accounts.

The big advantage: predictability. You know exactly what you'll pay, and there's no clock ticking that discourages you from asking a question.

In-house employee

Hiring a full-time, in-house bookkeeper means a salary (often $40,000–$55,000+ per year) plus payroll taxes, benefits, software, and management time. For most small businesses this is overkill — it only makes sense at a certain size and complexity.

What actually drives the price

Two businesses can get very different quotes. Here's why:

• Transaction volume. More sales and expenses = more to record and reconcile. This is usually the biggest factor.
• Number of accounts. Multiple bank accounts, credit cards, and loans each need reconciling.
• How clean your books are. A backlog or a mess takes cleanup work before the regular rhythm can start.
• Services included. Basic bookkeeping costs less than a package that adds payroll, invoicing, or detailed reporting.
• Your industry. Some industries (inventory-heavy, multi-location) are simply more complex.

Don't forget software

Bookkeeping usually runs on a platform, and that's a small additional cost (often $15–$30/month) — sometimes bundled into a service's fee, sometimes billed separately. Worth asking about so there are no surprises.

The bottom line

For most small businesses, expect bookkeeping to land somewhere in the $200–$600/month range for an outsourced monthly service, with the exact number driven mostly by your volume and complexity. Cheaper isn't always better — and as the next article explains, the real question isn't just what a bookkeeper costs, but what they're worth to your business.