AndCo vs. QuickBooks: Which tool is right for you?

Choosing your business management software comes down to a simple question: is your primary goal to manage clients or to manage accounting? AndCo (now part of HoneyBook) builds its entire platform around the client's journey, integrating proposals, contracts, and invoicing into one seamless workflow. QuickBooks, on the other hand, is built from the ground up as a comprehensive accounting system designed for detailed financial tracking, payroll, and tax compliance.

What is AndCo (now part of HoneyBook)?

AndCo started as a toolkit designed specifically for the modern freelancer. It offered a free, user-friendly suite of tools for proposals, invoicing, expense tracking, and time management. In 2021, AndCo was acquired by HoneyBook, a platform that focuses on "clientflow"—managing the entire client engagement process from initial contact to final payment. Today, AndCo's features are fully integrated into HoneyBook's platform.

The core purpose of the HoneyBook platform is to provide solopreneurs and small service-based businesses with a single system to manage clients. This includes sending professional proposals, getting contracts signed electronically, scheduling appointments, sending invoices, and accepting payments. While it has finance tools like expense and time tracking, its strength lies in streamlining client interactions and project management, not in deep accounting.

What is QuickBooks?

QuickBooks is a full-featured accounting software created by Intuit, and it's one of the most widely used platforms by small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It's designed to be a central hub for all financial activities, providing everything a business needs for complete bookkeeping and financial oversight. Its features include a general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, bank reconciliation, financial statement generation (like Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet), inventory management, payroll processing, and detailed tax reporting.

It's built for business owners who need a true accounting system to monitor financial health, maintain compliance, and provide accurate reports to accountants, lenders, or investors. QuickBooks serves a broad range of industries, from retail and restaurants to professional services and construction.

Comparing AndCo (HoneyBook) vs. QuickBooks

The best way to see the difference between these tools is to put them side by side. HoneyBook is a client management platform with financial attachments, while QuickBooks is a financial platform with some customer management features.

Feature Area

QuickBooks

AndCo (within HoneyBook)

Core Accounting

Full double-entry accounting with accounts payable/receivable, bank reconciliation, and general ledger.

Limited to invoicing, expense capture, and time tracking. Not a full accounting system.

Financial Reporting

Extensive and customizable reports, including P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow statements, and tax-ready summaries.

Basic views of income, expenses, and profit tied to invoicing and projects.

Payroll

Offers a fully integrated payroll service at an additional cost, managing wages, taxes, and filings.

Does not offer a payroll solution.

Tax Support

Calculates sales tax, tracks deductions, and prepares for 1099 filings. Integrates with tax software.

Minimal features; allows you to categorize expenses that may be tax-deductible but provides no direct tax tools.

Client Management

Functions as an invoicing and payment database for customers.

Central focus of the platform, with proposals, e-signatures for contracts, scheduling, and communication history.

Ease of Use

Can have a moderate learning curve due to the comprehensive nature of its accounting features.

Very intuitive and easy to use, designed for creative professionals and freelancers who are not accountants.

Integrations

Massive ecosystem with hundreds of third-party apps for inventory, CRM, e-commerce, and more.

Fewer integrations, primarily focused on calendars, email, and workflow automation tools like Zapier.

Pricing

Tiered plans from $15/mo (Self-Employed) to $85+/mo, with additional costs for payroll and other services.

HoneyBook plans bundle all features and start around $9/mo, with tiers for more advanced functionality.

Core Accounting & Reporting

This is the biggest distinction between the two. QuickBooks is a real accounting system. It uses double-entry bookkeeping, which means every transaction is recorded correctly in your financial statements. You can run detailed reports like the Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Statement of Cash Flows. This is the information your accountant needs to file your taxes and that you need to apply for a business loan. It also includes functions like bank reconciliation, accounts payable (bills you need to pay), and accounts receivable (money owed to you).

HoneyBook does not have a general ledger or the ability to produce formal financial statements. Its financial tools are designed for project-level clarity. You can see how much money a specific project generated and what expenses were tied to it. It offers a simple P&L view, but it's based on your invoices and logged expenses, not a full chart of accounts. For a freelancer wanting to know if they were profitable last month, it’s fine. For a business needing to understand its overall financial position, it's insufficient.

Client & Project Management

Here, the roles are reversed. HoneyBook is created to manage projects and clients from start to finish. You can send a client a brochure, an interactive proposal, a contract for e-signature, and an invoice, all from one streamlined sequence. It centralizes client communication and keeps all project files in one place. This "clientflow" is its biggest strength and helps solo professionals look organized and professional.

QuickBooks handles customers primarily from a billing perspective. You can create customer profiles, track their payment history, and send them invoices. It does its job well, but it doesn't provide the all-in-one proposal, contract, and project communication hub that defines HoneyBook.

Payroll & Tax Features

If you have employees or even 1099 contractors you need to pay regularly, QuickBooks is the clear choice. It offers QuickBooks Payroll as an add-on service that automates payroll calculations, tax withholdings, and tax form filings. It can also manage and file 1099s for your contractors. For sales tax, QuickBooks can calculate rates based on location and track what you owe.

HoneyBook has no payroll capabilities at all. While you can use it to pay contractors through its payment processor, it won't handle tax filings or 1099 generation. Its tax utility is limited to helping you categorize your spending for potential deductions; it does not help you calculate or remit any actual taxes.

Integrations & Scalability

A business's software needs grow and change over time. QuickBooks is built to accommodate this with its massive app marketplace. You can connect it to specialized inventory systems, CRM platforms, e-commerce stores, and thousands of other tools. This makes it a scalable solution that can grow with your company.

HoneyBook's integrations are more limited and tailored to the needs of a freelancer. It connects well with tools like Gmail and Google Calendar for scheduling and communication, and Zapier allows for some connections to other apps. However, it's designed to be an all-in-one system for its target user, not a central financial hub that connects to a dozen other specialized business tools.

Pricing

The pricing models reflect their different purposes. HoneyBook offers simple, all-inclusive subscription tiers. For a single monthly price, you get access to most or all of its features, making it a predictable and often more affordable option for an individual.

QuickBooks uses a tiered pricing structure that starts low for basic needs but increases as you add more functionality. The entry-level plans cover basic bookkeeping, but moving to plans that support more users, inventory management, or project profitability tracking will cost more. Payroll and payment processing are separate, additional costs. This a la carte structure makes it flexible but potentially much more expensive.

Which One Should You Choose?

The decision isn't about which tool is "better" overall, but which one is better suited for your specific business structure and priorities.

You should choose AndCo (within HoneyBook) if:

• You are a freelancer or solopreneur. The platform is built for you. Photographers, designers, writers, consultants, and other service-based independents are the ideal users.
• Your priority is managing clients and projects. If your main goal is to look professional, streamline proposals and contracts, and combine client communication with invoicing, HoneyBook is the answer.
• You want an all-in-one, simple tool. If the thought of learning a complex accounting system sounds frustrating, HoneyBook's user-friendly interface is a significant advantage.
• Your accounting needs are simple. You just need to send invoices, track payments, and get a basic P&L overview for yourself.

You should choose QuickBooks if:

• You are a small or growing business with employees. If you need to run payroll, QuickBooks is the only option of the two.
• You need a true accounting system. For managing a chart of accounts, generating formal financial statements, and performing bank reconciliations, you need QuickBooks.
• You sell products or manage inventory. QuickBooks has dedicated features for inventory tracking, which HoneyBook lacks entirely.
• Your accountant uses it. Nearly every accountant and bookkeeper is familiar with QuickBooks, making collaboration and tax filing significantly easier.
• You plan to seek funding. Lenders and investors will require the detailed, professional financial reports that only a system like QuickBooks can produce.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, selecting between HoneyBook and QuickBooks is about choosing the right tool for the right job. For a freelancer juggling clients, HoneyBook provides a polished and efficient system to manage everything from lead capture to final payment. For any business that needs to take its finances seriously, track detailed performance, and maintain compliance, QuickBooks remains the industry standard.

Regardless of which software you use to organize your numbers, complex tax scenarios can always pop up. When interpreting new IRS guidance or handling multi-state tax questions for clients, turning raw data into an accurate, compliant answer is what matters most. For those moments, Feather AI serves as your research assistant, delivering instant answers backed by citations from authoritative tax sources, ensuring you provide timely and accurate advice.