This article was produced independently by our editorial team. Intuit QuickBooks provided a partnership fee to support our coverage; however, all opinions, research, and recommendations are our own.
If you ever need a quick answer about your business, such as why your profits dipped last month, which invoices are still outstanding, or whether you can afford to take on a new employee, it often means poring over reports until the numbers make sense. In other words, the process is rarely quick.
Intuit Intelligence is the AI assistant built into QuickBooks Online, and it can get instant answers to important questions based on your QuickBooks data. Here’s how it works, what you’ll get based on your plan, what it costs, and how to decide whether it’s a good fit for your business.
QuickBooks
Subscription cost
User access
Features
- Year founded: 1983
- Company headquarters: Mountain View, California
- CEO: Sasan Goodarzi
What is Intuit Intelligence?
Intuit Intelligence combines artificial intelligence and business intelligence to help you better understand your business in real time and get instant answers to your most important financial questions.
The AI assistant connects directly to your QuickBooks data, making it a better resource than a general-purpose chatbot like ChatGPT or Claude. Simply type in a question in plain language, and Intuit Intelligence can give you key information, guide you through a task, or take action on your behalf.
It’s important to note that Intuit Intelligence is currently a beta feature, so it’s crucial to carefully review all outputs you receive for accuracy and soundness.
How Intuit Intelligence works
You can chat directly with Intuit Intelligence to find specific transactions, create reports, explain trends, and get answers to important questions. You can also use the AI assistant to automate some of the more mundane bookkeeping tasks, which can often be a time-suck.
Here’s a look at some of the more helpful features.
Basic searches
You can use Intuit Intelligence to filter your QuickBooks data to find specific transactions, entities, and other records. You can also ask the AI assistant to analyze and summarize files for you to save you some time with more complex records.
Root-cause analysis
Let’s say you’ve noticed that a key metric has changed. You can ask Intuit Intelligence, and it’ll pull up specific customers, vendors, and products that may have influenced the change. The AI assistant can also give you follow-up prompts, allowing you to dig deeper.
For example, if your net income dropped last quarter, Intuit Intelligence could point you toward one or two specific customers that drove the decline. You can then focus your efforts on the root cause of the issue rather than on unrelated ones.
Report building
You can ask Intuit Intelligence to create and customize reports for you with specific filters and date ranges. With higher-tier QuickBooks Online plans, you can even ask the AI assistant to write an executive summary, which you can use to explain your financials to stakeholders.
Insights and brainstorming
In addition to root-cause analysis, you can also get more basic insights into your QuickBooks data to better understand trends and results. You can also use Intuit Intelligence as a sounding board to get some new ideas on improving numbers or innovations or solve more complicated problems.
Handle tasks for you
You can use Intuit Intelligence to connect and set up your bank accounts, create invoices, upload expenses, detect unusual or unexpected activity, and run payroll or create individual paychecks.
You can even set up some custom automations to minimize your workload going forward. For example, you might set one up to flag invoices that are more than three days overdue. When it runs, those invoices show up in the “Needs attention” section of your QuickBooks homepage, and you can send reminders from there.
The AI assistant will even prompt automations based on your patterns. For instance, if you pull the same report on the same day every week, it’ll ask if you want it to produce the report for you automatically.
Forecasts and scenario analysis
You can use Intuit Intelligence to get a 12-month financial forecast, including income, expenses, and cash flow, based on past activity. Once you have those numbers, you can run different scenario analyses to better predict potential outcomes.
For example, if you’re thinking about taking on a new hire, you can run an analysis to see if you can reasonably afford it.
Just keep in mind that the AI assistant needs at least two years of financial data to provide an accurate forecast. Also, forecasts are only as good as the data used, so you’ll need to make sure your books are in good shape to begin with.
What Intuit Intelligence does on each QuickBooks Online plan
Only paid QuickBooks Online plans include access to Intuit Intelligence, and the features you get can vary from plan to plan. That said, all plans offer the same base amount of Intuit Intelligence prompts per month. Here’s a quick glance at what you get with each plan:
How much Intuit Intelligence costs
Intuit Intelligence is included with a paid QuickBooks Online subscription. Here’s what each plan costs as of this writing (Intuit is currently offering 50% off these prices for your first three months if you forgo a free 30-day trial):
- Simple Start: $38 per month.
- Essentials: $85 per month.
- Plus: $140 per month.
- Advanced: $340 per month.
But as noted above, your usage is capped with each plan. If you hit your monthly chat limit, you can add another 100 prompts per month for $10 per month. This add-on renews with your monthly subscription, but you can cancel it anytime. It is possible to purchase multiple batches of 100 prompts for $10 per batch should you find yourself relying heavily on the feature.
Pros and cons of Intuit Intelligence
Intuit Intelligence can be incredibly useful for some business owners, but as with any AI assistant, it’s important to take every response with a grain of salt. Here’s a look at some of the benefits and drawbacks of the feature.
Pros
- Personalized assistance and advice: Intuit Intelligence works from your real-time QuickBooks data, so the responses you get aren’t hypothetical. It can give you plain-language explanations of why numbers change or help you evaluate important business decisions.
- Can work on your behalf: You can use the AI assistant to perform some of your busywork and even automate some of your mundane bookkeeping tasks, giving you more time to work on what matters most.
- Included with every paid plan: While your access and features will vary, you’ll get some form of help with every QuickBooks Online paid plan.
Cons
- Still in beta: Being in beta mode means that Intuit hasn’t worked out all the kinks yet. So, it’s crucial that you scrutinize every response you receive for accuracy and soundness.
- Limited prompts: Even higher-tier plans only include 25 base prompts for the AI assistant each month. You can purchase additional prompts in batches of 100 for $10. However, Intuit says there are currently no plans to offer unlimited prompts.
- Potentially less valuable for newer businesses: Many Intuit Intelligence features can be helpful for newer ventures, but if you want forecasting help, that requires at least two years of financial data.
The takeaway
Intuit Intelligence is a useful, albeit at the moment limited, addition to QuickBooks Online. Because it works from your live books, it can explain what’s driving your numbers and handle a lot of the busywork for you.
The trade-off is that it’s still in beta mode, and your usage is capped. If you want to use it, you’ll need to be strategic about how to use your prompt allotment, and you’ll also need to double-check its work.
Frequently asked questions
Can Intuit Intelligence make changes without my approval?
Generally, no. The AI assistant won’t change any default settings without your confirmation, and even invoices are drafted for quick review before they’re sent out.
Can Intuit Intelligence help me learn QuickBooks?
Yes. If you’re new to QuickBooks Online, you can ask specific product questions or request guidance through specific tasks. While that leaves fewer prompts for other requests, it can help flatten the learning curve considerably in your first few months with QuickBooks.
Can Intuit Intelligence replace my accountant?
Intuit Intelligence can provide valuable insights and perform important tasks, but it’s not meant to replace your accountant. In fact, the AI assistant proactively suggests where a human expert can add more value.