For small Philippine landlords and service businesses

Google Sheets vs QuickBooks

Last updated: May 2026

For a small Filipino business — a landlord with 1–3 properties, a transient house, a single-location service shop — the choice is whether to do bookkeeping in Google Sheets (free, flexible, requires you to design your own structure) or pay for QuickBooks (proper accounting software, BIR-friendly outputs, but a real monthly cost).

For sole proprietors with simple income and expense tracking, Google Sheets paired with a few Make.com automations is more than enough and saves ₱1,000+/month. For VAT-registered businesses, businesses with employees, or anyone managing 5+ rental units, QuickBooks earns its price by reducing the work of monthly compliance and payroll.

Google Sheets vs QuickBooks — by criterion

Each row picks a winner. "Tie" means both options are roughly equivalent on that criterion.

Criterion	Google Sheets	QuickBooks	Winner
Monthly cost	₱0 (free with a Google account).	₱1,200–₱2,500/month depending on plan.	Google Sheets
Initial setup	You design the columns and formulas. Templates exist but require customization.	Guided setup with chart-of-accounts presets.	QuickBooks
BIR / Philippine compliance	Manual — you build your own VAT and OR tracking.	Built-in support for VAT, official receipts, BIR-friendly reports.	QuickBooks
Payroll	Manual sheets only. Doable but tedious for 3+ employees.	Built-in payroll with SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG calculations.	QuickBooks
Integrations with automations (Make.com, Zapier)	Native — Sheets is a first-class integration target for both tools.	Available but more limited and slower to configure.	Google Sheets
Bank reconciliation	Manual paste from bank export.	Automated bank feeds (where supported by Philippine banks).	QuickBooks
Audit trail and accountant collaboration	Possible with version history but not designed for it.	Built for accountant access with role-based permissions.	QuickBooks
Flexibility for non-standard businesses	Total — you can model any business in a sheet.	Constrained to its accounting model. Custom workflows take work.	Google Sheets

Recommendations by use case

The right answer depends on the business. Find the row that matches yours.

Pick: Google Sheets

Solo landlord with 1–3 rental units

Google Sheets paired with Make.com (booking → income row → monthly rollup) handles everything. ₱0/month vs ₱1,500/month for QuickBooks at this scale is meaningful.

Pick: QuickBooks

VAT-registered business with employees

BIR compliance and payroll alone justify QuickBooks at this stage. Doing them in Sheets is technically possible but eats hours every month and has audit risk.

Pick: Google Sheets

Single-location service business (clinic, salon, repair shop) under 5 employees

Sheets + Make.com + a part-time accountant covers this stage well. Move to QuickBooks when you cross VAT registration or hit 5+ employees.

Pick: QuickBooks

Multi-location or multi-property business

Sheets do not scale cleanly past 3–4 locations. QuickBooks handles consolidation, inter-entity transfers, and audit trail for the size you are actually running.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google Sheets really enough for a Filipino small business?

Yes, for sole proprietors and small businesses with simple income/expense tracking and under 5 employees. Sheets paired with Make.com automation (booking data → income sheet, receipts → expense sheet) gives you a real-time P&L for ₱0/month. Move to QuickBooks when compliance complexity (VAT, payroll) exceeds what Sheets can do cleanly.

When does QuickBooks become worth the ₱1,500/month?

When at least one of these is true: you are VAT-registered, you have 3+ employees on payroll, you manage 5+ properties or locations, or your accountant requires it. At that stage QuickBooks saves enough hours to pay for itself.

Can I use both — Google Sheets for operations, QuickBooks for accounting?

Yes, and many small businesses do. Daily operations (bookings, reservations, customer data) live in Sheets where they are easiest to automate. Monthly financials roll up into QuickBooks for compliance and accountant access. This is a common pattern.

How does Google Sheets handle Philippine VAT and BIR requirements?

You build your own VAT tracking columns and OR-numbering scheme. It works, but requires discipline — there is no built-in safety net. If you are VAT-registered, the discipline of QuickBooks is usually worth the cost. If you are still under the VAT threshold, Sheets is fine.

What about Xero or other alternatives?

Xero is comparable to QuickBooks at similar pricing and is preferred by some Philippine accountants. Wave is free but has weaker Philippine compliance support. For most Filipino SMEs the practical choice is Sheets (under VAT threshold) or QuickBooks/Xero (above).

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