Maya K.
Senior Full-Stack Developer
$120/hr
★★★★★4.9
React
Node.js
Hire Freelance Bookkeepers From the Top 1%: Small Business, Part Time and QuickBooks Experts in 48 Hours
Hire a bookkeeper for small business work with one brief: we hand-match vetted US bookkeepers, part time virtual bookkeepers and freelance accountants to your books, your software and your filing calendar within 48 hours. Escrow holds the money until you approve the month, and every candidate has been screened on real reconciliations rather than a resume.
$30 to 110/hr US band
48h to shortlist
10% flat project fee
Find your freelancer
Preview
Role
Budget
Start
Your top matches
2 of 3 can start this week All 3 available this month Flexible start dates
Andrei P.
Senior Backend Engineer
$135/hr
★★★★★5.0
Python
AWS
Jonas W.
Mobile Developer
$110/hr
★★★★★4.9
Flutter
iOS
Sofia R.
Product Designer
$95/hr
★★★★★4.9
Figma
Design systems
Nina H.
UX Designer
$105/hr
★★★★★5.0
Research
Prototyping
Tomás L.
Brand Designer
$85/hr
★★★★★4.8
Identity
Packaging
Daniel O.
Conversion Copywriter
$110/hr
★★★★★4.9
Landing pages
Email
Claire B.
Technical Writer
$90/hr
★★★★★4.9
SaaS docs
API guides
Priya S.
Content Strategist
$75/hr
★★★★★4.8
B2B blogs
SEO briefs
Lucas M.
Growth Marketer
$115/hr
★★★★★4.9
Paid social
CRO
Emma T.
SEO Specialist
$95/hr
★★★★★4.9
Technical SEO
Content
Rafael D.
Performance Marketer
$125/hr
★★★★★5.0
Google Ads
Analytics
Hana Y.
Video Editor
$85/hr
★★★★★4.9
Short-form
Motion graphics
Marco V.
Post-Production Editor
$95/hr
★★★★★4.8
Color grade
Sound design
Alice G.
YouTube Editor
$70/hr
★★★★★4.9
Retention edits
Thumbnails
Rachel N.
Small-Business Bookkeeper
$55/hr
★★★★★4.9
QuickBooks Online
Monthly close
Derek C.
Senior Bookkeeper
$75/hr
★★★★★5.0
Reconciliations
AR and AP
Monica F.
Freelance Accountant (CPA)
$105/hr
★★★★★4.9
Xero
1099 filing
Grace A.
Executive Virtual Assistant
$45/hr
★★★★★4.9
Inbox and calendar
Travel
Bianca T.
Operations Assistant
$38/hr
★★★★★4.9
CRM hygiene
Data entry
Jordan R.
Social Media Assistant
$42/hr
★★★★★4.8
Scheduling
Community
Elena M.
Technical SEO Consultant
$120/hr
★★★★★5.0
Audits
Core Web Vitals
Chris P.
SEO Content Strategist
$95/hr
★★★★★4.9
Topic clusters
On-page
Nadia V.
Link and Digital PR Lead
$105/hr
★★★★★4.8
Outreach
Authority
Dana R.
Google Ads Consultant
$130/hr
★★★★★5.0
Search and lead gen
Conversion tracking
Tomas O.
Paid Search Manager
$110/hr
★★★★★4.9
Shopping and PMax
Feed strategy
Sasha W.
PPC Specialist
$85/hr
★★★★★4.9
Account audits
Budget pacing
Ravi K.
Senior Data Scientist
$140/hr
★★★★★5.0
Python
Forecasting
Laura O.
ML Engineer
$150/hr
★★★★★4.9
scikit-learn
MLOps
Sam B.
Analytics Data Scientist
$115/hr
★★★★★4.9
SQL
Dashboards
Tobias A.
Senior DevOps Engineer
$135/hr
★★★★★5.0
AWS
Terraform
Priya N.
Platform / SRE Engineer
$145/hr
★★★★★4.9
Kubernetes
CI/CD
Marcus C.
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
$125/hr
★★★★★4.9
Azure
GitHub Actions
Ava L.
Social Media Manager
$65/hr
★★★★★4.9
Instagram
TikTok
Diego M.
Content and Community Manager
$55/hr
★★★★★4.9
Content calendar
Community
Kayla R.
Paid Social Strategist
$85/hr
★★★★★4.8
Meta Ads
Reporting
Julian C.
Management Consultant
$165/hr
★★★★★5.0
Strategy
GTM
Rebecca A.
Operations Consultant
$130/hr
★★★★★4.9
Process design
SOPs
Victor P.
Financial / FP&A Consultant
$150/hr
★★★★★4.9
Modeling
Fundraising
Grace H.
Freelance CPA
$120/hr
★★★★★5.0
Tax prep
Advisory
Nathan D.
Tax Accountant
$110/hr
★★★★★4.9
S-corp
1040 and 1120
Lena P.
Fractional Controller
$135/hr
★★★★★4.9
GAAP close
Financial reports
Dana R.
Direct-Response Copywriter
$115/hr
★★★★★5.0
Sales pages
Email sequences
Marcus B.
Conversion Copywriter
$100/hr
★★★★★4.9
Landing pages
A/B testing
Sara K.
Ad and Brand Copywriter
$90/hr
★★★★★4.9
Paid social
Taglines
Ivan V.
Senior QA Automation Engineer
$105/hr
★★★★★5.0
Playwright
CI pipelines
Priya M.
SDET / Test Engineer
$95/hr
★★★★★4.9
Cypress
API testing
Dana K.
Manual and Exploratory QA Lead
$75/hr
★★★★★4.9
Test plans
Regression
Ravi T.
Certified Salesforce Developer
$125/hr
★★★★★5.0
Apex
LWC
Megan B.
Salesforce Technical Architect
$160/hr
★★★★★4.9
Integrations
Sales Cloud
Carlos O.
Salesforce Admin and Consultant
$95/hr
★★★★★4.9
Flows
Service Cloud
Lena C.
Senior UX Designer
$115/hr
★★★★★5.0
User research
Figma
Devon M.
UI and Interaction Designer
$100/hr
★★★★★4.9
Design systems
Prototyping
Amara K.
UX Researcher
$90/hr
★★★★★4.9
Usability testing
Journey maps
Elena B.
Senior Webflow Developer
$105/hr
★★★★★5.0
Webflow CMS
Interactions
Jordan R.
Webflow Designer and Builder
$90/hr
★★★★★4.9
Figma to Webflow
SEO setup
Tarek S.
Webflow Migration Specialist
$120/hr
★★★★★4.9
WordPress migration
Core Web Vitals
Sofia M.
Certified Legal Translator
$75/hr
★★★★★5.0
ATA certified
Spanish/English
Yuki T.
Localization Specialist
$68/hr
★★★★★4.9
App localization
Japanese/English
Rami A.
Medical and Technical Translator
$82/hr
★★★★★4.9
Life sciences
Arabic/English
Nadia P.
Senior Commercial Illustrator
$105/hr
★★★★★5.0
Brand illustration
Vector
Cole J.
Editorial and Spot Illustrator
$85/hr
★★★★★4.9
Editorial
Procreate
Hana L.
Children's Book Illustrator
$90/hr
★★★★★4.9
Character design
Book covers
Example profiles for preview. Your real shortlist is hand-picked for your brief once your early-access spot opens.
Fund milestone 1 · $1,800 in escrow · $4,800 in escrow · $12,500 in escrow · released on your approval
What they handle
What a freelance bookkeeper actually does each month
The job is a cycle, not a pile of data entry. Transactions come in from bank and card feeds, get coded to the right account, and get matched against what actually happened. Receivables get chased, bills get scheduled, payroll gets booked, and at the end of the period everything is reconciled so the balance sheet ties to statements you can prove. A good bookkeeper closes the month by a date you can plan around, usually the tenth to the fifteenth, and hands you a P and L you can read without a translator.
Monthly close
Coding, accruals or cash-basis entries, depreciation schedules, and a P and L, balance sheet and cash flow delivered on a fixed date every month.
Bank and card reconciliation
Every account tied to the statement, including merchant processors like Stripe and Square where deposits net out fees and refunds.
AR and AP
Invoicing, collections follow-up, aging reports, vendor bills entered and scheduled so you approve payment runs instead of hunting for due dates.
Payroll and 1099s
Payroll journal entries from Gusto, ADP or Rippling, contractor tracking through the year, and clean 1099-NEC prep before the January deadline.
Sales tax support
Tracking taxable sales by state, reconciling what your platform collected against what is owed, and prepping filings for you or your CPA to submit.
Cleanup and catch-up
Six months or three years behind, books rebuilt from statements, duplicates removed, opening balances fixed, and a file your accountant will accept.
Where the line sits matters. Bookkeepers keep the records; a CPA signs the return and owns tax positions. If your team also pays contractors regularly, our guide to 1099 versus W2 classification covers the general rules worth understanding before year end.
Rates
How much does it cost to hire a bookkeeper in 2026?
Hourly, monthly or fixed project
Most small businesses end up on a flat monthly fee once volume is known, because both sides prefer a predictable number. Hourly suits catch-up work and one-time cleanups, where nobody can honestly quote the hours until the file is opened. Bookkeepers on SuperGig keep 100% of their rate, quote it up front, and work in milestones you fund through escrow for freelancers, so an unreconciled month never becomes a paid deliverable.
- Part time is normal: many books need 5 to 20 hours a month.
- Platform fee is 10% per project, nothing monthly.
- Wrong fit? Free rematch, new shortlist within 48 hours.
| Role | Hourly rate | Typical work |
|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | $30 to 55/hr | Monthly close, categorization, bank and card reconciliations |
| Senior bookkeeper / controller-lite | $60 to 95/hr | Accrual close, budgets, cash forecasting, month-end review |
| Freelance accountant (CPA) | $75 to 110/hr | GAAP treatment, adjusting entries, tax-ready packages |
| Payroll specialist | $40 to 70/hr | Payroll runs and journal entries, contractor and 1099 tracking |
| Cleanup / catch-up specialist | $45 to 85/hr | Rebuilding neglected books, fixing balances, IRS-ready files |
Bands reflect US-based freelancers in 2026 and move with transaction volume, number of entities and state filing complexity. For how freelance pricing works across roles, read how much it costs to hire a freelancer.
Vetting
How bookkeepers earn a place on the roster
- 01 Books and portfolio review. Sanitized client files reviewed for chart of accounts hygiene, close discipline and how clearly the reporting reads. Credentials such as QuickBooks ProAdvisor or Xero certification are verified, not taken on faith.
- 02 Technical assessment. A timed test on messy reconciliations, merchant deposit netting, accrual versus cash treatment and a month-end close checklist, then defended live so we know the reasoning is theirs.
- 03 Live project simulation. A paid task on a real anonymized brief: close a period from raw statements, explain every adjusting entry and flag what they would ask the owner about.
- 04 Reference check. Past clients and their CPAs confirm accuracy, deadline reliability and whether the file needed rework at tax time.
The screen is built to pass fewer than 1 in 20 applicants.
Give access without giving away the keys
Never share your online banking password. Standard practice is a read-only bank feed or accountant-level connection, a QuickBooks Online or Xero user with the permissions the work requires and nothing more, and payment approval that stays with an owner. Set it up that way on day one and offboarding is a two-minute job.
- Read-only feeds, no shared banking credentials, ever.
- Named user accounts you can revoke, not a shared login.
- Escrow milestones tied to a closed, reconciled period.
- Larger finance team? See enterprise hiring.
Getting it right
Software, cleanup work, and when to upgrade to a fractional controller
QuickBooks Online vs Xero vs NetSuite
QuickBooks Online is the default in the US, which matters mostly because your CPA already knows it and almost every bookkeeper can pick up the file. Xero is cleaner for multi-currency and unlimited users, and its bank rules are pleasant to work in. NetSuite is a different tier entirely, worth it when you have multiple entities, inventory and real consolidation needs, and expensive when you do not. Pick the system your accountant will accept, then hire someone fluent in it rather than someone who will learn on your books.
Catch-up and cleanup engagements
Behind on your books is common and fixable. A cleanup is scoped as its own project: the bookkeeper pulls statements for every open period, rebuilds transactions, removes duplicates from double-imported feeds, corrects opening balances, and reconciles forward until the file ties. Expect questions you will need to answer about old transfers and owner draws. Fund it as a separate milestone from your ongoing monthly work so the two never blur, and only start the recurring close once the historical file is actually clean.
When part time is no longer enough
A part time bookkeeper handles the record keeping. You outgrow that when the questions change from "is this reconciled" to "can we afford this hire" or "what does our cash look like in ninety days". That is controller territory: forecasting, budget variance, margin analysis and investor or lender reporting. Many businesses keep the bookkeeper and add a fractional controller for a few hours a month, which is far cheaper than a full-time finance hire and usually the right move around the point where revenue and headcount both start compounding.
Weighing an individual against an outsourced firm? Our breakdown of freelancer versus agency applies directly to bookkeeping, where agencies rotate junior staff across accounts and a dedicated freelancer learns your business once. If you have hired on other marketplaces, the differences are laid out in our SuperGig vs Upwork comparison.
Briefing guide
How to brief a freelance bookkeeper
Lead with volume, not vibes
Say how many bank and card accounts you have, roughly how many transactions a month, whether you run payroll and how many states you owe sales tax in. Those four numbers let an experienced bookkeeper quote accurately instead of hedging.
Say what shape the books are in
Current and clean, three months behind, or never really started? Be honest. Cleanup priced as if it were routine monthly work is the single most common reason these engagements go sideways in month two.
Name the software and the deadline
QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite or a shoebox. Then state the close date you need and who else consumes the reports, whether that is a CPA, a lender or a board. Deadlines drive the fee more than volume does.
Scope the first milestone as one month
Have them close a single period end to end before you commit to a retainer. You see their work product cheaply, escrow releases on your approval, and the free 48-hour rematch is there if the fit is wrong.
New to hiring this way? The full process, brief to shortlist to release, is in how to hire a freelancer, and how to vet a freelancer covers the reference calls and trial work that matter most for a finance hire.
FAQ
Hiring a bookkeeper: common questions
How much does it cost to hire a bookkeeper?
US freelance bookkeepers generally charge $30 to $60 per hour, and senior or controller-level help runs $65 to $110. Many small businesses instead buy a fixed monthly close, often $300 to $1,200 depending on transaction volume, bank and card accounts, payroll and sales tax filings. Catch-up work on neglected books is usually quoted separately as a one-time project.
What is the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant?
A bookkeeper records and reconciles the day to day: transactions, invoices, bills, payroll entries and the monthly close. An accountant, often a CPA, works one level up, handling tax strategy, adjusting entries, GAAP treatment and the filed return. Most small businesses need a bookkeeper monthly and a CPA a few times a year, and the two work best together on the same clean file.
Do I need a bookkeeper or can I use software?
Software records transactions but it does not decide whether they are coded correctly, and that judgment is what a bookkeeper sells. QuickBooks Online or Xero can run close to autopilot for a simple sole proprietorship. Once you add payroll, inventory, multi-state sales tax, contractors or more than a couple hundred transactions a month, a human costs less than the cleanup would.
How do I know if a freelance bookkeeper is trustworthy?
Check references from clients in your industry, confirm any QuickBooks ProAdvisor or Xero certification, and ask to see how they document a close. Then design the access so trust is not required: read-only bank feeds, no shared banking passwords, and payment approvals that stay with you. Every bookkeeper here passes a four-stage screen and works against escrowed milestones you approve.
Nothing here is tax advice. Rules on sales tax nexus, worker classification and filing deadlines vary by state and change, so confirm your specific situation with a CPA or tax professional before acting.
Hire a Freelance Bookkeeper This Week
Brief your books today, review a vetted top-1% shortlist within 48 hours, and pay only for periods you approve.