QuickBooks Online vs Desktop: Which Is Right for Your Business?

quickbooks desktop vs online

But for most small-business owners in most industries, QuickBooks Online has better automation, better access, and a better price point. Compared to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop offers more advanced accounting. QuickBooks Desktop also offers different versions of its software for certain types of businesses (construction, nonprofits, manufacturing, etc.). These versions offer industry-specific reports, in addition to 50 more reports than you’ll find on QuickBooks Online. Businesses that have purchased one-time licenses of the locally-installed QuickBooks Desktop versions that have been sunset can still use the software’s accounting features. However, these versions don’t receive security updates, live support, or access to cloud-based services such as live bank feeds, QuickBooks Desktop Payments, or QuickBooks Desktop Payroll.

QuickBooks Premier Plus + Payroll

quickbooks desktop vs online

Outside of QuickBooks Enterprise, pricing for QuickBooks Desktop products is not listed online. Whether you’re currently using QuickBooks and need professional consulting services, are looking to buy QuickBooks or even outgrowing QuickBooks, we can help. Despite the declining trend, QuickBooks Desktop still holds a significant revenue share, indicating its continued relevance for certain market segments. The challenge for Intuit will be to innovate and potentially hybridize their desktop offerings to retain loyal customers while transitioning them to the online ecosystem. According detailed QuickBooks financial and quarterly results, the QuickBooks Online Ecosystem has demonstrated a consistent growth trajectory from FY’22 to FY’24.

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  1. This means that QuickBooks Desktop users are limited to one hosting provider — the computer on which the software is installed — or a handful of licensed computers.
  2. Small businesses can customize how they use the platform so that they only use the features they need.
  3. While the features are similar, QuickBooks Desktop offers more functionality, such as the ability to run checks to pay bills and more in-depth customer and vendor management capability.
  4. Other solutions are available that are less expensive, easier to use and offer features that QuickBooks does not.

QuickBooks Pro and Premiere will also discontinue sales to new users on July 31, 2024. In the battle between QuickBooks Online and Desktop, it’s best to focus on the differences between the two accounting software options since they are so similar. I find myself leaning toward the futuristic solution, which makes QuickBooks Online my preferred choice of accounting software (my Ralph https://www.business-accounting.net/off-balance-sheet/ Macchio). Plus, it’s the only one that integrates with Zapier, enabling you to seamlessly link your accounting management to the rest of your business’s tools. All you need is your account information, and you can access your QuickBooks details on any device with an internet connection. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services.

quickbooks desktop vs online

QuickBooks Online is more collaborative, whereas QuickBooks Desktop provides more tools for solo users

Some commented that it’s easy to add vendors and customers and share files with their bookkeepers—and we couldn’t agree more. The cloud accessibility plus the user-friendly interface makes QuickBooks Online easier to use than QuickBooks Desktop. QuickBooks Self-Employed is a QuickBooks Online product for contractors and freelancers, specifically for those who do not have separate business and personal financial accounts.

FreshBooks was built with the freelancer in mind with its single-user access. You can add more users to your account, but it costs $10 per user, per month, at which point FreshBooks loses considerable value. QuickBooks’ range of over 650 integrations will help you connect your account to useful third-party apps and services.

You can also create a supplier database and generate purchase orders to help manage your accounts payable. This plan is best for small businesses, whether an LLC run by just one individual or a simple partnership. It’ll help someone keep their accounting data in one place, although it doesn’t offer many bells and whistles that could be useful for a larger operation. QuickBooks Self-Employed is suitable for freelancers and independent https://www.personal-accounting.org/ contractors who want to be able to track all their business expenses (such as rent or marketing) in one place. If you report income on Schedule C of your personal income tax return, this cost-effective option might be best for you. While QuickBooks Self-Employed is a passable income-tracking and invoicing app for the self-employed, it’s pricier than other freelance-friendly accounting tools like Wave Accounting and Xero.

The QuickBooks Plus plan costs $90 per month, supports five users, and includes several advanced features compared to the Essentials plan. If the three-month deal is applied, this price is dropped to $45 per month. As with Essentials, Plus prices rose by $5 a month in 2023, when it cost $85 per month.

Add payroll to QuickBooks Online starting at $45 per month, or to Desktop starting at $50, plus $2 per employee, per month. For $1,922 per year, get the Enterprise plan with advanced pricing, reporting and inventory. The higher your plan tier, the more reports and users you can add, although it’s important to understand concurrent users are each sold separately. The two versions are independent of each other, which means the data you enter on Desktop doesn’t sync to the Online version and vice-versa.

Luckily, Intuit is often running promotions and discounts on the Intuit website. QuickBooks pricing is based on your plan, the number of users, add-ons, and other factors. Right off the bat, QuickBooks Enterprise has the capability to hold more inventory items – up to 100,000 which is enough for even most enterprise-level businesses.

The licensing agreement specifies when and how you are able to use the software, as well as who is allowed access to it. The four remaining editions of QBO include Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced. Each edition varies in terms of its available features and functionality, with Advanced providing the fullest feature set. If your office computer is a Mac, you can still use QuickBooks Desktop on your Mac.

Integrations are third-party add-ons that give you additional features and capabilities. For example, software such as Shopify, QuickBooks Time, and Mailchimp are all integrations. QuickBooks Pro offers 244 integrations to choose from, QuickBooks Premier has 241 integrations, and QuickBooks Enterprise offers 247 integrations. Each of these versions gives you access deferred tax asset definition to specialized features and reports at no additional cost. You can calculate how much your QuickBooks Enterprise software will cost on the Intuit website by inputting the number of users you need. (To give you an idea of how much this price fluctuates, one user on the Silver plan would cost $1,481/year, while 30 users would cost upwards of $9,729/year).

Reporting options are good in both applications, though only one of the applications offers industry-specific reporting options. QuickBooks Online offers a variety of pricing plans, which range from $12 to $75 for the first three months. A variety of short video tutorials are available as well as on-demand webinars and training classes. One of the best resources is the QuickBooks Online community, where you can connect with other users to share tips, answer questions, and find answers to problems that may arise. Product support can be accessed directly from within the application, where you can ask a question or connect to support personnel.

QuickBooks Online integrates with over 750 third-party integrations, while QuickBooks Desktop only has more than 200. In addition to having more integrations, they tend to be easier to install in QuickBooks Online since they can be activated directly from the QuickBooks Online store within your QuickBooks Online dashboard. Katherine Haan is a small business owner with nearly two decades of experience helping other business owners increase their incomes.

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