Different software packages include licenses for 1 to 10 users, up to 20 users, up to 30 users, and up to 40 users. The A/P section focuses on vendor management, bill management, bill payments, and other payable-related transactions. A/P features include creating vendors and bills, recording purchase orders and converting them to bills, creating service items, and recording full or partial bill payments. While both QuickBooks Online and Desktop are supported by a large network of independent ProAdvisors, it’s much easier to share your books with your ProAdvisor using QuickBooks Online. Getting assistance with your Desktop bookkeeping is difficult since you must save an Accountant’s Copy of your company file and send it to your ProAdvisor. The QuickBooks Desktop mobile app is very limited as it only allows you to capture expense receipts and track business mileage.
Industry-Specific Features
- 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.
- Using the data we gathered from this case study, we are able to compare QuickBooks Online and Desktop across several key categories, such as pricing, ease of use, general features, A/P, A/R, and banking.
- Even though QB Desktop has more comprehensive features in general, there are some key features that only QuickBooks Online has, such as bookkeeping support.
- Below we provide a detailed comparison across each feature, where we also determine a winner for each category.
- QuickBooks Online is user-friendly, but it requires some prior accounting knowledge to get the most out of it.
QuickBooks Online is cheaper than QuickBooks Desktop if you need multiple users. For instance, QuickBooks Online Plus only costs $99 per month ($1,080 per year) for up to five users as opposed to Desktop Enterprise, which costs $1,481 per year for consultant invoice templates only one user. Yes, but the only option is QuickBooks Enterprise, as Pro and Premier will no longer be available for new users after July 31, 2024. However, existing Pro and Premier users can still renew their subscriptions. Additionally, all versions of QuickBooks Desktop allow you to set up cost estimates for projects and then compare them to actual expenses. In contrast, you need to upgrade to Advanced to be able to use QuickBooks Online’s budget vs. actual reporting feature.
Why You Can Trust Fit Small Business
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. We at the MarketWatch Guides team spent over 100 hours researching and testing 15 accounting software providers. We looked at all-in-one tools, such as QuickBooks, as well as specific tools for mileage tracking and expense management. During our extensive research of the business accounting industry where we interviewed financial experts and surveyed accounting software users, QuickBooks came up often as a widely used solution. When comparing QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, each version has its own advantages, helping specific businesses with certain financial management needs.
Small Business Templates
Most notably, Premier Plus has 150+ customizable reports for nonprofits, general contractors, and retailers. Unlike QuickBooks Online, Desktop Pro includes built-in inventory management. And if data analysis is an times interest earned ratio important part of growing your business, QuickBooks Desktop is a solid pick. It includes 100+ reports, while QuickBooks Online Simple Start includes around 40.
Assisted migration results may vary based on business complexity and file size. Terms and conditions, features, support, pricing, and service options are subject to change without notice. Terms and conditions, features, support, pricing, and service options subject to change without notice. QuickBooks Desktop is more traditional accounting software that you download and install on your computer, while QuickBooks Online is cloud-based accounting software disposal account you access through the internet.
But local installation means more control over your data, who has access, and overall general security of your business information. While the two iterations are different in some aspects, they’re essentially the same product, and the differences between them aren’t as glaring as they are with other accounting software solutions. The two iterations of QuickBooks’ accounting software shine in different areas. Whereas one is completely online and cloud-based, the other operates locally on your computer.
QuickBooks Enterprise is designed for large businesses or small enterprises and starts at $1,481/year or $142/month. You can add payroll, more users, and cloud hosting for additional fees. Ease of use gets the highest weight in this case study because we want to give more credit to easy accounting software.
Even though QB Desktop has more comprehensive features in general, there are some key features that only QuickBooks Online has, such as bookkeeping support. It’s hard to say which software is cheaper because there are so many variables. But there are some general guidelines to know which version might be the one for your business (and your budget). Our complete QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop comparison covers key differences, pricing, features, and usability, so you can easily decide whether QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop is right for your business. You can use either QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, but not both. You can, however, switch your business’s account from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online without losing your data.
QuickBooks Desktop is also not a great choice for accounting newbies, as the UI is quite unintuitive and has a steep learning curve. And while Desktop has a respectable number of integrations when compared to other accounting software, it falls far short of what QBO offers its users. Not only is QuickBooks Online easier to use, but it offers additional support — for a fee. QuickBooks Online users can sign up for QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping to assist with getting the books up to date and managing bookkeeping tasks. As far as other add-ons, QuickBooks Online integrates with over 750 business apps and programs — well over twice the number of integrations you’ll find with Desktop.
