Advanced Pricing / Control, customize, and automate pricing is included in the Platinum and Diamond subscriptions only. When you upgrade to Enterprise, QuickBooks Desktop’s most comprehensive plan, you’ll gain access to advanced inventory features, including barcode scanning and serial number tracking. Both QuickBooks Online and Desktop are on our list of the best small business accounting software.

• QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop are two solid accounting products from Intuit.
• Priced at only $349.99/year, this accounting software comes with a wide range of features.
• Yet this division between the traditional QBD software and the cloud-based QBO solution leads many home-service professionals to wonder which version of the software might be a better fit for them.

If your home or office has a slow or unpredictable internet connection, QuickBooks Desktop can ensure you can reach most of your data even if the internet goes down overnight. The downside to locally stored data, though, is that you can only access it from where it’s stored. You can pay extra (or upgrade to a pricier plan) to get data hosting through QuickBooks, which will let you access some financial information—though not all of it—on a different device.

When doing business there can be long and complex invoices that take place. However, to make things easier, Quickbooks Pro 2022 helps you track your invoice history. Tracking your invoice history over a long period of time; be it weeks, months, or years is invaluable in accounts. Based on the different accounting software used worldwide, QuickBooks is likely the most popular software used in America. Besides this, it’s also great to comply with industry standards as this software is used in several countries worldwide.

Frequently asked questions about QuickBooks Desktop vs. Online

To access QuickBooks Desktop, on the other hand, you need to use the PC where you have the software installed. It’s worth noting that QuickBooks Desktop is only available on Windows. Each version of QuickBooks has a different set of features, and it can be tricky navigating through all the details. I teach a number of courses on QuickBooks aimed at nonprofit professionals. And over the last five years, I’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of students who choose to use QuickBooks Online instead of QuickBooks Premier or QuickBooks for Mac.

However, QuickBooks Desktop offers better reporting and supports more complex accounting. QuickBooks Online follows a monthly subscription model, making it more affordable for businesses with limited upfront budgets. QuickBooks Desktop requires a one-time purchase, but long-term costs may be higher due to upgrade expenses. Cost considerations depend on individual business needs and preferences. The superiority of QuickBooks Online or Desktop depends on your specific needs.

Meanwhile, not all versions allow you to manage and track unpaid bills. With Plus, you can create projects and add income, expenses, and wages. The Projects tool helps you manage different jobs and projects for your clients and track costs related to labor and materials. However, adp intuit the problem with Plus or any of the other versions is that you can’t compare cost estimates to actual costs by project. QuickBooks has confirmed that they will discontinue support for QuickBooks Desktop 2020 on the 31st of May 2023 as they focus on their online platform.

Common QuickBooks Online Complaints

Another notable difference is QuickBooks Online offers a Self-Employed version for $15 per month, which is not available with QuickBooks Desktop. In terms of affordability, the wide variety of price segments makes it convenient for different types of users at various prices and business models. Based on the pricing offerings, QuickBooks online is more cost efficient when compared to the QuickBooks Desktop Pro version. However, making use of a receipt management system makes your job a lot less difficult.

Solutions

Some user reviews aren’t favorable for the mobile app, which offers limited features. Try using your mobile device web browser to access more QuickBooks Online features if you’re in the field with Internet access. Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop users can apply for optional QuickBooks Payments processing by Intuit Merchant Services. IMS charges transaction fees and other fees for accepting customer credit card, debit card, online invoice, and ACH payments. The sellers receive customer payments in their designated merchant bank account. As a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Mark has extensive knowledge of QuickBooks products, allowing him to create valuable content that educates businesses on maximizing the benefits of the software.

Important Things to Know About QuickBooks Accounting Software

Both offer strong accounting, though QuickBooks Desktop has more features and is more customizable, whereas QuickBooks Online has more automations and is easier to learn and use. Granted, you don’t have to be an accountant to learn QuickBooks Desktop either, but if you are new to accounting, you will need a lot of time to learn the program. We recommend crunching the numbers to decide whether the online or desktop versions of QuickBooks are right for your specific business. Julie is a dynamic professional with over 16 years of rich experience as a VDI and Application Hosting expert. On the weekend, you will find her hanging out with her family or surfing around the North Shore of Oahu.

Company

QuickBooks Online is our overall best small business accounting software. To help narrow down the best plan for your business, answer a few short questions below. This will offer you a customized recommendation based on the responses you give. Afterward, continue reading our article for a more detailed comparison of the five QuickBooks Online versions. QuickBooks Online is probably the better option if you need easy-to-use, remote-access accounting software that can be used from anywhere.

With Spreadsheet Sync, you can easily generate custom reports in a single spreadsheet, create complex calculations, and use Excel’s built-in tools to work on your data. Once the data is finalized in Excel, you can easily post it back to QuickBooks Online Advanced. With Essentials, you can track your unpaid bills easily and pay them directly within QuickBooks.

Also budget for integrated add-on third-party apps, including AP automation software. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.