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

quickbooks online vs quickbooks desktop

All you need is your account information, and you can access your QuickBooks details on any device with an internet connection. Support network refers to a community of software users that can extend professional help to businesses. Having an independent software expert perform the bookkeeping is good for overall ease of use.

One is sleek and modern, and the other seems to have been designed for a cubicle. Because QuickBooks Online is connected to the cloud, you can work from any device with an internet connection. Small to midsize businesses that want a desktop solution or need advanced inventory and industry-specific features.

QuickBooks Online Review 2024: Features, Pros & Cons

The software itself may look like an outdated image on some monitor within a cubicle maze, but it’s versatile in what it can do. The dashboard does an excellent job dividing all accounting aspects into a flowchart type of view, while the sidebar provides quick access to a list of features. That said, it can feel overwhelming and confusing if you don’t have prior accounting knowledge. 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.

  1. You can send email invites to your accountant from within the software.
  2. For many small-business owners, most of the time, QuickBooks Online works better than QuickBooks Desktop.
  3. We have an extensive history of reviewing QuickBooks products, and we stay up-to-date with the latest features and enhancements.

Online Plus and Payroll Core Bundle

Ease of use gets the highest weight in this case study because we want to give more credit to easy accounting software. For this section, we considered customer service, support network, and a subjective expert opinion score. Users must have easy access to customer service channels in case of problems, questions, or assistance. This takes into account customer management, revenue recognition, invoice management, and collections. QuickBooks Online offers more conceptual framework accounting features on the go and is a better overall value than QuickBooks Desktop. If you don’t need the advanced features offered by the Desktop plan, the Online version will save you money.

Other Benefits

Otherwise, you’ll need QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, which supports up to 40 users. For instance, if you choose the Simple Start plan, you’re the only person who can use the software—apart from your accountant, with whom you can share your business’s account at no additional cost. We also don’t recommend QuickBooks Desktop to Mac users, since there’s just one desktop-based plan for Mac users. This plan, QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, has the same features as QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, the most basic desktop-based plan. In other words, Mac cpa pep admission requirements for holders of undergraduate degrees users can’t scale up their software from one plan to the next as they add software users.

The mobile app for Online is robust, and Desktop’s mobile app is so limited, that it essentially functions as a receipt uploader. Working from the cloud means you need an internet connection, so a poor signal or an intermittent connection can be an issue. Its highest-tiered plan is the Advanced option, which costs $100 per month for the first three months, then $200 per month after that. The Plus Plan is $45 per month for the first three months, then becomes $90 per month, and adds up to five users.

Accounting

If you can file taxes confidently on your own, Enhanced Payroll might be suitable. If you want QuickBooks to file your taxes for you, then you must upgrade to QuickBooks Desktop $27500 income tax calculator california Assisted Payroll. Check out our QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Enhanced vs Assisted comparison for more information. The QuickBooks Desktop mobile app is very limited as it only allows you to capture expense receipts and track business mileage.

quickbooks online vs quickbooks desktop

However, once you’ve signed up, navigate to your account settings, and you can switch to annual billing to save 10%. All Online plans include receipt capture, QuickBooks support and more than 650 app integrations with apps such as PayPal, Square and Shopify. QuickBooks Online is cloud-based accounting software that covers all the accounting needs you may have.

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. If you’re searching for accounting software that’s user-friendly, full of smart features, and scales with your business, Quickbooks is a great option. You can also integrate QuickBooks Online with Zapier, which lets you connect QuickBooks to thousands of other apps in your business’s tech stack. You can do things like automatically add customers to or create receipts in QuickBooks when payments happen in other apps, or track new QuickBooks invoices or payments in another app. Here are a few pre-made workflows to show you what’s possible, but you can use Zapier to connect QuickBooks to almost any app you use.

Categories: Bookkeeping