You can add payroll, more users, and cloud hosting for additional fees. When working with the Desktop version, it’s downloaded right to your computer. This means the data operates as fast as your computer, all without needing to worry about a connection issue. You must pay an additional fee for every user who wants to access the account simultaneously, whereas Online lets multiple users access the account at the same time. The most notable difference, aside from price, between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop is the Online version is cloud-based. The mobile app for Online is robust, and Desktop’s mobile app is so limited, that it essentially functions as a receipt uploader.

Fortunately, a mobile app is now available with the introduction of QuickBooks Desktop 2022. QuickBooks Online is a more attractive option for budget-conscious small business owners looking for a flexible software solution. In the battle between QuickBooks Online versus Desktop, QuickBooks Online is the more flexible solution and can meet the needs of more small businesses. With two software solutions that are very alike, it’s best to focus on the differences between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop that are most important to potential adopters.

Because the Plus plan enables users to view and track projects, including project expenses and labor costs, users can accurately track a project’s profitability and generate relevant reports on project progress. QuickBooks Online Plus is ideal for businesses manufacturing products and tracking inventory. Besides this, it provides additional features like tracking inventory and project profitability.

The QuickBooks Desktop mobile app has limited functionality, allowing users to upload receipts, bills, and documents to QuickBooks. The QuickBooks Desktop mobile app requires an active Plus or Enterprise subscription. Must be installed on a camera-enabled mobile device using Android 5.0 or iOS 12 or later. Both QuickBooks Online and Desktop are on our list of the best small business accounting software.

The app also scans receipts and tracks expenses, which the software then sorts by tax write-off category. Plus, QuickBooks Self-Employed syncs with TurboTax (which is also owned by Intuit) to make tax filing a little simpler. QuickBooks Online is a software-as-a-service accounting program that is hosted online, while QuickBooks Desktop is a locally-installed accounting program with a yearly subscription pricing model. The company has updated its help centers to be more user-friendly, but there’s still no email support.

QuickBooks Accountant is specifically designed for accounting firms and bookkeepers, with the goal of handling accounting transactions for companies that are not their own. The Accountant’s version provides bookkeeping services that can import accountant copy files from clients, batch enter transactions, and run a working trial balance report. In addition, the Premier and Enterprise plans offer more than 150 reports, with industry-specific reporting options available. QuickBooks also offers several desktop versions of its cloud-based accounting software, including QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus and  QuickBooks Enterprise. Most midsize businesses can’t afford to (and don’t need to!) spend that much cash on accounting software. You can infer this from the plan’s name alone, but with a cost that high, Enterprise’s price is best suited to enterprises.

Can I switch from QuickBooks Self-Employed to any other version of QuickBooks Online?

In addition to the strong accounting you’d expect with a QuickBooks desktop product, QuickBooks Enterprise provides invoicing, expense tracking, contact management, project management, job costing, and more. QuickBooks Enterprise also offers much better customer support than QuickBooks Pro or QuickBooks Online with its Priority Circle customer support. Launched back in 1992, QuickBooks Desktop Pro is the software that put QuickBooks on the map.

In some way, shape, or form, QuickBooks has been one of the leading small business accounting software solutions since it’s inception. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. All QuickBooks Online plans include good reporting options, with the Advanced plan offering the most comprehensive reporting options, including key financial metrics such as revenue and cash flow. 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. QuickBooks Desktop is designed for small to mid-size businesses that are looking for the reliability of a desktop software solution.

QuickBooks Pro Vs Premier: Which Is Better in 2023?

Both options, however, are working to reduce long hold times on the phone by now offering a callback feature. If your business needs sales orders, QuickBooks Desktop is your only option. Although Intuit has talked about adding sales orders to QuickBooks Online, this feature is only available with QuickBooks Desktop products at this time. Both include the basic reports you’d expect to find with accounting software, such as a balance sheet, a Profit & Loss report, a cash flow statement, etc.

• It is best for those types of companies which wants online access of their books.
• When you think of the most popular online accounting software, QuickBooks Online will always be in the conversation.
• There are six main QuickBooks products for small, medium, and large businesses.
• All Online plans include receipt capture, QuickBooks support and more than 650 app integrations with apps such as PayPal, Square and Shopify.
• QuickBooks is a well-established accounting software that is widely used by businesses from a variety of industries.

It had the ability that it can easily upload files related to the banks and financial. Typically the features found within QuickBooks Online will be more basic or well-rounded, meaning it’s better suited for a wide range of businesses. Desktop versions of QuickBooks such as QuickBooks Enterprise have tools that have been developed for specific scenarios and industries over the years. QBE may lack the mobility of QBO, but it more than makes up for it with the comprehensive feature set it offers within it’s offering. You may or may not be able to find the missing tools within the QuickBooks app store. The closest comparison that can be made would be between QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced.

QuickBooks Premier Plus: Best for specific industries

Additionally, QuickBooks Essentials will send reminders regarding upcoming bills to be paid so that you don’t miss a payment. It has four plans, which means businesses can scale up to plans with more features and users as they grow. And even its basic plan has more accounting tools than many competitors, including built-in receipt scanning, expense management, 1099 contractor management, and extensive financial forms and associated taxes for independent contractors reporting. QuickBooks is the #1 accounting for small businesses.4 It offers the most comprehensive feature set that enables small business owners to manage more of their business. From automating accounting work and preparing for tax time, proactively manage cash flow, QuickBooks can do it all. QuickBooks Essentials is specifically designed for service-based businesses and supports up to three users.

All QuickBooks Plans including Self-Employed, Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced offer the feature to enter, track, and pay bills. However, Self-Employed may be a good fit for freelancers and gig workers. But, it may not serve the needs of the small businesses that manage open invoices and bills across customers. To downgrade your plan, see the QuickBooks Online comparison chart to select a plan right for your business. Before you downgrade any of your QuickBooks Online Plans, turn off some features like recurring transactions, extra users, inventory, multi-currency, and third-party apps. Go to ‘Settings’ and select ‘Billing and Subscription’ under the profile tab.

Many versions of QuickBooks Online will include a 50% discount off the first 3 months if you buy now. A free 30-day trial is available otherwise, but you will give up any discounted pricing for starting with a trial. QuickBooks Enterprise offers both locally installed and cloud-hosted offers, which is in contrast to having to pick one or the other via QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Pro/Premier. QuickBooks does have a 30-user cap, which for a growing small business may be more than enough. For a business looking to set up multiple users with predefined roles, they may find themselves eventually wishing they had a system that allowed for unlimited users. Anyone who has a business and wants to stay in business, or just wants to be able to deduct business expenses from their taxes, should invest in QuickBooks software.

Small Business Statistics

This is a bit inconvenient since even solopreneurs or freelancers have bills that need to be paid. However, if you only need to record expenses as you pay them, then Simple Start might be enough. If you want a dedicated expert to handle your ongoing bookkeeping work, you can sign up for QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, available in Simple Start and all higher plans.

This can be useful if you have many customers who need to be invoiced for the same products or services. You just need to create a single invoice template and then apply it to all the customers who require the same invoice. QuickBooks Online has a slight advantage over QuickBooks Desktop in terms of invoicing because of its ability to calculate sales taxes automatically to apply to an invoice based on the customer address.

Online Essentials

Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop applications offer a good selection of features, though QuickBooks Desktop features tend to be more comprehensive. But if your business sells goods or uses a lot of supplies, QuickBooks Plus will be much more useful for keeping track of purchase orders and vendors. It’s also a better pick if you have numerous big projects in the works that you want to assess for profitability. I recommend saving a backup of your QuickBooks Desktop company file in case of any issues.

Switch to QuickBooks Online

Next, activate the Spreadsheet Sync add-on by clicking Let’s Go in the pop-up window. Follow the screen prompts, and you’ll be able to install Spreadsheet Sync and sign in using your login details. Plus allows you to assign classes and locations to your transactions, so you can see how your business performs across divisions, locations, rep areas, or any units that are relevant to your business. If you run businesses in multiple locations and you want to see which one is most profitable, an upgrade to Plus from Essentials is worth the price. The biggest difference between Simple Start and Essentials is that Simple Start doesn’t allow you to pay and manage bills.