This takes into account customer management, revenue recognition, invoice management, and collections. You can download a 30-day trial version of QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise only—both the Premier Plus and Pro Plus plans come with a 60-day money-back guarantee, but no free trial. Alternatively, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial with QuickBooks Online. Just know that doing so waives your option to get 50% off your QuickBooks Online subscription for your first three months. While QuickBooks products work for many businesses, they aren’t the best choice for all businesses.
What QuickBooks Online offers
Four pricing plans for QuickBooks Online are available, ranging from $35 to $235/month (with an additional $50+/month for payroll). QuickBooks Desktop also has several additional features you won’t find with QBO, including sales orders and lead management. Because it is locally installed software, you also have more control over keeping your financial data secure. In contrast, QuickBooks Desktop tends to have a steeper learning curve, offers fewer integrations, and has had its previous versions discontinued by QuickBooks. QuickBooks Pro and Premiere will also discontinue sales to new users on July 31, 2024.
Only QuickBooks Online includes free access to a comprehensive version of the QuickBooks mobile accounting app, which is one of the best apps in the accounting sphere. These include the ability to track raw materials and finished products and automate order management, among other functions. It also has barcode scanning the cash flow 2021 capabilities — business owners can download the QuickBooks Desktop mobile app and use their mobile device as a scanner.
Where QuickBooks Desktop Wins
QuickBooks Online is generally easier to use than QuickBooks Desktop as it has a more streamlined navigation menu. QuickBooks Online files are also easier to share because you only need to invite an accountant to your company file, and they’ll have 24/7 access to your books. In addition to third-party integrations, QuickBooks Online integrates with native products, such as QuickBooks Payments, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets). QuickBooks Desktop can be integrated with QuickBooks Desktop Payroll and QuickBooks Time. Another notable difference between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop is their integration capabilities.
Contractors and professional service businesses can use the software to compare revenue by city, customer and job type. QuickBooks Online offers a large selection of reports, but they aren’t industry-specific. Since QuickBooks Online is priced as a monthly subscription, it doesn’t require a contract and you can cancel your account at any time.
And while QuickBooks Desktop comes out on top in this comparison, only you can decide which one is best for your business. If neither application catches your eye, why not take a look at some QuickBooks alternatives or check out The Ascent’s accounting software reviews. QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop are both excellent small business accounting software applications, both offering complete double-entry accounting as well as automatic processing of closing entries.
Software type
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. It has less of a learning curve than QuickBooks Desktop and comes with a much more simplified dashboard that’s easy to navigate.
Working from the cloud means you need an internet connection, so a poor signal or an intermittent connection can be an issue. amortization of discount on bonds payable Its highest-tiered plan is the Advanced option, which costs $100 per month for the first three months, then $200 per month after that. 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.
QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop have very different pricing structures, with QuickBooks Online available by a monthly subscription, while QuickBooks Desktop has an annual cost. QuickBooks Desktop features are better developed than comparable features found on QuickBooks Online. Though not web-based, QuickBooks Desktop can be hosted online for more convenient access if desired.One of QuickBooks Desktop’s best features is its use of centers, which provide a central point for all activity. While people may assume that QuickBooks Online is simply the cloud version of QuickBooks Desktop, in reality, the two products are very different. In evaluating pricing, we considered the billing cycle (monthly or annual) and the number of users.
- Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
- At the time of our last review, pricing started at $349.99/year for a single user.
- This plan, QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, has the same features as QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, the most basic desktop-based plan.
QuickBooks Desktop Premier and Quickbooks Desktop Enterprise have even more reports (especially if you opt for the industry-specific versions of these programs). QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop operate on true double-entry accounting principles and have both accrual and cash-basis accounting. Each offers a detailed chart of accounts, journal entries, nonprofit membership can be a confusing concept bank reconciliation, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and the basic reports needed to run a company. However, QuickBooks Desktop offers better reporting and supports more complex accounting.
