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Should i get quickbooks online or desktop
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QuickBooks Online doesn’t require a contract and you can cancel the account at any time. Each plan includes various features — the more features you need, the more expensive the plan.
All plans give you access to receipt capture with the QuickBooks mobile app, integration with third-party tools through the QuickBooks app marketplace and customer support by phone or live chat.
You can sign up for QuickBooks Online quickly and start setting up your account immediately. The pricing for QuickBooks Desktop is more complex. Pro Plus and Premier Plus are available as annual subscriptions. The price is based on the number of user accounts. For example, QuickBooks Pro Plus costs:.
QuickBooks Enterprise , on the other hand, has multiple plan options — Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond — with local-only and remote access versions. Silver, Gold and Platinum plans require an annual subscription, while Diamond is a monthly commitment. They are all still priced based on the number of users.
Although some versions of QuickBooks Desktop are more affordable than QuickBooks Online — an annual subscription to QuickBooks Pro Plus or Premier Plus, for example, is cheaper than one year of the Essentials plan — Desktop lacks the accessibility of QuickBooks Online and quickly grows in price if you want to give multiple users access. This explainer on how much QuickBooks costs provides more details about pricing differences between Desktop and Online plans.
Automatic mileage tracking is included with all versions of QuickBooks Online, but isn’t offered with any versions of QuickBooks Desktop. Then, you can categorize trips as “business” or “personal” to help maximize your tax deductions.
You also can add trips to your account manually, as well as run mileage reports and share them with your accountant. Mileage tracking is included in all versions of QuickBooks Self-Employed as well. QuickBooks Desktop allows you to add mileage manually to your account, or integrate with a third-party service for mileage tracking — this software doesn’t, however, offer automatic tracking within its system.
Track stock levels and receive notifications when inventory is low. Generate inventory reports to identify top selling items, total sales and taxes. With QuickBooks Premier Plus and QuickBooks Enterprise, however, you also have access to industry-specific inventory capabilities that are designed for businesses such as manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. These versions of QuickBooks Desktop allow you to create sales orders and track items promised to customers, change and control price levels based on the customer, and track inventory reorder points by vendor.
Similar to inventory management, the job costing features available in QuickBooks Desktop are more detailed compared with those in QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Online offers job costing and project profitability with its Plus and Advanced plans, including the ability to track labor costs, payroll and expenses.
You also can assess costs using a tracking calculator or view profitability through project dashboards. With QuickBooks Desktop, you can get more granular.
QuickBooks Pro Plus allows you to create rule-based customer groups to better manage customers, and QuickBooks Premier Plus allows you to track profitability by product or by project and client.
Premier Plus also lets you enter job changes within an estimate and track the impact on your bottom line. With Enterprise, you have additional job costing features designed specifically for construction businesses and contractors, as well as professional service companies. We updated this page to reflect current pricing. While both software types have plenty of perks, QuickBooks Online is a more flexible, affordable, and scalable option for most small-business owners.
However, QuickBooks Desktop can work for bigger businesses that need industry-specific software or for small businesses with limited internet access. QuickBooks Online has been part of the Intuit accounting software family for a few decades now. Since QuickBooks Online is browser-based, not desktop-based, you can log on to your Quickbooks Online account from any web-enabled device with a sturdy internet connection.
So what can you do with your cloud-based accounting service? Since QuickBooks Online offers four cloud-based plans, it easily grows with your business. As you hire more employees or bring on more customers, you can scale up your software to match. 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.
If cost is your primary concern, we recommend looking at an accounting option other than QuickBooks. And if data analysis is an important part of growing your business, QuickBooks Desktop is a solid pick. The QuickBooks Desktop version of the mobile app is also incredibly limited in scope—you can use it to scan receipts only. And for what it’s worth, the app is very poorly reviewed by its very limited number of both iOS and Android users. In other words, Mac users can’t scale up their software from one plan to the next as they add software users.
The QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus plan is particularly useful for business that want industry-specific features. In the past, customers could choose between annually renewing plans and single-purchase software with a license that stayed valid for three years. But the one-time-payment option was discontinued in If you purchased a Desktop Pro plan in , your software will still work until —but new customers who bought the software version can only choose annual subscriptions.
With QuickBooks Online, user limits are built into each plan. 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.
The maximum amount of users you can have with a QuickBooks Online subscription is 25 plus an accountant. If you need more users than that, you can contact QuickBooks Online’s customer support to see if you can create a custom plan with custom user access.
Otherwise, you’ll need QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, which supports up to 40 users. 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. In contrast, QuickBooks Enterprise is sold in user-based increments. Different software packages include licenses for 1 to 10 users, up to 20 users, up to 30 users, and up to 40 users.
Speaking of extra fees, QuickBooks Desktop also charges for e-commerce app integration, invoice-based payment acceptance, and online data hosting. If you choose QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, you’ll also need to pay extra if you want to access customer service via live chat. Pro Plus and Premier Plus limit customer service hours to just 12 hours a day, weekdays only. Want a more in-depth, side-by-side comparison?
QuickBooks Online is cloud based, which means you can access your QuickBooks account anywhere you have the internet and an internet-enabled device. 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.
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. QuickBooks Online is highly user friendly with a low learning curve. The dashboard is super intuitive with large, easy-to-understand charts, and the mobile app is similarly easy to use. QuickBooks Desktop still has a place in the accounting software industry. But for most small-business owners in most industries, QuickBooks Online has better automation, better access, and a better price point.
Still not sure which accounting software to try? You can download a day trial version of QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise only—both the Premier Plus and Pro Plus plans come with a day money-back guarantee, but no free trial.
Alternatively, you can sign up for a free day trial with QuickBooks Online. However, if you own a big business, prefer locally stored software, or want industry-specific reports, QuickBooks Desktop could be a better fit for your business.
For now, no. All QuickBooks Desktop plans require an annual subscription with one key exception: QuickBooks Enterprise Diamond, the heftiest enterprise-level desktop plan, is a month-to-month subscription. At Business. We don’t guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Disclaimer: The information featured in this article is based on our best estimates of pricing, package details, contract stipulations, and service available at the time of writing. All information is subject to change. If you use QuickBooks for your bookkeeping and accounting and would like to learn how to maximize its functionality and improve your record-keeping, we can help. We have certified QuickBooks Pro support on our team to help you get the most out of your software.
Reach out to us today at or fill out the form below to get started. What Is QuickBooks Desktop? What Is QuickBooks Online? The home page displays the most essential functions, including Vendors, Customers, Employees, and Banking. Each function includes respective icons that allow you to access and perform certain transactions easily, such as Enter Bills for vendors, Create Invoices for customers, and Enter Time for employees. The QuickBooks Desktop home page looks like this:.
Takeaway: QuickBooks Online is generally easier to use than QuickBooks Desktop, as it has a more streamlined user interface. QuickBooks Online users who need professional bookkeeping assistance can purchase an add-on called QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping. Your dedicated bookkeeper will manage your books and provide month-end reports. Takeaway: If you need more automation features through integration with various third-party tools, QuickBooks Online is a clear choice.
In terms of mobile accounting, QuickBooks Online is the clear winner, as Desktop has a very limited mobile app. QuickBooks Online has a mobile application that includes nearly all the features of the online browser version, plus other functions like receipt capture and mileage tracking. QuickBooks Online made our list of the best mobile accounting apps. You can download the app on Google Play or the App Store.
QuickBooks Online and Desktop both have a large, searchable, online database of questions and answers available to anyone. Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop give you access to a large number of independent QuickBooks ProAdvisors that you can hire to help you get started and keep things in order. QuickBooks Desktop is harder to share.
QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor certification is free. Not only does it come with unlimited support, but you can also share your books easily with a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. If most of your accounting duties are done remotely, QuickBooks Online is the right choice. However, if you want the ability to manage your books without an internet connection or you need industry-specific features, choose QuickBooks Desktop.
Find Timothy On LinkedIn. He then taught tax and accounting to undergraduate and graduate students as an assistant professor at both the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Mississippi State University. He most recently spent two years as the accountant at a commercial roofing company utilizing QuickBooks Desktop to compile financials, job cost, and run payroll. Find Mark On LinkedIn. Mark Calatrava is an accounting expert for Fit Small Business. He has covered more than 50 accounting software for small businesses and niche industries and has developed an in-depth knowledge of the important features of accounting software and how the importance of these features vary by business.
Quickbooks Desktop vs. Quickbooks online – QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop table of contents
Cloud-based vs. Here’s how: Open your QuickBooks Desktop company file. Otherwise, you’ll need QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, which supports up to 40 users. Read our review of this popular small business accounting application to see why. Read our QuickBooks Mac Plus review for more information. Become a Contributor You can contribute any number of in-depth posts on all things data.
