In addition, QuickBooks Solopreneur is not a good fit for small businesses with employees, or those with more complex bookkeeping needs. Whether you are a business owner starting a brand new small business or moving your existing books online, we have several QuickBooks Online subscription options to fit your needs as your business grows. Ultimately, your specific business’s size, type, and needs are the real deciding factors in determining which of the QuickBooks versions is best for your business.
You’ll be able to access your account anywhere with an internet connection. Customer support is included and available via live chat and email. In addition to having more integrations, QuickBooks Online also has better integrations. QBO’s integrations cover more business needs and include multiple payment gateway options. If your business needs sales orders, QuickBooks Desktop is your only option.
Is QuickBooks Online a better deal than QuickBooks Desktop?
The online version of QuickBooks is much easier to use than the desktop version. Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop offer a large number of features. While they share many of the same features, QuickBooks Desktop’s features are often more developed, except when it comes to invoicing. Both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online utilize a subscription pricing model. Help us to improve by providing some feedback on your experience today.
QuickBooks Online Pricing Plans
This may signal future abandonment of its Desktop version as more people move to the cloud. If you make the switch from Desktop to Online, you can import your data and access your original company file at any time. Although what is a life insurance premium many customers like QuickBooks Online, there are a few significant shortcomings to the software.
Industry-Specific Features
Take the manual labor out of bookkeeping with synced accounts and user friendly views. Users must apply for both QuickBooks Payments and QuickBooks Checking accounts when bundled. QuickBooks Solopreneur is an easy-to-use version of QuickBooks for solo business owners. If you are a sole proprietor who uses Schedule C (form 1040), QuickBooks Solopreneur is designed for businesses like yours. To learn more about what is included in each version of QuickBooks, keep reading or explore QuickBooks Online subscription levels.
We spend hours researching and evaluating each accounting software system we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our ratings. QuickBooks Online comes with a wide breadth of features and has the complex accounting capabilities that small business owners need. Additionally, QuickBooks Online offers several features that you can’t get with QuickBooks Desktop (such as automatic sales receipts, split transactions, scheduled invoices, and location and class categories). Protect sensitive data with user-level access to specific features and share reports with up to 3 log-ins. Show detailed sales, accounts receivable, and accounts payable reports to make better decisions. If you’d like additional help, there are tutorials available on a wide range of accounting terms, skills and how-tos in our QuickBooks Tutorials section.
While we’re on the topic of invoicing, QuickBooks Online has the superior product, offering six invoice templates and multilingual invoicing in six languages. Whether QuickBooks Online is a better deal than QuickBooks Desktop depends on the needs of your business. QuickBooks Online can be a more cost-efficient option for businesses with multiple users that don’t want to navigate the steep learning curve of QuickBooks Desktop. However, QuickBooks Desktop may be the better value for businesses that want a locally installed software option with enhanced accounting features. QuickBooks Desktop is an annual subscription, starting at $549.99 per how to prepare a trial balance year, which may be cost-prohibitive for small businesses or cash-strapped startups. While the Desktop version has app integrations, it doesn’t have near as many as the Online version.
- No, it is relatively easy to use, although corrections can be more challenging.
- QuickBooks Simple Start is ideal for solo entrepreneurs, gig workers, freelancers, and businesses that only sell services.
- To use many features of QuickBooks Online on your mobile device, sign in from your web browser and download the QuickBooks app.
- 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.
- Even though QB Desktop has more comprehensive features in general, there are some key features that only QuickBooks Online has, such as bookkeeping support.
- Take a look at our comparisons to see how each program stacks up against the others.
You can download the QuickBooks Online mobile app from the Google Play Store or importance of accounting for startups Apple App Store. QuickBooks Online Plus is not a good fit for businesses with more than 250 active accounts, more than 40 classes and locations, and the need to manage more than five users. If these needs apply to your business, consider subscribing to Advanced. Plus supports up to five users, giving you the option to configure their access. You also can invite reports-only users to run reports, but not make changes.