Compare QuickBooks Online vs QuickBooks Desktop
Let us know how well the content on this page solved your problem today. All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses. Discover BusinessLoans.com’s lender network offering up to $3M in funding, no minimum credit score required. Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Pro and Premier have notoriously poor customer support (QuickBooks Enterprise support has better priority support). The online version of QuickBooks is much easier to use than the desktop version. Even though QB Desktop has more comprehensive features in general, there are some key features that only QuickBooks Online has, such as bookkeeping support.
QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop FAQ
Perhaps the biggest area where QuickBooks Desktop falls short is that its Pro and Premier versions will soon be discontinued for new users. While QuickBooks Enterprise will still be an option, this is powerful software with an expensive price tag that will be too much (in terms of features and pricing) for most small businesses. You can upgrade liquidity vs solvency to any version of QuickBooks Desktop as your needs change. However, converting your data from one desktop solution to another can be a complex process. While there are significant differences between QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, both applications offer solid accounting capability for small businesses.
The assisted migration offer is eligible to Desktop customers that are migrating their data and setting up QuickBooks Online. Personalized setup is limited to a 1-hour session with a customer success product expert. Intuit reserves the right to limit the number of sessions and the length and scope of each session. Assisted migration results may vary based on business complexity and file size. Terms and conditions, features, support, pricing, and service options are subject to change without notice. Terms and conditions, features, support, pricing, and service options subject to change without notice.
However, if things like integration and cloud access are important to you, QuickBooks Online may be the way to go. Once you decide, if you need some assistance with your QuickBooks Migration, be sure to check out our comprehensive QuickBooks Tutorial. QuickBooks Online offers a variety of pricing plans, which range from $12 to $75 for the first three months.
QuickBooks Desktop: Best for industry-specific reporting
- With larger datasets or complex operations, QuickBooks Desktop might utilize more local processing power compared to the online version.
- We developed an internal case study to evaluate the accounting software we review subjectively.
- QuickBooks Desktop offers more advanced inventory management features, job costing worksheets, sales orders, and highly customizable reports.
- And let’s not forget offline accessibility for the times your ISP decides to ruin your Monday.
If you go with QuickBooks Desktop Pro or Premier, a payroll add-on is available for an additional monthly fee. While these products will still be available to existing users, QuickBooks Desktop Payroll sample balance sheet template for excel for Pro and Premier will no longer be available for new users to purchase starting on September 31, 2024. One of the biggest differences here is that QuickBooks Online now offers a bookkeeping service called QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, where you can pay for professional support from certified QBO accountants and CPAs. For small business owners new to the accounting scene, this service may bring much-needed peace of mind when managing your books and filing small business taxes.
Choose QuickBooks Online
What stands out most about QuickBooks Online when compared to Desktop is that QBO is cloud-based accounting software. Because of this, QuickBooks Online is much easier to use and has many more integrations and time-saving invoicing automations, such as auto-scheduling. While we’re on the topic of invoicing, QuickBooks Online has the superior product, offering six invoice templates and multilingual invoicing in six languages. To expedite product setup, you can choose to use the default chart of accounts that is included in the application.
Why You Can Trust Fit Small Business
Service or project-based businesses should choose accounting software that can track project costs, revenues, and profits. The software must have tools to track time, record billable hours or expenses, send invoices for progress billings, or monitor project progress and performance. Additionally, QuickBooks what is the formula for calculating compound annual growth rate cagr in excel Online allows you to calculate sales taxes automatically to apply to an invoice based on the customer’s address. This feature is particularly useful if you sell and ship products out of your state. Both versions offer automatic syncing with your bank so you can categorize transactions.
The changes need to be saved and refreshed, leaving a lot of potential for errors. The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation. By providing feedback on how we can improve, you can earn gift cards and get early access to new features.
No matter which version of QuickBooks Desktop you’re using, you can switch to QuickBooks Online quickly and seamlessly. With our online migration tool, you can move all your data or move only what’s key—like balances and specific lists. If you need help, we can migrate your data for you at no additional cost. For those customers that choose to stay on Desktop Plus subscriptions, we’ll continue to focus on product maintenance and security. You must purchase additional licenses if you want to access it on multiple computers. While you can add cloud access to QuickBooks Enterprise, it involves an additional fee.