QuickBooks Online vs Desktop 2025 Comparison

QuickBooks Desktop is offered in Windows or Mac versions. Premier Plus offers industry-specific tools and reports. QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise how to prepare a cash flow statement offers industry-specific editions.

Entry-level set up fee?

I have been a Quickbooks Desktop Pro user for ten plus years. We recommend QuickBooks Online for small to medium-sized companies in the professional services, accounting, and information technology sectors. In QuickBooks, you can organize income and business expenses into tax categories and share your books with your accountant. QuickBooks does sales tax calculation within the software but doesn’t handle tax filing directly. Intuit even offers a 2-day class and certification exam to boost your credibility as an accountant. Because the platform is cloud-hosted, you’ll need internet access to activate and maintain QuickBooks Online support and services.

My annual costs nearly tripled

Reporting is more advanced in this tier than in the Freelancer tier. You can assign this as a category, and track such payments. This cuts out unnecessary middle steps and allows you to save time on billing. You can track the status of these and accept mobile signatures. In addition to the tax estimation from the Freelancer plan, this level allows you to maximize your deductions. It includes everything from the Freelancer plan, and more.

Company

  • Other pricing plans from leading alternatives in this category.
  • QuickBooks Payroll is one of the most popular, with prices ranging from $50/month + $6/employee – $134/month + $12/employee.
  • I am currently using a Desktop version from 2020 and was advised I would need to move to their online version.
  • The support is terrible and it doesnt meet my job costing needs.
  • Frequent complaints about the software running slow have been addressed, but other problems still exist, like poor customer support and bugs on the mobile app.

If you’re asking, “How much does QuickBooks cost per year? Despite the differences in self-hosted vs. cloud-hosted pricing, QuickBooks Desktop and Online share several aspects. When asking, “How much does QuickBooks cost per year? Choose a plan that aligns with your operations and budget to ensure a meaningful return on investment (ROI).

Best Credit Card Processing Companies

This level is for those who need the time tracking features, bill paying, or have users. If your business’s accounting needs are relatively simple and handled by one person at a time, this is a cost-effective plan for you. The new online version doesn’t feel like they understand accounting/bookkeeping at all. When I had to move to the online version, my annual costs nearly tripled. I was willing to give the online version a try but then they started price gouging me. I signed up for $35/month. On top of that, the job costing features did not seem to understand the construction business, so my pricing doubled for an inadequate tool.

Advanced

Consider the other versions of Quickbooks as well, such as Quickbooks Pro. The video below is a full tutorial guide on using the software. Elite adds the support of a payroll expert to set up the system for you.

QuickBooks Online Review Video

For small businesses that depend on remote work or accountant access, Online is what you need. Below, we compare the features small business owners ask about most and pick winners. This comparison is for current Desktop users evaluating do sales revenues affect the break-even point a switch and outlines how the two differ. I mostly use it for accounting just to keep track of everything. However, since I could not upgrade my desktop 2015 version to be compatible with MAC, I had to use QB Online which puts erroneous numbers into the program.

Quickbooks online doesn’t fit our needs on the invoicing because you can’t customize invoices. It was great for core accounting, but limited when we needed it to do more complex tasks We pay $600 annually for it and can’t figure out why it could possibly cost this much I don’t know if we aren’t on the right version but none of the information is where we need it to be A great way to waste time by talking to customer service If a customer files a chargeback, it is automatically pulled and held at Inuit for months and months with little communication options for the merchant.

  • Without support being able to offer us any long term fix, we had to look into other software.
  • The current annual QuickBooks Desktop pricing is based on the number of users.
  • Once you’ve tackled the question, “How much does QuickBooks cost per year?
  • However, the sheer number of features and strong accounting still make QuickBooks Online a good option for small businesses.
  • I don’t care how long I have been a Quickbooks user; I had to look for a new system.

Picking the right QuickBooks plan makes all the difference. Looking for ways to save on QuickBooks Online is a smart move when considering, “How much does QuickBooks cost per year? To sum up, QuickBooks’ versatility makes it suitable for all sorts of business sizes and types.

QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop: At a Glance

The online version is cumbersome; tasks that would take me minutes on Desktop now take me hours. We were desktop users for many years and never had any issues. We loved the program, but with the recent requirement to move online, we reluctantly switched and completely hated their new online version. I reached out to add job costing and project tracking, and my pricing went up 100%.

QuickBooks is more user friendly than sage but that comes at a comprimise. We have poured continual funds into trying to make the software work but at this point, our information is such a mess, we won’t even open the program. I want to easily set up categories and track expenditures alongside those categories but the system is so complex, I have no idea what I am looking at. I have been on a trial for the last 3 months and I am at the point where I just have to find something new. The system is just not up to the level of competency our size business needs to be successful.

Simplify your business with Method

Users will find the ability to snap photos of receipts to track expenses extremely useful. QuickBooks allows freelancers to track billable hours and directly request and accept payments from contractors. No matter what you are using for payment collection and expenses, QuickBooks likely will support it. If you’re new to QuickBooks, there’s plenty of introductory user feedback on TrustRadius.

We were pushed to use the Online version, despite trying to pivot to the Enterprise version. I am trying to move to a new software but I need to first fix the disaster in Quickbooks before I try migrating over any data. Instead of making my work easier, the software has created more work than necessary. I don’t care how long I have been a Quickbooks user; I had to look for a new system.

I have been a Quickbooks Desktop user for 10 plus years and when prices more than doubled to stay on the Desktop, I looked into Quickbooks Online. We are a retailer and have to track live inventory outside of the program. When you reach out to support they tell you, to regain those lost tools you have to upgrade.

The payroll feature is wonderful; it is easy to set up new employees on auto pay and track the overall payroll. Trying to correct the inaccuracies has been a very time-consuming and laborsome effort. When we made the switch to the what is a product cost Online version, we found the system very different and have encountered many errors across our books. I have no idea how to find these transactions and am overall frustrated with the software. If I pull up the General Ledger, it lists all of our transactions but when I try to individually search withdraws or checks, it only goes back a few months.

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