Granted, most people agree QuickBooks Online is the better option, but the old-timer is still somehow in the running. In evaluating pricing, we considered the billing cycle (monthly or annual) and number of users. If you need personalized customer support, you can upgrade to QuickBooks Online Advanced or QuickBooks Enterprise. Doing so grants you access to the Priority Circle loyalty program, including a dedicated account team, free on-demand training, and premium care from QuickBooks experts. In addition to third-party integrations, QuickBooks Online integrates with native products, what is fob shipping point such as QuickBooks Payments, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets).
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These versions give business owners more features and reports geared toward their understanding payroll taxes and who pays them industry. QuickBooks Online offers over 80 reports depending on your plan, whereas QuickBooks Desktop Pro has over 130 reports. 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, bank reconciliation, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and the basic reports needed to run a company.
- While QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop offer contact management, only QuickBooks Desktop allows you to manage and track leads as well as contacts.
- This tool allows you to create consolidated financial reports across multiple company files—making it ideal for businesses that operate multiple entities and subsidiaries.
- In other words, Mac users can’t scale up their software from one plan to the next as they add software users.
- Each user has their own login credentials, which can be customized to limit access to sensitive information.
Industry-specific reports
It has less of a learning curve than QuickBooks Desktop and comes with a much more simplified dashboard that’s easy to navigate. And let’s not forget offline accessibility for the times your ISP decides to ruin your Monday. Everything from the installation screen to the lagging UI gave me flashbacks to the 1998 dial-up tone on my family’s Pentium III computer.
In contrast, QuickBooks Desktop offers hardly any payment gateways, making it difficult for the modern merchant to accept online invoice payments easily. Granted, you don’t have to be an accountant to learn QuickBooks Desktop either, but if you are new to accounting, you will need a lot of time to learn the program. Unfortunately, pricing is no longer disclosed and you will need to contact QuickBooks Sales for more pricing details.
Compare QuickBooks Online to Desktop
Our meticulous evaluation process makes us a trustworthy source for accounting software insights. We immerse ourselves in every platform we review by exploring the features down to the finest nuances. Subscription clients in QuickBooks Desktop 2023 (R1) or older versions will need to update to the latest 2023 (R3) version before their subscription expires. Terms, conditions, pricing, special features, and service and is depreciation a legal responsibility why or why not support options subject to change without notice.
If you have employees, you can add QuickBooks Payroll to your QuickBooks Online account for as little as $45 per month plus $5 per employee. QuickBooks Payroll allows you to pay your employees by checks or direct deposits, e-file and e-pay taxes, print and e-file W-2 Forms at year-end, and more. Head to our detailed QuickBooks Payroll review to see if it fits the bill. When you upgrade to Enterprise, QuickBooks Desktop’s most comprehensive plan, you’ll gain access to advanced inventory features, including barcode scanning and serial number tracking. QuickBooks Online wins for pricing because it’s essentially more affordable than QuickBooks Enterprise.
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. QuickBooks Desktop is also not a great choice for accounting newbies, as the UI is quite unintuitive and has a steep learning curve. And while Desktop has a respectable number of integrations when compared to other accounting software, it falls far short of what QBO offers its users. Not only is QuickBooks Online easier to use, but it offers additional support — for a fee. QuickBooks Online users can sign up for QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping to assist with getting the books up to date and managing bookkeeping tasks.