Whether you’re a new user or a pro, get your questions answered with one of our free, live webinars. Get a feel for what QuickBooks can do and try out top features using our sample company. Accountants often find QuickBooks Pro and Premier to be more traditional, but you don’t have to be an accountant or professional bookkeeper to learn QuickBooks Online. While QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop offer contact management, only QuickBooks Desktop allows you to manage and track leads as well as contacts. 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.

The online version of QuickBooks is much easier to use than the desktop version. With QuickBooks Online, you can add QuickBooks Online Payroll starting at $50/month. It’s hard to say which software is cheaper because there are so many variables. But there are some general guidelines to know which version might be the one for your business (and your budget). QuickBooks Online supports up to 25 users, which does fall short of the 40 users supported under QuickBooks Desktop. In comparison with QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online tangible assets overview of physical items of value for business is cloud-based, cheaper, easier to use, supports more integrations, and is unlikely to be discontinued by QuickBooks.

In contrast, QuickBooks Desktop tends to have a steeper learning curve, offers fewer integrations, and has had its previous versions discontinued by QuickBooks. QuickBooks Pro and Premiere will also discontinue sales to new users on July 31, 2024. Today’s leading accounting platforms offer standard security features such as data encryption, secure credential tokenization and more. Intuit reports that 94% of accounting professionals feel QuickBooks Online saves them time and thus saves their clients’ money.

Can QuickBooks Online do payroll?

If you make the switch from Desktop to Online, you can import your data and access your original company file at any time. QuickBooks Enterprise is designed for large businesses or small enterprises and starts at $1,481/year or $142/month. The Plus Plan is $45 per month for the first three months, then becomes $90 per month, and adds up to five users. It also has inventory management and gives you the ability to project profitability with forecasting reports. The Advanced Plan is the final tier for $100 per month for the first three months, then reverts to $200 per month. This allows more users (up to 25) and increases analytics for users to assess the business’s health.

Let us teach you QuickBooks Online with a free 1-hour personalized setup call*

1. Both versions offer automatic syncing with your bank so you can categorize transactions.
2. QuickBooks Desktop is also not a great choice for accounting newbies, as the UI is quite unintuitive and has a steep learning curve.
3. Different software packages include licenses for 1 to 10 users, up to 20 users, up to 30 users, and up to 40 users.
4. The QuickBooks Desktop mobile app is very limited as it only allows you to capture expense receipts and track business mileage.

Another cumbersome feature that users don’t like is the requirement that clients must establish their own accounts to pay an invoice. Other popular merchant processors don’t require this, making collecting payments more difficult. Today’s leading accounting platforms offer standard security features like data encryption, secure credential tokenization and more. While human error will always play some role in security breaches, hedge accounting definition you can be confident in your accounting platform when it comes to keeping your information safe. At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. 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.

How many different versions of QuickBooks are there?

Additionally, QuickBooks 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. While QuickBooks products work for many businesses, they aren’t the best choice for all businesses. If neither of these options seems to be the right fit or you’re just exploring your options, make sure to check out our list of the best accounting software for small businesses for more great options.

QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop

Notably, only QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise includes 24/7 customer service. Pro Plus and Premier Plus limit customer service hours to just 12 hours a day, weekdays only. QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop are what is commission in accounting two solid accounting products from Intuit.

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. QuickBooks Online is a good option for many small businesses that are looking to make invoicing customers easy and integrate invoicing and payments into the general ledger. Small businesses can customize how they use the platform so that they only use the features they need.