QuickBooks Online vs Quickbooks Desktop: Which is best? 2024

Because QuickBooks Online is connected to the cloud, you can work from any device with an internet connection. The software must have enough reports that can be generated with a few clicks. Moreover, we’d also like to see customization options to enable users to generate reports based on what they want to see. Even after initial setup, the software must also let users modify information like company name, address, entity type, fiscal year-end, and other company information. On the other hand, QuickBooks Enterprise involves a more complex setup due to its extensive feature set designed for larger businesses.

It’s an acceptable system but isn’t nearly as convenient as sharing your books through QuickBooks Online. While QuickBooks Online and Desktop have their strengths and weaknesses, they ultimately balance out—which makes them tied in terms of overall features. Below we provide a detailed comparison across each feature, where we also determine a winner for each category. Some accountants dislike QuickBooks Online’s limited functionality, limited report customization, and dependency on the internet.

1. However, once you’ve signed up, navigate to your account settings, and you can switch to annual billing to save 10%.
2. Probably not, unless your business absolutely needs advanced inventory management features, barcode scanning, or assembly builds.
3. And although some QuickBooks Desktop versions will not be available for purchase after September 30th, 2024, there are no plans to stop selling QuickBooks Enterprise.
4. During our extensive research of the business accounting industry where we interviewed financial experts and surveyed accounting software users, QuickBooks came up often as a widely used solution.
5. However, if you’re not a Mac user, you can choose from all three QuickBooks Desktop  plans.

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We developed an internal case study to evaluate the accounting software we review subjectively. Using the data we gathered from this case study, we are able to compare QuickBooks Online and Desktop across several key categories, such as pricing, ease of use, general features, A/P, A/R, and banking. We are driven by the Fit Small Business mission to provide you with the best answers to your small business questions—allowing you to choose the right accounting solution for your needs. 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. You can also integrate QuickBooks Online with Zapier, which lets you connect why profits don’t equal cash flow QuickBooks to thousands of other apps in your business’s tech stack.

Why do accountants not like QuickBooks Online?

What’s more is that Method’s mobile app is perfect for businesses on the move. This means you can access your QuickBooks data without being tied to the office. Plus, it also offers the QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping service for real-time bookkeeping assistance and expert financial advice.

Will you want to restrict access to certain users in QuickBooks?

Alternatively, you can hire a QuickBooks ProAdvisor to help with your bookkeeping needs. To help you get started, we prepared a guide on how to find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Meanwhile, if you or your accountant want to become a ProAdvisor to demonstrate expertise in QuickBooks, read our article on how to become a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. 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.

Seeing as it’s a program installed on your local system, it relies on the device’s processing power and resources. With larger datasets or complex operations, QuickBooks Desktop might utilize more local processing power compared to the online version. Zapier is a no-code automation tool that lets you connect your apps into automated workflows, so that every person and every business can move forward at growth speed.

QuickBooks Online Reviews

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop are two solid accounting products from Intuit. While both software types have plenty of perks, QuickBooks Online is a more flexible, affordable, and scalable option for most small-business owners. QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus and Enterprise plans have industry-specific reports for manufacturing and wholesale, retail, nonprofit, general contractor and professional service businesses, too. For example, nonprofits can use the desktop products to run donor contribution summary reports while manufacturing, wholesale and retail businesses have the ability to forecast product sales. Contractors and professional service businesses can use the software to compare revenue by city, customer and job type.

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. There were also fewer prompts of the tutorial variety, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of features packed into it. 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. With QuickBooks Online, you can add QuickBooks Online Payroll starting at $50/month. 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.