Those who want to take their accounting on the go will appreciate the mobile app. It brings most of the features of the online platform, plus it enables mileage tracking and receipt capture for quick and convenient recordkeeping. For $1,922 per year, get the Enterprise plan with advanced pricing, reporting and inventory.
Simple Start
I want to confidently say that the difference in pricing is due to the considerable amount of features that QuickBooks Desktop offers, but I’m unsure if that’s the case. While the two iterations are different in some aspects, they’re essentially the same product, and the differences between them aren’t as glaring as they are with other accounting software solutions. The two iterations of QuickBooks’ accounting software shine in different areas. Whereas one is completely online and cloud-based, the other operates locally on your computer.
QuickBooks Online is faster, lighter, and uses less processing power than QuickBooks Desktop
If you need more users than that, you can contact QuickBooks Online’s customer support to see if you can create a custom plan with custom user access. Otherwise, you’ll need QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, which supports up to 40 users. In the past, customers could choose between annually renewing plans and single-purchase software with a license that stayed valid for three years. If you purchased a Desktop Pro plan in 2021, your software will still work until 2024—but new customers who bought the 2022 software version can only choose annual subscriptions. Yes, QuickBooks Online offers a mobile app that allows you to access your account, track expenses, create and send invoices, and more, all from your smartphone or tablet.
The right fit for all kinds of businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a QuickBooks Online product for contractors and freelancers, specifically for those who do not have separate business and personal financial accounts. It starts at $30 a month and includes basic features only, such as mileage tracking and invoicing. If your business is service-based without any inventory, then Essentials should provide everything you need while saving you $34 per month compared to Plus. If you’re scaling from five to 25 users and need advanced features like fixed asset accounting, then go with Advanced.
- The right QuickBooks Online plan depends on the size of your business and the features you need.
- Katherine Haan is a small business owner with nearly two decades of experience helping other business owners increase their incomes.
- One big drawback of QuickBooks Pro in the past was that it didn’t have mobile apps.
- Both versions have mobile apps, but the app for the Desktop version primarily functions as a way to upload receipts, and the Online mobile app is robust in comparison.
Is QuickBooks Online Right for You or Your Business?
Ease of use gets the highest weight in this case study because we want to give more credit to easy accounting software. For this section, we considered customer service, support network, and a subjective expert opinion score. Users must have easy access to customer service channels in case of problems, questions, or assistance.
The higher your plan tier, the more reports and users you can add, although it’s important to understand concurrent users are each sold separately. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services.
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 is cloud-based, cheaper, easier to use, supports more integrations, and is unlikely to be discontinued by QuickBooks. You can use either QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, but not both. You can, however, switch your business’s account from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online without losing your data.
You will get priority support through chat and phone, with shorter wait times than non-Priority Circle members. Retailers and wholesalers should choose Plus so that they can track the quantity on hand and the cost of inventory. Contractors should also select Plus to track the profitability of individual projects. Other businesses should consider whether tracking P&L by class and location is worth the extra $34 per month.
Additionally, Advanced lets you generate multi-company reports and schedule emailed reports to be sent to specified email addresses. POs are essential because they help you specify what products and services you need from your vendor or supplier and by when you need them. When creating POs in Plus, you can input specific top budgeting software 2021 items you want to purchase.