QuickBooks Online vs Quickbooks Desktop: Which is best? 2024

This section breaks down the access and collaboration pros and cons of each version. Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop are designed to handle small business’s bandwidth and needs. Strictly based on ease of accounting for intercorporate investments use and basic functionality, QuickBooks Online is an easier-to-adopt option that can handle small business accounting needs well. 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.

This also means you can access your data from any device with an internet connection, as Fit Small Business points out. Compared to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop offers more advanced accounting. QuickBooks Desktop also offers different versions of its software for certain types of businesses (construction, nonprofits, manufacturing, etc.). These versions offer industry-specific debits and credits in accounting reports, in addition to 50 more reports than you’ll find on QuickBooks Online.

Pros & Cons

She has spent the last year and a half working at a software company, managing content about CRM, project management and other business topics. For many small-business owners, most of the time, QuickBooks Online works better than QuickBooks Desktop. It’s more affordable, easier to share with your accountant or other financial stakeholders, and offers better invoicing than its locally installed counterpart. QuickBooks Online is cloud based, which means you can access your QuickBooks account anywhere you have the internet and an internet-enabled device. QuickBooks Desktop is desktop based, meaning you’ll buy a hard copy of QuickBooks’ software, then download that software once onto a single device. In the past, customers could choose between annually renewing plans and single-purchase software with a license that stayed valid for three years.

Industry-specific reports

For instance, if you choose the Simple Start plan, you’re the only person who can use the software—apart from your accountant, with whom you can share your business’s account at no additional cost. We also don’t recommend QuickBooks Desktop to Mac users, since there’s just one desktop-based plan for Mac users. This plan, QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, has the same features as QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, the most basic desktop-based plan.

At FinOptimal, we can help you determine the best fit for your business. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you implement and optimize your QuickBooks system. While QuickBooks Desktop offers powerful features, it has limitations.

QuickBooks Online VS QuickBooks Desktop: Pricing Comparison

1. While Bundle Cricut points out that Desktop may offer more advanced features, the manual update process is a trade-off to consider.
2. Just remember, you will need to make a decision quickly if you want QuickBooks Desktop Pro or Premier, as sales of these products will be discontinued this year.
3. QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop share the same basic functionality of organizing your accounting processes and automating much of the manual data entry work.
4. That said, it can feel overwhelming and confusing if you don’t have prior accounting knowledge.
5. The side menu categorizes features for easy access, for example, aggregating sections for employees, their taxes, and compliance details under the Payroll category.

Once installed, your accounting data will only be accessible on one of these devices, making it difficult to work on the go. But local installation means more control over your data, who has access, and overall general security of your business information. What stands out most about QuickBooks Online when compared to Desktop is that QBO is cloud-based accounting software. Because of this, QuickBooks Online is much easier to use and has many more integrations and time-saving invoicing automations, such as auto-scheduling. While we’re on the topic of invoicing, QuickBooks Online has the superior product, offering six invoice templates and multilingual invoicing in six languages.

Its user-friendly interface and accessibility make it perfect for managing finances on the go. However, if you anticipate needing more advanced features down the line, or prefer a one-time purchase, QuickBooks Desktop might be worth considering. While this gives you more control, it also means you’re responsible for initiating and implementing them. This can be time-consuming and, as Method explains, may involve extra costs for the latest versions and features. Delaying updates can leave your system open to security threats and prevent you from using new functionalities.

With QuickBooks Desktop, users receive some of the most developed accounting tools on the market. The software offers comprehensive features, unique touches (such as lead management and sales orders), industry-specific versions of the software, and the potential to be more secure. QuickBooks Online offers more features what is variance analysis 2021 definition examples andadvantages on the go and is a better overall value than QuickBooks Desktop.

The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation. By providing feedback on how we can improve, you can earn gift cards and get early access to new features. Let us know how well the content on this page solved your problem today. All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses. This easy-to-use and feature-rich software is ideal if you have no bookkeeping experience and want top-notch customer support. Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Pro and Premier have notoriously poor customer support (QuickBooks Enterprise support has better priority support).