Pro Plus and Premier Plus limit customer service hours to just 12 hours a day, weekdays only. One of the biggest differences here is that QuickBooks Online now offers a bookkeeping service called QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, where you can pay for professional support from certified QBO accountants and CPAs. 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. As a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Mark has extensive knowledge of QuickBooks products, allowing him to create valuable content that educates businesses on maximizing the benefits of the software.
- In addition to having more integrations, they tend to be easier to install in QuickBooks Online since they can be activated directly from the QuickBooks Online store within your QuickBooks Online dashboard.
- You can, however, switch your business’s account from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online without losing your data.
- Many users also complain that QuickBooks Online doesn’t compare to QuickBooks Pro in terms of features and quality.
- While there are significant differences between QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, both applications offer solid accounting capability for small businesses.
- Fortunately, you can purchase access to additional license seats, which is a fancy term for additional users.
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. The A/P section focuses on vendor management, bill management, bill payments, and other payable-related transactions. A/P features include creating vendors and bills, recording purchase orders and converting them to bills, creating service items, and recording full or partial bill payments. The QuickBooks Desktop mobile app is very limited as it only allows you to capture expense receipts and track business mileage. If you want to perform bookkeeping from anywhere, we strongly recommend QuickBooks Online’s mobile app.
When is QuickBooks Desktop better than QuickBooks Online?
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. If you’re interested in QuickBooks Online, check out our comparison guide https://www.quick-bookkeeping.net/ of QuickBooks Online plans to help you decide which is best for you. Know that your data is protected without downloading and installing product updates. You don’t have to worry about losing everything in a fire or an unforeseen event.
On the weekend, you will find her hanging out with her family or surfing around the North Shore of Oahu. Yes, you can convert your QuickBooks Online data to QuickBooks Desktop using Intuit’s conversion tools. It’s important to note that the process may not transfer all data and features, so thorough preparation and backup are advised before switching. It’s best to choose one based on your needs, but some businesses use both for specific purposes or workflows. Aside from the 30-day free trial, QuickBooks currently offers 50% off for three months on all QuickBooks Online plans. QuickBooks Desktop versions are available through digital download or as products shipped from QuickBooks or other retail merchants.
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While both software types have plenty of perks, QuickBooks Online is a more flexible, affordable, and scalable option for most small-business owners. QuickBooks Online is better for business owners who want easy-to-use cloud-based accounting that includes anywhere online access, mobile apps, and tons of integrations with other business apps. Businesses that have purchased one-time licenses of the locally-installed QuickBooks Desktop versions that have been sunset can still use the software’s accounting features. However, these versions don’t receive security updates, live support, or access to cloud-based services such as live bank feeds, QuickBooks Desktop Payments, or QuickBooks Desktop Payroll. 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.
Four pricing plans for QuickBooks Online are available, ranging from $30 to $200/month (with an additional $45+/month for payroll). Businesses with inventory items should choose accounting software that can track inventory costs, https://www.kelleysbookkeeping.com/ manage cost of goods sold (COGS), and monitor inventory units. 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.
Others mentioned the bank account reconciliation and invoicing features are excellent. QuickBooks Online is on par with Desktop in terms of banking, but we believe that the cloud-based version is better for professional invoicing. QuickBooks Desktop wins this head-to-head competition, with better reporting, industry-specific features, a better price structure, and more comprehensive features. However, if things like integration and cloud access are important to you, QuickBooks Online may be the way to go. Once you decide, if you need some assistance with your QuickBooks Migration, be sure to check out our comprehensive QuickBooks Tutorial.
QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop: Which Is Right for Your Business?
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 $30 per month.
Click on Reports at the top of the screen, then click on company and financial and finally over to either the profit and loss or the balance sheet report. A frustrating experience that only applies to QBDT is that the bank rules are not updated when the chart of accounts is updated. This means that if you rename an account or reorganize the chart of account list you will get an error when QBDT tries to run this bank rule. This is compounded by the fact that the rules list is not really well organized and could have hundreds if not thousands of rules. Your business is unique, but your routine bookkeeping tasks are going to be similar to many other businesses such as consultants/coaches, dog walkers, and photographers. The transition from QBO to QBDT is rarely smooth and will very likely take multiple attempts to get the data to load.
Generating reports in QBO
The downsides are the lack of sales orders, lead management, and other complexities that loyal Desktop users may miss (such as customizable letter templates, a built-in calendar, and even spellcheck). QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop operate on true double-entry accounting principles and have both accrual and cash-basis accounting. Each offers a detailed https://www.online-accounting.net/ chart of accounts, journal entries, bank reconciliation, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and the basic reports needed to run a company. However, QuickBooks Desktop offers better reporting and supports more complex accounting. The software must also have a mobile app to enable users to perform accounting tasks even when away from their laptops or desktops.
It includes payroll processing, which allows you to calculate and track payroll taxes, and it lets you track assets and liabilities and use automated sales tax on invoices. Additionally, it enables you to record and track payments made to 1099 contractors. QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop are two solid accounting products from Intuit.
Or, to save money, you can try QuickBooks’ typical offer of 50% off for three months (though choosing the discount waives your free trial). QuickBooks Online is optimized to be as user-friendly as possible and very easy to navigate. The side menu categorizes features for easy access, for example, aggregating sections for employees, their taxes, and compliance details under the Payroll category. It takes a bit of time to click around and understand where everything is, but a quick run-through is more than enough to familiarize yourself with what QuickBooks Online can do.
You must pay an additional fee for every user who wants to access the account simultaneously, whereas Online lets multiple users access the account at the same time. As a cloud-based solution, it enables you to access your data from anywhere, anytime, and on any device with an internet connection. Its standout features include automatic scheduling and sending of transactions, attaching documents, photos, signatures & more to transactions, and tracking income and expenses. QuickBooks Online Mobile AppsIntuit and QuickBooks Online provide a mobile app called QuickBooks Accounting. Some user reviews aren’t favorable for the mobile app, which offers limited features. Try using your mobile device web browser to access more QuickBooks Online features if you’re in the field with Internet access.
And if you manage your business from multiple locations, you’ll want QuickBooks Online over Desktop. Only QuickBooks Online includes free access to a comprehensive version of the QuickBooks mobile accounting app, which is one of the best apps in the accounting sphere. All QuickBooks versions and plans include comprehensive reporting options. QuickBooks Desktop also has additional features for customizing and exporting reports. Ease of use is one of the most crucial factors to consider when choosing a software package.