This allows you to compare the estimated costs and revenues of your projects against the actual adjusting journal entry definition numbers incurred throughout the completion of the project. This helps you identify potential problems and make adjustments once you determine that your projects are not profitable. The QuickBooks Online comparison chart below highlights some of the key features of the five versions. We include in-depth, side-by-side comparisons of each plan against its next-level tier in the sections that follow. QuickBooks Checking Account opening is subject to identity verification and approval by Green Dot Bank.
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. It’s designed to foster collaboration between multiple users, facilitating multi-user access to accounting data. Each user has their own login credentials, which can be customized to limit access to sensitive information.
Online Plus and Payroll Core Bundle
QuickBooks Online’s month-to-month subscription service starts at $30 a month (totaling $360 a year). Or, to save money, you can try QuickBooks’ typical offer of 50% off for three months (though choosing the discount waives your free trial). You must purchase additional licenses if you want to access it on multiple computers. While you can add cloud access to QuickBooks Enterprise, it involves an additional fee.
Whether you’re a new user or a pro, get your questions answered with one of our free, live webinars. 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. 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.
As you consider whether QuickBooks Desktop vs. QuickBooks Online is better for your accounting needs, keep in mind that QuickBooks Online is the more recent, up-to-date, and constantly evolving product. QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop share the same basic functionality of organizing your accounting processes and automating much of the manual data entry work. It has faster load times and quicker response rates, all while requiring minimal local processing power. QuickBooks Desktop is a better fit for businesses that prefer to store their data locally and are less dependent on real-time updates or extensive collaboration. It’s fair to point out that multiple people can use QuickBooks Desktop over the local network at the office.
QuickBooks Online Advanced now offers a fixed asset accounting feature that allows you to enter and track fixed assets, such as vehicles, buildings, and equipment. Based on the depreciation method you choose, Advanced automatically calculates the depreciation for the fixed asset and creates a depreciation schedule. 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 items you want to purchase.
How We Evaluated QuickBooks Online Plans
- For operations paying their employees through checks, QuickBooks Online Essentials fits the bill.
- Having an independent software expert perform the bookkeeping is good for overall ease of use.
- To delve deeper into our best small business accounting software, we tested and used each platform to evaluate how the features perform against our metrics.
- QuickBooks Online has been part of the Intuit accounting software family for a few decades now.
Probably not, unless your business absolutely needs advanced inventory management features, barcode scanning, or assembly builds. Not only is it the newer tool, but it also seems to be the focus in terms of update frequency, development, and marketing. You should also consider budget constraints before choosing, as QuickBooks Online provides more plans and more diverse pricing options, while QuickBooks Desktop can be more expensive.
QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Desktop: Which is best?
In contrast, QuickBooks Desktop’s interface was built with accountants in mind. Instead of showing clear images of your cash balance, outstanding invoices, and upcoming bills like the QuickBooks Online dash, the desktop version’s dash is a flowing series of connected folders and files. Unless you’re an accountant, the learning curve will likely be a little higher for you than it would with QuickBooks Online.
Why do accountants not like QuickBooks Online?
However you work, no matter what your business does, QuickBooks has a plan for you. Get a feel for what QuickBooks can do and try out top features using our sample company.
