It has four plans, which means businesses can scale up to plans with more features and users as they grow. Most midsize stocksfortots businesses can’t afford to (and don’t need to!) spend that much cash on accounting software. If you’re searching for accounting software that’s user-friendly, full of smart features, and scales with your business, Quickbooks is a great option.
When To Choose a Competitor Over QuickBooks
In addition, the online solution enabled QuickBooks intergated payments to gain traction. The software was not an immediate success but slowly found its footing as more households adopted personal computers. Let’s embark on a journey through time, tracing the genesis and history of QuickBooks and its parent company, Intuit. However, new users can still purchase the Enterprise edition of Desktop.
Of course, you can find some free accounting software options out there, but fully featured accounting software usually comes at a cost. Aside from the obvious features, such as double entry and time tracking, you should look for software that offers payroll, bill payment and is affordable for your budget. Time tracking is included on all plans, making it great for businesses with employees billing hours. Sage Intacctis a stripped-down set of accounting tools for small businesses that need an affordable and simple solution. NetSuite competes more with enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools, so it’s more suited for large businesses that can make use of all of its features.
What’s more, you can sync your Wise account with Quickbooks Online to track your bills in real-time. For example, if you do business in USD, but live overseas, getting paid and paying others is complex and can take up a lot of time. A monthly fee will be applied according to the plan you choose. Once you select your business plan, you can also optionally add a payroll plan.
NerdWallet has engaged Atomic Invest LLC (“Atomic”), an SEC-registered investment adviser, to bring you the opportunity to open investment advisory accounts (Automated Investing Account and/or Treasury Account) with Atomic. Pre-qualified offers are not binding. This information may be different than what you see when you visit a financial institution, service provider or specific product’s site. Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate us when you take certain actions on our website or click to take an action on their website. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research.
Xero offers some limited plans at affordable prices for small and growing businesses, but the Established plan at $80 per month is the better option if you’re looking for a QuickBooks alternative. Freelancers and solo-operated businesses need accounting software, but maybe not as robust as QuickBooks—that’s where FreshBooks makes sense. It offers most of the accounting software’s main features. QuickBooks is an accounting software package created by Intuit, which offers solutions for managing personal, business, and tax finances. QuickBooks Online is cloud-based accounting software that covers all the accounting needs you may have.
Key Features: QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop
- We wanted to gauge the opinions of real users of these QuickBooks alternatives and turned to third-party websites to get a gauge of how these customers felt about their experiences with them.
- For general contractors who travel between job sites and need fast, on-the-go account access, a QuickBooks Online plan could suit better.
- If your budget is low, you don’t need all the features of a full accounting program and you want more avenues for support, you may be better off choosing a QuickBooks competitor.
- The Plus Plan is $45 per month for the first three months, then becomes $90 per month, and adds up to five users.
- 80+ years of combined experience covering small business and personal finance.
The paid plan lets you create custom invoices and save templates, with standard Square processing rates for card and ACH payments. It’s a cloud-based solution that lets you run your business anywhere with internet access. With Sage Intacct, you can create and send invoices and track payments, set up automatic bank reconciliation and record receipts with AutoEntry (a paid add-on after the first three months). Higher tiers add bill management, time tracking, advanced analytics and workflow automations.
It includes essential features such as unlimited customizable quotes and invoices, bill payment and bank reconciliation. It’s designed for single users to send and manage invoices for a handful of clients. Each plan comes with fewer limitations, more advanced features and better support options. For example, payroll requires a paid plan starting at $15 per month (paid annually).
QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop: At a Glance
Today, it offers a suite of products tailored to different needs, from self-employed individuals to established businesses. These acquisitions expanded Intuit’s footprint beyond business accounting, making them a holistic financial understanding the balance sheet solutions provider. In the realm of accounting software, few names are as iconic as QuickBooks. The most popular cloud-based QuickBooks program is QuickBooks Online, a browser-based system for small-business owners who want a straightforward approach to bookkeeping and accounting.
Essential Features
As a cloud-based service, all your data will be backed up automatically to Intuit’s servers, along with the data of all other QuickBooks Online users. QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based subscription service that gives you access to the software from wherever you are. These integrations and compatible tools allow users to manage and automate a wide variety of business processes.
It brings most of the features of the online platform, plus it enables mileage tracking and receipt capture for quick and convenient recordkeeping. Those who want to take their accounting on the go will appreciate the mobile app. QuickBooks Online is a good option for many small businesses that are looking to make invoicing customers easy and integrate invoicing and payments into the general ledger. Another cumbersome feature that users don’t like is the requirement that clients must establish their own accounts to pay an invoice. This plan also gives you a dedicated account team to help with training, troubleshooting and setup. This allows more users (up to 25) and increases analytics for users to assess the business’s health.
You’re our first priority.Every time.
The Classic Business & Personal plan at $10.99 breakeven point bep definition per month (paid annually) is best for microbusinesses. Given its cost, it’s best for larger businesses with full accounting departments. Zoho Books is best for those who are already using Zoho products to manage their businesses, as it offers seamless integration and is more affordable than QuickBooks overall. We reviewed more than a dozen accounting software options using a detailed methodology to help you find the seven best QuickBooks alternatives. QuickBooks is arguably the most popular accounting software option available, but it isn’t the only solution. There is a learning curve to mastering it, as there is for other accounting software options.
QuickBooks Premier Plus and Enterprise offer QuickBooks’ only industry-specific plans. Now, all QuickBooks Desktop plans renew on an annual basis—you do not have the option to pay just once for three years of use. You can access cloud-based software from any web-enabled device—your data isn’t tied to one location but stored on an external server for easy access.
- While QuickBooks Online is only 50 cents more than Xero, note that that is the introductory cost for the first three months.
- Plus, QuickBooks isn’t the only accounting solution in the world—far from it.
- Like most software nowadays, whether cloud-based or desktop, you’re going to pay a subscription fee no matter which route you take.
- QuickBooks Pro Plus was QuickBooks’ least expensive and least customizable desktop-based plan.
- Putting the software in charge should ease any tax-related stress as it will calculate, file, and pay the taxes.
QuickBooks Enterprise: Best for big businesses
And with four plans, it’s scalable for small businesses that want to add features like bill management as they expand. However, it lacks inventory tracking and line-item accounting, and lower plans limit client numbers, so growing businesses may need higher tiers. QuickBooks is a great option for small businesses that want full-featured accounting software but, if you’re just using it for invoicing purposes, you may want to consider an alternative.
QuickBooks Online Review 2025: Pros, Cons, Alternatives
As Quicken’s popularity grew, Intuit noticed a segment of users adapting the personal finance tool for their small businesses. The story begins in 1983 when Scott Cook, intrigued by the struggles of personal financial management, envisioned a software solution to simplify this process for households. It has transformed from a humble tool into a software powerhouse that fuels millions of small businesses worldwide.
Desktop offers automation, too, but relies more on manual updates and local data. Bank connections, recurring invoices and automated reports come standard with QuickBooks Online. That difference alone explains why most newer users start with Online.
Desktop users need to be at their computer—or pay for cloud hosting—to handle those same tasks. Desktop still allows multiple users, but only through a local network setup or hosted environment that costs extra and takes more effort to maintain. This comparison is for current Desktop users evaluating a switch and outlines how the two differ. QuickBooks Desktop is no longer sold as of September 2024 (unless you’re using Enterprise), though Intuit continues limited support for existing users. Plenty of QuickBooks alternatives can meet all sorts of business needs, including your business’s needs.