Editor’s note: I use QuickBooks Online to handle the accounting for my blog and conference business. I turned to my accountant, Brad Case of Taylor & Associates, who uses it every day on my behalf, to provide a quick review for anyone interested in using it. Here’s Brad…

Running your successful business can be very challenging. Making the sale, providing the service, and/or producing the product can (and should) consume you and your staff’s day.

When you compare Intuit’s two most popular products, QuickBooks Online vs Desktop, both have strong accounting features, but there is a key difference — QuickBooks Online is cloud-based software with monthly pricing and QuickBooks Desktop is locally-installed with a license pricing model. Here’s a comparison of QuickBooks Online vs Desktop to get you started. Cloud-based applications are the norm in business today. In 2018, the public cloud services market reached around 175.8 billion U.S. Dollars in revenue and is forecast to exceed 278.3 billion by 2021.

This leaves little room for you to track expenses/income and put together a payroll. You need the accounting and bookkeeping to be as easy as possible. Especially when tax season rolls around.

Intuit QuickBooks Online is still the best online accounting application for small businesses, thanks to its depth, flexibility, and extensibility. It's easy to use, well designed, and built to. Mac users who want to (or have to) use Intuit’s QuickBooks have plenty of choices—we can run the Mac, Windows, or Web app version. One of those options probably pops out as an obvious choice.

This is where QuickBooks comes in. Intuit’s QuickBooks has set the standard for accounting software for years and is the best selling accounting software.

QuickBooks comes in two versions, online and desktop. Both give you robust accounting features but the desktop version can only be downloaded to one computer while the online version can be accessed anywhere there is an internet connection.

QuickBooks Online is an affordable way to manage your small business accounting. It offers features such as expenses and receipt tracking, bill management, estimates, and invoicing. Access all of your bookkeeping, taxes, and reporting needs from anywhere with an internet connection.

About QuickBooks Online

You’re probably at least familiar with the well-known QuickBooks program, which has been a beloved fixture of the business accounting industry for many years.

Here’s a quick video (less than two minutes) that will give you a better idea of how QuickBooks can help you run your business efficiently:

Since this program is part of the QuickBooks Online suite of internet programs, you can use it anywhere you have Internet access. Use it at your family or friend’s house, in another state, a restaurant or hotel with Wi-Fi, or your laptop on your bed if you have Wi-Fi there, or even on your smartphone or device.

That can help you stay on top of small details because you can handle them when you think of them, rather than have to wait until the next time you’re in front of your computer.

It can be accessed from your computer, your phone, or a tablet which makes it convenient when you have a team. You can also share details of your business finances with your accountant and makes it easier to stay organized.

Get started with QuickBooks Online here.

How Does QuickBooks Online Work?

When you sign up with QuickBooks Online, you start by linking your bank accounts to the program.

This allows QuickBooks Online to automatically pull your transactions into the software. All transactions sit in a holding area while they wait for approval from you. Once you have approved the transaction it is added to your actual books. From there, you can categorize your transactions.

Depending on your business, your initial categorization may take a little time. But it will make tax season much easier since you will not have to reorganize your transactions. QuickBooks also learns your transactions as you go. For example, it will learn that charges from Home Depot are always categorized as supplies and charges from 7-11 are always gas.

In addition, you can create Transaction Rules that will help to pre-categorize certain regular transactions. The transaction will still wait in the holding section for your approval, but it will be categorized correctly and you can just click “Add.”

There is also a mobile app that works with iPhone, iPad, and Android phones and tablets to make it easy to keep tabs on your business.

If you have QuickBooks Desktop and would like to switch to the online version, Intuit makes it easy. They copy the data from your desktop version and add it online. However, you won’t be able to sync the two versions. So, once you make the switch you’ll want to start using the Online version right away.

Related:23 Unique Business Ideas (That You Can Start Today!)

Use QuickBooks Online On-the-Go

One of the things that makes QuickBooks Online shine is the on-the-go features included with the smartphone app. For instance, the program lets you instantly track and organize expenses right from your phone.

You can sort your business spending with a swipe, making expense tracking far easier and more fun. You can also connect to apps you already use for seamless integration with the tools already in your financial toolbox. Another timesaving smartphone and tablet feature is the ability to organize receipts by snapping photos of them.

The program enters the transaction information for you and automatically matches and categorizes expenses from the receipt. It then stores and organizes the photos of the receipts so you’ll be ready for tax season.

Creating and sending invoices is also effortless with the app. You can generate invoices straight from your smartphone and keep tabs on any open invoices so you can send overdue notifications when necessary.

The app also notifies you when your invoice is sent, viewed, and paid, so you will never have to keep track manually of who owes you what.

Related: How to Track Your Expenses

QuickBooks Online Features

QuickBooks Online delivers a robust suite of features tailored to meet the needs of small businesses.

While the online version of QuickBooks is not as robust as the desktop version, it offers several great features. Where there are gaps, the software offers seamless integration with a number of apps to enhance functionality.

Since QuickBooks Online is cloud-based software, you can count on regular product updates.

What You Get with QuickBooks Online

Features available with the online version of QuickBooks:

• Bookkeeping made easy: Get automatic downloads and categorization by connecting your bank and credit card accounts. Enter transactions, record expenses, invoice customers, send reports and more–from anywhere.
• Bank reconciliations: Easily reconcile bank accounts and transactions in your accounting records.
• Sales tax: Get automatic downloads and categorization by connecting credit card and bank accounts. Use the integrated calculator to add sales tax for thousands of states, cities, and counties from the QuickBooks database.
• Expense tracking: Track business expenses through online accounts or by taking photos of receipts. All data syncs instantly across your phone, computer, and tablet.
• Receipt tracking: The built-in receipt scanner helps you track and organize your expenses. All receipts are stored as digital files for documentation come tax time.
• Bill management: QuickBooks Online helps you track and organize your bills and due dates. If you have the Advanced version you can also use QuickBooks Online to pay your bills
• Reporting: Run profit & loss reports, review your balance sheet, generate cash flow statements, and much more. QuickBooks Online comes with more than 50 built-in accounting and business reports. The Simple Start and Essential versions can run basic reports. The Plus and Advanced version can run more advanced reports.
• Generate estimates: Create estimates for clients and view estimate status. Save time by duplicating a previous estimate or using a template. Seamlessly convert estimates to invoices for added convenience.
• Invoice clients: Invoice clients and get paid quickly with built-in payment processing. Clients can pay with a credit card, bank transfer, PayPal, and more. QuickBooks automatically records the payment and transfers the money to your connected bank account.
• Progress invoicing: If a project takes weeks or months, use QuickBooks online to bill incrementally and accept payments throughout the duration. Split an estimate into multiple invoices based on project milestones, stages, and so on.

4 Versions of QuickBooks Online

Four different versions are available for QuickBooks Online. The versions, going from limited options to unlimited options, offer the right price point and services to fit your needs.

Simple Start

This version allows one user to customize and send invoices, track income and expenses, create and manage estimates, capture and organize receipts, and prepare and print 1099 forms for independent contractors.

Essentials

In addition to the features you get with Simple Start, Essentials also allows you to manage bills and track your time. Essentials Online allows up to three users, giving you the option of seamlessly sharing information with an accountant or allowing employees to have secure and specific access to features.

Plus

In addition to all of the Essentials features, Plus also allows you to track project profitability (a new capability added this year) and track your inventory. Plus Online allows for up to five users. This is the most popular tier for QuickBooks Online.

Advanced

The highest level of QuickBooks Online is designed for larger businesses, allowing up to 25 user licenses. It comes with all of the features of Plus and the ability to import hundreds of invoices at one time, create dynamic, presentation-ready reports, and get deeper insights. You can also control who can and can’t see your sensitive data and get help from a dedicated customer success manager.

Get started with QuickBooks Online here.

What to Expect From Each Tier

• You can add payroll functionality to any of these options. Payroll functionality ranges from the bare essentials with the Core Payroll option, to the Premium Payroll service that offers automated payroll solutions, to the Elite Payroll plan that backs your automated system with Quickbooks’ Tax Penalty Protection and certified HR support. The price for payroll functionality includes a monthly fee plus an affordable fee per employee per month.
• Additionally, Online Essentials, Plus, and Advanced all give you more reporting functionality compared with Online Simple Start.
• With Online Simple Start, a bill cannot be created and managed. You also can’t create an estimate. But you can create invoices and manage your customers.
• With Online Simple Start and Online Essentials you cannot track inventory. But with Online Plus and Online Advanced you can.
• Finally, you can track, prepare, and print 1099’s with all tiers.

Cost

QuickBooks Online has a different pricing structure than QuickBooks Desktop. While the desktop version comes with a one-time fee that allows you to download the program to your computer, the online version comes with a monthly subscription. Prices on each of the above tiers can vary based on the occasional promotional discount, although you can try before you buy with a free 30-day trial of the Online Plus option.

QuickBooks online pricing is currently as follows:

• Simple Start: $25 per month
• Essentials: $40 per month
• Plus: $70 per month
• Advanced: $150 per month

You can opt for a 30-day free trial and you will be billed the full amount of the level you selected once the period is over. Alternatively, you can opt to sign up for three months at a 50 percent discount.

You will need to choose the free trial or three-month discount offer–not both.

Introducing QuickBooks Live

New this year, Intuit has added QuickBooks Live to the Online offerings. This program pairs you with a remote team of professional bookkeepers. You can reach out to your bookkeeper with questions, and they “maintain, update, fix, reconcile, and categorize transactions in your books” throughout the month. When you reach the end of the month, your bookkeeping team will close your books for the month and send you a report to help you determine the financial health of your business. QuickBooks Live also offers a 100% Accurate Books Guarantee, so you know you’re getting great service.

While QuickBooks Live can take the headaches out of handling your bookkeeping, it doesn’t handle every single one of your financial tasks. For instance, QuickBooks Live does not run payroll for you. It also cannot do your taxes for you. However, using QuickBooks Live will make tax season much simpler, since you can bank on your books being ready for tax paperwork.

See Also:The Official PT Money Tax Preparation Checklist (Free Download)

QuickBooks Live costs $400 per month, but there is no contract or other obligation. You can cancel or change your service at any time. To make sure this is the right fit for you, QuickBooks offers a free 30-minute consultation to help you decide if QuickBooks Live will fit with your business’s needs.

Quickbooks Desktop For Mac Vs Online 2018 Reviews

Related:Small Business Finances: The Key Financial Pillars of Building a Start-Up

A Few Drawbacks

QuickBooks Online is not without its negatives. If the Internet is down or unavailable then QuickBooks Online cannot be accessed and therefore no work can be done. Sometimes even if the Internet is available QuickBooks Online servers can get overloaded and it cannot be accessed.

Additionally, if QuickBooks desktop is the only thing that you know, then a big learning curve is present in becoming accustomed to QuickBooks Online.

I’ve found that the speed of QuickBooks Online is dependent on your internet speed whereas QuickBooks desktop is generally fast no matter what.

It can be very frustrating with QuickBooks Online if they want to change something as far as functionality. You have no choice but to get used to it. For instance, payroll has to be done a certain way with little to no flexibility.

One other major downside that I’ve experienced is that QuickBooks Online will time out forcing you to have to log back in to continue with your work.

What I Like About QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online also has a lot of upsides. With QuickBooks desktop, a new version has to be bought and installed on your computer every year in order to keep up with the most recent software. In QuickBooks Online you don’t have to worry about that because it keeps up with it for you.

I also like that your accountant can access it anytime he wants with his own unique username and password to make the right changes. Direct deposit is free per employee in QuickBooks Online, but in the desktop version, it costs per employee.

One of my favorite features is that your transactions can be downloaded from your bank. All you have to do is verify it is going to the right account and you are done. You don’t have to go to your bank online and print a transaction list and enter each transaction.

It is also awesome that you don’t have to be confined to one place to do your bookkeeping; you can be anywhere anytime as long as Internet access is present.

See Also:7 Business Ideas that Scale [Plus How to Scale Any Business]

Who Should Use QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online (vs Desktop) is for the business owner on the go who wants to pay a little bit each month instead of a large amount one time per year (desktop versions cost from $199 to $499).

It’s also for the owner who is on a remote job site and has a smartphone or laptop with Wi-Fi capabilities. The owner is able to complete the work and can make out an invoice right there.

QuickBooks Online is for the person who works on a variety of different computers that have internet access.

Finally, it’s for the person (like PT) who wants their accountant to look over their shoulder and make sure they are doing things right.

What’s been your experience with QuickBooks Online?

Cloud-based applications are the norm in business today. In 2018, the public cloud services market reached around 175.8 billion U.S. dollars in revenue and is forecast to exceed 278.3 billion by 2021. When it comes to comparing accounting software in 2019–like QuickBooks Online vs Desktop–it’s hard to ignore the impact of cloud-computing.

QuickBooks Online (QBO) is a cloud-based application, meaning it’s not installed on one specific computer, but can be accessed anywhere there is an internet connection. QuickBooks Desktop is installed on the computer you choose, and can only be accessed from that hard drive. Learn more about QuickBooks desktop products here: QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier and QuickBooks 2019

Let’s dig into more of the specifics.

Basics

When it comes to generating reports, creating invoices, tracking expenses and sales, and managing accounts payable, both Online and Desktop have got you covered. The difference comes in the details, and “convenience” is the key word.

With QuickBooks Online, as we mentioned before, you can access your files whenever and wherever–even from your smartphone. Additionally, you can use QBO on either a Mac or a PC; there are no limitations with operating systems.

Invoicing

QuickBooks Online lets you create and customize invoices, and even automate the process by telling QBO what to send and when to send it. With Desktop, you can easily copy previous invoices, but you still need to manually finalize and send them each time. And you can’t do it on-the-go.

If you use QuickBooks Payments as your credit card processor, it can be integrated with either QB Online or Desktop Invoicing.

ZipBooks lets you customize invoices, include unbilled time and expenses, and set up recurring invoices for completely automated billing. Set up reminders to help customers pay on time, bill in multiple currencies, and get smart suggestions from ZipBooks on how to keep customers and get paid faster.

Expenses and Sales

With QuickBooks Online, you can connect to your bank so that your transactions update to your account automatically. Desktop has the same capability, but charges you $10-$15 per month extra for it. Plus, QBO allows you to snap pictures of a receipt with your phone, and then attach the receipt to a transaction on your QBO account. No need to hoard the receipts in a shoebox or wait until you get back to the office to record them.

With any ZipBooks account you can connect your bank account and accept digital payments. Transactions are always up-to-date, and ZipBooks machine learning software tracks your categorization, so it can automate your bookkeeping. Then we give you a confidence percentage based on how sure we are that each transaction has been categorized correctly.

Product Updates

One of the perks of cloud accounting is getting software updates in real time. QuickBooks Online provides bug fixes, new features, and updates as they’re released, any time of year. With Desktop, you have to wait for the new version to be released each year, and then you have to pay about $300 for it.

ZipBooks updates automatically and continuously as features are upgraded and improved, and any bugs are fixed. No need to wait for a yearly new-release.

Multiple Users

You can have up to 5 users registered to your QuickBooks Online account, for free. This could include access for an accountant or other professional to be able to view your files. Desktop requires you to purchase a license for 5 users, and if you want your accountants to be able to access your account from their own offices, you would need to create a copy and email it, or physically hand it over on a USB device.

Physically transferring information on a storage device or by email is not the securest way to go. So, ZipBooks offers you access for multiple users, including login credentials for accountants or other professionals who might need access to your account.

Pricing

QuickBooks Online plans start at $10/month, but their most popular plan (“Plus”) is $60/month. Free trials are available for 30 days, but negate any discount pricing.

QuickBooks Desktop options start at $299 for “Pro 2019.” While there are some options to purchase the software one time, QuickBooks Desktop is also moving to subscription-based pricing (see below).

QuickBooks Online Pricing

QuickBooks Desktop Pricing

Read a full breakdown of QuickBooks Online Pricing on our blog.

ZipBooks offer a completely free Starter plan that never expires. It includes things like unlimited invoicing, bookkeeping, connecting one bank account, and accepting credit card and PayPal payments. Upgrade to the Smarter or Sophisticated plans for $15 or $35/month, respectively–or try them free for 30 days.

Backups

Technology is a beautiful thing–until it fails! So, in the event that happens, it’s good to have a literal backup plan. QuickBooks Desktop is equipped with multiple data protection options. Desktop users can create either a local or online backup through their software or purchase Intuit Data Protect for $9.99 per month.

For QuickBooks Online, users are encouraged to either export their data manually or use a third-party application to backup their data. Intuit does have a disaster recovery for online accounts, but QBO users don’t have access to this backup if they accidentally delete something in their account. Read our blog post on QuickBooks Online Backup options for a full run-down of Desktop and Online alternatives as well as some helpful how-tos.

ZipBooks backs up all of your account information and files on encrypted servers that are monitored and secured 24 hours a day.

Customer Support

It’s nice to have a helpful, listening ear when you need some answers. QuickBooks Online includes anytime phone support, and free live online trainings weekly. Desktop tacks on an extra $89 for 90 days of phone support.

Knowledgeable ZipBooks experts are standing by to answer any questions you might have. Use the handy chat button from any area of your account to start a conversation with one of our account representatives.

Quickbooks Desktop For Mac Vs Online 2018 Reviews Free

Limitations

We’re obviously big fans of the flexibility, accessibility and affordability of cloud-based applications. However, QuickBooks Online does have its limitations.

QuickBooks Desktop has been around longer, so it is more powerful and offers detailed functionality related to job costs, inventory, discounts, etc. But there are third party apps available to supplement the gaps in QBO development. Additionally, even Intuit is pushing Desktop users to switch to Online, so you know they’re investing money in continual QBO improvement.

Oh, and if you like spreadsheets, here’s a mammoth that breaks down every single difference between QuickBooks software options.

While we do think ZipBooks is pretty cool, we’re not about to claim perfection. We developed our software with small business owners in mind, not just accountants. Our bookkeeping tools are easy to understand, but reap powerful results and beautiful reports.

Plus, you can use ZipBooks to grow your business by collecting and monitoring reviews–now that’s something that neither QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop offers!

Quickbooks For Mac Computers

In a nutshell, it’s pretty clear that cloud-based accounting has taken over when it comes to convenience and efficiency. In the debate of QuickBooks Online vs Desktop, most modern business owners–and accountants–choose the cloud. If you’re looking to evaluate other cloud software options, check out our post on Xero vs QuickBooks, or consider ZipBooks.

ZipBooks is an innovative, price-effective option that can help you take your business to new heights. If you decide ZipBooks is the right accounting software for you, we’d love to welcome you into our family!