QuickBooks Desktop Premier vs. QuickBooks Online Advanced

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Desktop Premier is an installed version of QuickBooks for general business, contractors, manufacturing and warehouse accounting, as well as nonprofits, professional services, and retail.N/A
QuickBooks Online Advanced
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Online Advanced is a SaaS-based accounting software designed to scale with growing businesses. It includes the functionalities of QuickBooks Online, as well as more robust business analytics, customization, and resource management.N/A
Pricing
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Online Advanced
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Online Advanced
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Online Advanced
Features
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Online Advanced
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
9.0
Ratings
15% above category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
-
Ratings
Pay calculation7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
1.3
Ratings
142% below category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.0
Ratings
16% above category average
API for custom integration1.30 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Plug-ins1.30 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
10.0
Ratings
18% above category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.2
Ratings
10% above category average
Single sign-on capability10.00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Role-based user permissions10.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
8.2
Ratings
4% above category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
8.4
Ratings
6% above category average
Dashboards9.00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Standard reports9.00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Custom reports6.50 Ratings7.70 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
8.3
Ratings
6% above category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.3
Ratings
18% above category average
Accounts payable10.00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Accounts receivable10.00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Cash management10.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Bank reconciliation10.00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Expense management10.00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Time tracking5.00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Fixed asset management5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-currency support9.00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Multi-division support7.00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Regulations compliance1.80 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Electronic tax filing10.00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Self-service portal5.00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Global Financial Support5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers7.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting10.00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Localizations10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations10.00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting10.00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Configurable Accounting10.00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework10.00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Standardized Processes10.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
2.9
Ratings
87% below category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.6
Ratings
27% above category average
Inventory tracking1.70 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Automatic reordering1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Location management8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Manufacturing module1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
8.0
Ratings
3% above category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.5
Ratings
21% above category average
Pricing10.00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Order entry10.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Credit card processing10.00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Orchestration10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Order exception Resolution5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Online Advanced
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Online Advanced
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.3
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
1.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.2
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
6.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Online Advanced
Likelihood to Recommend
QuickBooks Desktop is an easy-to-use software with good services. Their invoicing, employment, and vendor sections are all wonderful. These sections allow efficient tracking and instant business summaries and reporting. However, the pricing for additional services and upgrades and lack of good customer service makes it a less attractive software for small businesses.
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QuickBooks Online Advanced is best suited for small businesses who don’t have any consolidation considerations. Additionally, the software tends to struggle when there are a large number of projects. The report screens will struggle to load at times and it will be difficult to view reports. However, it does really well at creating an all-in-one solution for companies who need payroll, accounting, and tax compliance in a relatively inexpensive bundle.
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Pros
  • QuickBooks Premier is easy to use, yet flexible and powerful enough to handle some complicated accounting scenarios.
  • QuickBooks Premier offers a wide array of canned reports. Custom reports can be easily created.
  • QuickBooks Premier with Enhanced Payroll gives us the tools to handle complex payrolls with multiple variables.
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  • It allows us to link to bank accounts in order to get up-to-date, real-time information, which is so important in today's lightning speed work world.
  • The "canned" reports are excellent and allow for extreme customization also. This makes them very helpful to both me and my clients.
  • The user interface for QuickBooks Online Advanced is easy to navigate and is intuitive for novices. The screens are well laid out and have cohesiveness on each screen to match tasks with others that match up well.
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Cons
  • I would like to be able to choose how i want to view accounts receivable aging. I would like some flexibility to sort and choose how to present the data.
  • For a seasoned accountant, I would like to see some of the restrictive controls that are in place for novices to be able to be relaxed so that I can easily make some entries and adjust some balances that ordinarily a regular user would not be able to do.
  • I would like to see an easy way to clear old outstanding checks that need to be reversed without affecting prior balances/history.
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  • Proper advice in QuickBooks Online Pro for the usage if QuickBooks Online Advanced will be more efficient.
  • More features and space in the app for organization of the self-created workflows.
  • The stability of QuickBooks Online Advanced can still be better.
  • There are still file-size issues and limitations on transactions and attributes of transactions.
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Likelihood to Renew
Because we have been extremely happy with the product and our organization tends to be creatures of habit. We rarely leave a product that works this well for the latest and greatest. Typically we follow the "if it's not broken, don't fix it rule". While QB does make changes we typically just roll with it. If we do find something we don't like we work through it until we fully understand its functionality.
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QuickBooks Online Advanced is very easy to use and the data is very transparent. The reporting shortfalls (not being able to report the current month and YTD results on the same report) as well as the issues with the limitations with the management reports.
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Usability
We switched to a more "robust" software program with the hiring of a new CFO. The migration of historical data and ancillary information has been cumbersome and riddle with errors and issues. In hindsight much of what the new software program was touted to accomplish is not come to fruition. QB Desktop Premier was sufficient for the organization needs
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QuickBooks Online Advanced is great and effective. I use it for almost three months and it definitely does their job
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Reliability and Availability
This is very reliable software, the desktop version is fast. If there is a problem, it is most likely on your own hardware!
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No issue at any time with Availability
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Performance
It takes forever to load.
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It can be access at any time and reports is generate in less than a minute
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Support Rating
This is where QuickBooks falls short. Many times my staff has had questions that have not been able to get resolved easily with a chat or call. I personally have had more general questions that have not been answered easily as well. I think QuickBooks needs to provide the resources of having readily accessible help in order to make it simpler to get solutions.
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
No answers on this topic
The online training was easy to follow and understand. The online training gave us the specific instructions to follow
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Implementation Rating
It is important to do your research. There are tutorial videos online that could help new user of this accounting system. These tutorials are straightforward and easily understandable.
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I dont have any
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Alternatives Considered
We've used QuickBooks Desktop Premier for many, many years. We've not reviewed any other accounting products internally - but have a handful of the customers that use Cyma (mentioned above). While I've never had occasion to functionally use Cyma, I have had to install and troubleshoot problems with it. Put simply... not impressed. I found installation a bit confusing, and once started up, I wasn't able to easily find anything I would have wanted to find - where conversely, QuickBooks Desktop Premier excels on both of these fronts.
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QuickBooks Desktop is no longer being sold in the US, so we had to switch to the online version of the program. It is not a fully fleshed-out all-in-one solution offering everything the desktop version did. That being said, the desktop enterprise was overkill for many people.
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Scalability
They're getting better. Still room for improvement.
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Software is very flexible
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Return on Investment
  • Most of our business clients use QuickBooks which makes it efficient for us to work on clients that use the program. We can import QuickBooks data into our software which adds efficiencies to our tax practice.
  • Having staff that are familiar with the software enables our firm to provide quality service to the clients that use QuickBooks.
  • We receive referrals from satisfied QuickBooks clients.
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  • QBOA has shown my clients the increase and decrease of my monthly income activity
  • I am able to project my income and spending more easily
  • The P&L reports has shown me a lot and by customizing to focus on my income and expenses has allowed me to better budget
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ScreenShots