QuickBooks Desktop Pro vs. QuickBooks Online

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Quickbooks Desktop Pro is accounting software from Intuit, Inc. It includes core accounting features, plus analytics and exportable reports. It is offered in on-premise and SaaS forms.N/A
QuickBooks Online
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Online is a SaaS version of the QuickBooks product. It contains all of the features found in the local version. Higher-priced plans include greater automation, payment management, inventory and time tracking, and analytics features.
$38
per month
Pricing
QuickBooks Desktop ProQuickBooks Online
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Simple Start
$38
per month
Essentials
$75
per month
Plus
$115
per month
Advanced
$275
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
QuickBooks Desktop ProQuickBooks Online
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 ProQuickBooks Online
Features
QuickBooks Desktop ProQuickBooks Online
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
9.3
Ratings
18% above category average
QuickBooks Online
8.4
Ratings
8% above category average
Pay calculation9.90 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Benefit plan administration9.80 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.30 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
7.9
Ratings
3% above category average
QuickBooks Online
8.3
Ratings
8% above category average
API for custom integration8.00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Plug-ins7.80 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
10.0
Ratings
18% above category average
QuickBooks Online
9.7
Ratings
15% above category average
Single sign-on capability10.00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Role-based user permissions10.00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
10.0
Ratings
24% above category average
QuickBooks Online
8.1
Ratings
3% above category average
Dashboards10.00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Standard reports10.00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Custom reports10.00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
9.5
Ratings
20% above category average
QuickBooks Online
8.5
Ratings
9% above category average
Accounts payable10.00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Accounts receivable10.00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Cash management10.00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Bank reconciliation10.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Expense management10.00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Time tracking8.70 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Fixed asset management10.00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Multi-currency support10.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Multi-division support10.00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Regulations compliance7.20 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Electronic tax filing10.00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Self-service portal9.70 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Global Financial Support7.00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers8.80 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting10.00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Localizations8.50 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations10.00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting10.00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Configurable Accounting10.00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework10.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Standardized Processes10.00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
6.7
Ratings
9% below category average
QuickBooks Online
7.5
Ratings
2% above category average
Inventory tracking6.40 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Automatic reordering6.10 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Location management6.20 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Manufacturing module8.20 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
8.3
Ratings
7% above category average
QuickBooks Online
8.4
Ratings
8% above category average
Pricing10.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Order entry10.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Credit card processing7.10 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Order Orchestration9.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility9.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Order exception Resolution3.20 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
QuickBooks Desktop ProQuickBooks Online
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
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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 ProQuickBooks Online
Likelihood to Recommend
9.9
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
1.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.3
(0 ratings)
2.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.2
(0 ratings)
1.1
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
3.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
1.3
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
QuickBooks Desktop ProQuickBooks Online
Likelihood to Recommend
I am only going to recommend it because it is currently ubiquitous, and most accountants prefer it at the moment. I do not stand by the company, and will not use the product any longer than I have to. [I believe] the support is lousy, the product is overpriced, but it does the basics of what we need. I'm very happy for all those outside Intuit who make their living supporting QuickBooks Desktop Pro; third-party support is desperately needed. They also doubled their prices for software upgrades this year, and require those who don't pay double what the last upgrade cost, to subscribe every year for $200. If one does not subscribe beyond the first year, one will not be able to use the software beyond the first year. They are moving to a rental model even for those who refuse to use the LOUSY QuickBooks online. They were good company once. Now they just turn out bloatware that everyone uses, so the rest of us have to. I look forward to the day that an honest, better-priced competitor wipes the floor with Intuit.
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I appreciate the ability to auto-generate invoices for recurring transactions, which saves time, as well as the option to set up auto-generated transactions. The report option is super helpful when reviewing information, as you can click to view the details in the report without having to go back and forth.
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Pros
  • It is easy to manage and adjust inventory on hand.
  • It is easy to make reports and customize them to your needs.
  • We also use it to pay our employees directly.
  • It is easy to make year-to-year comparisons to see where we can make improvements and the current financial situation.
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  • It enables me to do a P&L for each specific program as requested by the county for the grant money that they give us.
  • It enables me to do [an] organizational budget as well as a budget for each specific program
  • It enables the accountant and the auditor access at any time for transparency
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Cons
  • QuickBooks Desktop Pro has been around for a few years and after an update[,] they force you to look at the changes/updates before you can use [them] after updating.
  • QuickBooks Desktop Pro does not have 2FA.
  • QuickBooks Desktop Pro should offer a way to store backups to a personal cloud without having to map a local network drive.
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  • Purchase Orders cannot be linked to multiple bill payments which makes tracking purchase orders in QuickBooks Online obsolete. Without the function we have to track this within a different more manual spreadsheet.
  • Would be helpful if you could "split" bank transactions directly from the "review" downloads from the bank. Currently, to split transactions to multiple accounts we need to first categorize, then review after assigning to 1 account.
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Likelihood to Renew
We use it with all our clients and have several QuickBooks Pro Advisors and will renew and continue to use it with our client base. It is easy to use, helps with collecting annual data and makes compiling of information for filing annual tax returns much easier. It makes our job a lot easier, than using manual records.
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QBO needs better integration with non-Intuit products and developers need to use Intuit's open API to develop better add-ons. Clients are having a great deal of problems with their data importing from the bank and this takes time away from better revenue producing activities. Although the efficiencies are there, they are outweighted by the shortcomings of the product. When we ran a parallel of QBO versus other cloud accounting products, we had more issues with the QBO product than any other
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Usability
QuickBooks Desktop Pro can be daunting at first. It has the ability to do nearly everything you will ever need in accounting but that means there are a lot of features to learn. It's always best to have an experienced user to guide you with the initial setup as it can be a bit overwhelming.
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I had very little trouble setting up the program and migrating from our old accounting system. The daily usage is also very intuitive and easy. Anytime we run into minor trouble with the program, there are always tons of help available on YouTube, so we don't even look up the online manual anymore.
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Reliability and Availability
I haven't experienced a time when QuickBooks Pro was unavailable when I needed it in the entire 20 years of using the software
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We have rarely had outages in the last 10 years. I can only recall 2 times in the last 10 years where we were not able to access our client files.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
Everything process has its bugs lately with the new interface. Nothing has worked smoothly since this all began last month.
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Support Rating
I was a BIG fan of QuickBooks support for a very long time up until recently. The representatives were well trained and wanted to solve your problem for you, as a human, not as just a customer. In my recent experiences I feel as though that is no longer so. My last conversation was appalling. The representative only read the narrative provided over and over and would not send me on to a supervisor. Finally I hung up and called back. On this try, I was passed from department to department. I was not presented with a solution until I posted a rant on their Facebook page. It amazes me that I had to publicly complain to get results.
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In my experience, most representatives keep me on the phone for hours, literally, for a single issue and then usually cannot resolve it satisfactorily. I have 10 open cases that need resolution and, in my experience, there has been NO follow-up communication on any of them.
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In-Person Training
Best thing I ever did was to attend a two day training seminar on QuickBooks, I learned an immense amount in a short time with hands on training by experts. I strongly recommend such training for anyone using any part of the software. It will pay for itself in the first month.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
We implemented the software ourselves. The training we received on the software was done by taking a community course teaching us how to use QuickBooks. It allowed me to get started with some basics of how to use the program and have not needed much assistance since completing the course work.
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The person in charge of QB needs to be very accurate with record keeping and is recommended to stay on top of tasks. The biggest issue we have is reconciliation, and those issues occur only when too much time has occurred between reconciliations
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Alternatives Considered
Quickbooks Desktop Pro is much simple and easier to use, so it fits better to the ticket of our small non-profit organization needs. The other options are either, or both, more pricy and complicated. For example, the implementation for QuickBooks Desktop Pro was simple enough for me to do so in-house with training courses available and phone calls to a customer service representative or implementation expert accessible.
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QuickBooks Online is an accounting software package that allows companies to use a cost-effective and efficient software package. QuickBooks Online allows companies to prepare their balance sheets and income statements. It connects with a variety of other applications, which allows you to be efficient. We are very pleased with QuickBooks Online, and we would highly recommend it.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
As we have grown along our professional path, we have also expanded our use of QB. The scalability is easy and features seem to be waiting for you until you need them. We have increased profits by over 10x from our first year in business to the current and have yet to find a reason to look elsewhere
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Return on Investment
  • Clean and accurate bookkeeping records [have] made reporting and sharing information with tax accountants a breeze.
  • Invoicing out of QB is a bit slow and time-consuming[,] unfortunately, so we were forced to choose another software to integrate.
  • A great way to have all accounting needs in one place - AP, AR, Reporting, etc.
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  • I think the help function is cumbersome and hard to use. When I go to refresh myself on a function, say quarterly, I feel like I have to cast about just looking for it.
  • The account reconciliation works, but in this place that could benefit from messaging, there are no easy helping functions flagging things like amounts that fit the discrepancy.
  • Even styling invoices and documents is more cumbersome than it should be.
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ScreenShots

QuickBooks Online Screenshots

Screenshot of the accounting and bank transactions interfaceScreenshot of an overview of the accounting inventoryScreenshot of book marksScreenshot of the business tax overviewScreenshot of the customer hubScreenshot of the dashboard