Intuit QuickBooks

QuickBooks

Used for accounting, bookkeeping, invoicing, payroll, and financial management for small businesses.

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  • Overview
  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Pros
  • Cons
  • Reviews

QuickBooks Overview

  • Updated August 13, 2025

Intuit QuickBooks Online is a versatile business management tool designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It streamlines accounting tasks, including bookkeeping, invoicing, expense tracking, and financial reporting. With features like payroll management, inventory tracking, and tax preparation, it simplifies financial operations.

QuickBooks offers cloud-based and desktop versions, enabling users to manage cash flow, generate invoices, and monitor business performance efficiently, making it a trusted solution for financial organization.

Key Features

  • Invoicing and Payments: Create professional invoices and accept payments online, including credit cards and bank transfers, with QuickBooks Payments for seamless transaction tracking.
  • Expense Tracking: Automatically import and categorize transactions from bank accounts, credit cards, PayPal, and Square to monitor spending in real time.
  • Bookkeeping Automation: AI-powered tools, like Intuit Assist, automate tasks such as invoice creation, transaction entry, and categorization to reduce manual work.
  • Payroll Management: Calculate, file, and pay payroll taxes automatically, with options for same-day direct deposit and HR management in higher-tier plans.
  • Financial Reporting: Generate customizable reports (200+ in Enterprise) for insights into cash flow, profit/loss, and business performance, with trend analysis and forecasting.
  • Inventory Management: Track products, cost of goods, and vendor details, create purchase orders, and manage stock levels, especially robust in Plus and Advanced plans.
  • Time Tracking: Monitor employee or contractor hours with QuickBooks Time Elite, integrated for payroll and project cost tracking, available in higher-tier plans.
  • Tax Preparation: Automatically sort transactions into tax categories, support Schedule C filing (Solopreneur plan), and calculate sales tax for compliance.
  • Multi-User Access: Assign specific roles and access levels for up to 25 users (Advanced plan).
  • Third-Party Integrations: Connect with apps like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Google Workspace to streamline e-commerce, payroll, and other business processes.
  • Cloud-Based Access: QuickBooks Online allows access from any device with an internet connection, with automatic backups and real-time data updates.
  • Live Bookkeeping Support: QuickBooks Live offers expert guidance on setup, reports, reconciliation, and workflows, with cleanup services for past records.
  • Project Management: Track project profitability, costs, and estimates, with tools to convert estimates to invoices, ideal for contractors and service-based businesses.
  • AI-Powered Insights: Analyze financial data for real-time cash flow forecasts, expense categorization, and alerts for potential issues.
  • Mobile App: Manage finances on the go with the QuickBooks Online mobile app. It supports receipt capture, invoicing, and expense tracking on iOS and Android.

Price

Plan Standard Price (USD/month) Current Promo (first 3 months)
Simple Start $35 $17.50
Essentials (3 users) $65 $32.50
Plus (5 users) $99 $49.50
Advanced (25 users) $235 $117.50

Check pricing details: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/

Pros

Competitor

Pros of QuickBooks Online
Zoho Books QuickBooks Online excels with its robust feature set, including advanced payroll options (Core, Premium, Elite) and AI-powered automation via Intuit Assist, which auto-generates invoices and payment reminders. Its seamless bank reconciliation and live bank feeds ensure accurate bookkeeping, surpassing Zoho Books’ limited live feed support.

With over 650 third-party integrations, QuickBooks Online offers superior connectivity for diverse business needs, and its mobile app provides strong functionality for on-the-go management, including mileage tracking. Customer reviews on platforms like G2 praise its ease of use and comprehensive reporting (e.g., profit and loss, cash flow), making it ideal for businesses needing all-in-one accounting solutions.
Xero QuickBooks Online stands out with its user-friendly interface and extensive reporting capabilities, which offer over 80 customizable reports compared to Xero’s slightly fewer options. Its AI-driven features, like Intuit Assist, streamline invoicing and expense categorization, providing an edge for small businesses.

QuickBooks Online’s payroll integration is more robust, with automated tax filings and direct deposits, and its mobile app is highly rated for accessibility. Customer reviews highlight its intuitive design and strong customer support, including Live Expert Assisted, which Xero lacks in comparable depth. QuickBooks Online’s promotions, like 50% off for three months, also make it more accessible for new users.
FreshBooks QuickBooks Online is a more comprehensive solution for businesses needing full accounting features, such as accounts payable, inventory management (Plus and Advanced plans), and multi-currency support, which FreshBooks lacks in depth. Its scalability across five plans (Solopreneur to Advanced) suits growing businesses, unlike FreshBooks, which is tailored for freelancers.

Customer reviews on Trustpilot praise QuickBooks Online’s robust reporting and payroll capabilities, and its cloud-based access with real-time updates supports remote teams effectively. The platform’s integration with over 650 apps, including Zapier, enhances workflow automation compared to FreshBooks’ more limited integrations.
Wave QuickBooks Online offers a more complete accounting package than Wave, which focuses on free basic features but charges for payments and payroll. QuickBooks Online includes advanced inventory tracking, project profitability tools, and multi-user access (up to 25 users in Advanced), making it suitable for larger teams.

Its AI-driven automation and extensive reporting capabilities outshine Wave’s simpler tools. Customer reviews on Capterra note QuickBooks Online’s reliability and 24/7 support, and its mobile app provides superior functionality, including receipt capture and mileage tracking, compared to Wave’s limited mobile experience.
Sage 50 QuickBooks Online provides a cloud-based advantage over Sage 50’s primarily desktop-based solution, offering anytime, anywhere access and automatic backups. Its intuitive interface and AI tools, like Intuit Assist, simplify tasks like invoicing and expense tracking, which Sage 50’s steeper learning curve can complicate. QuickBooks Online’s pricing is more flexible, starting at $17.5/month (Solopreneur) versus Sage 50’s higher entry cost.

Customer reviews on G2 highlight QuickBooks Online’s ease of use and strong integration options, making it more accessible for small businesses without dedicated accounting teams.

Cons

Competitor

Cons of QuickBooks Online
Zoho Books QuickBooks Online is pricier than Zoho Books, with plans starting at $35/month compared to Zoho’s free tier or $20/month Professional plan, which includes project management tools absent in QuickBooks Online’s lower tiers. Zoho Books offers better scalability for businesses already using Zoho’s ecosystem, with seamless CRM and marketing integrations.

Customer reviews on Trustpilot note Zoho Books’ affordability and ease of use for global invoicing, while QuickBooks Online’s higher-tier features, like inventory management, require upgrading to the $99/month Plus plan, which can be cost-prohibitive for smaller businesses.
Xero QuickBooks Online’s pricing can be less competitive than Xero’s, and includes project tracking in its $80/month Established plan, a feature QuickBooks Online reserves for higher tiers. Xero’s native integrations with niche apps (e.g., automotive, tourism) surpass QuickBooks Online’s in specific industries.

Customer reviews on G2 suggest Xero’s interface feels more modern, and its unlimited users in higher plans contrast with QuickBooks Online’s 25-user cap in the Advanced plan, limiting scalability for larger teams.
FreshBooks QuickBooks Online is less cost-effective for freelancers than FreshBooks, which offers invoicing and time tracking for $21/month compared to QuickBooks Online’s $35/month for similar features. FreshBooks’ simpler interface and automated payment reminders are preferred by some Trustpilot users for solo operations.

QuickBooks Online’s robust feature set can feel overwhelming for users needing only basic invoicing, and its payment processing (via QuickBooks Payments) has drawn criticism for occasional account freezes, unlike FreshBooks’ more reliable Stripe and PayPal integrations.
Wave QuickBooks Online lacks a free plan, unlike Wave, which offers core accounting features at no cost, ideal for budget-conscious startups. Wave’s simpler interface is favored in Capterra reviews for basic bookkeeping, while QuickBooks Online’s complexity can overwhelm new users.

Additional costs for QuickBooks Online’s payroll and payment processing make it less affordable than Wave’s free tier, and Wave’s payment processing fees are more transparent, whereas QuickBooks Online’s transaction fees via Intuit Merchant Services can add up quickly.
Sage 50 QuickBooks Online falls short of Sage 50’s advanced features like LIFO inventory and detailed job costing, which are critical for complex workflows. Sage 50’s desktop solution offers more robust customization, preferred by some G2 users for mid-market businesses.

QuickBooks Online’s mobile app has limited functionality compared to its desktop counterpart, and customer reviews note occasional lags in cloud performance, whereas Sage 50’s desktop stability is more reliable for users not needing remote access.

Customers' Reviews From Reliable Websites

Reddit Review
G2 Review
Business.com Review
Trustpilot Review
Capterra Review