QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise vs. QuickBooks Online

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is a widely-used accounting package designed for small to mid-sized businesses. It is the top of the QuickBooks line. Pricing starts at $3,000 for five users, and goes up depending on the number of additional users. They also offer an Advanced Inventory module for $999 / year.
$1,261
per year
QuickBooks Online
Score 8.0 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.
$15
per month
Pricing
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseQuickBooks Online
Editions & Modules
Gold
1,261
per year
Platinum
1,522
per year
Gold with Remote Access
1,785.60
per year
Platinum with Remote Access
2,083.20
per year
Diamond
3,060.34
per year
Diamond with Remote Access
3,600.36
per year
Self-Employed
$15
per month
Simple Start
$25
per month
Plus
$75
per month
Advanced
$150
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseQuickBooks Online
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseQuickBooks Online
Considered Both Products
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
We have used QuickBooks Online products but find the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise to be a better fit for our company. And while QB online definitely has its pros, it is a pricier option. Plus for accounting professional, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is more versatile and …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
As stated in earlier parts of the review, we moved from Quickbooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online because of the ease of use that QuickBooks Online has, while maintaining 95% of the power of Quickbooks Desktop. The one spot where Quickbooks Desktop comes out on top is the ability …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks Online - Small to mid size companies - Ease of use and customer support. Great interaction with POS systems. Best out of the box experience. QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise not good for new users - Consider hiring professional accounting consultant for training and …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
WE have actually switched to QuickBooks Online. In my opinion, the cloud server is more secure and less expensive.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
I did not find QuickBooks Online to be very user friendly. QuickBooks Desktop is a much simplified version while still having all the functionality.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
I have told Intuit when I've called in for Support for QuickBooks Online how much it lacks in function compared to QuickBooks Desktop. However the Enterprise version does more thank Desktop and so its functionality and ease is much more pleasing and useful. The reporting, the …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Significantly better in every way except having a cloud access system that does not require a hosting service.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
We have selected this product as it is affordoable in terms of pricing and features too. Our clients is geeting lots of benefits by using this product. By using QuickBooks desktop client also manage the information realted to financials and also get the clear picture for the …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Bill.com - Because it is the specialised AP Management portal that comes with approval and payment workflow in itself and syncs with QB. Expensify - Because it is the intelligent Expense reimbursement tool that QuickBooks Desktop doesn't offer.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
The payroll features are far from none on QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. The lack of such features on Desktop Pro leave one posting their own remittance calculations, doing the reporting, and maintaining a database for such.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks [Desktop Enterprise] is much easier to use. While Sage has true accounting control processes, the batch entry and other processes can be redundant and out dated. The Enterprise audit trail can track issues if necessary while allowing for easier functionality within …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is widely used by our client and they prefer to use it instead of Online. And it also gives lots of flexibility compared with Online.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
If you need lots of custom fields (e.g. more than three), you want to manage inventory within QuickBooks, or you want to track Landed Costs, QB Online is not a tool for you. Enterprise functionality has been around for years and it's solid. It will be many years before the …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
We looked at BuildTools' product and it is pretty slick. But in the end, we found that the construction version of QuickBooks did everything that we needed, while also providing the g/l support we needed. QB allowed our field staff to keep doing things the way they were …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
The QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is great for simplistic reporting for my nonprofit client.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QBE offered the class & location structure detail that was not available on other systems. That's primarily the reason we went with it. It is a little frustrating that the level of detail is not available a cloud software because our team is virtual.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
I have used CDK which is a dealer accounting software and I believe Quickbooks is easier to use and more manageable.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Quickbooks Enterprise is the best overall software for the average business which has outgrown small business accounting software. It only fails in small areas for companies in unique areas of business like fabrication shops, job shops, or custom creators making one of a kind …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks Enterprise is a great alternative for Oracle. It provides the same level of security and functionality for a fraction of the price.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
I actually use or offer support to all of the QuickBooks versions. It depends on my client's need as to which product I will recommend.
As for QB Enterprise, I choose this product for my clients who need robust inventory, may have more than one company and want to combine …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Probably one of the best for a small business, but as your company grows, it will quickly outgrow QuickBooks. This product is always adapting to the future, but they aren't adapting as well as some newer software on the market.
QuickBooks Online
Chose QuickBooks Online
I chose QuickBooks Online primarily because I had the most experience with it. Although the desktop versions will generally have more robust reporting and some areas of versatility, QuickBooks Online has the best immediate access when it comes to support and it's online …
Chose QuickBooks Online
Enterprise is just a more robust form of Quickbooks. I've used both the online version and the desktop (installed) version. Overall, there's not too much of a noticeable difference here. I would highly recommend both but it's based on your needs.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Much more support is available and it is much easier to use. It is easy to access completely up to date information from any device.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Quickbooks Online made more sense for our clients who had smaller businesses and required more hands-on accounting help. The ability to access this cloud-based accounting software from our office and respond to needs quickly was a huge benefit and advantage over Quickbooks …
Chose QuickBooks Online
They are tough competitors. I believe each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Overall, QBO is slightly less expensive than Xero (at the moment, at least), so that is a plus. The real reason that we went with QBO in the beginning is that it was a more mature product, and it …
Chose QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online and Xero offer many similar features. I believe QuickBooks Online is easier to use. Xero offers tax features for companies that operate in other companies that you have to turn off in several locations if you are using it for a US company.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseQuickBooks Online
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
7.9
108 Ratings
6% above category average
QuickBooks Online
3.1
78 Ratings
83% below category average
Pay calculation8.7104 Ratings4.369 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.861 Ratings3.832 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.090 Ratings4.865 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.782 Ratings1.644 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.583 Ratings1.346 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
7.5
74 Ratings
6% above category average
QuickBooks Online
2.5
68 Ratings
95% below category average
API for custom integration7.857 Ratings1.354 Ratings
Plug-ins7.168 Ratings3.857 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.3
156 Ratings
4% above category average
QuickBooks Online
3.7
108 Ratings
73% below category average
Single sign-on capability8.3118 Ratings2.981 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.2154 Ratings4.5102 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.3
173 Ratings
9% above category average
QuickBooks Online
5.3
132 Ratings
35% below category average
Dashboards8.4148 Ratings4.7124 Ratings
Standard reports8.6171 Ratings5.3128 Ratings
Custom reports8.1166 Ratings5.9116 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.1
177 Ratings
9% above category average
QuickBooks Online
3.7
143 Ratings
67% below category average
Accounts payable8.8170 Ratings5.4122 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.9169 Ratings6.0131 Ratings
Cash management8.4155 Ratings6.3120 Ratings
Bank reconciliation9.0168 Ratings6.2137 Ratings
Expense management8.3155 Ratings5.6123 Ratings
Time tracking6.577 Ratings1.756 Ratings
Fixed asset management8.1115 Ratings5.353 Ratings
Multi-currency support7.757 Ratings1.423 Ratings
Multi-division support8.093 Ratings1.442 Ratings
Regulations compliance8.265 Ratings1.738 Ratings
Electronic tax filing8.187 Ratings5.266 Ratings
Self-service portal6.667 Ratings2.566 Ratings
Global Financial Support6.432 Ratings1.316 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers8.161 Ratings3.535 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting8.175 Ratings4.929 Ratings
Localizations8.145 Ratings4.121 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations8.9126 Ratings5.174 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting8.586 Ratings1.825 Ratings
Configurable Accounting8.383 Ratings2.038 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework8.150 Ratings2.924 Ratings
Standardized Processes8.794 Ratings3.948 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
7.6
104 Ratings
8% above category average
QuickBooks Online
1.2
47 Ratings
142% below category average
Inventory tracking8.1100 Ratings1.245 Ratings
Automatic reordering7.353 Ratings1.222 Ratings
Location management8.366 Ratings1.321 Ratings
Manufacturing module6.850 Ratings1.317 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.3
129 Ratings
12% above category average
QuickBooks Online
3.7
86 Ratings
67% below category average
Pricing8.695 Ratings4.855 Ratings
Order entry8.6101 Ratings4.853 Ratings
Credit card processing7.790 Ratings2.363 Ratings
Cost of goods sold8.3114 Ratings3.968 Ratings
Order Orchestration8.255 Ratings4.721 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility8.352 Ratings4.720 Ratings
Order exception Resolution8.739 Ratings1.218 Ratings
Best Alternatives
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseQuickBooks Online
Small Businesses
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 8.1 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 8.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseQuickBooks Online
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(188 ratings)
4.2
(161 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(17 ratings)
2.5
(24 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(11 ratings)
4.1
(76 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(4 ratings)
2.1
(5 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(3 ratings)
1.1
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(5 ratings)
2.2
(68 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(8 ratings)
3.0
(6 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(2 ratings)
1.4
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(3 ratings)
1.1
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(3 ratings)
1.1
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(3 ratings)
1.1
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseQuickBooks Online
Likelihood to Recommend
Intuit
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is very flexible. When you have made a mistake, most mistakes are fixed easily. This is wonderful if you know what you are doing. If you don't know what you are doing QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise gives the user, the ability to do many things incorrectly. If you are not an accountant, you don't know you are doing it incorrectly. That can be a problem.
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Intuit
It seems Intuit is more interested in generating revenue than taking care of their customers. After only 28 (working) days using it, I've had to call for Help 23 times, and, in my experience, only spoken to 2 people who had an understanding of basic accounting practices and the ramifications of some of their suggested fixes on the General Ledger.
Read full review
Pros
Intuit
  • Detailed organization of financial information
  • Several security measures and double check systems to ensure incorrect entries aren't made. This prevents accidental errors and protects the company from fraud.
  • Ease of overall use
  • Reporting can be as detailed or as general as you prefer. Each report allows you to look at the overall picture or access specific details of each aspect of the company financials.
Read full review
Intuit
  • 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
Read full review
Cons
Intuit
  • I would like to see more ways to customize reports and have that process be more user friendly.
  • I would like to see the process of creating year end giving statements be made more user friendly. Since I only do it once a year, I have to figure the process out every year.
Read full review
Intuit
  • The budgets feature leaves a lot be desired - difficult and clunky to populate and maintain.
  • Reporting for Budget vs Actual is available but the ability to reforecast based on updated data is not.
  • The rules function to default common types of expenses isn't perfect and will get confused if like amounts or a number of similar items present.
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Likelihood to Renew
Intuit
We've been using QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions from when the business started, 11 years ago. I don't see us changing programs any time soon as it is working pretty well for us now. It would be extremely time consuming to start from scratch with a new accounting or inventory management program.
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Intuit
It like the product 'right out of the box' and I trust Intuit will continually improve it over the years based on my experience with their desktop products. The large providers of Apps makes customizing the entire package relatively easy and seamless for a wide variety of business types.
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Usability
Intuit
QuickBooks provides all staff immediate access to the data in whatever form each person wants it. The balancing on entries prevents incorrect data entry on payables/receivables. Reports are easy to customize and save for future use. The records are easy to audit.
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Intuit
While QuickBooks Online is generally easy to navigate, there are some features and functions that often require a Google search in order to find out where they are actually hidden. Additionally, there are some simple customization features that are surprisingly not available for an otherwise advanced program (e.g. only having a pool of 4 fonts to choose from, only having 4 very limited templates for invoicing, not color selection, etc). While I would say that about 75% of users shouldn't have a problem finding their way around with basic functions, there is a learning curve if you want to be able to dive into some of the more useful features, almost to the point that you need to have a dedicated account manager in order to use QuickBooks Online most effectively.
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Reliability and Availability
Intuit
They have always been available to meet our needs when we need it. We have had zero complaints with getting the assistance we need.
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Intuit
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
Intuit
QB is a good and reliable system. We probably should have explore the other modules rather that jump in to the conclusion that we needed a new ERP.
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Intuit
There are tab issues. When I tab the field doesn't highlight and I have to backspace or delete what is in the field. Happens on the memo field and sometimes other fields. Very time consuming.
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Support Rating
Intuit
Very rare do I call the Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions support staff and I get a customer service associate quickly. On average, my wait time is near an hour, and at times even longer. After spending the first three minutes discussing my problem, they then begin to poke and prod around, sometimes the questions continue. But 80% of the time, the problem is over their head and they have to escalate the issue. The only problem is this escalation arrives usually after spending forty-five minutes poking and proding around but learning nothing. In short, my experience is rarely all that well, let alone great
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Intuit
Support is great, all incidents been resolved. Quickbooks Online forum is very well organized and helpful. I like the fact that they let the community contribute in resolving issues. Most or many of your answers can be found online. You can also get help on YouTube, but the easiest way to get assistance is through their chat system.
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In-Person Training
Intuit
It is a very easy system to learn, so with the help it was even easier. QB is a good solid system, but it lacks some of the complexity other systems have. with QB you need to get additional modules to get the same functionality that other systems offer standard
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Intuit
easy to learn system, specially with some kind of support. Just like with any other system, things get lot easier if you have guidance to lead you in your search for answers. having said that, QB is very easy to use and very easy to teach. you wont spend much time memorizing where to click.
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Intuit
If you're loading QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions onto a computer that you're going to directly log into, you should be able to do it yourself. If you are going to connect to a server through a network or remote connection, you should probably have a professional IT person set it up for you.
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Intuit
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
Intuit
We have selected this product as it is affordoable in terms of pricing and features too. Our clients is geeting lots of benefits by using this product. By using QuickBooks desktop client also manage the information realted to financials and also get the clear picture for the future by using the accounting information from this product.
Read full review
Intuit
I have used Wave Accounting for another business. I selected QuickBooks Online over Wave because of the features available from QuickBooks. Wave is great since it is free, but I feel that paying for QuickBooks Online is worth it for the features. In addition there is such a robust support network and training available for QuickBooks.
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Scalability
Intuit
It has worked for our small company in every way. We have very little issues with the software and when we have had problems, Intuit has stepped up and resolved in promptly.
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Intuit
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
Intuit
  • Good value for the price. The initial setup was quick and easy.
  • When properly set up and processes are followed it's decent at managing inventory which is something we had problems with. Have to have a dedicated employee to builds.
  • Rolling up costs in multi-level BOM's is a project each time we have to review costs, it's very time consuming to manually update all assemblies.
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Intuit
  • It has created a lot of cost and in-efficiency whenever we need to talk to support.
  • I spent a lot of time setting up their automatic reminders for past due invoices and it worked for a couple of months and then it stopped. It's currently being worked on by their tech team but it has been months and it is still not working. It would have saved me a lot of time.
  • Their multi-currency saves time in sending invoices abroad but it's limiting when a customer wants an invoice in USD instead of a foreign currency so I have to set up different customer accounts for different currencies.
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ScreenShots