QuickBooks Desktop Premier vs. QuickBooks Desktop Pro

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Score 8.2 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 Desktop Pro
Score 8.0 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
Pricing
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Desktop Pro
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Desktop Pro
Free Trial
NoNo
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 Desktop Pro
Considered Both Products
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier

EasyAcct is a multiple general ledger system developed for accounting firms.

Peachtree by Sage (Quantum) is similar to QuickBooks but not as user friendly.

QuickBooks is a market leader for small business both used by accounting firms and their clients.

Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Have used Peachtree but it is much more expensive, doesn't offer multiple years in same data file and is not as user friendly. It requires a monthly close each month which is cumbersome for smaller clients.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
I've used Peachtree several years ago and found it very confusing and not user friendly. Clients with little accounting knowledge couldn't handle it at all. QuickBooks is easy to learn and easy to use. There are also many sources of support for QuickBooks users.
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Pro
My experience in QuickBooks has allowed the system to do what I need. The functionality of the others is somewhat limited for what I need to do for reporting purposes.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Pro
I do not recommend QuickBooks Pro for any user.... QuickBooks PREMIER / ACCOUNTANT is my go-to solution.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Desktop Pro
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
8.9
47 Ratings
17% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
9.3
65 Ratings
22% above category average
Pay calculation7.046 Ratings9.961 Ratings
Benefit plan administration10.020 Ratings9.835 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.036 Ratings9.853 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.927 Ratings9.949 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.529 Ratings7.350 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
1.3
20 Ratings
138% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
7.9
39 Ratings
11% above category average
API for custom integration1.315 Ratings8.032 Ratings
Plug-ins1.320 Ratings7.836 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
7.4
49 Ratings
8% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
8.5
93 Ratings
6% above category average
Single sign-on capability4.943 Ratings8.975 Ratings
Role-based user permissions10.040 Ratings8.188 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
6.8
57 Ratings
11% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
8.4
108 Ratings
10% above category average
Dashboards4.948 Ratings9.693 Ratings
Standard reports7.856 Ratings7.5108 Ratings
Custom reports7.854 Ratings8.1106 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
7.1
60 Ratings
4% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
8.0
112 Ratings
8% above category average
Accounts payable7.058 Ratings9.7107 Ratings
Accounts receivable7.059 Ratings7.5109 Ratings
Cash management8.054 Ratings2.397 Ratings
Bank reconciliation8.057 Ratings9.7108 Ratings
Expense management6.156 Ratings8.899 Ratings
Time tracking5.028 Ratings8.747 Ratings
Fixed asset management5.139 Ratings5.964 Ratings
Multi-currency support9.018 Ratings7.927 Ratings
Multi-division support7.033 Ratings5.652 Ratings
Regulations compliance1.819 Ratings7.239 Ratings
Electronic tax filing10.028 Ratings8.050 Ratings
Self-service portal8.017 Ratings9.738 Ratings
Global Financial Support9.03 Ratings7.015 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers7.06 Ratings8.837 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting9.08 Ratings7.438 Ratings
Localizations5.01 Ratings8.517 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations7.014 Ratings9.665 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting9.05 Ratings9.733 Ratings
Configurable Accounting7.16 Ratings8.141 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework9.93 Ratings7.824 Ratings
Standardized Processes4.37 Ratings9.748 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
2.9
36 Ratings
83% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
6.7
56 Ratings
5% below category average
Inventory tracking1.735 Ratings6.553 Ratings
Automatic reordering1.015 Ratings6.132 Ratings
Location management8.019 Ratings6.229 Ratings
Manufacturing module1.017 Ratings8.216 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
7.0
38 Ratings
5% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop Pro
7.3
70 Ratings
1% below category average
Pricing10.030 Ratings6.650 Ratings
Order entry10.031 Ratings7.449 Ratings
Credit card processing7.027 Ratings7.148 Ratings
Cost of goods sold6.334 Ratings9.058 Ratings
Order Orchestration10.03 Ratings9.018 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility1.04 Ratings9.021 Ratings
Order exception Resolution5.01 Ratings3.216 Ratings
Best Alternatives
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Desktop Pro
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed
Score 9.1 out of 10
QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed
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 PremierQuickBooks Desktop Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
3.0
(63 ratings)
5.6
(124 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.3
(12 ratings)
10.0
(18 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(14 ratings)
8.2
(31 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(5 ratings)
8.3
(2 ratings)
Performance
5.7
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.1
(12 ratings)
2.3
(29 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.2
(7 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
6.2
(4 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
QuickBooks Desktop PremierQuickBooks Desktop Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
Intuit
QuickBooks Premier is not well suited to manufacturing industries, as it cannot handle the complicated inventory requirements of raw materials, work in process, and finished goods. Retailers and Wholesalers can use QuickBooks Premier as long as they have an add-on inventory tracking program or Point of Sale system that integrates with QuickBooks. Likewise, restaurants would need specialized restaurant software that integrates with QuickBooks Premier. Non-profits can use QuickBooks Premier non-profit edition, but if they use fund accounting, it will require some complicated work-arounds. QuickBooks Premier is well-suited to most construction trades, personal and professional services providers, small retailers, and rental property owners.
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Intuit
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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Pros
Intuit
  • The program is easy to learn and use. We can train our clients' personnel how to use the program with out difficulty.
  • It is easy for clients to generate bills and manage accounts receivable.
  • It is easy to manage accounts payable and allows clients to pay their bills electronically.
  • Transactions can be imported electronically for credit card and banking transactions.
  • It is easy to reconcile bank and credit card accounts.
  • We can import data generated by QuickBooks into our tax and accounting software.
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Intuit
  • 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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Cons
Intuit
  • 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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Intuit
  • 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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Likelihood to Renew
Intuit
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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Intuit
We've used the program for more than 20 years in our firm both with clients and as our software. For the cost and value of the program it works well for our firms needs and desires for an accounting software program. At this point to switch would not make sense.
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Usability
Intuit
QuickBooks is an amazing tool that provides all of the necessary features needed to run the finances of a company. I would like for QuickBooks to provide better resources for training. There are many features that go unused because of lack of knowledge. Procore offers chatting and calls on their platform and they make it easy and accessible to get answers and solutions.
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Intuit
It is a great software that does everything a small business needs it to do, but there are just a few bugs and quirks that make additional software necessary. The slowness of the software occasionally might eventually be overshadowed by the quickness of cloud-based software though.
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Reliability and Availability
Intuit
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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Intuit
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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Performance
Intuit
It takes forever to load.
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Intuit
This is an awesome product and the support team is very knowledgeable. The product is mature, so there are not a lot of bugs and the support team really solves problems quickly. Usually it is a user error issue, but the support desk helps me out. I love the fact that it is US based support.
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Intuit
The support team is not always easy to use or able to understand the problems. There are some difficulties understanding [...] the issues the purchaser has and the solutions are sometimes hard to implement. A lot can be avoided if the users have adequate training and security is set up correctly at implementation.
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In-Person Training
Intuit
No answers on this topic
Intuit
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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Implementation Rating
Intuit
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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Intuit
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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Alternatives Considered
Intuit
QuickBooks Premier handles most of my business functions efficiently in one package. It is not my "everything." I use Replicon for time rather than QuickBooks. I don't want my WIP data interfering with my accounting. I use PaySimple for it's web interface and back office processing. I don't have security issues since I don't have any credit card data in my possession. With today's identity theft environment, I have to protect myself as much as I can. Not having credit card data in my accounting software lets me sleep much better at night. Quicken will do basic accounting but does not have all the double entry accounting systems contained in QuickBooks. QuickBooks Online does much of the basic business functions but I don't like the pricing structure. As a professional accountant, that is very important to me. Bill.com provided a good service but the ability of QuickBooks to add bills and receipts to transactions makes it redundant.
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Intuit
Zoho had great end-user support and it was almost as simple to learn and was as easy to use. But its reports were not as [customizable] as QuickBooks Desktop Pro, and its job cost and department accounting [were] more cumbersome than QuickBooks Desktop Pro was. In addition, while I like an underdog (Zoho) the fact is that it is easier to find staff that [is] comfortable with QuickBooks Desktop Pro than anything else on the market.
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Scalability
Intuit
They're getting better. Still room for improvement.
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Intuit
  • Since our financials are kept very up to date, it helps us compare our financial results to prior years and it is used for our internal goal setting.
  • Due to the accountant copy function, we are able to provide better service since our clients are not waiting on us to fix historical data. They can continue their operations uninterrupted.
  • The import feature certainly speeds up the process of accounting for our payroll. As previously mentioned, it takes about a minute to do our entries for payroll and check them.
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Intuit
  • QuickBooks Desktop Pro is a no hassle accounting solution that ticks a lot of boxes. It almost never disappoints and organizations will usually keep using it for many years. If anything, the only time I've seen an organization migrate away from it is if they have specific accounting needs, or if the organization has grown to the point that they need a more robust accounting solution. Even then, QuickBooks can usually be maintained within another accounting software system for specific functions, like A/R & A/P for example.
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