QuickBooks Desktop Premier vs. QuickBooks Online Advanced

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Score 8.4 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
Considered Both Products
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
We actually switched with the hiring of a new Chief financial officer to Sage Intacct. We are significantly behind with prior year audits and regulatory reporting and still used QuickBooks Premier for those reasons. In hindsight we should have done more research with …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
They are similar, my clients like QuickBooks Desktop Premier setup better and I like the payroll better in QuickBooks
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Online - We have some clients on AgExpert, Xero, and QB Online. All 3 provide good value in my opinion.
QuickBooks Desktop Premier - In our experience, QuickBooks Desktop Premier is the best desktop software we have encountered.
We have some clients using AgExpert and Simply, …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
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 …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
It is so much better with reports and journal entries.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
We tried a few other options like Bookkeeper and using Excel to track it. Bookeeper was a little outdates and more difficult to use. I had issues find the functions that I needed. Excel is just spreadsheets of the information with no easy way to do reporting. They don't have …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
[QuickBooks] doesn't have meaningful Reorder Reports. TracLine wouldn't work on my new computer. I'd have to invest $35,000 again & buy new Unix software 7 & new Cobol. I should have done it. I thought [QuickBooks] was a leader.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
[With] QuickBooks [it] is easy to make corrections without having to do a journal entry every time you need to correct an entry.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
I have always used QuickBooks and I am not familiar with others.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
This question really isn’t applicable to me, but I am intrigued by some of the new online systems that are replacing QuickBooks. That said, I really don’t want to be dependent on the delays and other limitations of working on a web-based application only. QuickBooks is still …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
We reviewed Sage 50/Peachtree and went with QB because of date flexibility in reporting.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
We have looked at Peachtree and other custom applications for an enterprise organization. Those products might be more robust - but for a small business, our needs are basic. This is easy to learn, intuitive and affordable. It's easy to install and maintain. Even non-technical …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
The only other accounting software I have used, and it was a long time ago, was Axapta.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
I think Quicken for my purposes is superior to QuickBooks Premier. I selected QuickBooks at my accountant's urging. It took a significant amount of time to set up, migrate, learn, and maintain. After almost 2 years of use, I abandoned it and returned to Quicken. Easier bank …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
The other accounting-based programs I have attempted to utilize in this position have been far inferior to the functionality of QB premier. One, in particular, has several methods of use and not all of them were easy to navigate. QB's use of icons and homepage direction chart …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
I have recently started working with Deltek Vision as a consultant project for a large sized architectural company with firms across the world. Understandably, Vision is a great project for this firm because of the needs that are required for a global firm, but is much more …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Although cloud-based platforms with a monthly subscription are very popular, I still prefer a desktop enterprise solution. Profit & Loss reports by Customer are not accurate in the online version because they cannot account for employee-related costs that should be assigned to …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Not so user-friendly, and has limitations depending on the level of software that you sign up for.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
QB Premier allows us to better track from a cost accounting standpoint and is easy for the average user to understand.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Selected QuickBooks over ten years ago due to it's ease of use and low-cost. At the time, it was a good bang for the buck!
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
QuickBooks' user-interface and features are better than that of other accounting systems we have encountered so far. It is easier to navigate through accounting modules and reports even for bookkeeping beginners.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Premier
QuickBooks Premier is more powerful and versatile than QuickBooks Online. We use QuickBooks Premier in a hosted environment, which allows our clients to access their software online, but retains the great features of QuickBooks Premier that we love. QuickBooks Online's web-page …
QuickBooks Online Advanced
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
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.
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
QuickBooks Online Advanced isn’t as robust as Netsuite or Sage, but it is generally a great choice for most businesses. This software will meet or exceed the needs of most companies, and should be the first part of your accounting software decision. I would even reach out to a …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
QuickBooks Online Advanced is our first choice, we love using this software, it does everything we need and also it is a great choice for great majority of our clients. It also evolves and the new features are always great. Xero, for example, does not listen to user feedback …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Our company currently uses both of these platforms. In my opinion, QuickBooks Online Advanced has more capabilities than Xero, but Xero is more aesthetically pleasing. The biggest difference is the QuickBooks Online Advanced payroll processing and payroll tax filings. With …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
There is literally no comparison - Wave is a "cute little" accounting software system that does a nice job tracking someone's checking account and basic household expenses, but if you are a serious business, you certainly need a comprehensive software package like QuickBooks …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Similar in structure but Xero reporting is better. Considering a shift to Xero in the near future if the many issues with QuickBooks Online Advanced are not resolved quickly.
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Again, I was hired after QuickBooks Online Advanced was selected and implemented so I cannot answer to how the software stacks up to the choices that were explored when the company started over 7 years ago. I know we are looking for other options now that might have more …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Quickbooks online advanced 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 than the QuickBooks Online Advanced. For example, the implementation for …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
The product I used clearly appears struggling to catch up but doesn't seem an easy task for them. This other product was not able to finalize some of the modules into the web-base (NXT) system. Intuit already has multiple products (payments, tax filing, payroll, etc) that …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
I have not evaluated any yet. I have used QuickBooks since 2008 and I used Sage in the corporate environment before using QuickBooks. Honestly, I can't remember it because it was early 2000's. I thought about evaluating and looking because of the issues I've had with …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Quickbooks is more user friendly and easier to use and train another staff as compare to other programs
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Quickbooks has made their other products frustrating to use by eliminating features. Their feature bundling is annoying, confusing, and frustrating. Quickbooks Online Advanced or Pro or whatever their next marketing/sales idea fills me with dread.
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
I enjoy QBO Advanced more than Desktop mainly because of the flexibility QBO Advanced offers over QB Desktop. Its also more up to date, and as newer and newer programs and features are created QBO Advanced, always stays ontop of those improvements. It is also extremely helpful …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
We have used QBs Enterprise Desktop and found it to be cumbersome and not as user friendly.
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
I have no used any other accounting software.
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Microsoft Dynamics is very difficult to use in comparison to QuickBooks. The transaction level visibility is poor and the reporting capabilities are subpar.
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
I personally just didn't like the look of freshbooks or how it was set up at all.
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
QuickBooks Online Advanced is on par with Xero, and both are market leaders in the Online Bookkeeping solutions. Multi-dimensional reporting is better than Xero but Xero has better WorkPapers, Hubdoc app and allows for online filing of accounts to Companies House and to HMRC. …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Accounting, bank management, and expense management are long-time normed and standardized processes. So we did expect very little difference, and very little effort to swap between these software suites. We were surprised that there are much more differences. These deviations …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
QuickBooks Desktop provides slightly more features and functionality, at the cost of disk space and the lack of cloud access. We chose the Online version of this software as the accounting and finance staff travel frequently and may access information remotely. QuickBooks …
Chose QuickBooks Online Advanced
Freshbooks served its purpose when our company was smaller, however, it did not offer the full range of benefits that QBO has offered us. The ability to assign user roles have unlimited user accounts, a dedicated helpline, online access to trainings, and the ability to create …
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
9.1
Ratings
18% 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
9.1
Ratings
9% above category average
Single sign-on capability10.00 Ratings9.20 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
8.5
Ratings
7% 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
9.2
Ratings
17% 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 Ratings9.60 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 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Global Financial Support5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers7.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting10.00 Ratings7.40 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 Ratings9.00 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
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 10.0 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 10.0 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