QuickBooks Online was the first to introduce FIFO inventory costing, and even in the Desktop version to get this feature requires you to jump to the more costly Enterprise with Advanced Inventory. Reports more popular in the Desktop versions are typically with Job/Project costing and Inventory.ĭesktop QuickBooks has the edge when it comes to reports. Here again, QuickBooks desktop is superior, offering around 40 more reports than its online counterpart.

The App Center (3 rd Party Applications)īecause the desktop versions are much older, they’re supported by hundreds of integrated apps that go beyond the software’s abilities in areas like inventory-tracking, job costing and billing.

Transaction downloading is much more popular in QuickBooks Online. Both versions can do this, but web-based users are far more likely to use online banking, according to Intuit. Additional Transaction tracking provides greater depth of reporting and data filtering.Īs I’ve explained in my QuickBooks training courses, the ability to download bank and credit card transactions in QuickBooks Online and match them to existing ones requires much less typing and minimizes errors. I really wish that the desktop versions had this second dimension of tracking other than Classes. This helps you correctly calculate profitability and work with related groups of transactions.

You can assign a department, division, store, etc. QuickBooks Online goes beyond classes with its location tracking. Transaction tracking (Classes and Location Tracking).This is not available on the Desktop version! Some of my QuickBooks training class attendees have commended on liking this easily-understood view.

Here’s one of the best examples of its innovation: the Income List

In my QuickBooks courses, I explain that the two versions share many similarities in terms of their bookkeeping abilities, but QuickBooks Online was designed to take advantage of the web’s strengths. And it integrates with other applications more easily. Here are some areas where they differ:īeing web-based gives QuickBooks Online an edge. I emphasize in my QuickBooks training courses in the QuickBooks Desktop (Pro/Premier/Enterprise) version, but I also mention that the online version has evolved into a serious competitor.īut the desktop versions – especially Premier and Enterprise - can still hold their own. As we’re learning in my QuickBooks courses, that’s no longer true. A few years ago, it was easy to decide between the desktop and online versions of QuickBooks. QuickBooks desktop used to be way ahead of QuickBooks Online in terms of features and usability.

Quickbooks desktop app center