Best Alternatives to QuickBooks Desktop Pro & Premier

Sage 50 Accounting offers three subscription plans and the option to pay either monthly or annually.

If you need access for over 10 users, you can request a customized quote. If you’re not ready to buy, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial.

It is our overall best QuickBooks Desktop alternative because of its robust feature set that rivals that of QuickBooks Desktop but at a more affordable price—especially for businesses that only require a few seats. For instance, if you need advanced inventory management for a single user, you will only pay $1,023 per year, as opposed to $1,481 in QuickBooks Enterprise Silver. It’s also less expensive to add extra users in Sage 50 than in QuickBooks Enterprise.

Sage 50 Accounting provides comprehensive accounting solutions, including enhanced inventory management, advanced budgeting, job costing, and detailed reporting. One of the best features we like is that it manages the books of multiple entities for a single price. You can even merge companies and run consolidated reports if needed. QuickBooks Enterprise recently added this feature, but again, the price is a huge difference.

Based on our expert evaluation, Sage 50’s biggest strengths are project accounting, A/P and A/R management, and reporting. It could have earned a higher score for banking if there were an option to merge cash and checks into a single deposit—something you can do in QuickBooks Desktop.

Also, Sage 50 lost points in ease of use and ease of setup, where it received average marks because it is difficult to customize and use, especially for business owners without accounting experience. Furthermore, its biggest weakness is its mobile app, as it has no other features apart from receipt capture.

QuickBooks Online has four subscription levels, which range in price based on the number of users and available features. You can opt to use the QuickBooks Online desktop app with any of these plans.

• Simple Start: $35 per month for one user
• Essentials: $65 per month for up to three users
• Plus: $95 per month for up to five users
• Advanced: $235 per month for up to 25 users

You can try QuickBooks Online for free for 30 days or buy it right away and get a 50% discount for the first three months.

While QuickBooks Online is not a true desktop software, you might like QuickBooks Online with its desktop app if you like the QuickBooks Desktop dashboard and overall layout. It works in conjunction with QuickBooks Online to provide you with the same features as the web browser version but with the QuickBooks Desktop interface.

It is an application that you can install on your desktop or laptop and provides many useful benefits, such as the ability to manage multiple companies simultaneously. We selected it as the best cloud-based QuickBooks Desktop alternative because it allows you to take advantage of the shortcuts you’re used to in QuickBooks Desktop—but with the benefit of being connected to the cloud.

Another added advantage is the fact that QuickBooks Online gives you access to its mobile app, whereas QuickBooks Desktop Pro’s mobile app is very limited as it is intended mostly for receipt capture. QuickBooks Online’s scores are similar to QuickBooks Desktop and especially high in the cash management and reporting categories.

QuickBooks Online nearly aced all the criteria in our scoring rubric, especially the feature-specific categories. For instance, it earned perfect marks for general, banking, A/P, A/R, reporting, and integrations. We docked a few points for pricing, as there’s no option to add extra users beyond the user limit.

It earned the lowest score in mobile app—but it wasn’t significantly low. The app provides essential features, like invoicing and payment processing, but could be improved with additional features, such as the ability to record bills and record time worked.

AccountEdge has three plans, all of which include the program’s core features, like unlimited company support, banking, A/P and A/R management, and inventory tracking.

• AccountEdge Pro: $20 per month (for a single user only)
• AccountEdge Network Edition: $30 per month (for up to two users only)
• AccountEdge Hosted: $50 per user, per month

You can also purchase several adds-ons, such as:

• Bank feeds: $5 per month
• Payroll: $20 per month for unlimited employees
• Phone support: $10 per month

AccountEdge, one of the best alternatives to QuickBooks Desktop, offers strong inventory management and tracking features for a low fee. QuickBooks Enterprise also provides strong inventory features but is expensive for small businesses.

In fact, AccountEdge is the only low-cost desktop option we found that can effectively separate inventory costs into the COGS and the cost of inventory on hand. By tracking these costs separately, businesses can better optimize their inventory levels and track their profitability.

Additionally, Enterprise’s advanced inventory features make it less user-friendly, especially for those with no accounting background. AccountEdge essentially provides a much simpler and straightforward solution for tracking COGS and inventory—making it ideal for most small businesses.

AccountEdge excelled in pricing and also did a great job in certain features, including inventory management, banking, reporting, and integrations. However, we also found some weak points, which are forgivable given its low cost. For instance, it didn’t do well in project accounting because it can’t generate estimates. It also fell short in general features due to missing functionality, like the ability to import beginning balances into the system.

Given its outdated user interface, AccountEdge scored poorly in setup and ease of use. We also aren’t impressed with its customer service, as you have to pay an additional fee to get phone support.

If your business has up to five employees, you are eligible for a free Basic license. Otherwise, you select from two software licenses, and each is valid for a single installation. You can also sign up for the Express Accounts Plus quarterly plan, which gives you unlimited ongoing use of all professional version features and all upgrades.

• Express Accounts Basic: $139
• Express Accounts Plus: $195
• Express Accounts Plus Quarterly Plan: $32.49 quarterly

You can also purchase several add-ons, including Express Invoice ($159) and Reflect CRM ($35).

If your business doesn’t need project accounting or inventory features, then NCH Express Accounts is a great alternative to and is much less expensive than QuickBooks Desktop. It is cost-effective and easy to use, with an option of two views—Desktop or Standard—to ensure a seamless user experience.

Unlike QuickBooks Desktop, it supports multiple currencies. It also includes essential accounting features such as bank reconciliation, A/R and A/P, and financial reporting. However, it lacks project accounting features and many specialized accounting reports, such as A/P aging, unbilled charges, and unbilled time reports.

NCH Express Accounts’ strongest assets in our evaluation are pricing and A/R management. However, we’ve seen room for improvement in many areas, including A/P management, inventory, and reporting. For example, its inventory feature doesn’t allow you to calculate COGS and the cost of ending inventory and the reports. Also, we wish it had a mobile app for those who often work outside their offices.

GnuCash is open-source software and is completely free to download for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS X devices. GnuCash has a donation page available for anyone who wants to donate to support its community.

GnuCash might be sufficient if you only need a simple way to track your income and expenses on desktop software. You can create and send invoices, connect your bank account, track and pay bills, and generate basic reports like profit and loss and balance sheets.

The program is free to download and can be customized by an experienced programmer to fit the needs of your business. Unlike QuickBooks Desktop, it can be installed on several operating systems, like Windows, Mac, and Linux.

GnuCash aced our pricing evaluation, but it didn’t do well in all the categories in our scoring rubric. It has no inventory, project accounting, integrations, and mobile app. Also, most of its modules aren’t that easy to use, so it took a hit in ease of use and setup. We are also unimpressed with its customer service because there’s no live support, like live chat or phone support.