QuickBooks Online Comparison: Which Version Is Right for You?

QuickBooks Online offers five versions: Self-Employed, Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced. Pricing plans run between $15 and $150 per month. Based on our QuickBooks Online comparison, your ideal plan depends on the number of users you need and if your business requires features like accounts payable, inventory, or advanced reporting.

We rated QuickBooks Online among the best small business accounting software. To help narrow down which plan is best for your business, answer a few short questions below. This will offer you a customized recommendation based on the responses you give. Afterward, continue reading the article for a more detailed comparison and decide which version of QuickBooks is right for you.

When to Use QuickBooks Online Self-Employed

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed is best for business owners who report their business income on Schedule C of their personal return and have no employees or contractors that they pay over $600 per year. However, even Schedule C businesses may want a more robust version of QuickBooks Online if they have inventory or need access for more than one user in addition to their accountant.

When to Use QuickBooks Online Simple Start

QuickBooks Online Simple Start is best for small service businesses that want to track both income and expenses as well as assets and liabilities. This allows Simple Start to generate a balance sheet, which is required on some corporate and partnership tax returns. Simple Start includes a single user plus one accountant.

When to Use QuickBooks Online Essentials

QuickBooks Online Essentials is best for small businesses that not only need to track income and expenses and manage accounts receivable, but also need to track the money owed to suppliers (accounts payable). Essentials is also ideal if you need to give up to three people access to your data.

When to Use QuickBooks Online Plus

QuickBooks Online Plus is ideal for retailers and wholesalers as well any business that pays contractors over $600 per year. Unlike Simple Start and Essentials, you can track inventory costs and quantities, create purchase orders, and issue 1099s to contractors with Plus. QuickBooks Online (QBO) Plus can also run more than 100 reports, including budgeting versus actual income and expenses. QBO Plus allows up to five users to access your data.

When to Use QuickBooks Online Advanced

QuickBooks Online Advanced is ideal for businesses with complex business needs that go beyond the capabilities of QBO Plus. If you need up to 25 users, detailed performance reporting, and a dedicated account manager, choose QBO Advanced.

QuickBooks Online Comparison

All five versions of QuickBooks Online have the following useful features:

• Track your income & expenses
• Manage accounts receivable (invoice customers & receive payments)
• Invite your accountant to access your data
• Download your bank & credit card transactions
• Receipt Capture via mobile device
• Unlimited Customer Support

QuickBooks Online Tiered Features

QuickBooks Online Comparison: Self-Employed

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed is ideal for individuals who work for themselves and report their business income on Schedule C of their personal income tax return. Self-employed individuals may need to upgrade to one of the more advanced QBO options if they have employees or inventory.

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed Pricing & Features

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed is $15 per month. QBO Self-Employed is the most economical plan, but still offers a powerful solution for self-employed individuals looking to track their income and expenses. For an additional $10 per month, users can add Intuit TurboTax Self-Employed to prepare their federal and state tax returns.

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed can import bank transactions, create customer invoices, and track vehicle mileage. Self-Employed also has some unique features for Schedule C businesses, including the ability to calculate quarterly estimated taxes and separate business and personal expenses. When combined with Intuit TurboTax Self-Employed, the income and expense information can automatically be transferred to Schedule C.

What’s Missing in QBO Self-Employed

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed is not a double-entry accounting system, so it does not track assets and liabilities. It can’t produce a balance sheet that is required on some corporate and partnership returns. However, a balance sheet is not required on Schedule C for self-employed individuals. QBO Self-Employed is also not designed for payroll, inventory, or to track amounts owed to vendors.

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed Reviews

According to QuickBooks Online Self-Employed reviews, users like that the profit and loss information automatically transfers to TurboTax (if you purchase the TurboTax bundle). They also like the smartphone apps that are available to track finances on the go. Some users say the reporting in QBO Self-Employed is very limited and wish you could add payroll to QBO Self-Employed.

QuickBooks Online Comparison: Simple Start

QuickBooks Online Simple Start is the most affordable double-entry accounting software, but it does not offer the additional features that Essentials, Plus, and Advanced offer. Simple Start is generally right for businesses currently tracking income and expenses using one or more manual options, like the “shoebox” method or Excel spreadsheets.

QuickBooks Online Simple Start Pricing & Features

QuickBooks Online Simple Start is $25 per month, and is the most economical plan that will generate both an income statement and a balance sheet. Unlike QuickBooks Online Self-Employed, payroll can be added to Simple Start for an additional fee depending on the level of service needed.

You can manage all of your income and expenses with QuickBooks Online Simple Start. It allows you to invoice customers, connect your bank and credit card accounts, track sales tax, and run basic financial statements. In fact, you can generate income (profit and loss) and balance sheet statements in just a few minutes with QuickBooks Online Simple Start.

What’s Missing in QBO Simple Start

If you need to track inventory cost and quantities, hire 1099 contractors, or manage accounts payable, QBO Simple Start will not work for you. Instead, you will need to go with one of the other QuickBooks online versions: Essentials, Plus, or Advanced.

With QBO Simple Start, you won’t be able to:

• Manage and pay bills from vendors
• Set up multiple users (other than your accountant)
• Create purchase orders
• Track inventory
• Prepare and issue 1099s
• Track billable hours by customer
• Create and manage budgets
• Track profitability for multiple locations

QuickBooks Online Simple Start Reviews

Customers who use QuickBooks Online Simple Start like how affordable the plan is ($25 per month) for the included features, which allow you to track accounts receivable and connect bank and credit card accounts, and the ability to use the mobile app to perform certain transactions. Negative user reviews mentioned they would like more features, such as accounts payable.

QuickBooks Online Comparison: Essentials

QuickBooks Online Essentials can be used to manage all aspects of accounts payable, including entering bills and paying them later. Essentials is generally right for a business that receives bills from vendors that are not due immediately and must be tracked and paid in the future.

QuickBooks Online Essentials Pricing & Features

QBO Essentials is a $40 per month, which $15 more per month than Simple Start. However, with the heftier price tag, you get more users (three users and two accountants versus one user and one accountant with Simple Start).

In addition, you can manage all of your bills and get 40 prebuilt reports, which is twice the number of reports that are included in Simple Start. QuickBooks Online Essentials is right for a business that has heavy accounts payable and needs to give other users access to their data.

What’s Missing in QBO Essentials

If you need to hire 1099 contractors, have inventory, or need to give more than three users access to your data, QBO Essentials will not work for you; you will need to go with QBO Plus.

With QBO Essentials, you will not be able to:

• Track inventory
• Prepare and issue 1099s
• Track billable hours by customer
• Create and manage budgets
• Track profitability for multiple locations

QuickBooks Online Essentials Reviews

Customers who use QuickBooks Online Essentials like the ability to give more than one user access to their data. In addition, they like being able to take a picture of a receipt with the app and automatically sync the information with their QuickBooks. Having access to view reports using the mobile app is another popular feature. We did not find any negative reviews about QuickBooks Online Essentials.

QuickBooks Online Comparison: Plus

One of the key differences that makes QBO Plus stand apart from Simple Start and Essentials is it allows you to track inventory quantities and cost. Neither Simple Start nor Essentials has this capability. QBO Plus is ideal for a business that sells products and needs to keep track of every aspect of purchasing and receiving products into inventory, as well as the sale of those products to customers.

QuickBooks Online Plus Pricing & Features

At $70 per month, QBO Plus is nearly triple the cost of Simple Start ($25 per month) and almost double the cost of Essentials ($40 per month). For the extra money, you get more users (five plus two accountants), the ability to track all inventory costs and quantities, and three times the reports that come with Simple Start (more than 65). If you don’t need cloud access to your data, you might consider QuickBooks Desktop vs Online, as it has great features for less money than QBO Plus.

What’s Missing in QBO Plus

QBO Plus ideally has everything that most product and service-based businesses need to manage their books. However, the one area where QBO Plus falls short is the number of users. You can give up to five users and two accountants access to your data. If you need more than five users, you should upgrade to QBO Advanced. With QBO Advanced, you can give up to 25 users access to your data.

QuickBooks Online Plus Reviews

Customers who use QuickBooks Online Plus like how easy it is to track quantities and costs for products when they are purchased from suppliers and sold to customers. They also like how easy it is to run reports in just a few minutes so they can stay on top of how their business is doing. Negative reviews mentioned that the cost is quite steep, but admit it’s worth it because of the number of features included.

QuickBooks Online Comparison: Advanced

The primary feature setting QBO Advanced apart from Simple Start, Essentials, and Plus is the ability to give up to 25 users access to your data. This makes Advanced ideal for a business with a growing staff, especially considering the maximum number of users for QBO Plus is only five. QBO Advanced is also the only product with a dedicated success manager and free training for your entire staff.

QuickBooks Online Advanced Pricing & Features

At $150 per month, QuickBooks Online Advanced is more than twice the cost of QuickBooks Online Plus ($70 per month). For the additional cost, you can add up to 25 users and customize permissions for sensitive areas like bank or credit card information. QBO Advanced also includes a smart reporting tool called Fathom. This tool allows you to run detailed reports for key performance indicators.

What’s Missing in QBO Advanced

Similar to QBO Plus, QBO Advanced has more than what most small businesses require. However, all four QuickBooks online versions are missing functionality that a manufacturing business might need, such as the ability to create a bill of materials. If you are a manufacturing business, QuickBooks Desktop Premier Manufacturing is going to be your best bet. Our QuickBooks Desktop Product comparison is a great resource to learn more about the cost and features of the desktop product line.

QuickBooks Online Advanced Reviews

Customers who use QBO Advanced like the ability to give more than five users access to their data. The granular user permissions for sensitive data like bank and credit card information is also a popular feature. Like Plus, negative reviews about Advanced mentioned that the price is steep for a small business.

You can check our customer reviews page for more details regarding all of the QuickBooks Online product reviews.

QuickBooks Self-Employed vs QuickBooks Simple Start

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed works very well for people who work for themselves in a service industry and don’t have any employees. However, if a self-employed person hires an employee, then they will need to issue paychecks and file payroll tax returns. An upgrade to QuickBooks Simple Start will allow integration of QuickBooks payroll.

QuickBooks Self-Employed vs Simple Start at a Glance

Here is some additional information on the three key differences between QuickBooks Self-Employed and QuickBooks Simple Start:

1. Transfer Income & Expenses to TurboTax

Unlike QuickBooks Simple Start, QuickBooks Self-Employed is specifically designed for businesses that report their business income on Schedule C of their individual return. As such, it makes sense that income and expense in Self-Employed will automatically transfer to TurboTax. Of course, you’ll need to bundle TurboTax with your QBO Self-Employed for an extra $10 per month.

2. Print Balance Sheet

One of the biggest drawbacks to QuickBooks Self-Employed is that it is not a double-entry accounting system, so it doesn’t track the assets and liabilities that are needed to generate a balance sheet. Corporations and partnerships should not use Self-Employed because balance sheets are often required for their business tax returns.

3. Payroll Add-on Available

Adding employees requires the use of QuickBooks Simple Start instead of QuickBooks Self-Employed. QuickBooks Self-Employed will not calculate and print paychecks, nor will it help file the required payroll tax returns. On the other hand, Simple Start will perform both of these tasks nicely with the purchase of a QuickBooks payroll service.

QuickBooks Simple Start vs QuickBooks Essentials

QuickBooks Essentials should be the top QBO choice for most small businesses because of the services offered, including the ability to manage accounts payable. The three primary differences between QBO Simple Start and QBO Essentials are the ability to schedule and pay vendor bills, the number of users included with the subscription, and the number of reports that are included.

QuickBooks Simple Start vs Essentials at a Glance

When comparing QuickBooks Simple Start to Essentials, here are some more details on the three key differences:

1. Manage & Pay Vendor Bills

Unlike Simple Start, you can manage your entire accounts payable process with Essentials. This includes, but is not limited to, creating and managing vendor information such as the remittance address, due dates, and contact information. You can also enter bills from vendors, and QuickBooks will remind you when a bill is coming due. Finally, you can write checks directly from QuickBooks to pay bills.

2. Give Access to Multiple Users

All four versions of QuickBooks Online allow you to provide access to your accountant in addition to your user access. With Essentials, you can give two additional users access to your data. You can also specify which areas of QuickBooks these users have access to. For example, if your bookkeeper is only responsible for invoicing customers, you can give them access to just invoicing customers and nothing else.

3. Number of Prebuilt Reports

When you sign up for QuickBooks Online Essentials, you get access to more than 40 prebuilt reports. This is more than double the reports that come with the Simple Start version. The Company Snapshot, Customer Balance Detail, and Profit and Loss Detail are just a few of the additional reports available in Essentials.

Below is a brief description of three additional reports available in QuickBooks Online Essentials:

• Company Snapshot: The Company Snapshot report provides an overview of the money coming in and going out of your business, along with the ability to compare your business to others in your industry.
• Customer Balance Detail: The Customer Balance Detail report provides a list of outstanding invoices from each customer. The Customer Balance Summary report available with Simple Start shows only the total owed by the customer.
• Profit and Loss Detail: The Profit and Loss Detail report shows year-to-date transactions instead of just totals like the Profit and Loss Summary report.

QuickBooks Essentials vs QuickBooks Plus

When comparing QBO Essentials versus QBO Plus, there are three key differences: price, number of users included, and features. QBO Essentials is $40 per month versus $70 per month for QBO Plus. For the additional cost of QBO Plus, you get five users versus three. QBO Plus includes more than 65 reports versus 40 in Essentials. You can also track inventory, prepare 1099s, and create budgets with QBO Plus.

QuickBooks Essentials vs QuickBooks Plus at a Glance

Here are some additional details for three key differences when comparing QuickBooks Online Essentials versus QuickBooks Online Plus:

1. Track Inventory

QuickBooks Online Plus allows you to track inventory while QuickBooks Online Essentials does not track inventory. Without inventory tracking, most businesses will simply expense inventory when purchased, which might substantially misreport income. Keeping accurate inventory records is a must for retailers and wholesalers.

2. Profit & Loss by Class

QuickBooks Online Plus allows you to track your profit and loss by user-defined classes. For example, users could define classes according to product types, locations, or even salespersons. Every transaction is assigned a class when input and then reports can be generated separated by class.

3. Print & Prepare 1099s

Businesses are required to file a Form 1099 each year for all contractors that they paid over $600 for services. QuickBooks Online Plus will help businesses to remember to collect the required tax identification numbers and then print a 1099 for each contractor. Plus will also eFile the government copy of all 1099s.

QuickBooks Plus vs QuickBooks Advanced

QBO Plus is much more affordable than QBO Advanced at $70 per month versus $150 per month for Advanced. For the steep cost, you get more users with Advanced (25 versus five in QBO Plus). You can also generate more reports plus accelerated invoicing, custom user permissions, and a dedicated success manager.

QuickBooks Plus vs QuickBooks Advanced at a Glance

Here are some additional details for three key differences between QBO Plus versus QBO Advanced:

1. Number of Users & Permissions

QBO Advanced allows up to 25 users versus only five allowed with QBO Plus. In addition, QBO Advanced provides a deeper level of customized user permissions, which is essential for larger businesses where accounting duties are divided among staff.

2. Expanded Reporting

QBO Advanced includes more than 100 reports, which is over 35 more reports than QBO Plus. QBO Advanced also includes a reporting tool called Fathom that allows you to run reports to gain insight into key performance indicators for cash flow, profitability, and other key aspects of your business. Fathom is not available in QBO Simple Start, Essentials, or Plus.

3. Enhanced Customer Service

Unlike any other QBO product, QBO Advanced subscribers are assigned a dedicated success manager who can assist with getting your business up and running on QBO and provide key resources and other information when you need it. QBO Advanced also includes self-paced training resources and materials to get your staff up to speed on how to use QuickBooks. No other QBO product has access to these training materials.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About QuickBooks Online

The most frequently asked questions about QuickBooks Online are:

How much is QuickBooks Online pricing a month?

QuickBooks Online pricing includes five plans: Self-Employed is $15 per month, Simple Start is $25 per month, Essentials is $40 per month, Plus is $70 per month, and Advanced is $150 per month.

Is there an online version of QuickBooks?

You can choose from five pricing plans that cost between $15 and $150 per month. QuickBooks Online can manage all of your income and business expenses, similar to QuickBooks Desktop.

Does QuickBooks Online have payroll?

You can turn on the payroll feature in any version of QuickBooks Online Simple Start or higher whenever you are ready to use it. The starting cost is $45 per month plus $4 per employee, per month. QuickBooks payroll will automatically calculate paychecks, allow you to pay via check or direct deposit, and file and pay taxes electronically.

Can I use both QuickBooks Online & QuickBooks Desktop?

Unfortunately, you cannot use both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. The QuickBooks Online product is a cloud-based software and the desktop software must be installed on a computer. There is no way to use them both to manage your business bookkeeping because they are on two different platforms. However, you can convert QuickBooks Desktop to Online.

Bottom Line

You now have a better understanding of what’s included in all five QBO pricing plans, and you can now choose the plan that’s right for you. To get up and running quickly, check out our free QuickBooks Online course. We designed it for small business owners who are new to QuickBooks.

Sign up for a free trial of QuickBooks Online or get up to 50% off for the first three months so you can get your business setup on QuickBooks today. The most popular version of QBO is Essentials; however, if you need to track inventory quantities and cost, or want to try out the budgeting tool, go with QBO Plus.

QuickBooks Online