QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Differences in 2023

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Self-Employed are both accounting software solutions offered by Intuit, but they serve different types of users and have different feature sets. While QuickBooks Online is a full-featured double-entry bookkeeping system capable of tracking assets, liabilities, income, and expenses of small and medium businesses, QuickBooks Self Employed is a simple-to-use way for micro businesses with no employees to track income and expenses.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed at a Glance

	Visit QuickBooks Online	Visit QuickBooks Self-Employed
Best For	Best for small businesses requiring payroll, inventory tracking, job costing, budgeting, or scalability	Freelancers and self-employed individuals seeking basic bookkeeping and federal tax support
Monthly Pricing Plans	$30 to $200	$15 to $35
Maximum Users	25	1
Bank Reconciliation	✓	✕
Send Invoices & Track Collections	✓	Weak
Manage Unpaid Bills	✓	✕
Track Inventory	✓	✕
Capture & Organize Receipts	✓	✓
Manage 1099 Contractors	✓	✕
Time Tracking	✓	✓
Track Income & Expense By Project	✓	✕
Track Assets & Liabilities	✓	✕
Manage Payroll	Add-on	✕
	Read our QuickBooks Online review	Read our QuickBooks Self-Employed review

Are you considering the desktop version of QuickBooks? See our comparison of QuickBooks Online vs Desktop for more information.

When To Use

Can’t decide which accounting solution is best for your business? Check out our guide to the leading small business accounting software for more ideas.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Pricing

QuickBooks Online Pricing

QuickBooks Online has four pricing plans to choose from, each with its own set of features and allowed users. See below for more information about the features included with each plan.

• Simple Start: $30 per month for one user
• Essentials: $55 per month for up to three users
• Plus: $85 per month for up to five users
• Advanced: $200 per month for up to 25 users

In addition to the allowed users, the QuickBooks Online plans vary in the features that are included. Check out our QuickBooks Online versions comparison to learn about the features of each.

QuickBooks Self-Employed Pricing

• Self-Employed: $15 per month for one user
• Self-Employed Tax Bundle: $25 per month, includes one federal and one state tax return filing through TurboTax plus the ability to pay quarterly estimated taxes online
• Self-Employed Live Tax Bundle: $35 per month, includes everything in Self-Employed Tax Bundle plus access to a certified public accountant (CPA) who will do a final review of your tax return.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Features

Many of the same features can be found in both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Self-Employed, but the major difference between Online and Self-Employed is, the latter doesn’t track assets and liabilities, so you can’t reconcile your bank accounts or manage and track unpaid bills.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Accounts Payable

QuickBooks Self-Employed does not track unpaid bills, usually referred to as Accounts Payable. With QuickBooks Online, you can track bills, manage vendor credits, and set up recurring payments.

QuickBooks Online even lets you pay bills directly from the software using ACH or check, while you can only record payments made outside the software with QuickBooks Self-Employed. You can also track accounts payable aging with QuickBooks Online, so you can see which bills are outstanding and how much you owe each vendor.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Accounts Receivable

While both allow you to create and send invoices, the invoice customization options are limited with QuickBooks Self-Employed. QuickBooks Online allows you to send invoice reminders and create recurring invoices as well as create estimates and turn them into invoices once they are accepted by the customer—all features that QuickBooks Self-Employed lacks. You can also track accounts receivable aging with QuickBooks Online, which is unavailable with QuickBooks Self-Employed.

There are a couple of major problems with the invoicing features of QuickBooks Self-Employed. First, creating and even receiving payment for an invoice does not record any income in your books. This means that it’s possible to properly record the receipt of an invoice payment, but not record the payment received as income.

The second problem is how the line-item descriptions, called product or service items, are managed. Once created, you can’t edit a product or service item when adding it to another invoice. The practical implication of this is that you’ll end up typing custom descriptions for every invoice you issue.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Reporting

QuickBooks Online offers a wide variety of customizable reports, including a Balance Sheet. Since QuickBooks Self-Employed doesn’t track assets and liabilities, it cannot create a complete set of financial statements, which must include a Balance Sheet.

QuickBooks Self-Employed’s available reports are limited to a profit and loss statement, mileage log, receipts, and general ledger. It also offers two reports that are unavailable with QuickBooks Online—a Schedule C worksheet and Quarterly Estimated Taxes.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Sales & Income Tax

Both allow you to add sales tax to invoices and track independent contractors. But the difference between QuickBooks Online and Self-Employed is that QuickBooks Online offers a robust set of sales and income tax features, including a sales tax center and tax forms that cater to the needs of large businesses. On the other hand, QuickBooks Self-Employed offers an efficient set of features that are focused on helping self-employed individuals manage their sales and income tax operations.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Ease of Use

QuickBooks Online is more complex than QuickBooks Self-Employed and offers more features, which can make it more difficult to learn and use for some users. However, it provides more flexibility and customization options. QuickBooks Self-Employed is simpler and easier to use, making it a better choice for self-employed individuals and freelancers requiring basic accounting software that can handle their expense tracking, and tax management needs.

• QuickBooks Online
• QuickBooks Self-Employed

QuickBooks Online is a more comprehensive accounting software, designed for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It has a more complex user interface than QuickBooks Self-Employed, but it offers more customization options and integrations with third-party apps.

The learning curve for QuickBooks Online can be steep for new users, but it provides plenty of resources, such as tutorials, forums, and customer support, to help you get started. Once you’re familiar with the software, it can be easy to use, especially for businesses with complex accounting needs.

QuickBooks Online Dashboard Source: QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Self-Employed is designed specifically for self-employed individuals, freelancers, and independent contractors. It has a more streamlined feature set, focused primarily on invoicing, expense tracking, and tax management.

It has a simpler user interface than QuickBooks Online, with fewer options and features, and an intuitive navigation. It provides step-by-step guides and in-app prompts to help users navigate the software and complete tasks.

QuickBooks Self-Employed Dashboard
Source: QuickBooks

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Assisted Bookkeeping

For QuickBooks Online users, assisted bookkeeping is available in the form of QuickBooks Live. Starting at $200 per month, the service matches you with a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, who will help you connect your bank and credit card accounts, categorize your transactions, and reconcile your bank accounts. They are also available for telephone or one-way video calls, to answer questions and troubleshoot any bookkeeping issues.

However, QuickBooks Live bookkeepers cannot assist with 1099 reporting and preparation or payroll. It is unavailable to QuickBooks Self-Employed users—but they do have access to a network of QuickBooks ProAdvisors.

Read our review of QuickBooks Live to learn more about the service.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Integrations

QuickBooks Online integrates with a wide range of third-party software, with more than 700 apps across various categories, such as customer relationship management (CRM), ecommerce, time tracking, and project management. Some popular integrations include PayPal, Shopify, TSheets, Salesforce, HubSpot, Square, and Stripe. It also connects with thousands of apps through Zapier. Visit the QuickBooks Integrations page to learn more.

QuickBooks Self-Employed has fewer integrations than QuickBooks Online. However, it still offers a good selection that are relevant to self-employed individuals, such as TurboTax, PayPal, MileIQ, Etsy, and Stripe.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Mobile App Functionality

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Self-Employed have separate mobile apps. While the QuickBooks Online mobile app allows you to perform many of the same activities as the web-based version, the QuickBooks Self-Employed mobile app limits you to creating and sending invoices, categorizing expenses from the bank feed, tracking mileage and expense receipts, and viewing reports.

QuickBooks Online vs Self-Employed: Customer Support

Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Self-Employed offer phone, chat, and email support options to their users, but QuickBooks Online offers a VIP service called QuickBooks Priority Circle to users with an Advanced plan. This service connects you with a dedicated account team, provides in-depth training, and 24/7 premium technical support.

QuickBooks Self-Employed offers phone support to all subscribers, and if you sign up for the Live Tax Bundle you’ll also receive access to a CPA for assistance with filing your income tax returns. Both platforms also provide online help centers with extensive resources and a community forum where users can connect and share knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Do I have to pay extra for QuickBooks mobile apps?

Can I enter and pay bills with QuickBooks Self-Employed?

How much does QuickBooks Online cost?

Bottom Line

QuickBooks Online is designed for small to mid-sized businesses and offers a powerful suite of accounting features, including invoicing, bill management, inventory tracking, payroll, and advanced reporting. QuickBooks Self-Employed is designed for micro-businesses that have more basic accounting needs. The best software for you depends on the size of your business and the features you’re seeking.