Quicken vs QuickBooks: Differences & What’s Best 2022
Tim is a Certified QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) Pro, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and CPA with 25 years of experience. He brings his expertise to Fit Small Business’s accounting content.
Eric is a staff writer at Fit Small Business focusing on accounting content. He spends most of his time researching and studying to give the best answer to everyone.
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
While Quicken and QuickBooks have similar names, they’re separate products that serve different purposes. The difference between Quicken and QuickBooks is that QuickBooks is a double-entry bookkeeping system while Quicken is primarily used for managing personal finances. However, Quicken does have features to track income and expenses of rental houses and simple one-person businesses.
Definition: A double-entry bookkeeping system tracks assets and liabilities as well as income and expenses. This enhances the reliability of income and expenses by ensuring that all changes in assets and liabilities are reflected in net income. Not only is QuickBooks Online a double-entry bookkeeping system, but we also rated it our best overall small business accounting software.
When to Use QuickBooks
As our choice for overall best small business accounting software, QuickBooks is almost always a better option than Quicken for tracking your business’ income and expenses. The sole purpose of QuickBooks is small business accounting.
QuickBooks Is Best For
- Small business owners: QuickBooks offers flexible plans for small business owners, and it’s easy to find QuickBooks ProAdvisors or independent bookkeepers to manage your books since many accounting professionals are more acquainted with QuickBooks. So, if you ever need assistance with bookkeeping so you can focus on managing your small business, QuickBooks is your best choice.
- Invoicing customers: In addition to its full-featured double-entry bookkeeping, QuickBooks also has an excellent invoice creation and management system. You can personalize your invoices, keep track of outstanding invoices, and record payments. That’s why QuickBooks is also our choice for overall best invoicing software.
- Managing bills for your business: Managing bills with QuickBooks is convenient because you can manage billings from inventory purchases, keep track of vendor billings, and account for credit memos. You can also create recurring bills to streamline fixed yet repetitive payments. QuickBooks is also our pick for best recurring billing software, especially if you’re collecting sales tax.
When to Use Quicken
We rated Quicken as the best real estate accounting software for individuals with a few rental properties. While it’s predominantly a personal finance tool that tracks personal expenses, investments, and retirement accounts, Quicken Home & Business works well to keep track of tenants, rental rates, and lease terms for rental properties that you own. That’s something the more expensive QuickBooks Online doesn’t do.
Quicken Is Best For
- Property owners with a few units: Technically, Quicken can manage 100 rental properties with 100 units per property. However, we recommend Quicken for managing five or fewer rental properties. If you have more units than that, it would pay to use a more extensive software, like Buildium.
- Budgeting and tracking personal expenses: Although Quicken isn’t a double-entry accounting software program, it offers personal finance features like expense tracking, budgeting, and income tracking.
- Tracking retirement assets: If your investments are intended for retirement, Quicken is the best software to choose. Quicken can provide monthly to yearly projections of your investment accounts, which can help you make decisions for a better investment outcome.
When to Use Another Alternative
Quicken is generally not a good choice for business bookkeeping, except for rental houses and very simple one-person businesses, but QuickBooks might be a bit expensive for very small, new companies. There are many good alternatives to QuickBooks Online for small business bookkeeping, and some are even free. Wave is our choice for overall best free accounting software. We also recommend choosing Wave if this is your first time using accounting software services.
Quicken vs QuickBooks at a Glance
QuickBooks Online | Quicken | |
|---|---|---|
Who It’s Best For | Most small businesses | Rental property owners |
Pricing Plans | $25 to $180 per month | $35.99 to $103.99 per year |
Double-entry Bookkeeping System | ✔ | |
Payroll Add-on Available | ✔ | |
Inventory Tracking | ✔ | |
Separate Business & Personal Expenses | ✔ | ✔ |
Schedule C & E Reports | N/A | ✔ |
Print Income Statement & Balance Sheet | ✔ | |
Rental Property Center | N/A | ✔ |
Grant Access to Accountant | ✔ | N/A |
Number of Users Included | 1 to 25 | 1 |
Ease of Setup & Use | Easy | Moderate |
Mobile App | ||
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Quicken vs QuickBooks: Pricing
Quicken and QuickBooks Online are both subscription-based. QuickBooks Online has a monthly subscription that’ll continue until you cancel it. Quicken offers a yearly subscription and will auto-renew each year unless you cancel.
Quicken Pricing
Quicken has four pricing plans:
For Windows
- Starter: $35.99 per year
- Deluxe: $51.99 per year
- Premier: $77.99 per year
- Home & Business: $103.99 per year (required to manage rental properties)
For Mac
- Starter: $35.99 per year
- Deluxe: $51.99 per year
- Premier: $77.99 per year
Quicken is currently offering 10% off the above prices as a new member offer. The Home and Business plan is available only for Windows. It’s the only plan that can provide the functionality of tracking business income and expenses and the Quicken rental property features.
Simplifi by Quicken
For only $47.99 per year, you can manage your finances, track bills and subscriptions, manage investment accounts, and generate basic reports. Simplifi is different from Quicken plans and the Quicken Mobile App. You can access Simplifi through the web or mobile.
QuickBooks Pricing
QuickBooks Online has five pricing plans:
- Self-Employed: $15 per month
- Simple Start: $25 per month
- Essentials: $50 per month
- Plus: $80 per month
- Advanced: $180 per month
Currently, Quickbooks Online is offering a choice of either 50% off for three months or a 30-day free trial. Learn more about the differences of each plan and find the plan best suited to your business by reading our QuickBooks Online comparison.
Takeaway: QuickBooks is priced much higher than Quicken, with QuickBooks Simple Start costing three times as much as Quicken Home & Business. Quicken is a great value, provided that all you need is to track income and expenses. However, the extra cost of QuickBooks will be worth it if you need the features of a full bookkeeping system, such as tracking assets and liabilities and printing a balance sheet.
Quicken vs QuickBooks: Features
Quicken Tiered Features Table
Simplifi by Quicken | Starter | Deluxe | Premier | Home & Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Price | $47.99/ year | $35.99/ year | $51.99/ year | $77.99 /year | $103.99/ year |
Users | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Platform | Mobile or Web | Desktop | Desktop | Desktop | Desktop |
Connect Bank Accounts | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Track & Categorize Spending | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Mobile App | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Free Phone Support | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Track Unpaid Bills | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Free Online Bill Pay | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Track Loans & Investments | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Track Cost Basis of Investments for Taxes | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Tools to Make Investment Decisions | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Separate Business Expenses From Personal & Categorize | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Track Profit & Loss | ✔ | ||||
Schedule C & E Reports for Tax Return | ✔ | ||||
Manage Lease Terms, Rental Rates & Security Deposits | ✔ | ||||
Track Outstanding & Paid Rents | ✔ |
QuickBooks Tiered Features Table
Self-Employed | Simple Start | Essentials | Plus | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pricing | $15 | $25 | $50 | $80 | $180 |
Users Included | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 25 |
Pricing | ✔ | ||||
Separate Business & Personal Expenses | ✔ | ||||
Double-entry Bookkeeping | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Manage Sales Tax | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Payroll Add-on | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Prepare 1099s for Contractors | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Track Unpaid Bills | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Track Inventory | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Advanced Reports | ✔ |
Takeaway: Quicken and QuickBooks Online offer very different features. Quicken features are geared mostly toward managing personal expenses and investments, but the Home & Business edition adds some business income and expense tracking along with a suite of rental management tools. QuickBooks is designed to track assets, liabilities, income, and expense of a business accurately and includes features many businesses require, like collecting and remitting sales tax, paying employees, and tracking the cost of inventory.
Quicken vs QuickBooks: Ease of Use
QuickBooks Online has a purely web-based interface while Quicken is a desktop program. Quicken requires the user to download and install a program while QuickBooks is ready to go as soon as the subscription is purchased.
Quicken Ease of Use
Quicken is more difficult to use than QuickBooks Online because of its user interface. However, learning Quicken is manageable, and users without experience with this kind of software service can learn Quicken.
Below is a snapshot of the Quicken dashboard:
Quicken Home & Business dashboard
The primary information you’ll find on the Quicken dashboard is:
- Menu bar: Click on the top menu bar to navigate to the various areas of the program like Bills & Income, Rental Property, and Tips & Tutorials.
- Total spending: Keep tabs on where your money is going by reviewing the graph that shows the amount spent by category, like Auto or Utilities.
- Bills to pay: Stay on top of monthly bills that you pay using the Bill Pay feature.
- Budget: Create a budget to help you find ways to decrease your spending and save more money.
NEW FEATURE: Quicken for Web
Quicken for Web (Source: Quicken)
Quicken is a software program that’s installed on personal computers. However, Quicken has responded to user requests with Quicken for Web. With this newly added feature, Quicken is now more accessible across devices with or without its desktop app installed.
With Quicken Web, you can:
- Check balances, budgets, accounts, and transactions
- See spending trends by category, payee, and more
- Monitor investments
- Manage and review past expenses
- Sync with desktop and mobile devices
Simplifi by Quicken
Simplifi Dashboard (Source: Simplifi)
Simplifi is a personal finance app focusing on financial management, expense and cash flow tracking, budgeting, and saving. Simplifi cannot be used for rental property management (for this, we recommend using Quicken Home and Business).
Simplifi Reports Tab (Source: Simplifi)
Because Simplifi by Quicken is a personal finance tracker, we can’t recommend it for small businesses. We recommend choosing from our list of the best business expense tracker apps or mobile accounting apps.
QuickBooks Online Ease of Use
QuickBooks Online is much easier to navigate than Quicken. Tasks are grouped by workflow, making it much easier to find the desired task. The QuickBooks Online dashboard has a left menu bar that allows you to navigate the program easily. The dashboard shows a summary of the total paid and unpaid customer invoices, total expenses, profit and loss (P&L), and sales for the time period you choose.
Here’s a snapshot of the QuickBooks Online dashboard:
QuickBooks Online Plus dashboard
The five primary sections found on the QuickBooks Online dashboard are:
- Left menu bar: You can access just about any task from the left menu bar, including creating invoices, bank accounts, and reports.
- Plus Button: You can add your company logo to personalize your QuickBooks account.
- Profit and Loss: Stay on top of your P&L without having to run a report.
- Expenses: In this section, you’ll see the total expenses for a selected time period along with the top three categories, such as Maintenance & Repairs, Job Expenses, and Cost of Goods Sold (COGS).
- Invoice: In this section, you can see what your customers owe you―accounts receivable (A/R)―as well as the total amount of payments collected that you have deposited versus undeposited funds.
- Sales: Keep an eye on your sales throughout the year so that you can recognize trends and make any necessary adjustments.
- Bank Accounts: In this section, you’ll see all of your connected bank accounts and cards, including a comparison of balance per bank and per books.
- Time Tracking: You can track hours worked with QuickBooks Online’s time tracker for billable hours.
Takeaway: QuickBooks Online is easier to set up than Quicken because it’s purely web-based with nothing to download or install. QuickBooks Online is also easier for tracking business income and expenses because that’s its primary focus, whereas Quicken has many other personal finance features that can be confusing and unnecessary for tracking business income.
Quicken vs QuickBooks: Mobile App
Both Quicken and QuickBooks Online allow you to access your data on the go with their mobile apps. The apps for both products are available for both iOS and Android devices.
Quicken Mobile App
With the Quicken mobile app, you can perform some useful tasks, including viewing your bank account transactions. Unfortunately, you cannot create customer invoices or enter unpaid bills in the mobile app. Any transactions that are entered on the mobile device will be synchronized automatically with the file on your desktop computer.
A few of the tasks that you can perform with the Quicken mobile app are:
- View account balances and transactions
- Input account transactions and attach receipts
- View your budget created with the desktop program
Simplifi by Quicken Mobile App
Simplifi has a separate app from Quicken and can be accessed through the web browser or mobile app. All of Simplifi’s features can be accessed from the app.
QuickBooks Online Mobile App
The QuickBooks mobile app will do just about everything that you can do by logging in to your account on a computer. This includes adding new customers and vendors, creating invoices, and entering bills.
Some of the tasks that you can complete with the QuickBooks Online mobile app include:
- Add new customers and vendors
- Track automobile mileage with smartphone GPS
- Create customer invoices
- Take a picture and attach receipts to transactions
- Enter vendor bills
GoPayment App and Mobile Card Reader
With QuickBooks, you can now collect faster and easier with its GoPayment app and mobile card reader. You can accept payment from bank cards using the card reader and process the payment through the GoPayment app. The GoPayment app has no monthly fee for QuickBooks Online but transaction processing fees are as follows:
- Swipe and tap: 2.4% plus 25 cents
- Keyed transaction fee: 3.4% plus 25 cents
- Invoice transaction fee: 2.9% plus 25 cents
- Automated clearing house (ACH) payments: 1% (max of $10)
Takeaway: QuickBooks Online’s mobile app is the clear winner. You can manage your entire business from the app and rarely have to log in to your account through your computer.
Quicken vs QuickBooks: Integrations
Quicken offers a handful of integrations to receive online payments, make online payments, and store documents. QuickBooks has the same integrations, plus hundreds more.
Quicken Integrations
Quicken has a very limited number of integrations. It integrates with PayPal (for accepting online credit card payments from customers), Dropbox (to store important documents, such as rental agreements and contracts), and Zillow Zestimate, which is a tool that you can use to calculate the value of your home. Similar to QuickBooks Online, it has a built-in bill payment tool that allows you to pay your bills online.
Check out the Service Center for more information.
QuickBooks Online Integrations
In addition to integrating with more than 600 third-party apps, QuickBooks Online includes built-in integrations like Intuit Online Payroll to manage and pay employees, Intuit Merchant Services to accept online credit card payments, and Bill.com, so that you can make online bill payments. On top of these, you can add apps like Shopify and Square to manage your ecommerce business.
Check out the Intuit Apps Center to see the full list of apps available.
Takeaway: There’s no comparison between Quicken and QuickBooks Online when it comes to integrations. Quicken only integrates with a handful of products while QuickBooks online integrates with more than 600 programs.
Bottom Line
Now that you know the difference between Quicken and QuickBooks, it’s time to make your decision. If you own rental properties, go with Quicken. However, if you’re looking for robust accounting software for your small business, QuickBooks Online is the way to go.
