Following is the comparison of QuickBooks Online vs Cloud
QuickBooks Online: Overview
QuickBooks Online, or QBO, is Intuit’s cloud-based accounting product. QBO was launched in 2004, and while the software was initially far less developed than the reigning QuickBooks Desktop, Intuit has made serious strides with this product and is constantly adding new features and small business services to improve their software.
QuickBooks Online is designed specifically for small businesses; however, the new QuickBooks Online Advanced plan makes the software scalable for larger businesses as well. The software offers a robust feature set, strong accounting, online payroll, attractive invoices, 650+ integrations, and a unique lending feature.
QBO is also significantly easier to learn and use than QuickBooks Desktop. Since the software is cloud-based, QBO works anywhere you have an internet connection, and there are mobile apps to help you manage your business on the go.
Pros
Cloud-based
Easy to use
Monthly pricing
Strong features
Built-in lending
650+ integrations
Cons
Customer support
More expensive than other SMB products
Fewer features than Desktop
No sales orders
QuickBooks Desktop: Overview
QuickBooks Desktop is the prehistoric dinosaur of accounting software, launched way back in 1992. But this dinosaur is far from extinct (despite Intuit’s efforts to force users to switch to QuickBooks Online).
QuickBooks Desktop made Intuit what it is today, and it is still one of the primary software choices of accountants worldwide.
QuickBooks Desktop most often refers to QuickBooks Desktop Pro, although there are actually three different QuickBooks Desktop products: QuickBooks Desktop Pro, QuickBooks Desktop Premier, and QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise.
The main difference between the three is that Pro is designed for small businesses, Premier for medium business, and Enterprise for large businesses. As such, each plan progresses in terms of available users and features.
Each desktop version of QuickBooks offers incredible accounting tools and extensive features, including expense tracking, budgeting, and job costing, 200 integrations, and positive customer reviews. It’s worth noting that QuickBooks Desktop is only available on Windows operating systems. Mac users will need to look at QuickBooks for Mac for a locally-installed Mac-based QuickBooks option.
Pros
Strong features
Traditional accounting
Potentially more secure
200+ integrations
Cons
Windows-only
Customer support
No remote access or mobile apps
Expensive license structure
Fewer automations than QBO
I hope this comparison will be helpful!
Mark Wilson
QuickBooks Hosting
QuickBooks Hosting is essentially the QuickBooks software (desktop version) installed on the cloud. The cloud server is owned and managed by an authorized third party service provider. The end users can have their own licensed copies of the QuickBooks software hosted on the hosting company’s remote server, or they can lease the license from the hosting company and then have QuickBooks hosted online on the cloud.
QuickBooks Hosting allows hosting companies to offer any edition of the QuickBooks software on the cloud – Pro, Enterprise, Premier, POS or Accountant.
Once installed on the remote server, the end user can access their QuickBooks software, data and file from anywhere, anytime by simply clicking on the icon at their desktop.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online, on the other hand, is an entirely different version of the QuickBooks software, exclusively developed for the cloud environment. It comes in different plans and can be purchased for a flat monthly fee. The basic plan offers access to 1 user while the higher plans accommodate up to 5 users.
While convenient to access and use, QuickBooks Online lacks many features and functionalities that you get with QuickBooks desktop hosting software, and ultimately with QuickBooks Hosting.
For example, in QuickBooks Online you cannot track international sales and expenses in multiple currencies while in QuickBooks Hosting you can. Likewise, the payroll function in QuickBooks online is only available through add-on and does not come as a part of its main offering.
Despite these shortcomings and limitations, QuickBooks Online remains a popular option among the business community but less so than QuickBooks Hosting.
Regards,
Caleb