QuickBooks is one of today’s top accounting and bookkeeping platforms, and its reputation is well-deserved. Dominant across multiple industries and popular with most business sizes, from freelance solopreneurs to enterprise megaliths, QuickBooks covers most common accounting bases and is a well-rounded, general-purpose tool that legions of clients and fans enjoy.
However, though QuickBooks enjoys name recognition and scores of fans, it isn’t suitable for everyone. Whether budget, feature preferences, or other factors are priorities, sometimes smaller competitors better suit business owners’ unique needs.
Those looking at directly comparable QuickBooks alternatives may struggle to find something that offers a comprehensive range of tools like QuickBooks. That holds especially true since the many third-party add-ons serve to close any gaps the native platform has. Still, these QuickBooks alternatives may better serve your unique business needs than QuickBooks can.
What is QuickBooks?
If you’ve been in business for over a few weeks, there’s little chance you don’t know what QuickBooks is. A perennial favorite with one of the top accounting platform name brands, QuickBooks offers a range of business sizes and industries access to bookkeeping and accounting solutions ranging from basic 3-way matching, for example, to complex ones like payroll management.
QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Desktop
When hunting for top bookkeeping and accounting software, you’ll likely run across forum posts and article comments debating the merits of QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Desktop. Each has a range of unique use cases and benefits, but at the same time, each serves generalized accounting and bookkeeping purposes for most businesses. It’s also important to note that Intuit (QuickBooks’ parent company) is sunsetting QuickBooks Desktop effective July 2024. After this point, new customers will no longer be able to buy or license QuickBooks Desktop and must use the browser-based version instead.
Until then, deciding which is best depends on your specific needs.
QuickBooks Online:
- Cloud and browser-based, QuickBooks Online is accessible anywhere with an Internet connection, including via mobile phone apps.
- QuickBooks Online requires a recurring subscription rather than a one-time payment.
- Multiple users can manage QuickBooks data and collaborate no matter their physical location.
- More robust automation tools.
QuickBooks Desktop:
- Requires a single upfront payment rather than a recurring subscription cost.
- It may be more secure during black swan-style hacking or data breach events since data is stored on a dedicated machine, and cloud access incurs additional fees.
- Fewer apps and third-party integrations.
- Some advanced features, like enhanced inventory management, appeal to specific user segments but lack broader market utility.
Generally, though recurring SaaS costs can be frustrating and frankly annoying, most users will get the most bang for their buck using QuickBooks Online – especially if (or when) Intuit fully sunsets the platform and stops offering critical security or feature updates.
QuickBooks Integrations
One area in which QuickBooks really shines is its robust and wide-ranging third-party app and integration tools. These tools effectively “step in” when the native QuickBooks platform lacks some specific functionality or the user has a preferred service provider for niche use cases but wants to remain within the QuickBooks ecosystem.
Most advanced accounting and bookkeeping tools offer a range of QuickBooks integrations to streamline, optimize, and improve your QuickBooks experience. While not an exhaustive list by any means, some commonly-used QuickBooks integration features include:
- Accounts payable automation that cuts down on time spent manually entering data and ensuring accuracy.
- Data synchronization from third-party document readers and automated migration into QuickBooks.
- Payment processing, particularly when managing cross-border and international payments.
When Do QuickBooks Alternatives Come Into Play?
Since QuickBooks operates broadly as a “one-stop shop” for most accounting and bookkeeping needs – and it does the job well – users needing more niche emphasis on financial management aspects like cross-border payments, treasury management, or even navigating tricky compliance waters may find a standalone or one-off program better suited to their needs. Third-party apps and add-ons may mitigate this issue somewhat, but those needing specialized services should generally seek specialized providers rather than a generalist solution like QuickBooks.
Some users also find that QuickBooks lacks a sure scalability that grows with their business. For example, a small business owner with just a handful of employees could graduate from the Excel method of bookkeeping to QuickBooks but, as the business grows, find himself in a weird spot where QuickBooks Enterprise is too robust (and pricy), and his baseline QuickBooks version lacks specific functionalities he suddenly needs.
It is important to find something that is ready to grow with you and match your pace, and for some, QuickBooks alternatives emerge as preferred options as businesses expand.
How to Find the Best QuickBooks Alternatives
As with so many SaaS and similar business solutions, there isn’t a true one-size-fits-all platform to meet each and every need you have today, tomorrow, and far in the future. To that end, though, finding the best QuickBooks alternatives demands a critical and unbiased look at your current business and growth trajectory. Your size, industry, and (of course) budget drive your ultimate QuickBooks alternatives decision, but scalability shouldn’t be overlooked. Ensuring your platform of choice can grow with you is vital to minimizing future interruptions that cost time and money.
Often, QuickBooks alternatives offer new users free trials to test out features – we recommend taking advantage of these to the fullest extent possible and even test drive multiple platforms simultaneously to see what works best before committing to a long-term decision.
Today’s Best QuickBooks Alternatives
Again, offering the best QuickBooks alternatives isn’t a hard and fast mandate; it’s a recommendation based on finding a similarly generalized platform offering most (or all) of the same utility as QuickBooks. While each of these alternatives efficiently helps manage big-picture accounting and bookkeeping needs, they may lack the specificity that some niche cases require. Still, we’ll look at four alternatives based on two broad criteria: which are best for those seeking cloud integration for dispersed work and which offer the widest range of features across accounting needs.
Cloud-Centric QuickBooks Alternatives
Xero is an internationally focused QuickBooks alternative often used by small businesses and startups seeking efficient and streamlined cross-border payment options (something that QuickBooks lacks in the native platform without third-party integrations). Xero also helps manage complex tax requirements that often arise when managing international vendors and contractors, so it tends to be the best solution for those managing global markets – enabled, of course, by a robust and secure cloud computing infrastructure. Of course, Xero matches QuickBooks’ third-party integration capability as well and offers a range of external options to customize your experience.
Sage 50cloud, part of the wider Sage Business Cloud platform, is unique in that it directly integrates with Microsoft Office 365 products, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel – alongside a wide range of third-party app integrations. This helps users seeking to migrate from legacy spreadsheets to robust alternatives by allowing rapid migration from existing Excel workbooks with minimal (if any) data loss. Sage 50cloud also offers a range of accounting tools you’d expect from QuickBooks alternative platforms and has wide industry applications.
Feature-Rich QuickBooks Alternatives
Zoho Books targets the human resources segment more than any other, though it does offer wide-ranging applicability to many business types and owners. The platform offers basic financial and accounting tools but shines when it comes to payroll management – something QuickBooks users sometimes find cumbersome with the platform. Zoho is one of the most budget-friendly QuickBooks alternatives, with monthly fees starting at just $10 compared to QuickBooks’ $15/month baseline service (but most core features start at $45 monthly).
Freshbooks targets small businesses and entrepreneurs in a way QuickBooks doesn’t quite manage without many add-ons and, in many cases, pricier plans. It has an intuitive interface and offers users time tracking and invoicing in a streamlined manner that saves the DIY business owner or entrepreneur maximum time.
For larger businesses, QuickBooks alternatives like Sage Intacct stand out. Sage Intacct is a cloud-based QuickBooks alternative with a deep wellspring of reporting features and even includes direct, native Salesforce integrations. When bundled with marketplace partners like Nanonets, Sage Intacct also offers streamlined AP automation benefits for even the largest enterprise clients.
QuickBooks Alternatives for Growing Businesses
Since scalability is key, those expecting expansion usually prefer to look for QuickBooks alternatives suited to small business owners capable of growing alongside them. NetSuite is an alternative that supports business accounting needs across all growth phase cycles while offering third-party integrations to cover any feature gaps. Better yet, NetSuite has a robust set of reporting tools that some prefer to QuickBooks’, so the platform can help trigger business growth through advanced analytics and insight.
Dynamics 365, a Microsoft product, also stands out as a QuickBooks alternative poised to help business owners grow their companies while remaining alongside them for the duration. D365 stands apart from nearly all QuickBooks alternatives in that it offers a range of benefits beyond accounting. D365 is comparable to a CRM in many respects and lets owners track customer behavior and interactions within an easy-to-understand platform. It also has unique sales and marketing automation tools that many QuickBooks alternatives lack while offering third-party integrations to support many business needs.
Conclusion
It may be true that relying on any system rather than Excel and a cocktail napkin is better; some are certainly dominant in different fields. QuickBooks is often the go-to move for those looking for generalized features, but just as frequently, they run into something that sends them looking for QuickBooks alternatives.
QuickBooks and nearly all of its alternatives also offer third-party integrations that can be lifesaving when you’re comfortable with a platform but find it lacking in some specific area. Rather than switching completely, integrations like Nanonets’ AP automation can help plug feature gaps and holes while improving your business standing. The common benefit across the board, no matter which integrations you leverage in QuickBooks or one of its alternatives is time saved via automation and keeping all your business financial concerns in as centralized a software ecosystem as possible.
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