QuickBooks Online Accounting Software Review

A Brief Overview of Accounting Software Services

What can business accounting software do for your company? For starters, it helps you with expense tracking and tax season preparation. In addition, accounting software can assist you in setting reasonable expectations for the growth of your business. It can also provide custom reports that identify which parts of your business provide the best return on investment.

Last, but far from least, using accounting software can help you prepare reports for investors. When you have clear and concise financial data at your fingertips, it’s easy for potential investors to get a snapshot of your business activities and decide if they want to invest in your business or not.

QuickBooks Online can tackle all of these tasks and more, but is it the best accounting software service for you?

QuickBooks Online Accounting Software Review

QuickBooks Online is an outstanding option for any business with accounting needs that go beyond the basic features found in most software solutions. Let’s quickly run down some of its pros and cons before we take a deeper dive.

Pros

• More experience and customers than any competitor
• Hundreds of integrations
• Advanced reporting functions
• Mileage tracker

Cons

• Interface can be overwhelming for new users
• Can get highly expensive

The Details of QuickBooks Online Accounting Software

QuickBooks Online has four different levels of accounting software for small businesses: Simple Start ($25/month), Essentials ($50/month), Plus ($80/month), and Advanced ($180/month).

As you would expect at price points this high, even the base-rate Simple Start package is fully featured, including hundreds of integration options, super-advanced reporting tools, a mileage tracker, and more.

Overall Pricing and Value:

When some competitors offer accounting software products for $15 per month or less, it’s clear that QuickBooks Online has somewhat higher prices. However, those price points are mitigated somewhat in the short term, as QuickBooks Online offers your choice of 50% off for your first three months or a 30-day free trial.

All of that said, QuickBooks Online offers hundreds of integrations with popular business apps, far more than any competitor. In addition, you won’t find this many data reports with any other service we’re aware of either. In short, if you actually need its advanced features, QuickBooks Online provides solid value.

Track Record:

QuickBooks Online is produced by Intuit, the same software company that makes QuickBooks Payroll, along with Mint, TurboTax, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp. Intuit has been around since 1983 and has 10,600 employees. As you have probably guessed, this is one of the industry giants, and few competitors can even touch its level of experience.

We found nearly 8,000 reviews of QuickBooks Online, and it maintains a solid, in unspectacular, 4.2 rating out of 5. Compared to other accounting software solutions, this is roughly average.

Customer Support:

QuickBooks Online offers customer assistance from 9 am to 9 pm ET every weekday. We’ve always received helpful and timely support from Intuit’s reps. That said, due to the massive size of this company, there isn’t much personalization involved with its customer service. It’s only a minor drawback, especially considering the solid hours of availability, but we felt it was worth mentioning.

Ease of Use:

There wouldn’t be much point in using an accounting software service if it didn’t make the process of tracking your company’s finances significantly simpler. Thankfully, QuickBooks Online does just that, with an easy-to-use interface and intuitive features.

That said, QuickBooks Online isn’t quite as straightforward as some other Intuit products. It has so many capabilities that there’s an inevitable learning curve for new users, which is why we dropped a couple of points from QuickBooks Online’s score in this area.

What Are Customers Saying About QuickBooks Online Accounting Software?

We found 7,787 reviews of QuickBooks Online on various third-party review aggregator platforms. In these reviews, QuickBooks Online averages a score of roughly 4.2 out of 5.

In their positive reviews, QuickBooks Online customers rave about the software’s in-depth features and reports, allowing them to perform complex tasks. However, we also found a trend in the company’s negative feedback, in which customers have gripes about high prices and long learning curves.

Overall though, QuickBooks Online receives far more positive reviews than negative ones, so this software solution performs pretty well in the realm of customer feedback.

Our Final Thoughts

QuickBooks Online is an excellent option for any business with complex accounting needs that go beyond the capabilities of more basic accounting tools. We also appreciate this company’s incredible track record of experience and expertise.

If you’d like to take a look at your other options for accounting software services, take a look at our guide to the best companies in the industry.

Disclaimer: The content on this page is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.