Quickbooks Review 

Summary of our opinion

Don’t have time to read it all? Here is a summary of our opinion on Quickbooks, to help you understand whether Quickbooks is a good choice for you or not. 

For those who don’t have time to read our entire QuickBooks review, here’s a summary of our test:

• Quickbooks is accounting software suitable for freelancers, SMB’s and entrepreneurs
• They provide smart tools to organize your books, manage expenses, send invoices, track inventory management, run payroll and get paid fast by adding payment features. 
• The billing and accounting features will save you valuable time 

QuickBooks pricing

QuickBooks has four distinct monthly membership options, each of which provides access to the QuickBooks Online mobile applications, customer service, and connections with 3rd app providers as standard features.

There will be additional expenses incurred in the case of additional services such as QuickBooks Payroll, QuickBooks Time, and QuickBooks Payments.

Plan	Simple Start	Essentials	Plus	Advanced
Price/month	$25	$50	$80	$180
No. of users	1	3	5	5+
Accounting access	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Estimates	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Invoices & Payments	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sales & sales tax	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tax deductions	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Receipt capture	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reporting	General	Enhanced	Comprehensive	Powerful
Bank sync	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Third-party integrations	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Employee time/project	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Inventory	No	No	Yes	Yes
Support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Account team	No	No	No	Yes

These 4 different offers are adapted to different company needs and sizes.

How to access QuickBooks

QuickBooks is a 100% online solution so you won’t have to download and install anything on your computer.

In addition to the web version, QuickBooks Online offers a mobile app, on iOS and Android. These applications are highly rated by users (4.7/5 for iOS and 4.3/5 for Android).

Required configuration

In order to access QuickBooks, all you need to do is use your internet browser. The supported browsers are:

• Google Chrome (78+)
• Firefox (76+)
• Microsoft Edge (75+)
• Opera (68+)
• Safari (12+)

Users just need to ensure they have an up-to-date browser and a decent connection and QuickBooks should work just fine.

Who is QuickBooks for?

Thanks to its features, QuickBooks is an ideal solution for self-employed persons and small business accounting needs.

If you are a service provider, the Simple Start version may be sufficient. If however you have a lot of expenses (raw material purchases for example), you can consider the Essentials or Plus Plus version which integrates supplier management.

The Plus version is aimed at a more informed public with advanced features such as analytical accounting, the possibility to generate purchase orders and even provisional budget monitoring.

In our opinion, QuickBooks is suitable for all types of entrepreneurs and businesses and the beauty of the product is it allows for direct collaboration with your accountant, thanks to a network of certified partners, which will make your accounting all the more easier.

Ease of use

Overall, QuickBooks is intuitive and easy to figure out how to use. The interface is well organized even if sometimes it is difficult to find certain things. 

For example, to find your existing quotes, go to Sales > Customer Operations and place a filter on quotes.

Fortunately, customers will become familiarized with the setup quite quickly and accessing key reports gets easier.

Features

For a 100% online solution, QuickBooks offers a very wide range of features. This topic covers the main features, of which we will review the main elements.

Dashboard

The QuickBooks home screen is a dashboard that summarizes your various activities. You will find a summary of your activity including graphs on your invoices, expense tracking, bank accounts, bank statements and more.  

A “View my audit log” link is present at the bottom of the page and allows you to view recent activity on your QuickBooks account. There is a learning curve to get up to speed with the various features, but this can be figured out in due course with the Quickbooks Desktop and mobile version. 

Billing

Apart from being an accounting tool, QuickBooks offers invoicing options with various customizable invoice templates available. 

Businesses can choose a color, change the logo or even the font to make the invoice look-and-feel more professional. It is also possible to modify the content and choose the information you want to display on your invoice.

It is possible to send follow-up emails if you use all QuickBooks offer features. Another interesting feature, QuickBooks allows you to see when your customers have interacted with your invoices. It is also possible to schedule recurring invoices, which will save you time.

All in all, the invoicing features are quite advanced and will suit most entrepreneurs.

Sales tax management

Businesses can keep sales in sync no matter how you get paid with Quickbook automatically calculating taxes on your invoices.

Users can accept credit cards anywhere with Quickbooks mobile card reader or sync with popular apps as well as connect to various e-commerce tools including Shopify.

Quote management

It is possible to create quotes and then convert them into an invoice. Quotes are sent by email and prospects receive the document in PDF. In addition, it is possible to personalize the message of the email. 

Customer portal

When you send an invoice to a customer, the latter has access to a portal where he can view, print and pay the invoices.

Customer management

QuickBooks allows you to create advanced customer records. You’ll be able to enter a lot of information about your customers such as name, display name, billing address, shipping address and more. 

It is also possible to define the default payment terms for each customer, which can be very practical and write notes or attach files to each customer file.

Expense management

It is possible to add your expenses manually or to synchronize with your bank. It is possible to categorize each expense and associate a receipt with it.

Bank sync

It is possible (and recommended) to connect QuickBooks with your bank. QuickBooks is compatible with many banks including Bluevine and Novo.

By connecting QuickBooks to your pro account, all your transactions will appear directly on your accounting interface. Then simply select the transactions you want to import and categorize them.

Management of supplier invoices 

With QuickBooks, you will be able to enter and file your supplier invoices easily. If you choose the Plus version, it will even be possible to create purchase orders that can later be converted into an invoice.

Premium apps (QuickBooks Online Advanced)

More of your company’s operations may be managed in a single location thanks to connections with top-tier applications such as LeanLaw, HubSpot, Docusign, Bill.com, Salesforce, and Centage, amongst others, which provide customized complete and professional solutions.

Project management (Plus offer only)

With the QuickBooks Plus version, it is possible to create projects and associate billed (or unbilled) time tracking as well as billed (or unbilled) expenses. It is also possible to send a dedicated invoice for a project. 

Reports

The number of reports available varies according to the offer (20 for the Simple Start offer, 40 for the Essentials offer, 65 for the Plus and more with the Advanced offer. The reports cover many subjects including the ability to customize reports for accounting, sales, tax or even employees.

Import Export

QuickBooks allows you to execute many imports that will save you time. Currently it is possible to import via a csv file from your customers, suppliers or even various services and products. 

It should be noted that exports are more limited with the function to just export reports for now. 

APIs

Quick Books offers an API for developers. If you need inspiration, you can use common workflow examples as a foundation for your app.

Customer Service & Support

QuickBooks offers various resources to help you use its accounting solution:

• Learn & Support area: A knowledge base that brings together articles and videos.
• The University: A kind of online university with videos to train you
• Webinars: Twice a week, whose content is very oriented for new users (see Account settings, sending your first invoice and more)

QuickBooks offers customer service that can be reached by Chat or Phone (800-446-8848) which is available from 6 AM to 6 PM PST, Monday through Friday; Saturday hours are 6 AM to 3 PM PST.

Integrations & Extensions offered by QuickBooks

In addition to connecting with your bank, QuickBooks offers over 250 integrations with partner services like Paypal, Stripe or site creation software like Squarespace or Shopify and even commercial CRMs.

Security

QuickBooks Online has a number of measures in place to keep your data secure, including:

• 128-bit SSL encryption
• Routine testing
• Multifactor authentication
• Physical safeguards at the Tier 4 data center

QuickBooks: Overall verdict

QuickBooks offers a wide range of features and is an easy to use cloud-base interface with desktop or mobile access. It really is a superb tool, fit for any small business, solopreneur or professional. 

The real-time integration with its bank is one of the main strengths of QuickBooks and businesses can find all of their banking transactions directly in the accounting software, only needed to classify them to make your accounting entries.

 Its four plans and add-on services offer a high level of functionality and flexibility and all in all, it’s a brilliant choice for a variety of businesses, especially those that plan to regularly work with accountants or bookkeepers.