Quickbooks Subscription Comparison: Which Is Best for You?

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Quickbooks Online is definitely the most popular option when it comes to bookkeeping software for small businesses, but it can be a little overwhelming to learn & understand if you don’t really know what you need. I’ve put together this Quickbooks subscription comparison post today to help you determine what features you need, and which ones you don’t, so you don’t end up paying for more than you need.

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Quickbooks Subscription Comparison: Subscriptions Options to Forget

Before we even get started, I just wanted to mention that there are a couple subscription levels that I won’t even be covering in this article – the Self Employed version and the Advanced version.

The Simple Start level lacks most of the helpful tools that help you simplify your bookkeeping. It’s essentially just a check registry, that doesn’t even allow you to balance your checkbook. For that reason, it’s not even worth considering it as an option for your retail bookkeeping needs.

The advanced level is going to be WAY more than you ever need for your small business bookkeeping. Again…not going to waste your time covering it.

Quickbooks Ledger

This is the newest version of Quickbooks Online, and it is actually ONLY available through an Accountant, so you can’t even sign up for it yourself. However, if you are interested in hiring a bookkeeper to do your bookkeeping anyway, just know that they will have the ability to sign up for this (super cheap) subscription level themselves to help you save on costs!

This subscription is a little more limited, but it does include all the core features:

• Connected bank & credit card feeds to automatically bring in every single transaction for easy categorization
• Bank rules where you can tell Quickbooks on how to automatically categorize certain transactions that are regularly recurring (think monthly software, utilities, etc…)
• Reconciliations that allow you to easily compare your Quickbooks records to the statements provided by your bank, credit card, and payment processors.
• Basic reporting so you can view your Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Statement of Cash Flows to get the best holistic view of your retail finances.
• Memorized transactions, which allows you to create template entries to quickly & easily record your weekly/monthly sales information from your Shopify (or other point of sale system) store.

The one thing this subscription level cannot do is invoice customers, but if all your sales information flows through your point of sale system, then this is a non-issue! Just remember that you can’t sign up for this subscription level on your own, so reach out to a bookkeeper or Accountant to see if they can help!

Quickbooks Simple Start

The Simple Start subscription level is the level that I recommend most businesses start out with. This is the “lowest” subscription level that you can sign up for yourself (excluding the useless Self Employed version I’ve previously discussed). With this level, you get 1 user access (yourself), plus you can invite up to 2 Accountant users (for your bookkeeper & tax preparer).

This level contains all the same great features of the Ledger version, but you also get the ability to add customers and send invoices through Quickbooks.

Quickbooks Essentials

The next level subscription is Quickbooks Essentials. With this level, you get all the same features as Ledger & Simple start, but you do also get some additional reporting options. You also get the ability to add up to 3 “regular” users, which can be great if you want to have an employee help out with your bookkeeping. You will still also have access to add up to 2 Accountant users as well.

In all honesty, you don’t need Essentials. At least when you start out. Save your money and start with Simple Start. If you find yourself wanting some additional reporting, then you can upgrade at that time.

Quickbooks Plus

If you run a business that operates out of multiple locations, then it may be worth it to you to upgrade to the Plus subscription level. This level allows you to record all revenue & expenses by location, so you can still see all your “total” revenue & expenses for the company as a whole, but you can also view reports by location.

I’ve seen business owners think that they need the Plus subscription level for inventory management, but if you already have a point of sale system like Shopify, that’s doing your inventory management for you, so you don’t need the Plus subscription.

Quickbooks Subscription Comparison: The Best For You

Now, there are tons of other features that you get with each subscription level, but I just wanted to focus on the ones that are the most helpful/useful for retailers like yourself. To see a more detailed list of the subscription levels & features, you can visit the Quickbooks Online site directly.

In my opinion, unless you specifically want to track your finances by location, the Simple Start plan is all you need if you’re going to be doing your own bookkeeping! It gives you all of the great time-saving features that I use for my clients each and every month.

If you need help deciding which subscription level is best for you, then send me a DM on Instagram at @findingfreedomfinancial.

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