Best Software for Small Business: 24 Essential Tools 2025

QuickBooks has been carefully designed to provide core features every business needs, while presenting flexibility where it serves individual business needs. The name differentiates the fact that Enterprise is installed locally on the user’s computer, while QuickBooks Online exists entirely in the cloud. Enterprise is designed for companies that need the most advanced feature set and are scaling the size of operations.

• Intuit QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise Platinum includes everything in Gold.
• As an extremely popular accounting solution, QuickBooks Online integrates with hundreds of the best third-party financial apps, from payroll companies like Gusto to point-of-sale systems like Square.
• As the industry standard, QuickBooks Online can be a smart solution for any business — including the types listed above.

How Does Intercompany Accounting Work – Key Principles and Practical Applications

These tools make QuickBooks a flexible solution for small business owners. To ensure you make the right choice, take advantage of trial and demo availability for your preferred solution. Also, don’t forget to check out the reviews for each plan — they’re excellent for helping you pinpoint the ideal choice or figure out if it’s time to seek alternatives. For new companies, consider bundling QuickBooks Online with QuickBooks Payroll to access potential discounts. Intuit often offers savings on these kinds of bundles, especially when coupled with contract discounts (e.g., multi-year commitment). Choose a plan that aligns with your operations and budget to ensure a meaningful return on investment (ROI).

Live Online from Anywhere

As the industry standard, QuickBooks Online can be a smart solution for any business — including the types listed above. This is especially true for retail businesses looking for an alternative to Xero. It’s also a less expensive option for food-industry businesses like cafes or quick-service restaurants. Automated payroll software ensures accurate calculations, handles tax filings, and maintains compliance with federal and state regulations. These systems save you time and reduce errors compared to manual payroll processing.

QuickBooks Self-Employed: Best for tax-conscious freelancers

QuickBooks is a subscription-based service with varying payment tiers that provide access to different features. The cost of using QuickBooks software will depend on the version you plan to use. Small and medium-sized businesses wanting to use more customized and industry-specific features may end up paying more for QuickBooks Enterprise. Consider signing up for a free trial of the version you’re interested in to test the software before purchasing a full subscription.

• Effective project management ensures your team remains organized, meets deadlines, and satisfies your clients.
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• Before we dive into the details of each QuickBooks plan and its value, here’s a look at the latest accounting software deals and discounts from the biggest and best QuickBooks alternatives on the market.
• However, there’s the extra granularity with this combination since there’s the ability to track time and manage bills.

QuickBooks is a well-established accounting software that is widely used by businesses from a variety of industries. With five plans, each at different price points, users can choose the plan that best meets their business needs without paying for additional features that they don’t want. As a business grows, users can easily upgrade to a more advanced plan with additional features seamlessly. QuickBooks is the platform most used by professional accountants so if you plan to work with an accountant, they will likely be very familiar with the platform, its features and capabilities. Many people looking for accounting software find the cost of QuickBooks to be prohibitive. Intuit has continued to raise prices over the years and is expected to do so again soon.

Email marketing remains one of the highest return on investment (ROI) marketing channels for small businesses, with every $1 spent generating between $10 and $36 in return. Effective marketing software combines email campaigns with automation, audience segmentation, and performance analytics. In addition to the unique features available at every tier, QuickBooks is designed for maximum flexibility to cater to your needs.

Simple Start

I was impressed by how it tracks inventory levels, helping you avoid stockouts and overstocking. This feature ensures you have the right amount of inventory on hand, optimizing your supply chain and improving customer satisfaction. I found it incredibly easy to customize invoices to match my brand, and you can too.

QuickBooks Enterprise pricing

Customer support includes 24/7 help from a virtual assistant (chat bot), as well as live phone and chat support 6 a.m. Explore our full list of the best accounting software solutions for more options. That means they may be able to choose a simpler, less expensive accounting solution. Consider industry-specific integrations, user limits and monthly pricing to find the best fit for your business. Productivity software includes the basic tools for daily business operations, including document creation, spreadsheets, email, and file storage. Social media management involves posting consistently, monitoring engagement, cost of quickbooks for small business and tracking performance across multiple platforms.

The Bottom Line On QuickBooks Online Pricing

After completing this introductory class, students can progress to the Intermediate Financial Accounting class, which teaches more complex topics like earnings per share and deferred taxes. QuickBooks Enterprise provides an advanced reporting and analytics add-on that lets you use all of your internal data to build a report. QuickBooks Online provides increasingly advanced reporting functionality based on the tier level, with Online Advanced offering the most extensive reporting in the series.

Ditch The Unused QuickBooks Integrations

Regardless of the size of one’s business, it is important to keep track of when and where one spends and makes money. QuickBooks will allow someone to monitor transactions, sales, and expenses. QuickBooks users can also use the software as a central place to store information about customers, vendors, inventory, employees, and orders, and automate tasks like sending invoices and payments. The Plus plan goes one step further than the Simple Start and Essentials subscription plan and offers more granularity in financial management for businesses.