As with any cloud-based program, QuickBooks Online has different plans to choose from.  How do you know which one is best for you?

In this post, our goal is to explain the different plans in an effort to assist you in choosing the plan that is right for your business.

OBO gives you the freedom to manage your business anywhere at any time.   If you require online access to your QuickBooks data or have a bookkeeper who you want to access your data remotely, QuickBooks offers three subscription plans to meet your needs.

Online Simple Start-this subscription plan is when you are starting your business.

Online Essentials-this subscription plan is for when you are growing your business.

Online Plus-this subscription plan includes everything.

For further detail so that you can decide, the plan that is right for you:

If you are just starting your business and have basic accounting needs, Online Simple Start offers the following functionality:

  • Data import from Excel
  • Management of Invoices
  • Tracking of Sales and Expenses
  • 20  one-Click Reports
  • One Bank and One Credit Card connection to down-load transactions
  • Check Printing
  • One User

Now consider that your business has been up and running for a little bit and you now desire to purchase items on credit and/or hire employees.

QuickBooks Simple Start has the following limitations:

  • There is no accounts payable.  Expenses are managed by cash, check and credit card transactions.
  • Limit to downloaded transactions-You can only download transactions for one bank account and one credit card account.
  • You cannot create estimates with this subscription
  • You cannot set up automated invoicing with Simple Start
  • No permission controls.  Since this subscription is limited to one user, there are no permission controls.
  • Simple Start does not have the ability to process payroll.

Due to the limitations of Simple Start, you would now need to upgrade to either QuickBooks Online Essentials or QuickBooks Online Plus.

We will now take a look at QuickBooks Online Essentials which has the following functionality:

  • All of the functionality of QuickBooks Online Simple Start
  • The ability to automate invoicing
  • The ability to perform estimates
  • Accounts Payable
  • The ability to add payroll processing
  • 40+ one-click reports
  • Unlimited accounts for downloading transactions
  • Three users
  • Permission Controls

Note that although you can add the Payroll Functionality to QuickBooks Online Essentials, time tracking is not available through this subscription plan.

Now, let’s say that your business is thriving, you have contractors and/or employees working for you.  You may have one person perform your accounts payable while another performs your accounts payable or you want to do it all yourself and not rely on manually processing 1099 forms, etc.

QuickBooks Online Plus allows you to do it all with the following functionality:

  • Employee/Contractor time tracking
  • The ability to process purchase orders
  • FIFO Inventory Tracking
  • 1099 Processing
  • Sales Tax Tracking
  • Class and Location Tracking
  • Budgeting and Planning
  • 65+ one-click reports
  • 5 users

Still unsure which plan is right for you?  We’d be happy to assist you through the process.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have and assist you in any way we can.