If you are searching for a business accounting software for your small business, Quicken and QuickBooks are two top names likely to garner your attention. Indeed, the two most popular accounting platforms in the business software segment.
But the question that arises is- Is either of these solutions apt for your business?
When attempting to choose between Quicken vs. QuickBooks, the legit way to find out which software application is right for your business is by comparing them based on their features. Each of these software applications has its set of advantages; therefore, you’ll need to assess each one before making the selection for your small business.
QuickBooks vs. Quicken Overview
QuickBooks is a well-known accounting software from Intuit. QuickBooks is a popular choice among small business owners for its easy to use features and functionalities. A lot of accountants use it, too, and recommend it for small and medium scale businesses. Small businesses prefer using QuickBooks Premier Hosting on a Cloud Desktop to maximize their bookkeeping productivity.
Quicken is also Intuit’s software. However, it is a personal accounting and budgeting software suitable for small personal businesses. The software is mainly tailored for personal use, it has limited functionalities that are just enough for small business accounting activities like tracking and managing income.
QuickBooks vs. Quicken Comparison
1. Budgeting:
QuickBooks provides you a visual overview of accounting to keep track of income, expenses, and lined-up bills. The application enables you to connect and compare profitability across different segments to better understand market and business pain points. The software add-ons like Quickbooks payroll allow companies to access their time clock applications and incorporate payroll expenses in budgeting.
The visual dashboard in Quicken Home Business is especially meant for managing budgeting. Using this software, you can track recurring payments, expenses, and other entries to adjust your budget as per your needs. Quicken has a unified interface for both home and business budgeting. But it allows managing budget through separate interfaces.
2. Tax capabilities:
QuickBooks tax functionality streamlines your quarterly and annual tax filing process. For managing tax, QuickBooks offers two separate tools: sales tax and deductions. The sales tax tool helps you with the automatic calculation of sales tax based on the category of product sale, date, and, location. Moreover, through QuickBooks mobile app you can monitor deductions and upload receipts as well. This is how QuickBooks accelerates your tax process.
Quicken too helps you plan your taxes systematically. It comes with a lot of tax reports to enable you to manage your expenses. Plus, it allows direct export to TurboTax which helps save a lot of time.
3. Automatic bill payment:
QuickBooks comes with an easy to use tool for bill payments. Using Bill.com or ACH, you can clear payments hassle-free. However, for automatic payments, you are required to pay some subscription amount for Bill.com. While it is free of cost with manual ACH payments.
Quicken Home and Business provides free bill payment facility activation of bill payment tool on your account. The application supports both online and offline bill payments. For less feature-rich versions Starter and Deluxe, access to bill pays feature is available under $10 per month.
4. Payroll:
QuickBooks software has multiple payroll options. You can either use Tsheets or sign up for payroll QuickBooks services. Using QuickBooks tools requires paying some monthly fee which is quite nominal. On the other hand, the Quicken application has no payroll function. Though it is an effective tool, it needs another tool to manage payroll.
5. Invoicing:
As QuickBooks is a feature-rich application, it comes with advanced invoicing and payment options. Using QuickBooks online payments you can process invoices at a faster pace. Additionally, the application provides you access to a number of pre-made templates that you can use to create professional-looking invoices.
For invoicing, Quicken has somewhat similar features to QuickBooks. It too offers pre-made templates where you can imprint your brand logo and include a payment link to PayPal.
When to Choose Quicken vs. QuickBooks
There are unique benefits of both Quicken and QuickBooks. For home-based businesses, Quicken is a more viable option. Alternatively, for full-time businesses, QuickBooks is a better choice. Nevertheless, both of these applications offer you the flexibility to add on more features as needed by you.
I hope this guide helps you choose your next accounting software.