Their names may be similar, but QuickBooks and Quickens are far apart from each other. Both the tools have gained popularity in the market, and this makes users confused. If you too are searching for QuickBooks vs Quicken, then you’re at the right place.
QuickBooks is one of the best accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. It has all the tools a business may need for its accounting needs. Quicken on the other hand is built keeping individual financial management in mind.
Quicken may not be suitable for small businesses based on their usage. It offers a simple budgeting feature, billing functionality, and investment. Compared to QuickBooks, Quickens is the cheaper option.
Basic Difference Between Quicken and QuickBooks
|
Features |
Quicken |
QuickBooks |
|
Known for |
Personal finance management, investment tracking |
Bookkeeping, Tax Estimation |
|
Founding Year |
1983 |
1998 |
|
Price |
|
|
|
Free Trial |
30 days |
30 days |
|
Free Version |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Supported Platforms |
Web, Mac/Windows Desktop, Android/iPhone mobile, iPad |
On Cloud, SaaS, Web, Mac/Windows Desktop, On Premise- Windows/Linux, Android/iPhone mobile, iPad |
|
Languages Supported |
English |
English, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese |
|
Pros |
|
|
|
Cons |
|
|
|
Ideal for |
Individuals and small investors |
Small to medium sized businesses |
|
Number of Clients |
2.5 Million+ |
5 Million+ |
|
Ease of Use |
Super easy to use |
Not easy compared to QuickBooks |
Quicken versus QuickBooks - Detailed Comparison
Now, let’s dive into the deeper comparison of both the tools, and how they can help in making personal or professional life better.
- QuickBooks vs Quicken - Pricing
|
Tool |
Quickens |
QuickBooks |
|
Price |
|
|
The Quicken Starter plan offers only budgeting functionality. If you want anything more, you’ll have to go for the higher plans. The Premier plan is built for investors. It's easy to track investments with Quickens, and you can also pay the bills. The flagship plan is the “Home & Business” plan. You get all the features of the premier plan, but you can also get features to manage finances for your small business.
QuickBooks pricing is different. It lets you choose between a free trial, or you can get a 50% off for the first 3 months.
The pricing range of QuickBooks is higher than Quicken for obvious reasons. With QuickBooks, you get a complete range of Bookkeeping services. If you’re wondering what is the difference between quicken and QuickBooks, then pricing is one of them.
1. QuickBooks vs Quicken - Ease of Use
According to customer reviews, Quicken is super easy to use. With just a touch of a button, you can manage your finances and organize them to make the tax filing process smooth.
QuickBooks is complicated when you compare it with Quicken. As it offers a huge range of functionality, some elements can be complicated.
2. QuickBooks vs Quicken - Budgeting and Planning
Quicken’s primary feature is financial management, so it definitely does that well. You can track your income, expenses, and investments with ease. You can achieve your financial goals with Quicken, quickly.
QuickBooks on the other hand is built for bookkeeping for small and medium-scale businesses. It also allows for income and expense tracking. But it doesn’t have the feature for individual financial planning.
If you want a tool just for financial planning, then Quicken is the better and more affordable option.
3. QuickBooks vs Quicken - Bookkeeping
Another key difference between quicken and QuickBooks is bookkeeping functionality. Quickens specialize in personal finance management. But it still does offer personal and professional expenses and records of invoices to help you file taxes.
Deciding between Quicken vs QuickBooks for small businesses when it comes to Bookkeeping is easy. QuickBooks offers more sophisticated functionality. You can get financial reports, cash flow details, and tax time for the whole year.
4. QuickBooks vs Quicken - Invoices
If you’re a business that deals in a lot of invoices, then you definitely need to know quicken versus QuickBooks.
QuickBooks is an incredible invoicing tool, it lets you build professional-looking invoices with your logo. Moreover, you can get payments directly in the invoices. It supports credit cards and bank transfers. QuickBooks makes invoicing easy for small to medium-sized businesses.
For invoicing, Quicken lets you send general invoices using email and lets you pay your bills online.
5. QuickBooks vs Quicken - Tax Calculation
In this category, there’s no major difference between quicken and QuickBooks. Both the tools keep track of your expenses and organize them in a way that you can file taxes without hassle. They also help you in maximizing the tax deductions.
If you choose QuickBooks, then you can Quarterly Tax Estimates throughout all the plans.
6. QuickBooks vs Quicken - Payroll Management
Before we jump into this comparison, you should know that Quicken does not have a payroll management feature.
Now coming over to QuickBooks, it does offer you a Payroll feature but it's available on limited plans. If you want Payroll with QuickBooks accounting, then you’ll have to pay extra bucks.
7. QuickBooks vs Quicken - Investment Tracking
Quicken is a personal finance management tool so it definitely lets you track your investments. You can track your investments with a tool named Portfolio X-Ray. You can stay updated about all the assets you own. It also comes equipped with a portfolio analysis tool to compare your returns.
QuickBooks on the other hand is a bookkeeping software, so it does not include any investment tracking features.
8. QuickBooks vs Quicken - Security
As both the tools handle your financial data, they need to be secure. There’s a minor difference between quicken and QuickBooks in terms of security.
Quicken offers 256-Bit encryption, so no third party can access your personal data. Plus, you can access your data whenever you want.
QuickBooks offers you data security in terms of cloud backup. This makes sure that your data is safe in case of a hardware crash. Also, all the data is locked behind a 128-bit TLS.
9. Quicken Home and Business vs QuickBooks
The Quicken Home and Business plan is the top-tier plan with all the bells and whistles. In the plan you can:
- Track income
- Track expenses
- Track investments
- Create and email invoices
- Pay bills online
- Build saving goals
- Priority customer support.
As QuickBooks is built for business use, it doesn’t offer these functionalities. QuickBooks and Quicken overlap in some areas, but at their core, they are completely different from each other.
Quicken Vs Quickbooks For Small Business
If you’re a small business and you need limited financial management functionality, then you can choose Quicken.
Quicken is affordable, easy to use, and super fast. So, it’s a perfect tool for beginners who want to track and manage their finances. Even if you go for the top-tier plan, it’s still affordable with loads of functionality.
QuickBooks is a complete accounting tool for small businesses. It has almost every single feature a small-medium-sized business can ask for. Some plans are affordable, and some are not.
Hopefully, this ends the debate for quicken vs QuickBooks for small business.
Conclusion: Quicken versus QuickBooks
To sum up, here are the things you need to keep in mind about QuickBooks vs Quicken comparison:
- Both the tools can be used for small businesses
- Quicken is great for beginners, and QuickBooks is better for advanced users and functionality.
- Quicken lacks some features that businesses may need such as inventory tracking, payroll management, project profitability tracking, and more.
- QuickBooks is the better tool if your needs are strictly related to bookkeeping
- If you want personal finance management, Quicken is the better tool.
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