QuickBooks vs. Quicken: What’s the Difference?

When looking to automate your financial record-keeping and bring financial clarity to your books, you’ll probably run into two popular software solutions: QuickBooks and Quicken. Despite the similar-sounding names and shared past—Quicken was formerly owned by Intuit, which developed QuickBooks—they serve slightly different audiences and functions.

Here’s a comparison of the two to help you choose the right software for your personal or business needs.

What is QuickBooks?

Developed by Intuit, QuickBooks is a comprehensive accounting software for freelancers, small business owners, and larger enterprises. Regardless of business size, it offers tools for tracking income and expenses, managing payroll, creating invoices, and customizing financial reports, giving you greater control over your finances.

Key features of QuickBooks include:

• Tracking income and expenses. Automatically categorize transactions from connected bank accounts and credit cards for efficient expense tracking and an accurate picture of your cash flow.
• Invoicing and payments. Create custom invoices with payment links, send them to customers, and accept payments online, and easily manage accounts receivable.
• Inventory management. Simplify inventory tracking with dedicated tools that monitor stock levels and cost of goods sold (COGS) and let you review reports on inventory performance.
• Payroll. Access integrated payroll services with QuickBooks Payroll, which helps generate payroll for employees, calculate and pay payroll taxes, and manage payroll filings.
• Financial reporting. Generate a variety of financial reports, including balance sheets, profit and loss (P&L) statements, and cash flow statements. 
• Sales tax management. Manage and track sales tax owed to simplify compliance.
• Bank reconciliation. Automatically matches bank transactions with recorded transactions, ensuring accurate account balances.
• Mobile app. Access the mobile app on both iOS and Android for on-the-go management of finances, including receipt capture and simple reporting.

For ecommerce businesses, the QuickBooks Sync Shopify app lets you sync orders, refunds, inventory, products, and fees directly from your Shopify store, simplifying financial reporting and inventory tracking.

QuickBooks: Available products

QuickBooks offers both cloud-based and desktop versions, with options for specific business types.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is the most popular option among small business owners because you can access it from anywhere with an internet connection. It comes in several tiers, each offering more features:

• Solopreneur. $20 per month. Intended for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and gig workers, QuickBooks Solopreneur tracks income and expenses, separates personal and business transactions, and simplifies Schedule C tax preparation.
• Simple Start. $38 per month. Ideal for sole proprietors and very small businesses, Simple Start covers invoicing, basic income and expense tracking, and receipt capture for a single user.
• Essentials. $75 per month. Builds upon Simple Start with bill management, time tracking, multi-currency support, and up to three users.
• Plus. $115 per month. A popular choice for growing small businesses, the Plus plan includes all Essentials features with inventory tracking and project profitability tracking. It supports up to five users.
• Advanced. $275 per month. Designed for small businesses and mid-sized companies with more complex needs, Advanced offers custom user permissions, batch invoicing, advanced reporting, workflow automation, and support for up to 25 users.

QuickBooks Desktop

QuickBooks has adopted a subscription model for its desktop products, installed directly on your computer. QuickBooks Desktop is often a favorite of businesses looking for specific industry features or local data storage. There are three different versions of QuickBooks Desktop, described below.

• QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus. Geared toward small to medium-sized businesses, Pro Plus offers invoicing, bill management, and simple reporting for up to three users.
• QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus. Includes all Pro Plus features and adds industry-specific editions (e.g., contractor, manufacturing and wholesale, non-profit, professional services, retail), advanced reporting, and support for up to five users.
• QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. The most robust desktop version, designed for more complex businesses. It offers more tools for inventory management, detailed reporting, greater user capacity (up to 40 users), and industry-specific functionalities. Available in Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond tiers with increasing features.

Intuit also offers a QuickBooks Desktop for Mac version, which provides small business accounting features for Apple users but differs in its feature set and tiered structure from the Windows Desktop editions.

Other QuickBooks products and services

QuickBooks also offers products and services with payroll and payment processing, as well as bookkeeping services. Here’s a sample of what’s available:

• QuickBooks Payroll. Integrates with QuickBooks to manage payroll processing, including calculating wages, taxes, and filing payroll forms. Various tiers (Core, Premium, Elite) offer different services and features.
• QuickBooks Payments. Businesses are able to accept payments online (credit cards and bank transfers) directly through invoices sent through QuickBooks.
• QuickBooks Time. This is a time-tracking solution that integrates with QuickBooks for easy payroll and invoicing based on logged hours.
• QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping. This is an add-on service that provides bookkeeping by certified QuickBooks bookkeepers on a monthly basis.

What is Quicken?

Now owned by Aquiline Capital Partners, Quicken is a personal finance management tool designed to help track personal finances, budgets, and investments. Originally developed by Intuit—the same company behind QuickBooks—Quicken was designed to help individuals and families manage their finances. It offers a detailed view of daily spending and long-term financial planning. It has limited features for very small businesses or sole proprietors, as its main focus is on personal financial health.

Here are the noteworthy features of Quicken:

• Personal budgeting. Helps you create budgets by setting limits and then tracking spending. 
• Expense tracking. Connects to bank accounts to automatically categorize personal spending, letting you quickly see where your money goes.
• Bill management. Track and pay bills, set bill reminders, and manage payments to avoid late fees.
• Investment tracking. Provide tools to monitor investment portfolios, track performance, analyze diversification, and assist with understanding tax implications for investments.
• Debt management. Helps you create a debt reduction plan, manage loans, and track progress on paying down your debt.
• Net worth tracking. Aggregates all financial data so you can obtain a real-time view of your net worth, including assets and liabilities.
• Rental property management. Some versions of Quicken, like Quicken Business & Personal, offer specific tools for managing rental property income and expenses for rental properties.
• Financial planning tools. You’ll find features for long-term financial planning, such as planning for retirement and “what-if” scenarios.

Quicken: Available products

Quicken offers subscription-based products for managing personal finances, with different tiers of features for investing, budgeting, and even some business functionalities. Quicken is owned and operated by Quicken Inc., separate from Intuit (which owns QuickBooks).

Quicken Classic products are primarily desktop apps—available for Windows and Mac—with companion web and mobile apps. Quicken Simplifi is a purely cloud-based solution. Here are more details:

• Quicken Simplifi. $6 per month. An entirely cloud-based tool focuses on creating budgets, building your savings, tracking bills, investments, and projected cash flow, accessible via web and mobile apps. It’s distinct from the Classic desktop-based versions.
• Quicken Classic Deluxe. $6.50 per month. The most popular tier, Classic Deluxe lets you track banking and credit card transactions and generate customizable 12-month budgets. You can also manage and track debt, investments, and assets.
• Quicken Classic Premier. $8.50 per month. Offers all Deluxe features and advanced investing tools. It provides features for optimizing investments, built-in tax reports, and offers priority customer support.
• Quicken Classic Business & Personal. $12 per month. This version allows you to separate and categorize business and personal expenses, manage rental properties, generate business-related tax schedules (like Schedule C and E reports), and create invoices. It includes all of the personal finance features of Premier. It’s also available in a web and mobile version for $8 per month.

QuickBooks vs. Quicken: What’s the difference?

QuickBooks and Quicken are both powerful financial tools for organizing your financial data, but they are intended for different users. It’s an “apples-to-oranges” comparison in many respects—two feature sets for distinct needs. The key difference lies in their usage: QuickBooks is built for business finances, whereas Quicken is primarily for personal or family finances.

QuickBooks offers features essential for running a business, including generating invoices, tracking inventory, and handling payroll. It’s built to handle the complexities of logging business income, expenses, liabilities, and assets in compliance with accounting principles. It can also generate financial statements like profit and loss reports and balance sheets. Its multiuser capabilities are a good fit for business teams.

Quicken helps you keep an eye on personal finances, maintain budgets, track investments, and plan for financial goals like retirement or saving money for a down payment on a house. Quicken Business & Personal offers limited business features for very small businesses or sole proprietors like tracking business expenses and income or managing rental property income. They do not offer the same advanced accounting features, granular controls, and multiuser access as QuickBooks.

Here are some of their differences side by side: