16,947 Reviews
QuickBooks Review - Online Accounting Software For Small Businesses
September 10, 2025
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4 min
September 10, 2025
•
4 min
Target Users: Entrepreneurs, freelancers, and businesses of all sizes seeking financial automation
Key Features: Invoicing, expense tracking, payroll, inventory management, budgeting, CRM tools, and financial reporting
New for July 2025: Smart search, AI-driven customer and accounting agents, anomaly detection, business feed, finance/project profitability tools, and enhanced CRM functionality including eSignatures
Integration: Compatible with over 750 third-party apps, including PayPal, Shopify, and Stripe
Accessibility: Available via web and mobile apps (iOS and Android), supporting remote access and real-time sync
Support: Tiered live support depending on plan, with extended access for Advanced users
QuickBooks puts priority on its customer onboarding process. Those thinking about using the program for their accounting needs are encouraged to reach out to the QuickBooks sales team first which can be reached Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm PT. Additionally, QuickBooks has put together comprehensive onboarding documentation that can guide clients through the setup process. QuickBooks is an intuitive and user-friendly platform to use. The web UI and mobile apps ensure that small businesses can update their accounts both from the office and while on the road.
| Package | Price | Who It’s For / Key Features | July 1, 2025 Feature Updates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Start | $38 | Best for solo entrepreneurs: invoicing, expense tracking, and general reports. | Smart search, business feed, progressive onboarding, tax readiness, basic automation |
| Essentials | $75 | Best for small teams needing time tracking, bill management, and multi-user access. | Accounting & payments agent, auto-posting, customer CRM (referrals, tasks, appointments) |
| Plus | $115 | Best for growing businesses managing projects, inventory, and job costing. | Customer agent (beta), AI reconciliation, anomaly detection, CRM with contracts, and eSignatures |
| Advanced | $275 | Best for scaling businesses requiring advanced analytics, automation, and support. | Finance & projects agents (beta), KPI scorecard, enhanced automation, and reporting tools |
Beginning July 1, 2025, Intuit QuickBooks Online is launching a new suite of features across all tiers to enhance user experience and reduce manual tasks through AI-driven tools.
Simple Start now includes:
Smart Search: Customizable filters and column visibility for faster access to transactions, accounts, and help topics.
Business Feed: Consolidates updates from AI agents with actionable next steps and key highlights.
New Suite of Apps: Adds more utility to business workflows.
Progressive Onboarding: Streamlined setup experience for faster deployment.
Basic Automation & Tax Readiness Tools: Prepares users for smooth compliance and fewer manual entries.
Essentials adds:
Accounting & Payments Agent: Enhances real-time organization of books, facilitates faster payments with proactive recommendations.
Ready to Post / Auto-post & Collaboration Tools: Enables quicker transaction finalization and improved accountant communication.
Customer Hub (CRM): Centralizes referrals, feedback, scheduling, and relationship management with built-in task tracking.
Plus includes:
Customer Agent (beta): Scans emails to identify leads, drafts follow-ups, and logs status.
AI Reconciliation and Anomaly Detection (beta): Identifies transaction irregularities and streamlines bank reconciliations.
Insights Dashboard: Offers P&L and balance sheet intelligence to highlight trends and financial risks.
Expanded CRM Functions: Adds lead tracking, contract uploads with eSignatures, and a unified customer management interface.
Advanced upgrades with:
Finance & Projects Agents (beta): Provides profitability tracking and bookkeeping automation for project-based businesses.
KPI Scorecard: Visual dashboard for instant assessment of key performance indicators.
These updates are designed to reduce reliance on third-party tools and introduce AI-powered efficiency across accounting and client management processes. They reflect a significant shift toward automation and business intelligence within the QuickBooks ecosystem.
With QuickBooks, users can keep track of the profitability of every one of their projects. QuickBooks can pull in expense and cost of doing business (CODB) data in order to compute the level of profitability for each project underway. For project-based businesses, this feature allows them to easily identify cost overruns and keep within profitability targets.
QuickBooks supports real time inventory tracking for organizations that sell online. Additionally, the QuickBooks website hosts an inventory tracker which is designed to prevent both understocking and overstocking. Customers can receive instant notifications about projected stock levels as soon as purchase orders (POs) are inputted to the system. On-demand reporting makes it easy for businesses to quickly identify their best-selling merchandise. Online sales reporting can sync with major Ecommerce retail platforms including Amazon, Etsy, and Shopify.
Users can capture expenses in QuickBooks by either scanning and uploading them directly into the platform or by emailing them to a unique address associated specifically with their account. After capturing receipts, users can categorize them in the system. Additionally, QuickBooks uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to automatically determine the contents of scanned receipts including payment date, vendor, payment method used, and amount paid. Expenses can also be attached to invoices issued. This feature is useful for companies and freelancers that bill their clients for expenses incurred.
QuickBooks supports invoice entry to keep track of accounts payable as well as accounts receivable. Using QuickBooks, companies can settle outstanding balances via credit or debit card as well as bank transfer. All payment options can be initiated from within the user area. All paid bills are recorded and tracked through the system. Additionally, users can connect their bank accounts to automatically track and categorize both inbound and outbound payments. The system also supports deferred bill payment in order to maximize cash flow.
One of QuickBooks’s key features, of course, is the ability to create and send invoices. Using QuickBooks, users can:
QuickBooks supports a wide variety of integrations, allowing customers to do more with their online accounting platform by connecting it with other online services.
These include:
QuickBooks has apps for both Android and iOS and these can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store respectively. Only those features available in QuickBooks Online Simple Start are available in the app version. So, at the time of writing, customers on the Essentials, Plus, and Advanced plans will be unable to access their extra features from the mobile versions of their QuickBooks installations. Additionally the mobile versions can be used to access multiple accounts. Those that want to take and process payments directly through their mobile devices can do so with the QuickBooks mobile card reader. Customers can be invoiced directly through the app.
Need to reach out to the QuickBooks customer support team? Intuit maintains a comprehensive online troubleshooting section that it designed to help users resolve their own issues before reaching out to the team.
In the event that users are not able to resolve their question through the documentation, or the community forum, users can initiate a support discussion over live chat or by phone. The live chat option is accessible 6am to 6pm Monday to Friday (PT) and from 6am to 3pm on Saturday. The phone line is accessible from Monday to Friday 6am to 6pm and is closed on weekends.
QuickBooks is a powerful invoicing and accounting system that is favored by small businesses all over the world. Its features include contractor expense tracking, project profitability reporting, and receipt capture by direct upload and email. There is no free tier, but paying users can choose the premium tier that best suits their needs
Daniel Rosehill (BCL, MA) is a freelance PR consultant and writer specializing in developing and executing thought leadership-led communications strategies for clients in the technology sector. He writes for Top10.com and his interests include backups and disaster recovery, Linux and open source, and cloud computing. Daniel is a graduate of University College Cork (BCL / Law) and City University, London (MA / Political Journalism).
