Being a small business owner is often an exhausting task. There are so many demands that researching the right accounting software is the last thing on people’s minds.
QuickBooks and Peachtree are the two most popular accounting programs for small businesses in the United States. This is for good reason – they are both excellent in terms of functionality and usability. In fact, they are very similar when it comes to core features. But there are some key differences to note still.
Price
In terms of price, both are listed at $229 on the Pro level. The Pro option is best for small businesses with fewer employees and smaller revenue streams. The next step up the ladder for Peachtree is their Complete software line which costs $299 for a single user and $699 for users two through five. QuickBooks Premier is listed at $399 for one user and costs more for each additional person added: $749 for two, $999 for three, etc.
Where it gets confusing is that Peachtree actually offers another program at this level (aimed at larger small businesses) called Peachtree Premium. It arguably offers more functionally than both Peachtree Complete or QuickBooks Premier, but it comes with the price tag to prove it too. It starts out at $499 for a single user and jumps to $1,199 for users two through five.
Functionality
Speaking of functionality, all of these programs are packed with an impressive array of features. Peachtree and QuickBooks are both highly regarded for their depth and breadth, and it would be hard to go wrong with either of them.
QuickBooks for example, comes with a number of well-thought out and easy to use tools that would make any small business owner’s workload a little lighter. The Collections Center invoicing system is first class as is the new batch invoicing feature that came with the 2011 version. Online banking and cloud-based email accounts can be integrated with QuickBooks to streamline management of all parts of the invoicing process.
Peachtree boasts some impressive features too, and is very customizable. Peachtree’s toolbox even has a few items seen usually in medium enterprise software solutions, like business intelligence summaries from Alchemex. Peachtree is an especially strong option for small businesses that need to keep track of large inventories. It can keep track of inventory amounts and send notifications when they get too low.
Truly these are both great solutions for a small business’s accounting needs. Moreover, both have taken major steps to include the best qualities of the other – Peachtree is more usable than ever and QuickBooks more robust. What small business owners should keep in mind is the varying price points and the specialties of each.
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About the Author:
David Matthew is an accounting ERP Analyst at Software Advice.
Thanks admin for sharing this information, it is worth to read.
You should ralley give LessAccounting.com a try. It’s a great online account application for small biz owners and freelancers that is simple to use but has great features, especially for us non-accounting folk.