QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier: Which is best for your business?
The two major versions of Intuit’s flagship accounting software are the QuickBooks Pro, which features several industry-specific tools, and QuickBooks Premier, which caters to small and midsize businesses.
Learn the differences between the two to make sure you are getting the best value for your money.
QuickBooks: The Various Desktop Versions
There are four QuickBooks Desktop products: QuickBooks Premier, QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus. With multiple options available, it might be difficult to know which one is best for your business. We’ll first compare QuickBooks Desktop Pro vs. and Premier, but we’ll cover the other versions, too.
QuickBooks Pro
This basic Desktop version features major accounting capabilities such as creating invoices, recording transactions, generating financial statements and tracking daily expenses.
QuickBooks Premier
This is a more advanced version with multiple, industry-specific tools and reports for retail, manufacturing and wholesale industries as well as general contractors, professional service companies and nonprofit organizations.
QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier: Key Differences
Both versions have their fair share of differences. Let’s compare the major features of QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier:
Functions
QuickBooks Pro’s features are well suited for small-scale businesses in the service industry or companies that are just starting. The software allows users to create invoices and track sales while simplifying and streamlining the tracking, accounting and reporting process.
QuickBooks Premier is a more advanced option for large entities, allowing them to:
- Track inventory, purchase orders and backorders
- Create invoices and sales orders
- Perform reverse journal entries.
Premier also can track financial progress separately by department, center and location. Premier gives you access to the general business version and five different industry versions, including wholesale and manufacturing, retail, professional services, nonprofit and contractor editions.
Multiple Users
Both versions allow multiple users at a time. QuickBooks Pro allows 3 users to share the software, while QuickBooks Premier allows up to 5 users.
Reports
QuickBooks Pro offers more than 100 customizable sales, financial and tax reports, while QuickBooks Premier provides 150-plus reports related to specific industries. The Premier version also provides industry-specific reports including other advanced reporting tools that allow you to view the profitability reports.
QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier Comparison Chart
| Features | QuickBooks Pro | QuickBooks Premier |
| Cost | $299.95 | $499/95 |
| Industry | Manufacturing business | Service area |
| Number of users | Only 3 users at a time | More than 5 users at a time |
| One-click financial, sales, and tax reports | 100+ | 150+ |
| Process | Up to 10,000 items | Up to 14,500 items |
| Sales tax management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inventory management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Industry-specific versions | ✗ | ✓ |
| Create Sales orders | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multiple currencies | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bills of materials | ✗ | ✗ |
| Accountant toolbox | ✗ | ✗ |
QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier Features
The Pro and Premier versions boast a range of features:
QuickBooks Pro
This version provides the most common accounting processes. Features include:
- Managing account receivables and payables
- Creating estimates and invoices for your business
- Managing inventory and sales tax
- Creating purchase orders
- Time- and mileage-tracking capabilities
- Offering more than 100 financial reports
- Managing multiple currencies
- Can handle up to 14,500 customers, employees and vendors combined
QuickBooks Premier
QuickBooks Premier has everything that is found in QuickBooks Pro version, plus certain advanced features depending on your business needs. Businesses can choose from 6 different industry types:
- General business
- Wholesale and manufacturing
- General contracting
- Nonprofit
- Retail
- Professional services
Here are some additional features of QuickBooks Premier:
- Tracking multiple units of measurement for inventory items
- Creating price levels and sale orders for your business
- Tracking changes to job estimates
- Viewing and printing bank reconciliation reports
- Track balance sheets by location, profit center and department
- Exporting and importing templates into different QuickBooks business files
- Managerial planning and forecasting
- Access to more than 150 reports related to specific industries
QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier Pricing
While searching for the best accounting software to handle your finances, it is important to consider the cost of the service. How do QuickBooks Pro and Premier compare in terms of cost?
The Pro version comes with two pricing options: Pro and Pro Plus. Both of them cost $299,95, but the Pro option has a one-time fee with 30 days of free technical support. The Pro Plus is an annual subscription with unlimited tech support.
- Pro for a one-time payment of $299.95
- QuickBooks Pro Plus, which features upgrades, support and data backup, for an annual subscription of $199.95 the first year and $299.95 a year after that
QuickBooks Premier comes with two pricing options, too.
The Premier version also comes in two subscription levels: Premier and Premier Plus. Premier features a one-time fee with tech support for the first 30 days, while the Premier Plus is an annual subscription with the latest features and unlimited tech support.
- Premier for a one-time payment at $499.95
- QuickBooks Premier Plus, which features latest upgrades, unlimited support and automated data backup, for an annual subscription of $299.95.
Be sure to check Intuit’s website regularly as they offer discounts for both QuickBooks Pro and Premier versions.
QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier vs. Accountant
One thing is clear: Intuit offers business owners a variety of accounting software options. Apart from QuickBooks Pro and Premier, there is QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise and QuickBooks Online.
QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus
This edition includes all the features of Pro and Premier plus additional ones for larger businesses with sizable customer bases. The software is designed for professionals who provide bookkeeping services to multiple clients in one place.
Some of the major features include:
- Batch enter transactions
- Batch reclassify and delete transactions
- Toggle to any QuickBooks version
- Client collaborator and data review
- Batch merge vendors
- Inventory report filters
- Fixed asset manager
- Quick transfer of credits across customers
- Receive and send accountants copy
QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus comes in two membership tiers: ProAdvisor Premier Bundle, which costs $349 a year, and ProAdvisor Enterprise Bundle, which goes for $549 a year.
The ProAdvisor Premier membership allows access to QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus. The ProAdvisor Enterprise Bundle option includes the QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus, QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant, QuickBooks Mac Desktop and QuickBooks Point of Sale Desktop.
QuickBooks Desktop Pro vs. Premier vs. Enterprise
Depending on the size of the organization and number of users who need access to QuickBooks, you might want to upgrade to a plan that provides your business with more advanced capabilities and a wider array of features. QuickBooks Enterprise is the right option for companies with a turnover of more than $1 million a year.
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise offers advanced tools to manage and review client data files. This version includes all features from QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Accountant, plus other customized tools.
Features include:
- User permissions and restrictions to control more than 100 user activities
- Upgrade up to 30 simultaneous users
- Customized inventory reports
- Tracking sales, taxes and payments
- Invoicing multiple customers with batch invoicing
- Tracking invoices at a go
- Downloading and importing bank transactions into QuickBooks
- Capability to use 3 monitors
- Accepting credit-card payments
- Multiple currencies capabilities
- Integration with more than 200 applications
QuickBooks Enterprise can be purchased in the form of a desktop-only version or through hosting. You can choose from Silver, Gold or Platinum versions depending on the size of your company.
For “local only” (meaning the software and files are stored on your computers at your work location), there are three subscription options:
- Silver: Annual subscription of $1,039.50 for the first year and $1,155 a year after that
- Gold: Annual subscription of $1,351.80 for the first year and $1,502 a year after that
- Platinum: Annual subscription of $1,663.20 for the first year and $1,848 a year after that
With hosting, the subscriptions are:
- Silver: Annual subscription billed monthly for $130.40/month for the first year and $140/month a year after that
- Gold: Annual subscription billed monthly for $156.50/month for the first year and $169/month a year after that
- Platinum: Annual subscription billed monthly for $182.60/month for the first year and $198/month a year after that
Pick the Version Best Suited for Your Business
For basic accounting tasks, you can use QuickBooks Pro to save some money. This is a solid option for businesses that earn less than $1 million a year and has fewer than 20 employees.
If you need extra features for growth, consider QuickBooks Premier. It gives you the flexibility you need to take your business to the next level.
