QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus Review

QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus is no longer available to new users. If you're interested in a desktop accounting solution from QuickBooks, read our review of QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus. To learn about the many online accounting solutions QuickBooks offers, read our review of QuickBooks Online.

QuickBooks Desktop’s Pro Plus plan is a good accounting software choice for small-business owners who want a locally installed product, won’t exceed the three-user limit and don’t require industry-specific features. Although it’s missing a few advanced capabilities, like financial forecasting, the product delivers where it matters most for small businesses.

Here are some of its key features:

• Reporting.

• Invoicing.

• Income and expense tracking.

• Sales tax tracking.

• Bills and accounts payable management.

• Time tracking.

• Inventory tracking.

» MORE: Which QuickBooks product do you need?

Deciding factors

How does QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus work?

Since QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus isn’t cloud-based, users must have an up-to-date Windows operating system and Internet Explorer, along with enough free disk space. From there, it takes about 10 minutes to set up a company file. Next, users enter details about their business contacts, sales tax, the products or services they sell and any other users who will have access to the software. QuickBooks recommends creating an initial backup of that company info after the setup process is complete.

Small-business owners can’t access their books on the go with Pro Plus, but they can still use the QuickBooks Desktop mobile app to scan receipts and upload bills.

Pricing

The yearly cost of QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus hinges on two factors: QuickBooks Payroll add-ons and the number of users. Each additional user costs extra, and business owners can add payroll to any QuickBooks Desktop plan for an additional fee. If you need more than three total users, consider upgrading to QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus, which can accommodate up to five users.

Benefits

Robust inventory tracking

The Pro Plus plan might be QuickBooks Desktop’s lowest-tier plan, but it’s equipped with strong inventory management capabilities. The product will alert business owners when stock is running low and let them create purchase orders, track products and keep tabs on the cost of goods.

You can classify products on your items list as either “inventory part” or “inventory assembly” and add additional details from there, like item name, item number, whether or not it’s a subitem, purchase cost, sales price and preferred vendor. Additionally, the software product lets you connect the item to an asset account, cost of goods account and income account.

Access to more than 100 reports

The Pro Plus plan’s reports provide information on taxes, sales by customer, job profitability, estimates, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory, payroll, purchases by vendor, open invoices and more. Lots of these report categories are further divided into summary and detail reports. Users can schedule reports automatically, too.

Affordability

QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus is the least expensive option in the company’s desktop lineup at $549 per year, or roughly $46/month, and includes features, like inventory management, that you’d have to pay $90 per month to access with QuickBooks Online. When you look at it like that, the Pro Plus plan is a deal as long as you don’t mind using desktop software and don’t require additional users.

Drawbacks

User limit

QuickBooks Desktop plans get pricey once you start adding additional users. Business owners who want to collaborate with more than two other people won’t be able to use Pro Plus. And while Premier Plus supports up to five users total, it’s much more expensive than Pro Plus’s $549 per year base price. A Premier Plus plan with access for just one user, for example, would cost $799 per year.

No cloud access

A lack of cloud access means you can’t get into your company file remotely when you want to work from home or reconcile transactions on the go. Additionally, you have to make sure your QuickBooks Desktop account is automatically being backed up on a schedule so you don’t lose data if your computer crashes. Lastly, QuickBooks Desktop products don’t have the sleek user interface that QuickBooks Online does.

Alternatives

QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus

Pricing: $799 per year and up.

A step up from QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, the Premier Plus plan includes industry-specific features for general contractors, nonprofits, wholesale and manufacturing companies, retail stores and professional service businesses. It has more than 150 reports, including industry-specific ones, and financial forecasting tools. If Pro Plus isn’t cutting it, Premier Plus is the next logical choice, unless you want to upgrade to a cloud-based solution instead.

» MORE: QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus vs. Premier Plus

QuickBooks Online

Pricing: $30 per month and up.

QuickBooks Online diverges from the desktop versions in that it’s accessible from anywhere with internet access and doesn’t require data backups. Each of the four plans have different user limits, and you’ll need to select the $90 per month Plus plan if you want inventory management features. Other advantages of cloud-based software include hundreds of integrations, a more modern user interface and the ability to enter transactions through the mobile app.