Quicken vs QuickBooks

Quicken works great for multiple clients. Just create a new file per client. Then put all their accounts within it!

Quickbooks is best for business clients. However, tracking investments can only be done in Quicken so if you have a blended client, you may have some decisions to make!

I much prefer Quicken when given the choice. It is easier to explain to clients and more flexible for reporting, etc.

Quicken for Mac tends to be a few releases behind and therefore less functionality. I have one client who uses it. All my others allow me to do the work on my machine and I provide monthly reports. I do take my laptop in the few cases where they do not want electronic downloads. Otherwise, I do the downloads and pay bills from my office via my laptop.

Please realize that the MAC version will gain functionality now that Quicken has spin off from Intuit. I hope we see significant changes to both MAC and Windows now where the Intuit focus tended to be on Quickbooks.

It appears that Quicken 2018 and forward will only be available for purchase using a recurring subscription model. That is, no longer will Quicken be able to be purchased and then have support for 3 years. Instead, you have to maintain a yearly subscription in order to keep the software features (online features) operational. A quick look at the cost of Quicken Home & Business 2017 vs 2018 2-year subscription means the price has gone up slightly, but 2017 is no longer being sold. At least they haven’t gone to a web-only model (yet). One of the major features of any account management software I use is that it has to be able to work with my laptop offline, since not every client is going to have internet available.

So what do you think: will Quicken still be a useful tool to work with clients on their accounts (not necessarily for managing one’s own business)?

I have used Quicken with multiple files for my individual residential clients. It will be interesting though if we have to buy separate licenses with the offer we got at the conference. I would like to see some official clarification from our conference Quicken contact?

I use QuickBooks Plus Online for my commercial clients. Desktop will allow you to have multiple clients similar to Quicken, but more people are going online for the convenience. The advantage of becoming a QB ProAdvisor is you can get the online subscription for almost half what they would plus you decrease your wait time for support vs a retail customer. I can give you more information if you like. QBO has the convenience of the backup being built in and you can look at it while your client does and explain things to them. QB support people are very helpful too.