QuickBooks Hosting Vs. QuickBooks Online—The Difference

Published January 2, 2023
quickbooks hosting software vendor

Many business owners think that QuickBooks Hosting and QuickBooks Online are the same software solutions. However, that’s not true…

Intuit offers QuickBooks on the cloud in two basic configurations: i) QuickBooks Hosting and ii) QuickBooks Online. Learn the difference between QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Hosting below.

QuickBooks Hosting

QuickBooks Hosting is essentially the QuickBooks software (desktop version) installed on the cloud. The cloud server is owned and managed by an authorized third-party service provider. The end users can have their own licensed copies of the QuickBooks software hosted on the hosting company’s remote server, or they can lease the license from the hosting company and then have QuickBooks hosted online on the cloud. QuickBooks Hosting allows hosting companies to offer any edition of the QuickBooks software on the cloud – Pro, Enterprise, Premier, POS, or Accountant. Once installed on the remote server, the end user can access their QuickBooks software, data, and file from anywhere, anytime, by simply clicking on the icon on their desktop.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online, on the other hand, is an entirely different version of the QuickBooks software, exclusively developed for the cloud environment. It comes in different plans and can be purchased for a flat monthly fee. The basic plan offers access to 1 user, while the higher plans accommodate up to 5 users. While convenient to access and use, QuickBooks Online lacks many features and functionalities that you get with QuickBooks desktop hosting software and, ultimately, with QuickBooks Hosting. For example, in QuickBooks Online, you cannot track international sales and expenses in multiple currencies, while in QuickBooks Hosting, you can. Likewise, the payroll function in QuickBooks online is only available through an add-on and does not come as a part of its main offering. Despite these shortcomings and limitations, QuickBooks Online remains a popular option among the business community but less so than QuickBooks Hosting.

Interested in Using QuickBooks for Your Business?

At gotomyerp, we offer customized QuickBooks Hosting solutions to small businesses all over the world. We’re an Intuit-authorized commercial QuickBooks Hosting service provider; this means we can help you move your existing QuickBooks data and files to the cloud as well as get you a fully-functional QuickBooks cloud solution from scratch. The best part? We offer a 30-day free trial period on our QuickBooks online hosting plans. Want to partner with us? Reach out for an initial discussion on hosted QuickBooks pricing.

A BONUS read: Unbeatable Benefits of QuickBooks Cloud for Small Businesses