When it comes to choosing an accounting software for the long-term, making the right decision can have a drastic impact on your bottom line. After all, every dollar your business makes or spends will pass through the platform, and you’ll be deeply ingrained in the software for years to come. Two clear leaders in the accounting space are QuickBooks and NetSuite. However, NetSuite is a significantly more powerful platform than QuickBooks, so it’s essential to understand the differences between the two and the value each can bring to your business.
Not only does NetSuite offer deeper accounting functionality than QuickBooks, but it also includes a range of other features, including CRM, HR, inventory, marketing, sales, and more. We’ve put together a QuickBooks/NetSuite comparison to show how much more can be accomplished with NetSuite. Read on for more.
QuickBooks is an accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 1998, it’s a go-to for new businesses seeking a user-friendly, affordable accounting solution. It’s often considered an entry-level accounting software that’s adopted by many young companies. There are several versions, including QuickBooks Enterprise, which offers a limited set of features beyond accounting; however, it’s generally regarded as an accounting-only platform.
NetSuite, owned by Oracle, is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system designed for businesses ranging from small companies to Fortune 100 companies. From an accounting standpoint, NetSuite can handle everything that QuickBooks does, but also includes a litany of features such as financial management, financial planning, order management, supply chain management, procurement, inventory management, human resources, and more. It also offers much more robust financial capabilities such as multi-entity, multi-currency, global financials, and more.
The easy-to-use software lets you run basic accounting and financial functions, including payroll, inventory, and sales management, with a clean user interface. Non-tech-savvy users can typically get accustomed to the software with ease.
QuickBooks plans start at $25/month for the basic package, though you’ll likely pay closer to $70/month to add more users, inventory management, and other key features. The advanced plan costs $150/month.
While its user-friendliness and price point make QuickBooks an attractive option, it has several downsides to consider.
QuickBooks is focused on small-business accounting, and its features stop there. While it allows you to handle your payroll and file your taxes, it falls short in financial forecasting, multi-business lines, subscription billing, FP&A, e-commerce marketing automation, project management, and more. According to NetSuite, “66% of surveyed organizations had challenges with an inability to handle complex accounting needs using QuickBooks before their company moved to NetSuite.” Even the inventory management. Any business that wants to remain competitive recognizes the importance of many of the aforementioned features, leading them to seek other systems to bridge the gap. This leads us to our next QuickBooks headache: integrations.
With many QuickBooks users seeking third-party apps and expensive software to bridge gaps in their QuickBooks instances, real-time integration across platforms becomes difficult. This often leads to different systems displaying inconsistent data, preventing you from getting an accurate view of your business. Without a full-time IT or analysis team to monitor the data, you’re setting yourself up for poor forecasting and management.
Most small and medium businesses dream of scaling into larger, more global organizations. While QuickBooks may be sufficient for a small business, companies quickly experience growing pains as they scale. New revenue streams and sales channels, capital infusions, increased headcount, remote teams, the creation or acquisition of subsidiaries, and changes to the business model are just a few examples that can cause issues in QuickBooks.
QuickBooks is available both online and in a desktop version. The desktop version is more comprehensive but less accessible on mobile devices or when you’re out of the office. QuickBooks Online is more accessible, but its features have extra limitations. They do not offer a fully powered cloud-based option, which is a significant deterrent for many.
In addition to providing accounting features, NetSuite offers clients robust financial management capabilities. Customizable dashboards, workflows, compliance management, and forecasting are just some of the many features that give you deep insight into the health of your organization.
You need more than just accounting software to run a successful business. If you’re running accounting on QuickBooks, that leaves you scrambling to find human resources software, project management tools, a CRM, marketing technology, and a whole lot more. Even worse, you have to find a way to integrate all these platforms to prevent costly data-entry errors, missing data, and manual effort. Having a single, central system that handles all of these processes saves you time, money, and sanity. If you prefer to integrate with other platforms, NetSuite offers a robust API and SuiteApp marketplace.
With NetSuite serving as an “all-in-one” solution, you’ll have an easier time managing your data and keeping it clean than ever before. With real-time integration across your accounting, supply chain, inventory, and financial systems, you can be confident that data is not misreported or lost.
NetSuite provides everything that a small business needs to accurately control its finances, inventory, payroll, supply chain, and more. However, one of the biggest perks of NetSuite is its ability to scale for organizations of any size. In fact, roughly 20% of Fortune 100 companies currently use NetSuite to optimize their operations. Businesses that start with QuickBooks and then scale in size are stuck choosing between keeping their legacy system with its shortcomings or engaging in a difficult and time -consuming migration from QuickBooks to NetSuite. This is another reason why NetSuite gains ground in the QuickBooks vs NetSuite debate. By starting early with NetSuite, you’ll be setting your business up for success no matter how large and complex it becomes.
One of the biggest perks of NetSuite is its innate ability to be tailored perfectly to your organization. Not only can you control how data flows between different departments, but you also have near-total control over what can be seen and by whom. Customized fields, saved searches, saved reports, templates, and custom segments are just a few examples of the nearly countless features you can tailor to your needs. Every business has different objectives, and NetSuite enables you to customize your instance to perfection.
NetSuite costs quite a bit more than a QuickBooks instance. However, it’s important to note that NetSuite not only replaces your accounting software but can also replace numerous other financial and operational systems. When you factor in the cost savings of having a single solution, along with not having to undergo an expensive QuickBooks to NetSuite migration in the future, the cost of NetSuite is easily justified.
Both platforms have their strengths, but there’s a clear winner. When it comes to the QuickBooks vs. NetSuite decision, NetSuite offers significantly more features and benefits than QuickBooks. While many small businesses start with QuickBooks, they often experience growing pains as they scale. As most small businesses hope to one day become medium or larger businesses, it makes sense to get ahead of those growing pains by implementing NetSuite at an early stage.
If you started with QuickBooks and need to do a QuickBooks to NetSuite conversion, it’s not as simple as purchasing a NetSuite instance while letting QuickBooks expire. QuickBooks-to-NetSuite data migrations are complex projects that require experienced migration experts and consultants.
If you’re already on QuickBooks, is a QuickBooks to NetSuite migration worth it? According to NetSuite, “93% of surveyed organizations increased visibility and control over the business since making the switch to NetSuite from QuickBooks.” Not to mention, the longer you wait, and the more data resides in your QuickBooks, the more complex the migration to NetSuite will be. We advise small to medium-sized businesses to consider migrating to NetSuite before their problems worsen.
Once migrated, you’ll experience easier scalability, greater visibility into your organization's financial health, simplified supply chain management, more accurate forecasting, improved CRM and sales management, and more.
To get started with NetSuite implementation, contact ScaleNorth today to learn more about the process, pricing, and benefits.
QuickBooks, developed by Intuit, is accounting software focused on bookkeeping, expense tracking, and basic financial reports. It works well for startups and small teams with simple needs.
Oracle NetSuite is a full cloud ERP system designed to manage the entire business. It includes advanced inventory, warehouse management, revenue recognition, fixed assets, customer relationship management, multi-entity consolidation, and advanced reporting in one comprehensive suite.
Businesses typically move to NetSuite when manual processes, Excel workarounds, and disconnected third-party integrations begin slowing down operations.
If you need multi-currency support, multi-entity consolidation, advanced inventory controls, or end-to-end visibility across business processes, QuickBooks may no longer be the right fit for your growth. NetSuite becomes the scalable ERP solution built for growing and mid-sized businesses.
QuickBooks offers limited functionality for multi-entity and global operations. Many accounting teams rely on spreadsheets for consolidation and reporting.
NetSuite is built for complex business structures, providing automated consolidation, real-time financial data, and centralized control of inventory levels, general ledger activity, and profitability across entities.
QuickBooks provides standard financial reports. However, organizations with complex business operations often require in-depth, customizable, advanced reporting.
NetSuite delivers real-time data across the ERP system, giving business owners and finance leaders immediate visibility into cash flow, revenue recognition, fixed assets, and overall performance.
QuickBooks relies heavily on third-party integrations to extend functionality, which can create fragmented systems and additional costs.
NetSuite provides a comprehensive suite of modules within a single ERP system, including advanced inventory, warehouse management, human resources, CRM, and more. This unified software solution helps streamline business management across the entire organization.
QuickBooks pricing models are generally lower upfront and suitable for startups. However, additional costs often arise as the number of users increases and more integrations are required.
NetSuite pricing reflects its broader ERP capabilities and scalability. For complex businesses, consolidating systems into one end-to-end ERP solution often improves profitability and long-term ROI.
QuickBooks works well for small businesses with straightforward bookkeeping needs.
For growing businesses with complex operations, multi-entity structures, advanced inventory requirements, and the need for scalable business processes, NetSuite is typically the stronger provider. It supports the entire business, not just accounting.
