Definitions and explanations:
Quicken:
Quicken is a management tool that is used to track and record the history of personal expenses of an individual. This tool was prepared by a company named Quicken Inc. and is managed by the same company. Quicken Inc. was previously a part of Intuit Inc.
Quickbooks:
Quickbooks is a proper accounting software package which is used for coping with the accounting needs of small to medium sized businesses. It can be used for the accounting of different functions including receipts, payments, payroll, sales, inventory etc. It was developed by Intuit Inc. and is upgraded and managed by same company.
Difference between quicken and quickbooks:
The main difference between quicken and quickbooks is explained below:
1. Application:
Quicken is a personal management application. It is used to fulfill personal management and budgeting needs by individuals. Quicken package includes different features like personal track of expenses, record of personal investments and their outcome, preparing, planning and doing follow-ups for personal budgets etc. Quickbooks is an accounting software used for fulfilling the accounting needs of small to medium sized business entities. It incorporates double entry bookkeeping system but can also manage single entry transactions. Many latest versions of quickbooks accommodate for the individual tax and accounting needs of different jurisdictions including USA, Canada etc.
2. Target market and suitability:
The target market of quicken are the individual consumers that use this application for personal assistance. The need for maintaining paper records by customer becomes nearly redundant as quicken manages their investments, expenses and returns. This application can also be used for managing small businesses and startups but such businesses must have simple business transactions like rental incomes, interest incomes etc. Quickbooks is a more market and business oriented software. Based on the version it can be used for different kinds of businesses and for keeping record and preparing budgets for complex business transactions including payables, receivables, management reporting, business expenses, stock tracking and management etc.
3. Cost:
Quicken does not come free of cost and depending on the version customer will have to pay fees for its purchase and subscriptions. There are many different versions of quickbooks like quickbooks desktop, quickbooks cloud etc. from which customers can choose the best suited for management of their individual businesses. Some basic quickbooks may come along with the windows or other software packs while quickbooks packages that are more complicated and deal with complex transaction needs are not free but quickbooks provides a free 30-day trial period to every customer.
4. Ease of use:
Quickens is more difficult to learn and use because it has to keep track of customized transactions. quickbooks is easier to learn and use, because it has to keep track for business transactions based on the same accounting principles for every business.
5. Integration and transfer of information:
Quicken cannot be integrated with other software therefore it becomes difficult to transfer data from Quickens to other software programs.However, it can be connected to applications that are used as mode of payments or storing data like card cash, PayPal, Drive or Dropbox etc. But this transfer from data saving clouds is not recommended by Quicken as it may lead to lose or damage of data. Quickbooks can be integrated to different other programs including online payment and data storage applications.
6. Team projects:
Due to lack of integration feature of Quicken the software cannot be used by multiple users at a time. This makes it impossible for members of a team to work on a common task at the same time. However, quickbooks Cloud which is mostly used by businesses is an online package which allows its users to work from multiple devices/servers simultaneously which makes effective team collaboration possible.
7. Ease of access:
As quickbooks package is online it can be accessed from anywhere in the world but Quicken being an On-premise and install to use package, is difficult to access and share from far locations.
Quicken versus quickbooks – tabular comparison
A tabular comparison of quicken and quickbooks is given below:
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| Application | ||||
| It is mostly used for managing and budgeting of personal expenses. | It is a double-entry bookkeeping accounting package used by small to medium sized businesses. | |||
| Target market and suitability | ||||
| Is suitable for consumers that need simple solutions including non-complex business transactions. | Is suitable for small to medium sized businesses and can accommodate for complicated business transactions. | |||
| Cost | ||||
| Is not free and does not provide any free trial period. | Is not free but provides a free trial period up to 30 days. | |||
| Ease of use | ||||
| Is moderate-to-difficult to grasp and apply. | Is easy to learn and use. | |||
| Integration and transfer of Information | ||||
| Transfer or integration of data to other applications is difficult. | Transfer or integration of data to other applications Is easy. | |||
| Team projects | ||||
| Cannot be used by different users at the same time. | Can be used by different users at the same time. | |||
| Ease of access | ||||
| Quicken is difficult to access from distant locations. | Is available online and easily accessible from anywhere. | |||
Conclusion – quicken vs quickbooks:
Quickbooks and quickens are both software programs that provide transaction management to its users. They provide their consumers with different functionalities and scope of use. Quicken is a personal application and cannot be used for complex businesses while quickbooks is a full-fledged accounting package designed to be used by businesses at various scales. Customer can choose their required software according to their individual requirements.
