So my girlfriend has been using quickbooks for years here at her stable, and has liked it, but quickbooks is on a big push to move everything on the cloud.
her current edition from 2020 will be unusable the end of the month.
Upgrading will be around $1800/year, plus $5/month/employee, so another $720 year now, and if we add more employees than the 12 we have now, it goes up higher. a lot are part timers, some only one day or two days a week
and everything would be online. sometimes we have slow internet, and even her bookkeeper thinks they are being too pushy on that and does not like having to go online to access everything.
We could send her an excell file to import every week but it is only a matter of time before they figure out a way to close that loop hole.
Other option is to send bookkeeper timecards and have her figure withholding and cut checks, for $5/week/employee, so around $3k/year on top of her other fees.
Looking for other options on software used by small businesses owned by my fellow vitards.
anybody else having to deal with this?
tell me whatcha got.
I've been using QB for years. Decades now, actually. It's an ancient version that resides on my HD - no internet involved. Not sure what I'd do if that went south for some reason. So I'll be checking on this thread from time to time. $1800/year is bonkers - yikes.
I think I have an old version, maybe 15 years old on an old laptop. I will have to see If I can power it up or maybe find my old installation disks.
Back then you bought it and owned it and would use it until it no longer fit your needs.
progress.................
Been using I-QB's for twenty plus years and upgrade every 2. Like most things these days started off well, then just nickel and dime to death. Can't tell, but are you looking for alternatives the whole Intuit-Quickbooks accounting system, or just the payroll side? I went through the same thing thinking there has to be something better out there. Ended up staying with I-QB, but poked around at a couple, maybe they'll work for you. ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning, EBizCharge.
I know a few businesses that use Sage and really like it. I think they still have a one time purchase option.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Free shipping: VITALMX
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
If you have 12 employees you aren't mom and pop. I'm assuming you want to grow the business. You will want to invest in an accounting system that can handle your needs and allow you to scale up as you grow. Onprem software is dead, much like music cds. SaaS is the way of the software world right now. Predictable cash flow and captive user base.
Raise your rates to offset the additional cost and bite the bullet. $200/month to run a small business on an efficient and reliable accounting system is not that much imo.
If all you need is a payroll interface with your existing QB package, maybe look for a payroll service that will do bare bones processing and has import functionality. Probably not going to be much less than the QB alternative though.
I have quickbooks enterprise at our office. We have 5 licenses and I use the payroll subscription/function and do our payroll as well. We have 18 employees. It was $267/month last year and now is $388.50/month. If I remember right, they charge me a little more for sending out w2s. All the staff is familiar with it so I'm reluctant to change. I'm not happy about the increases but it works well for our environment. Back when I started out, it was like $500 for 3 years!
A typical SaaS agreement has a 3-6% (on average) yearly escalation built into it. It does suck, but they provider will argue that it covers the cost of hosting, updates to the software, and support. The big sell is that you will always be on the "latest and greatest". Sometimes that's good, other times not so much.
I went back to my old computer and program and are just dealing with the glitches because every single new trade specific program is over an complicated JOKE. Countless extra steps to navigate through, and heaven forbid you actually want to print up any kind of route or schedule on an actual piece of paper you can hand to an employee. Eva-reee fa-king thing is on your phone now. I can barely make phone calls already because I get so many texts and messages my phone sounds like it's in the rainforest. Now I'm supposed to put all my billing and route information in there too ? I have a system that's been working perfect since 1980 but now somehow, this new garbage is supposed to better. And it aint, not even remotely close. Ok carry on good luck
1980 Customer - "Hey I have a question about my billing" "Ok give me a second" (literally) Open the file cabinet door and bingo every invoice/warry'repair info we've ever done right there, in order plain and simple. It takes 8-10 seconds if you're slow.
2023 Customer - "Hey I have a question about my billing" "Oh ok give me a couple minutes while I wait for the computer"
FF ten minutes, "Hey let me call you back" Meanwhile in 1980 the problem would've have been found, corrected, and the check would be on it's way. God I want to retire.
I know "I'll take things old people say for 100 Alex"
Good luck.
My wife's business uses an older version of QB pro. It's on the computer and runs on Windows 7.
It's on an older computer that only runs the QB. It's not connected to the internet. Separate payroll
program that I don't recall the name of.
TM
I have QB for our businesses since about 2008, QB has definitely been pushing increased fees and upgrades so it is frustrating.
I asked our accountant if there was a better option, she works with hundreds of small business clients and has seen almost everything for software options.
She told me that for most small businesses QB is still the most user friendly and economical option, but if they keep adding fees and pushing upgrades they will start losing customers who just want simple and functional software.
But she told me to stay with QB for now and just ignore the sales pitches to upgrade everything yearly. I would have to go verify but from what I recall I am paying about $300 per year for the online QB license that I use for 3 separate entities.
But I use Paychex for payroll, I have about 50 total employees so I got tired of doing payroll myself it was just too much with QB.
Post a reply to: Accounting software for small businesses