What is QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is bookkeeping and accounting software for businesses that do not have a large finance department. It connects to bank and credit card accounts, imports and categorizes transactions and turns them into profit and loss statements, balance sheets and cash flow reports. Users send invoices and estimates, record and pay bills, track sales tax and share their books with an outside accountant, who can work on the same company file through QuickBooks Online Accountant.
Most customers use QuickBooks Online, a subscription service that runs in a browser and mobile apps. It comes in tiers from Simple Start through Advanced, plus a limited free plan for one-person businesses, and Intuit Enterprise Suite, launched in 2024, extends it for mid-market companies that need multi-entity accounting. The older QuickBooks Desktop line still serves established users, but Intuit stopped selling its Pro Plus, Premier Plus and Mac Plus editions to new US subscribers after September 30, 2024, leaving QuickBooks Enterprise as the desktop option for new buyers.
Around the ledger, Intuit sells services that make up a growing share of its business: payment processing, bill pay, business checking, loans through QuickBooks Capital and QuickBooks Workforce for payroll and HR. Since July 2025, QuickBooks Online in the United States has included AI agents that help reconcile accounts, send invoices and payment reminders and manage customer leads, while human bookkeepers are available through QuickBooks Live. Intuit also connects QuickBooks to its Mailchimp marketing platform. QuickBooks Online Accounting revenue grew 23 percent in Intuit’s 2026 fiscal year, and the product competes with Xero, Zoho Books and other cloud accounting services.
Key features of QuickBooks
- 01
Bank feeds and categorization
QuickBooks connects to bank and credit card accounts, downloads transactions automatically and suggests categories based on earlier activity, so the books can be reconciled against statements instead of typed in by hand.
- 02
Invoicing and payments
Businesses create invoices and estimates, send payment reminders and accept card and bank payments through QuickBooks Payments, with incoming deposits matched to the invoices they settle.
- 03
Bills and expenses
Owners capture receipts with the mobile app, record and schedule bills and pay vendors through bill pay, keeping accounts payable and cash flow figures current.
- 04
Financial reports
Built-in profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow and accounts receivable reports, with more customization on higher tiers, show owners, lenders and accountants how the business is performing.
- 05
AI agents
Introduced in the United States in July 2025, QuickBooks agents take on tasks such as reconciling transactions, sending invoices and payment reminders and following up on customer leads, while the business stays in control of approvals.
- 06
QuickBooks Workforce
Intuit’s payroll and HR platform runs payroll and supports hiring, onboarding, benefits, time tracking and time off, feeding labor costs directly into the accounting records.
- 07
Accountant collaboration
Accountants and bookkeepers manage client files through QuickBooks Online Accountant, and the ProAdvisor program trains and certifies professionals who set up and maintain QuickBooks for businesses.
- 08
Open platform and apps
Third-party developers use QuickBooks Online APIs to connect ecommerce, point-of-sale, inventory, CRM and other business applications to a company’s accounting data.
Who uses QuickBooks?
- Sole proprietors and freelancers track income, expenses and mileage and prepare figures for their tax returns.
- Small businesses send invoices, accept payments, pay bills and run payroll from one system connected to their bank accounts.
- Accounting firms manage bookkeeping for many small-business clients, often pairing QuickBooks Online with Intuit’s professional tax software.
- Contractors and other project-based firms track estimates, job costs and project profitability.
- Mid-market companies with several legal entities use Intuit Enterprise Suite for multi-entity accounting and consolidated reporting.
History of QuickBooks
Intuit released QuickBooks in 1992, building on the success of Quicken, its personal finance program. The first DOS version borrowed Quicken’s code, while the Windows and Mac versions were based on In-House Accountant, software Intuit had acquired. Because it avoided accounting jargon, QuickBooks spread quickly among owners with no bookkeeping training and came to dominate small-business accounting software in the United States, although accountants criticized early versions for weak controls such as the lack of an audit trail.
For two decades QuickBooks was mainly desktop software sold in annual editions such as Pro, Premier and Enterprise. Intuit rebuilt QuickBooks Online as an open cloud platform in 2013, and in 2014 more new customers chose the online version than the desktop one for the first time. Intuit later moved desktop users to subscriptions, retired desktop versions in markets such as the United Kingdom and stopped selling most desktop editions to new US customers in 2024. It brought generative AI to QuickBooks with Intuit Assist in 2023 and added AI agents in 2025.
- 1992
Intuit releases QuickBooks, starting with a DOS version based on Quicken’s code.
- 2013
Intuit rebuilds QuickBooks Online as an open cloud platform for third-party apps.
- 2014
More new customers choose QuickBooks Online than QuickBooks Desktop for the first time.
- 2024
Intuit launches Intuit Enterprise Suite and stops selling most desktop editions to new US subscribers.
- 2025
AI agents for accounting, payments and customer management arrive in QuickBooks Online.
QuickBooks pricing
Pricing modelFreemium
A limited QuickBooks Free plan for one-person businesses; paid Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced subscriptions add users and features, and desktop editions are also sold by subscription.
Prices change often. Check the official QuickBooks website for current plans.
QuickBooks alternatives
Profiled on SoftwareLore:
Also considerXero, FreshBooks, Sage Accounting, Wave and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
QuickBooks: frequently asked questions
Who makes QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is made by Intuit, the financial software company founded by Scott Cook and Tom Proulx in 1983 and headquartered in Mountain View, California. Intuit also makes TurboTax, Credit Karma and Mailchimp, and it builds QuickBooks into a wider small-business platform with payments, payroll and lending.
What is QuickBooks used for?
QuickBooks is used to keep a business’s books. Owners and accountants use it to record income and expenses, reconcile bank accounts, send invoices, pay bills, track sales tax, run payroll and produce financial statements such as profit and loss reports and balance sheets for managers, lenders and tax filings.
Is QuickBooks free?
Mostly not. QuickBooks Online is sold by subscription in Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced plans, and QuickBooks Desktop is also a paid subscription. Intuit does offer QuickBooks Free, a limited plan for one-person businesses that covers basic income and expense tracking, one bank connection and a small number of invoices each month.
When was QuickBooks released?
Intuit released QuickBooks in 1992 as bookkeeping software for small businesses, building on its Quicken personal finance program. The cloud-based QuickBooks Online later became the main version, overtaking the desktop software among new customers in 2014, and Intuit added AI agents to it in 2025.
Is QuickBooks Desktop being discontinued?
Not entirely. Intuit stopped selling QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, Premier Plus and Mac Plus to new US subscribers on September 30, 2024, but existing subscribers can keep renewing and receiving updates, and QuickBooks Enterprise is still sold to new customers. Intuit has already withdrawn desktop versions from some other markets, including the United Kingdom.
Sources
- QuickBooks, Intuit quickbooks.intuit.com
- Intuit introduces virtual team of AI agents for businesses investors.intuit.com
- QuickBooks Desktop to stop selling to new US subscribers, Intuit quickbooks.intuit.com
- Intuit Form 10-K for fiscal 2026, SEC sec.gov
- QuickBooks, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
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