Intuit QuickBooks Desktop Is NOT Going Away
There seems to be some misinformation regarding Intuit QuickBooks Desktop “going away” leading to unnecessary confusion. I’m not sure how or where this originated from but as far as I can tell, Intuit QuickBooks Desktop is NOT going away!
QuickBooks Desktop remains a flagship Intuit product so it would be detrimental to Intuit’s business model to eliminate or even consider phasing out the entire Desktop product line. This is an accounting/financial software solution that many businesses and accounting firms use and rely on.
Sure, Intuit has been pushing their QuickBooks Online product line to small business customers who need a solution with anywhere access and multi-user support without the need to install and/or manage any local or network software (or manage any of the backend).
However, QuickBooks Online won’t satisfy every small business customer. I’ve used QuickBooks Desktop software for many years and have given QuickBooks Online a couple of “test drives” but frankly, I prefer QuickBooks Desktop over QuickBooks Online. You’ll also find some CPAs and accounting firms will prefer QuickBooks Desktop software over QuickBooks Online. That’s not to say QuickBooks Online doesn’t work or won’t meet your needs. It can and will for the right customers.
QuickBooks Desktop - A Subscription-based Model
Beginning with QuickBooks Desktop Pro and Premier 2022, Intuit moved from a perpetual licensing model to a subscription-based model meaning you could no longer buy the software as a perpetual license, use that version for a few years (to save money) and then decide if you wanted/needed to upgrade to the latest version. With the subscription-based model, you need to renew your subscription every year to continue using the QuickBooks Desktop software. Just to be clear, the QuickBooks Desktop company files remain your files, but you won’t be able to access/open those company files without an active QuickBooks Desktop subscription/license. Intuit adopted the subscription-based model for their QuickBooks Enterprise product line several years back so it’s not surprising they finally made the move with Desktop Pro and Premier.
QuickBooks Desktop 2023 / Enterprise 23
The latest (2023) versions of QuickBooks Desktop Pro and Premier (aka Pro Plus 2023 and Premier Plus 2023) as well as QuickBooks Enterprise 23 are now available though I have noticed that Intuit does not currently list QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus 2023 as an available option for new customers on their website. The offerings are limited to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus 2023, and QuickBooks Enterprise 23. I do know QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus 2023 is available for existing customers who have a current active QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus 2022 subscription so I’m not quite sure why Intuit is not offering QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus 2023 to new customers (perhaps an attempt to push more customers towards QuickBooks Online at the QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus price point).
While QuickBooks Desktop is NOT going away, that’s not to say Intuit won’t stop supporting older versions of QuickBooks Desktop software as new versions are released. This is standard practice for most software manufacturers. In addition, subscription pricing is not set in stone so expect periodic price increases. If your business relies on QuickBooks Desktop as your accounting/financial software solution, be sure to keep this in mind and plan accordingly!