When you run a business, you don’t just need to worry about the goals and activities that concern your sales or service providers. There are also a lot of additional aspects that you need to take care of, and one of the most important ones is accounting.

Whether you hire an external accountant or you want to do it yourself, keeping track of every income and expense is your responsibility. Luckily enough, there is accounting software today that can make the bookkeeping and accounting process a lot easier. 

In this article, we’d like to compare two of the most popular accounting software options: Bench and Quickbooks. We’re going to go through their features and value for the money, and we’ll also try to understand which one is more suitable for you, or if you should be considering a third alternative.

Without further delay, let’s dig deep into our Bench VS Quickbooks comparison.

What is Bench?

Bench is more than a simple accounting software that can help you manage your bookkeeping and accounting processes: it is an accounting service that provides proprietary software and also a team of professional accountants to assist you and your business. Bench is therefore both an accounting software and a bookkeeping online service.

Bench features

Dedicated bookkeeper

When you subscribe to Bench services, you are assigned a dedicated bookkeeper. It’s no different from hiring a bookkeeper online or in person, but with Bench you also get access to a fully-working bookkeeping platform.

Multiple accounts

You can connect multiple financial accounts: bank accounts, credit cards, loans…

Monthly reporting

You can generate financial reports at any moment and periodically. Financial reports include income statements, balance sheets, and more…

Tax-specific support

You can receive tax-specific support, including tax filings.

Dashboard

The dashboard allows you to track your cash flow constantly.

Bench price

Bench offers three plans. These prices include both access to accounting software and professional bookkeeper assistance.
  • Core Plan: $249 per month, billed annually.
  • Flex Plan: $349 per month, billed annually.
Pro Plan: $449 per month, billed annually.

What is Quickbooks?

While Bench is an accounting service that also provides proprietary software to their clients, Quickbooks is strictly an accounting software, even though you can get access to some assistance through this platform too. Quickbooks is a web app: you don’t need to download and install it on your computer but instead you can access it through your browser from any location as long as you have access to an Internet connection (and from any device).

Quickbooks features

Automatic transaction updates

You can connect Quickbooks to your business bank account so that it will automatically import transactions.

Automatic transaction sort

The transactions are not only registered but also automatically sorted into tax categories.

Receipts storing

This platform can also become the place where you store all your receipts.

Reports

You can run general reports for profit and loss statements, expenses, balance sheets, and more…

Quickbooks Live

Quickbooks Live is an additional feature that you need to pay for, giving you access to a professional bookkeeper that you can contact through live chat.

Advanced features

The premium plans give access to some very advanced features like:
  • Time tracking tools;
  • Bill pay for multiple vendors and contractors;
  • Advanced business analytics;
  • Automated workflow creation.

Quickbooks prices

Because Quickbooks doesn’t provide professional accounting assistance, the prices for this software are a lot lower than Bench’s. In particular, there are four plans available:
  • Simple Start: $25 per month;
  • Essentials: $50 per month;
  • Plus: $80 per month;
  • Advanced: $180 per month.

Bench vs Quickbooks: which one should you use?

Now that you understand what Bench and Quickbooks are, let’s move on to discuss which one is more suitable for your needs.

When to use Bench?

As you’ve probably already noticed, the main difference between Bench and Quickbooks relies on the presence – for Bench – of professional assistance. This is also what makes Bench far more expensive than Quickbooks. So, who should pick Bench? Bench can be considered as an alternative to the classic practice of hiring a professional accountant. The accounting service is enhanced thanks to the accounting software that is also provided with all plans. Therefore, if you need to hire a professional accountant to manage your business’s bookkeeping process, then Bench can be the most valid choice.

When to use Quickbooks?

Hiring an accountant is not mandatory and not every business needs one. Private professionals and small businesses, for example, don’t need a professional accountant. For them, subscribing to Bench’s services would be too expensive and result in a waste of money. For them, Quickbooks is the most valid choice because it provides the software they need to take care of their accounting and bookkeeping processes on their own in an affordable way.

When to use an alternative?

If you are a complete beginner or if you like simple and user-friendly tools that every member of your team can use without difficulties, then neither Bench nor Quickbooks would be your best choice. There is an alternative that provides an even more user-friendly interface and that you can learn how to use in half a day: it’s called Less Accounting software. Other than its simplicity, many business owners and managers are picking this alternative over the previous two because of the affordable price that includes professional assistance for their clients. In a way, Less Accounting is the middle way between Bench and Quickbooks: an affordable and simple platform that you can use even if you have zero previous experience with this kind of software, since it also allows you to receive professional assistance when needed.