QuickBooks Online vs Solopreneur 2025: Best Pick for You?

Intuit offers several QuickBooks products tailored to different user needs. In my opinion, choosing between QuickBooks Online and Solopreneur shouldn’t be difficult. QuickBooks Online is perfect for established businesses needing a complete accounting solution, especially those needing complex reporting features. Solopreneur is more suitable for a one-person business or a self-employed individual.

If you have employees or need a balance sheet, go with QuickBooks Online. If you’re a solo business owner and just need to track income, expenses, and cash flow, Solopreneur is the better fit. By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly which one fits your situation.

QuickBooks Online vs QuickBooks Solopreneur: Comparison table

QuickBooks Online vs QuickBooks Solopreneur: Pricing

QuickBooks Online

• Simple Start: $35 for one user
• Essentials: $65 for up to three users
• Plus: $99 for up to five users
• Advanced: $235 for up to 25 users

QuickBooks Solopreneur

Solopreneur is $25 for one user.

QuickBooks Online vs QuickBooks Solopreneur: Feature comparison

Invoicing & A/R

Winner: QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online clearly outperforms Solopreneur when it comes to invoicing and managing A/R. It offers the full toolkit you’d expect for a growing business: professional invoice customization, recurring invoices, invoice tracking, and integrated payment processing. Solopreneur, on the other hand, is stripped down. It’s fine for sending basic invoices, but it lacks the automation, flexibility, and detail needed to manage A/R effectively over time.

With QuickBooks Online, invoicing is fully integrated into your accounting workflow. You can send customized invoices, set up automated reminders for late payments, accept multiple payment methods, including ACH and credit cards, and track which invoices are open, overdue, or paid. You also get real-time A/R aging reports and the ability to apply partial payments or deposits, all of which help streamline cash flow and follow-up.

Solopreneur’s invoicing tools are limited to the essentials. You can send basic invoices and track income, but that’s about it. There’s no support for recurring billing, automated payment reminders, or partial payments. There’s also no way to generate A/R reports, which leaves business owners without clear visibility into who owes them money and when. For solo users who invoice infrequently, it might be enough — but for anyone relying on steady client payments, it falls short.

Billing & A/P

Winner: QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is the better choice for billing and accounts payable (A/P). It supports vendor management, bill tracking, and scheduled payments, which are features Solopreneur simply doesn’t offer. If managing outgoing cash flow matters, QBO is the clear winner.

QuickBooks Online gives you full control over A/P. You can enter bills, track due dates, set up recurring bills, and schedule payments to vendors. It also lets you attach receipts, categorize expenses accurately, and run detailed A/P aging reports, making it easy to manage obligations and avoid late fees. Integration with bank feeds means you can reconcile payments without manual entry.

Solopreneur lacks dedicated billing and A/P features. You can track expenses, but there’s no way to record or manage unpaid bills. There’s also no vendor management, no bill scheduling, and no reports for tracking outstanding payables.

Cash management

Winner: QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is far more capable than Solopreneur for managing cash flow. It offers the tools needed to monitor, forecast, and optimize your cash position. Solopreneur is too limited for anything beyond basic tracking.

QuickBooks Online helps you stay on top of cash with real-time bank feeds, cash flow dashboards, and projection tools. You can categorize transactions, set cash flow goals, and use reports to analyze trends over time. It also connects directly to your accounts, letting you reconcile balances, spot issues early, and plan for shortfalls or surpluses. For businesses that depend on tight cash control, QBO delivers the insight you need.

Solopreneur offers only a basic view of money in and out. You can see income and expenses and get a high-level cash flow snapshot, but there’s no forecasting, no automated categorization, and no detailed reporting. It’s built for simplicity, which works for some — but it won’t help you actively manage or plan your cash position.

Financial reporting

Winner: QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is the clear winner for financial reporting. It offers far more reports, customization, and visibility. Solopreneur keeps things basic, which limits your ability to analyze performance.

With QuickBooks Online, you can generate dozens of built-in reports — from profit and loss and balance sheets to A/R aging and custom reports by class, project, or location. You can filter, group, and schedule reports, giving you real-time insight into your business. QBO also supports accountant-ready reports, audit trails, and year-end tax prep, making it a powerful tool for both internal use and professional compliance.

Solopreneur, by contrast, offers only the most essential reports. You’ll get a profit and loss view and a simple cash flow summary, but there’s no balance sheet, no A/P or A/R aging, and no way to customize or drill down into details. For users who just need a quick snapshot of income and expenses, it’s fine — but serious financial analysis isn’t possible here.

Tax compliance, reporting & payments

Winner: QuickBooks Solopreneur

QuickBooks Solopreneur wins when it comes to tax compliance for sole proprietors. It’s designed specifically for freelancers and one-person businesses that need simple, effective tools to stay on top of quarterly taxes and deductions. QuickBooks Online is more comprehensive overall, but lacks the tailored experience that solo users get with Solopreneur.

Solopreneur automatically categorizes your income and expenses to align with IRS Schedule C, making tax time a lot easier. It tracks mileage using GPS, lets you snap photos of receipts, and syncs with TurboTax for fast filing. The dashboard keeps your estimated taxes front and center, and you’ll always know what you owe and when to pay. These built-in features help maximize deductions without the hassle of extra setup or manual work.

QuickBooks Online, while powerful, isn’t built with solo tax prep in mind. It can track sales tax, generate 1099s, and handle complex reporting — but it doesn’t estimate quarterly taxes or guide you through deductions for a Schedule C. For self-employed users, those tools often require workarounds or outside apps. It’s ideal for multi-employee businesses, not freelancers trying to keep tax prep fast and focused.

QuickBooks Online pros and cons

Pros of QuickBooks Online

• Handles both A/R and A/P with detailed tracking and automation
• Includes robust reporting, including balance sheets, cash flow statements, and aging reports
• Supports inventory, time tracking, and project accounting
• Scales easily for growing businesses with multiple users and employees
• Offers app integrations, bank feeds, and advanced customization

Cons of QuickBooks Online

• Overkill for solo users who just need simple tracking and tax tools
• Higher monthly pricing compared to Solopreneur
• Tax features aren’t built specifically for Schedule C filers
• Interface and features may feel overwhelming for beginners
• Some advanced tools (like time tracking or project profitability) only available on higher-tier plans

QuickBooks Self-Employed pros and cons

Pros of QuickBooks Self-Employed

• Built specifically for self-employed users and freelancers
• Automatically categorizes expenses for easy Schedule C filing
• Tracks mileage, income, expenses, and receipts in one place
• Simplifies quarterly tax estimation and prep
• Affordable monthly price with a focused feature set

Cons of QuickBooks Self-Employed

• No support for accounts payable, vendor tracking, or bill management
• Lacks financial reports like balance sheet or A/P and A/R aging
• Not ideal for full-scale businesses
• Limited customization for invoices and reporting
• Not ideal for businesses with inventory or employees

Should your organization use QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Self-Employed?

Choose QuickBooks Online if

• You need full A/R and A/P capabilities
• You manage payroll or plan to hire employees
• You want advanced reports like balance sheets and cash flow statements
• You track inventory, billable hours, or project profitability
• You need multiple users with role-based permissions
• You plan to scale your business beyond a solo operation

Choose QuickBooks Self-Employed if

• You run a solo business with no employees
• You want a simple way to track income, expenses, and cash flow
• You need help estimating and tracking quarterly taxes
• You file a Schedule C and want categories to match automatically
• You want to snap receipts and track mileage from your phone
• You don’t need invoicing automation, bill tracking, or detailed reports

Methodology

I evaluated QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Solopreneur based on their real-world performance in key accounting functions. My goal was to identify which tool best serves different types of users — specifically freelancers, sole proprietors, and small business owners managing growing operations.

I focused on five essential areas:

• Invoicing & A/R: How well each product handles billing, recurring invoices, and customer payments.
• Billing & A/P: Support for entering, tracking, and managing bills and vendors.
• Cash management: Tools for monitoring cash flow and planning ahead.
• Financial reporting: Depth, flexibility, and clarity of reports.
• Tax compliance: Features that help with estimating taxes, filing returns, and organizing deductible expenses.

For each category, I considered not just the presence of features, but their ease of use, relevance to solo and small business users, and how much manual work they eliminate. My recommendations are based on hands-on testing, product documentation, and real use cases from freelancers and small business clients.

FAQs about QuickBooks Online vs Solopreneur

Can I use QuickBooks Online for self-employed?

Yes, but it may be more than you need. QuickBooks Online is built for small businesses with more complex needs — like employees, inventory, or detailed reporting. If you’re a solo business owner without those requirements, QuickBooks Solopreneur (or QuickBooks Self-Employed) might be a better fit.

What is the best accounting software for self-employed?

The best option depends on what you need. If you’re filing a Schedule C and want automatic expense categorization, mileage tracking, and simple tax tools, QuickBooks Solopreneur is a top choice. For more control over invoicing, billing, and reporting, QuickBooks Online works better — even for solo users who want room to grow.

When should I move away from QuickBooks?

It’s time to switch if QuickBooks no longer meets your needs, like managing industry-specific workflows, scaling beyond what QBO allows, or requiring more advanced reporting than QuickBooks supports. Some users also move away for cost reasons or if they prefer a simpler interface or a different ecosystem.

What is the best accounting software for self-employed?

Each QuickBooks Online account supports one company file. If you manage multiple businesses, you’ll need a separate subscription for each. There’s no built-in multi-company feature within a single QBO subscription.

How many companies can you run on QuickBooks Online?

Each QuickBooks Online account supports one company file. If you manage multiple businesses, you’ll need a separate subscription for each. There’s no built-in multi-company feature within a single QBO subscription.