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NetSuite vs QuickBooks

Compare QuickBooks and NetSuite accounting features, pricing, and scalability. Learn when businesses should upgrade from QuickBooks to a full ERP.

By: GURUS Solutions

NetSuite vs QuickBooks: Which Accounting Software Fits Your Growth?

 

While QuickBooks is a great entry-level accounting tool for small businesses, it can fall short as your operations become more complex. NetSuite, a full-featured cloud ERP, offers robust financial management, real-time visibility, and the flexibility to support long-term growth. In this guide, we’ll break down the key differences between NetSuite and QuickBooks to help you decide when it’s time to upgrade and why so many growing companies make the switch.

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When Should You Upgrade from QuickBooks to NetSuite?

As a starter system, Quickbooks gives smaller companies an easy way to get their businesses up and running while managing financial aspects like payables and receivables.

As companies grow internationally or expand their business practices, they begin to outgrow the basic functionality offered by a starter system and gravitate towards more all-encompassing ERP software options. There are many Quickbooks alternatives, but in regards to accounting software for your business NetSuite accounting software stands above the rest.

It integrates financials, inventory, CRM, and more in a single system, allowing businesses to scale without the headaches of disconnected apps and spreadsheets. And if you’re evaluating the switch, make sure to review NetSuite pricing for growing businesses to understand the investment before upgrading.

Ask yourself:

  • Are you manually consolidating data across departments or entities?
  • Are reporting errors becoming more frequent?
  • Are you struggling to manage inventory across channels?
  • Is it difficult to track financials in real-time?

If so, it’s time to consider making the move.

NetSuite ERP vs. Quickbooks Comparison Chart

Check out this software comparison chart to learn the differences between Quickbooks’ and NetSuite’s features, separated by License/Module.

 

Financial Management
 

Easy Start/Essentials/Plus/Advanced:

  • Track Income & Expenses
  • Track Sales & Sales Tax
  • Capture & Organize Receipts
  • Track Mileage
  • Send Estimates
  • Invoice & Accept Payments
  • Progress Invoicing
  • Tax Deductions

Advanced Financials:

  • Advanced Budgeting
  • Expense Allocations
  • Amortization Schedules
  • Advanced Billing
  • Schedules
  • Milestone Billing (when used with Project Management)
  • Statistical Accounting
  • Dynamic Allocation
Inventory Management
 

Plus/Advanced Only:

  • Track Inventory

Advanced Inventory:

  • Matrix Items: automatically manage multiple item options
  • Serialized Inventory
  • Bar Coding: items and transactions
  • Lot Management
  • Pick, Pack, Ship
  • Automated Reorder Point / Lead Time
  • Calculations
  • Workflow to process warranty claims and to refund, replace or repair returned items
  • Printable forms for better supply chain management
  • Pack Station Mobile App
Multi-Subsidiary
 

Essentials/Plus/Advanced Only:

  • Multi-Currency Support

Plus/Advanced Only:

  • Track Classes & Locations

Advanced Only:

  • Unlimited Classes & Locations

OneWorld:

  • Management of multiple subsidiaries, business units and legal entities  
  • Support of consistent processes across countries
  • Unlimited (dependent on customer's requirements) subsidiaries in a single country for a single currency
  • Includes 1 country/currency combination.
  • Additional purchase required for new country/currency combination
  • Comprehensive Language Management
  • Support for 27 different languages
  • Comprehensive Multi-Currency Management
  • Audit and Compliance Reporting
  • Always-on audit trail, built-in analytics, access logs and workflow
  • Supports global compliance of internal and external processes
  • Real-time global business insight
  • Configurable Tax Engine
  • Pre-configuration of tax codes and localized reporting where applicable
  • Flexible indirect tax engine automates calculations
  • Cross border sales and Intrastat reporting across EU countries 
    Indirect Tax Compliance; Payment processing
  • Pay vendor bills and employee expenses across the globe
  • Take payments directly from customers. 
Human Resources
  *** Requires external app integration for HR functionality.

SuitePeople HR:

  • Employee center access
  • Employee Record Management
  • Time-off Management
  • Job Catalog and Job Management
  • Onboarding/Offboarding
  • Employee Recognition
  • HR Workflows, Metrics and Reporting

Additional Info 

 

Contract Term
  Month to Month. A year-long contract that is renewed annually.
Update Schedule
  Updates must be done manually, or can be set to update automatically through the Help Menu. After every update, regardless, the system must be restarted. NetSuite releases two updates, twice a year that include new features and enhancements. Updates are free and installed automatically.
User Capabilities
  Quickbooks provides multiple users roles, but permissions can only be customized with a QB Advanced license.

 

NetSuite provides multiple user roles and permissions by role. Multiple users can use one NetSuite instance simultaneously.   

NetSuite vs QuickBooks Pricing Overview

Compare NetSuite pricing vs QuickBooks costs to understand how each platform aligns with your business size, functionality needs, and long-term scalability.

 

Pricing Info
  $30 - $200 per Month depending on License Level (extra $20 + $4/user per Month for QB Payroll). Prices vary depending on industry, users, needed modules, and subsidiaries (if applicable). Use our NetSuite pricing tool to find out your NetSuite package price. 

Here are some of the signs that you need to upgrade from Quickbooks

  • Lack of visibility into departments or business processes begins increasingly difficult as your business grows.
  • Relying on Spreadsheets processes to connect data leads to errors and excessive manual labor.
  • Inability to consolidate financials containing multiple subsidiaries, foreign currencies, business requirements, accounting and taxation standards, and more.
  • Adding sales channels, revenue streams, and product lines become overly complicated.
  • And many more.

You may not realize, but once you’ve hit those roadblocks with Quickbooks, it’s time to make the switch.

Key Benefits of Switching to NetSuite ERP

Still not convinced that NetSuite is the right choice for your business? Continue reading to learn about the benefits of making the switch.

1. Complete visibility of your business

NetSuite offers a 360-view of your company’s processes, using real-time data and reporting, and personalized dashboards.

2. Share data between departments

Automatically extract and share data from marketing, finance, sales, professional services departments, and more, right from the Cloud. Customize role and department permissions to control who has access to certain data.

Users will be able to draw data from the same source, ensuring that everyone, from every department, has access to the same data when they need it.

3. Consolidate all your financial data

NetSuite allows you to automate key accounting processes using advanced accounting features while minimizing the risk of error and delay of manual processes.

4. Comply with international accounting standards

OneWorld is a platform designed for handling multiple subsidiaries, currencies, and taxation laws across geographies and subsidiaries. It provides real-time global business management and financial consolidation in a unified, cloud-based system.

5. Streamline accounting, CRM, and eCommerce

NetSuite ensures your company has access to the same customer information when responding to customers, cross-selling, and upselling. It allows you to track orders by centralizing your accounting, order management, customer relationship management (CRM), and eCommerce processes in the cloud.

6. Advanced financial functionality

Access advanced financials features that allow you to:

  • Manage inventory across multiple sales channels
  • Access insight into your company’s inventory and resources
  • Streamline your sales, order and delivery ordering processes
  • Manage and share large amounts of data across departments
  • Easily add and manage new sales channels

Upgrading from QuickBooks to NetSuite ERP

QuickBooks is an excellent starter solution, but it’s not built to support long-term growth. As your company scales, you’ll need more robust financial tools, deeper visibility, and flexible workflows that a true ERP like NetSuite can provide.

Don’t let disconnected systems slow you down. Whether you're expanding globally, adding sales channels, or hiring across multiple locations NetSuite can grow with you.

Curious what NetSuite would cost for your business?

Use our custom NetSuite pricing calculator or talk to one of our ERP specialists to get a quote tailored to your company’s size, industry, and goals.

 

Learn More About NetSuite vs QuickBooks

 

About Aidan Lavoie-W…

With a background in English literature and Theatre history, Aidan can confidently say that he knows his way around pen and paper. From news articles in local papers, poetry, screenplays and scripts, essays, to blog post - Aidan has tried it all.

It's this continuous interest in delivering content through written form that drew him toward Marketing for the modern era, engrossing himself in any subject and relaying his findings to an audience has certainly carried over.

If he isn’t collaborating on campaigns or podcast episodes, you can either find Aidan tinkering away with his MIDI keyboard and retro video games, or working on his cookbook.