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Read More Mar 8, 2023 Filed under: Accounting, Bookkeeping, Invoicing, Small Business
QuickBooks For Mac Review
QuickBooks for Mac is specifically for Macs and ideal for small businesses with no more than three users; just be aware that the software has a high learning curve.
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Expert Analyst & Reviewer
UPDATED
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QuickBooks Mac
| Total Rating | 3.0 |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Fair |
| Features | Good |
| Reviews | Fair |
| Customer Service | Fair |
| Integrations | Poor |
Pros
- Well-designed UI
- Advanced features
- Ample accounting reports
- Double-entry accounting
- Mac-based
- Cash-basis and accrual accounting
Cons
- No integrations
- No email support
- Limited users
QuickBooks For Mac Overview
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac is a locally-installed accounting program designed specifically for Macs. The software combines the best of both worlds by joining together the feature set and accounting complexity of QuickBooks Pro with the ease of use and more modern UI of QuickBooks Online.
QuickBooks for Mac offers everything a small business should expect from accounting software. Key features include invoicing, estimates, bank reconciliation, accounts payable, and both cash basis and accrual accounting. While not as simple to use as some other programs on the market, its learning curve is significantly easier than QuickBooks Pro.
While many loyal Mac users are excited that this software works on their operating system, there are a few drawbacks to consider. Few new features have been added over the years, and there’s still not a single integration. The software is also on the more expensive side. These shortcomings, paired with poor customer support, no integrated payroll, and no payment processing, put QuickBooks for Mac out of the running for many small business owners.
Continue reading to see if the pros outweigh the cons for your business.
Table of Contents
QuickBooks For Mac Pricing
| QuickBooks For Mac Plans | Price | When To Use |
|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Mac Plus 2022 | $349.99/year | If you want software with good accounting features that are optimized for Macs |
Beginning with the launch of QuickBooks for Mac 2022, QuickBooks has a new pricing structure. Previously, QuickBooks for Mac was only available for purchase as a one-time license. Now, the software is available as an annual subscription.
While some users may be put off by the costs of this new pricing structure, there are some benefits. With your annual subscription, you’ll get access to all of the latest features and security updates, will always have access to the newest version of QuickBooks for Mac, and will receive unlimited customer support and data backups at no additional charge.
Intuit offers a 60-day satisfaction guarantee. If you are not pleased with the purchase, you can return the software for a full refund.
QuickBooks Mac Plus
QuickBooks Mac Plus is priced at $349.99/year and includes:
- Invoices and estimates
- Expense tracking
- Contact management
- Accounts payable
- Time tracking
- Project management
- Budgeting
- Inventory
- 100+ reports
- One user
Extra QuickBooks For Mac Costs & Fees
| Extra QuickBooks For Mac Costs | Price |
|---|---|
| Additional Users | $200/year per user |
| QuickBooks Payroll | $45+/month |
| QuickBooks Payments | $0+/month + transaction fees |
| Right Networks Hosting | $59.99+/month per user |
There are a few additional costs to be aware of before purchasing QuickBooks for Mac. Your subscription includes one user. You can add up to two additional users at a cost of $200/year per user.
If you need payroll, you can sign up for QuickBooks Payroll. Unfortunately, QuickBooks for Mac does not integrate with QuickBooks Payroll, but it can be used as a standalone product. Pricing for QuickBooks Payroll starts at $45/month.
If you need payment processing, you can sign up for QuickBooks Payments as your merchant account provider. However, this service doesn’t directly integrate with QuickBooks for Mac. The main drawback to this is that there isn’t a “pay now” button or client portal for invoices. However, you can provide your clients with payment links to make invoice payments. You can pay as you go, with rates starting at 2.4% + $0.30 per transaction, or you can pay $20/month and get rates starting at 1.6% + $0.30 per transaction.
Finally, if you need more mobility, QuickBooks partners with Right Network and provides online server hosting. Plans start at $59.99/month per user.
Is QuickBooks For Mac Easy To Use?
QuickBooks Desktop products generally have incredibly steep learning curves. While QuickBooks for Mac Desktop can be difficult to navigate at times, the software is much easier to learn than QuickBooks Pro, and it has a much fresher, more attractive UI. It’s a sort of happy medium between QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Online.
QuickBooks Desktop For Mac Features
| QuickBooks For Mac Features | Availability |
|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✔ |
| Estimates | ✔ |
| Client Portal | X |
| Contact Management | ✔ |
| Expense Tracking | ✔ |
| Bank Reconciliation | ✔ |
| Chart Of Accounts | ✔ |
| Accounts Payable | ✔ |
| Inventory | ✔ |
| Time Tracking | ✔ |
| Project Management | ✔ |
| Reporting | ✔ |
| Budgeting | ✔ |
| Tax Support | ✔ |
QuickBooks for Mac has an impressive number of features, although not all of these features are as fully developed as Intuit’s other accounting products. However, you’ll find everything you’d expect from accounting software, including invoicing, time tracking, budgeting, project management, reporting, and more.
Here is a summary of the features QuickBooks for Mac has to offer:
Invoices & Estimates
QuickBooks for Mac makes it easy to create and send invoices. You’ll find multiple customization options to personalize your invoices as well as time-saving automations. Here’s what to expect when creating invoices and estimates with QuickBooks for Mac:
- 31 invoice templates
- 24 estimate templates
- Custom templates
- Batch invoicing
- Progress invoices
- Send payment links with invoices for ACH, credit card, and echeck payments
- Automated payment reminders
- Convert estimates to invoices
Bookkeeping
QuickBooks for Mac offers a number of great accounting and bookkeeping features to track and manage your finances. Optimized for Apple desktop processors, you’ll be able to do your bookkeeping faster than ever with features such as:
- Customizable dashboard
- Snapshot view with 15+ charts
- Bank reconciliation
- Automatic categorization of bank transactions
- Batch-editing of bank transactions
- Contact management
- Vendor management
- Rule-based customer groups
- Expense tracking
- Receipt management
- Accounts payable
- Chart of accounts
- General journal entries
- Write and print checks
- Credit memos
- Purchase orders
- Sales receipts
- Class tracking
- Default email templates
- To-do lists
- Reminders
- Import and export data
Inventory
QuickBooks for Mac has a nice inventory feature that allows you to record details about your inventory, add custom fields, and even set reorder points. Here’s everything to expect from this feature:
- Record items, services, parts, and more
- Include descriptions, rates, and item numbers
- Create custom fields
- Set reorder points
- Default sales tax items and sales tax groups
- Sub-items for inventory bundles
Project Management
QuickBooks for Mac has basic project management features, including:
- Connect projects to customers
- Set job status, start/end dates, descriptions, and more
- Basic job costing
Reporting & Budgeting
Keep an eye on your finances now and plan for the future with reporting and budgeting tools, including:
- 110+ accounting and sales reports
- Graphs and charts
- Yearly budgets
- Manual budgets
- Create a budget using last year’s data
- Budgeting reports
Tax Support
From sales tax to support for tax forms, QuickBooks for Mac has you covered with these features:
- Unlimited sales tax items and groups
- Default sales tax for contacts and items
- Support for 1099s and 1096s
- Track and record mileage deductions
- Assign mileage to jobs as billable or non-billable
QuickBooks For Mac Reviews
Negative QuickBooks For Mac Reviews & Complaints
User experiences with QuickBooks for Mac seem split fairly evenly between negative and positive, with a slight lean toward the positive. Here are some of the most common criticisms:
- The software doesn’t have the capabilities of QuickBooks Pro for Windows
- The software has a steep learning curve and can be difficult to navigate
- Poor customer support and long wait times
Positive QuickBooks For Mac Reviews & Testimonials
QuickBooks for Mac receives 7.6/10 stars on TrustRadius (based on 90+ ratings) and 4/5 stars on SoftwareAdvice (based on 70+ reviews). Here is what users like best about QuickBooks for Mac:
- Intuitive UI that’s easier to use than other QB Desktop products
- Designed specifically for Macs
- Good feature selection, including invoicing, budgeting, and reports
QuickBooks For Mac Customer Service
| QuickBooks For Mac Customer Service Options | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | ✔ |
| X | |
| Support Tickets | X |
| Live Chat | ✔ |
| Dedicated Support Rep | X |
| Knowledgebase | ✔ |
| Videos & Tutorials | ✔ |
| Company Blog | ✔ |
| Social Media | ✔ |
One of the advantages of QuickBooks for Mac’s annual subscription is that customer support is included at no additional cost. QuickBooks has added support options to make it quicker and easier to get in touch, including a live messaging feature and a call-back option to eliminate long hold times on the phone.
QuickBooks for Mac does noticeably lack email support, which may be an issue for some users. However, in addition to its other support options, there is a help center with dozens of how-to articles that can be accessed from right within the software.
QuickBooks For Mac Integrations
One of the biggest downfalls of QuickBooks for Mac is that there are no integrations, not even to QuickBooks Payments. While the company focuses the majority of its integration efforts on QuickBooks Online (which has over 650 integrations), even QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise all have upwards of 200 integrations. So it is incredibly disappointing that QuickBooks for Mac doesn’t have a single integration.
Is QuickBooks For Mac Secure?
With locally-installed software, data security is primarily up to you; this is even more so the case for QuickBooks for Mac users. QuickBooks Pro provides automated backups and data encryption to Windows users at an extra cost. Unfortunately, this service is unavailable for Mac users. QuickBooks does offer good online resources for learning about protecting your computer.
The Final Verdict: Is QuickBooks For Mac Worth It?
| QuickBooks Online Review | |
|---|---|
| Business Size | Ideal for small businesses with 1-3 users |
| Pricing | $349.99/year |
| Choose If You Need | Strong accounting, locally-installed software for Macs, good reporting |
QuickBooks for Mac is designed specifically for Macs and is ideal for small businesses with no more than three users. QuickBooks for Mac offers most features you’d want in good accounting software. From job costing and class tracking to contact management and expense tracking, QuickBooks for Mac does it all. It is also one of the few programs specifically designed for Mac. QuickBooks Desktop for Mac also supports multiple companies, and there are user permissions available.
However, the sheer number of features and the learning curve may be too much for micro-businesses. The software is also not ideal for larger businesses that require built-in payroll, integrations, or more than three users. The annual subscription may also be a bit pricey for smaller businesses on a budget.
Before you commit, make sure to check the other options out there. Start by checking out our Best Accounting Software for Mac Users, which may offer a better alternative for your business. If you’re new to accounting software and aren’t ready to tackle the learning curve of QuickBooks Desktop software, check out our picks for the easiest accounting software.
QuickBooks Mac FAQs
Erica Seppala
Expert Analyst & Reviewer at Merchant Maverick
An expert in accounting, finance, and point of sale, Erica has been researching and writing about all things small-business since 2018. Erica's insights into personal and business finance have been cited in numerous publications, including MSN, Real Simple, and Reader's Digest. She is a graduate of Limestone College.
View Erica Seppala's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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Organization Name: Intuit
A couple corrections: QuickBooks Mac is integrated with Intuit Online Payroll. You access it via the Employees->Payroll menu. IOP is an online service and costs extra but data does flow seamlessly between QuickBooks Mac and IOP.
Intuit’s Merchant Services payments are integrated with QuickBooks Mac. This allows for credit card processing within the application. What isn’t supported in 2019 is the ability to send links to a portal where user’s can pay Invoices. This is an often requested feature we hope to reintroduce in a future version.
Security in 2019 has been increased though, as you note, it is still data residing on your computer. Online backup can be automatically done using MacOS’s built in iCloud drive and is highly recommended.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
We followed up on Brooks’ correction, and all of the QuickBooks reps we’ve spoken to say QuickBooks for Mac 2019 doesn’t directly integrate with Intuit Online Payroll or Intuit Merchant Services. Brooks may have found a loophole, but this is not a function that QuickBooks endorses to our knowledge. However, the tip on using iCloud for backups is a great one that we will be adding to the review. We will continue to keep this review updated and will let everyone know if QuickBooks Mac improves its integration selection in the future.
At this time, QB Mac users can still purchase and make use of Intuit Payroll and Intuit Merchant Services; the programs just won’t communicate directly.
– Chelsea Krause
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Intuit
Inside of QuickBooks Mac you can contact to Intuit Online Payroll via the Employees->Payroll menu. When you configure your payroll it will communicate bidirectionally to upload and download accounts, employees, paychecks, and tax payments.
Sign up for Merchant Services in QuickBooks->Preferences. Once signed up you can receive payments for Invoices and Sales Receipts via credit card. You can also send out e-Invoices for customers to pay via Intuit’s online portal.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Mott & Co.
QuickBooks for Mac has Worked fairly well for me until I upgraded to QB for Mac 2019. Sadly, the new version is not synched with the Payroll program. I have chatted with eight different Intuit support persons today and none of them could help me. Don’t buy QuickBooks if you use a Mac. Find something else.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: ivy design
yes, Lynn we are in a bad spot, not being able to properly export or upload our payroll and tax payments. and yet INTUIT does nothing about it. . .
I started bookkeeping 25 years ago on Quickbooks for Mac. Though I’ve worked on PC versions for most of the time since then, I’ve always had at least one client that wouldn’t give up their Mac.
Intuit has discontinued Quickbooks for Mac multiple times over the years, and will likely continue the pattern into the future. The user base just doesn’t exist to justify annual updates and it’s never been nearly as robust as the PC versions. It’s still the best choice for a full fledged Mac based accounting system.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Plumbing & Contracting
Thanks for your comprehensive review. I am on the fence with QB Mac and leaning toward just getting QBD Pro. The reviews have just been awful for the Mac support in the QB community.
However, my concern is that if I set up the Mac system, they may phase out the Mac platform altogether–only offering QB Online for Mac users. (That’s not an option for me.)
My question to you: What do you know of the support for QB Mac? Will it be phased out in 2019?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Cathleen,
Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately, QuickBooks Mac is already in the process of being phased out. The final version of the software was released in 2016, and by May 2019 the software will no longer be supported at all. I recommend taking a look at our Best Accounting Software for Macs post to find a QuickBooks Mac alternative.
Let me know if I can be of any more assistance.
Best wishes,
-Chelsea Krause
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.