NetSuite vs. QuickBooks

Your business has grown substantially and quickly. To maintain your pace of growth and create a strong foundation for future growth, you need to adapt to a solution that provides greater efficiencies right now, along with the flexibility to scale in the future.

Many business owners in your position use myriad solutions, from spreadsheets to QuickBooks and are looking for a future-ready solution to accommodate their growing and increasingly complex needs.

This article compares Intuit QuickBooks solutions (including QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced), which serve growing businesses, with a popular full-scale enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Oracle NetSuite, to evaluate their functions and features for different kinds of businesses.

These comparisons are based on both verifiable vendor claims, third-party reviewers like G2 and Capterra (tech marketplaces where businesses can provide their unbiased opinions and review software solutions), and objective accounting software reviews from PCMag and Techradar.

Discover how QuickBooks compares with Oracle NetSuite for these specific Industries:

• QuickBooks Enterprise for Manufacturing & Wholesale vs. Oracle NetSuite for manufacturing
• Intuit QuickBooks vs. Oracle NetSuite for construction

Discover how QuickBooks compares with Microsoft Dynamics and Sage:

• Microsoft Dynamics vs. QuickBooks
• Sage vs. QuickBooks

Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced: Background

QuickBooks solutions save time and effort by centralizing daily financial processes and functions in a streamlined, easy-to-use interface.

QuickBooks Enterprise is an integrated solution designed for growing, product-based businesses that helps users streamline business processes and financial operations management. It bundles key functionality and lets business owners add and customize capabilities as they grow. QuickBooks Enterprise integrates with other best-in-class solutions like Salesforce to create a connected back-office experience, instead of a traditional “one-stop shop” ERP solution. Users can add cloud access for increased flexibility.

QuickBooks Online Advanced is a cloud-based solution designed for growing small businesses that also helps users streamline business and financial operations management. It’s offered at a different price point than Enterprise, but it shares many of the same features, including integration with Salesforce and more than 600 powerful apps.*

Oracle NetSuite: Background

Oracle NetSuite is a full-scale ERP solution, engineered to streamline mission-critical processes at businesses of all sizes. Netsuite is software as a service (SaaS) that combines accounting and ERP programs, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and ecommerce capabilities in a single packaged offering. With NetSuite, users from different departments, such as sales, accounting, and support, access customer information through a single record, eliminating data redundancies and inconsistencies.

NetSuite is fully customizable and provides modules to help business owners manage and automate their business needs, from financials to supply chain management to billing and beyond.

Overview

QuickBooks vs. NetSuite for growing, medium-sized businesses

QuickBooks is a portfolio of scalable financial and business management solutions with an intuitive interface. With two core offerings, QuickBooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Enterprise, and the ability for users to customize their software to meet their unique needs, QuickBooks can be configured to fit the needs of growing businesses.

NetSuite, in comparison, does not provide “off the shelf” financial management software, but instead comprises a range of modules that are bundled and configured based on the needs of the business owner. These modules cover:

• Financial management
• Planning and budgeting
• Order management
• Production management
• Supply chain management
• Warehousing and fulfillment
• Procurement
• Human capital management

To help business owners select the right modules for their custom solution, and speed up the implementation process, NetSuite provides an offering called SuiteSuccess Industry Editions. These are pre-configured implementation plans intended for new customers in specific industries.

Deep Dive into QuickBooks vs. Oracle NetSuite

Scalability

For the purposes of this comparison table, we will define scalability as the ease with which new functionality and product iterations can be added or divested from a user’s bundle, along with the resultant impacts on BAU (business as usual).

Time Tracking

QuickBooks Online Advanced offers basic time tracking capabilities. Both QuickBooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Enterprise can deliver robust time tracking with the addition of QuickBooks Time. Oracle NetSuite does not require an additional module to deliver robust time tracking.*

Business Process Automation

Both QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced have automation capabilities associated with their core workflows. Oracle NetSuite features several out-of-the-box automations for common business transactions, and automations can be further customized as required.

Project Costing and Management

QuickBooks solutions have specific project costing and management features to help manage project progress time and costs. NetSuite is also able to provide sophisticated project costing and management functionality, provided those modules are implemented and configured correctly.

Reporting and Analytics

Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks Enterprise, and QuickBooks Online Advanced provide reporting and analytics dashboards that increase the visibility into a company’s metrics and data to help improve decision making. However, there is much more flexibility and customizability offered with NetSuite.

Integration

NetSuite, QuickBooks Enterprise, and QuickBooks Online Advanced provide native solutions for integrating leading third-party business applications and enterprise platforms.

QuickBooks solutions offer pre-configured integrations with popular third-party systems and programs and can be used with third-party integrators to further extend the ecosystem.

Support

NetSuite and QuickBooks solutions provide several support options to optimize customer experience, with some basic support included with the subscription, and an option to pay for more hands-on assistance.

Pricing

NetSuite and QuickBooks solutions can be customized to provide value based on need and budget. QuickBooks can be paid for month to month with the most basic subscription plan, or annually.

For the average instance of NetSuite, a three- to seven-year commitment is typically expected to offset the initial implementation effort and for the real ROI to be recognized. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Oracle NetSuite integrate with QuickBooks?

No. QuickBooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Enterprise have all been designed as comprehensive accounting and back-office solutions. While QuickBooks is able to integrate with other third-party point solutions (for example, QuickBooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Enterprise both integrate with Salesforce), NetSuite consists of proprietary modules that can be added and adjusted based on what functionality the business needs. Users are encouraged to stay within the Oracle ecosystem when they need new or advanced capabilities. 

NetSuite does not integrate with QuickBooks and QuickBooks does not integrate with NetSuite. You can transfer data between NetSuite and QuickBooks.

What if my NetSuite or QuickBooks solution is unable to connect to the internet?

QuickBooks Online Advanced, and QuickBooks Enterprise installations with optional cloud hosting, will not work if they are not connected to the internet. NetSuite has offline, remote capabilities to allow field workers to log time and capture expenses, which can be reconciled later.

What security features do Oracle NetSuite and QuickBooks include, and how do they compare?

NetSuite, QuickBooks Online Advanced, and QuickBooks Enterprise are all regularly audited for security compliance certifications.

NetSuite provides 256-bit TLS encryption for user login and all subsequent data. This is the same level of encryption used by many online banks. Additionally, users are able to manage permissions, access to functionality, and access to data for all employees using role-based access at a granular level. Location-based IP address restrictions and rigorous password renewal rules add a further layer of user-based security.

QuickBooks Online Advanced is a VeriSign Secured™ product. VeriSign is a leading Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Authority. It features password-protected login, firewall-protected servers, and the same encryption technology (128-bit SSL) used by the world’s top banks. Intuit is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program, an independent third-party organization whose mission is to accelerate online trust among consumers and organizations globally through its leading privacy trustmark and innovative trust solutions.

Support for QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with cloud access is provided by Right Networks*. A valid QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise license code must be provided to Right Networks to receive support. Right Networks performs backups of all cloud access data on a nightly basis and retains the back-ups for a rolling 90-day period in a protected offsite facility as an additional level of protection. There is no limitation to the size of a customer’s back-up. Customers are responsible for verifying the integrity of the hosted data at least every 90 days. Right Networks employs Snapshot technology to backup customer data. Snapshots are taken daily and then replicated to another physical Right Networks facility for Disaster Recovery.

Right Networks uses top-tier data centers and multiple layers of redundancy within its infrastructure to provide 24×7 availability. However, availability can vary, is subject to occasional downtime and may change without notice. Right Networks encrypts all backup files and backup tapes. Virtual desktop connections are protected via TLS with a minimum of 128 bit encryption and authentication. Each customer has a unique Right Networks virtual desktop. Access to each QuickBooks company file is controlled at multiple layers including file access permissions. Access is locked out after multiple failed login attempts for the same user. Security features, functionality and access are subject to change without notice as deemed necessary by Right Networks. Availability can vary and are subject to occasional downtime and may change without notice. Right Networks may offer third party software, separate terms and fees may apply.

Can I migrate my historical data into Intuit QuickBooks or Oracle NetSuite?

Yes. In Oracle NetSuite, the easiest way to import historical sales is a closed purchase order in order to not affect the current financial statement. Other methods of important historical data are available, but many of these require manual intervention and quality assurance.

QuickBooks also allows users to migrate historical data and offers two ways of doing this: chronologically or in batches from existing Excel sheets to save time. 

Conclusion

While ERPs like those offered by NetSuite can help streamline processes and provide visibility into performance, not every business needs to utilize one at every growth stage.

Oracle NetSuite provides a great contingent of capabilities for growing businesses, connecting multiple business processes and systems and automating custom workflows. However, this immense functionality comes with a hefty price tag, a long implementation cycle that could cause business disruption, and a steep learning curve that requires hands-on change management to ensure successful adoption.

QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced are comparable options to Oracle NetSuite for growing businesses looking for something more than just an “accounting system.” Their easy integration paths to powerful third-party partners help expand their ecosystem, providing a faster time to value and a strong foundation for future growth. QuickBooks solutions provide a robust and flexible financial management hub with automated workflows that can help small to medium-sized businesses break out of their “SMB” shell to take the next step.

The top industries that use QuickBooks Enterprise are construction, manufacturing, professional services, retail, and wholesale & distribution.

Top industries for QuickBooks Online Advanced include professional services, legal, nonprofit, accounting, construction, and food & beverage.

Get in touch with QuickBooks for more information.

We can help you determine which QuickBooks solution best fits your needs and desire for business growth and can offer migration support to ensure your journey to QuickBooks is smooth.

Set up a QuickBooks demo at your convenience. 

*Additional terms, conditions and fees apply.

**Apps are subject to change without notice.

***Products, features, pricing, discounts and offerings are subject to change without notice.

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