Quickbooks Desktop 2021 Discontinued: What You Need To Know (UPDATED 5/2/2024)

Going… going…

On May 31st, 2024, Quickbooks Desktop 2021 will be discontinued. This means no more updates or support will be available, and add-ons will cease to work. This is the inevitable product of Intuit’s drive to migrate everyone to their cloud-based version of the product, Quickbooks Online.

If you don’t upgrade your QuickBooks Desktop 2021 by May 31, 2024, you won’t have access to live technical support if you run into problems or any of the other Intuit services that can be integrated with QuickBooks Desktop. This includes QuickBooks Desktop Payroll, QuickBooks Desktop Payments, and online bank feeds. Discontinued versions won’t receive the latest critical security patches and updates.

The excerpt above comes directly from Intuit’s website.  You can read the whole page here.

So what does this mean to you? Here’s the breakdown.

Quickbooks Desktop If You Must

While Intuit is pushing hard for everyone to move to their cloud platform, all hope is not lost for those that need, or prefer, a desktop accounting program. Currently, there are three desktop versions still available to replace Quickbooks Desktop 2021 now that it’s being discontinued: Enterprise, Premiere, and Pro.

If you visit Intuit’s website, however, you’ll notice that only Enterprise is prominently listed. The other two versions require you to reach out to their sales department at 800-766-8890.

Intuit, for all its faults, at least recognizes that some customers require a desktop version whether it’s because these customers have integrations that will not work with Quickbooks Online, company policy requires it, or, more likely, they find the online version lacking. Whatever the reason, Intuit will continue to offer these these desktop versions, but there’s a catch. The price.

Brace Yourself

For those of you who have been loyal Quickbooks Desktop users, faithfully shelling out $200 – $400 every few years for the latest version, prepare for sticker shock.  Gone are the days of reasonable prices for mediocre desktop accounting software.

Intuit’s pricing page includes Enterprise Desktop, but there does not appear to be anything published, or easily found, about the other desktop versions – Pro and Premiere. What information I have is from an email I received from Intuit:

 

 

Quickbooks Desktop Pro: $649 per year for 1 user

Quickbooks Desktop Premiere: $949 per year for 1 user

That’s quite the leap from $200 – $400 every couple of years.

NOTE – You will also see the online version pricing, which, if you ignore the 3 month discount, comes in at $60, $90, and $200 per month.  Yearly, that’s $720, $1080, and $2400, for what most consider a lesser product than QBDT 2021. 

The Alternatives

Surely there are alternatives to the new Quickbooks Desktop yearly subscription, right? Well, kinda. Sorta.

Sage 50 Accounting comes in at $595 per year at the lowest tier, and is the only true desktop accounting package I was able to find. Sage 50 used to be PeachTree accounting, and it’s very good accounting software for the desktop. But it’s made for people who know accounting, not typical small business owners with basic to moderate accounting knowledge and needs.

While this post is not about QBO alternatives, I am including a couple of affordable cloud accounting options, just in case you landed here by mistake. It is by no means an exhaustive list.

Freshbooks PLUS plan starts at $360 per year, however it is a cloud app.

Zoho Books has a free tier for businesses that have under $50k annually in revenue, and paid plans that start as low as $180 per year.  Again, a cloud app.

The potential problem with all these alternatives is that they may not have all the functionality or intergation capability of Quickbooks Desktop or Quickbooks Online. This is something to keep in mind when shopping around. Quickbooks is the leader and most other software that integrates with any accounting apps, default to it.

Do You Really Need A Desktop Version

That’s the question. If so, then it appears the only competition is Sage 50 which is just $50 cheaper per year than Quickbooks Desktop Pro. Not much of a savings, especially when you take into account the cost of migrating your financials and learning a new and less — forgive me — intuitive accounting program.

There’s just no getting around it… reasonably priced desktop accounting for small businesses, is dead. While cloud versions of accounting software offer some advantages, like ease of deployment and the ability to work from anywhere (with an internet connection), the pricing, for what you get, is kind of ridiculous. If ever there was a money grab, this is it.

If you need guidance on Quickbooks Desktop or alternatives, contact me and schedule an appointment.