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Hosted Quickbooks is a versatile accounting platform for businesses of all sizes. Whether you run a small, medium or large-sized business, it will take the burden of management and accounting off your shoulders, allowing you to focus on the more important aspects like growth and expansion. Far too many business owners fall victim to micromanagement, which eats through their time and resources. Hosted Quickbooks is designed to eliminate this problem with its hands-off approach to business management and accounting.

But trying to determine which Quickbooks program is right for your business can be a daunting task. Technically, there are three different categories of Quickbooks programs: Quickbooks Online, Desktop Quickbooks, and Hosted Quickbooks, each of which has its own unique features.

Quickbooks Online Is Not The Same as Hosted Quickbooks

Some people assume Quickbooks Online and Hosted Quickbooks refer to the same program. While they may share some of the same features, they are two different types of accounting products offered by Intuit. Quickbooks Online is subscription-based accounting solution that requires the user to log in to their account through a web browser. If you aren’t completely satisfied with Quickbooks Online, simply cancel your subscription and you’ll never be billed again. Many users prefer the simplicity and freedom it offers, but it still comes up short when compared to Hosted Quickbooks.

Hosted Quickbooks is where an authorized third-party vendor, such as MyVao.com, hosts a desktop version (not online) of Quickbooks for its client. The client then uses a remote desktop connection terminal to access their Quickbooks while it’s stored on a third-party server.

Sure, you can download and install desktop versions of Quickbooks to your own computer, but allowing an Intuit-authorized third-party company to handle this task offers several unique advantages. For starters, they typically have bigger, faster and more powerful computers, which translates into better performance. Third-party Quickbooks hosts can also assist their users with setup, maintenance and general tech support.

Intuit currently supports the following versions of Quickbooks for use with its commercial hosting program:

• QuickBooks Pro
• QuickBooks Premier
• QuickBooks Accountant Edition
• QuickBooks Enterpise Solutions
• QuickBooks Point of Sale

So, is Hosted Quickbooks the right choice for you? There’s really no easy answer to this question, as everyone’s situation is different. With that said, Hosted Quickbooks offers all of the same benefits as typical self-hosted Quickbooks but with a few added benefits. I recommend test driving it to see for yourself whether it’s the right fit for your business’s needs.